Favorite Yogi Bear shorts?

[Marty26]

What are some of your favorite Yogi Bear shorts (note: I'm refering to both the classic Yogi cartoons of the late-50s/early-60s and the "newer" Yogi Bear shorts of the late-80s)?

I'm probably in the minority here, but I've always felt the series what at its best when Ranger Smith didn't make an appearance (his deadpan personality often sucked a lot of the humor out of these cartoons). The Brave Little Brave, that cartoon where they parody Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Acrobatty Bear. All are pretty solid cartoons. As for my favorite cartoon WITH the ranger, I do like the one where he tries hypnosis on Yogi, it doesn't work, and then Yogi accidentally hypnotizes Boo Boo into believing he's a bird.

[Matt the Y]

Yogi Bear's Big Break
Big Brave Bear
Baffled Bear
The Buzzin' Bear
Brainy Bear
Hide and Go Peek
Rah Rah Bear
Bewitched Bear
Yogi's Pest Guest
Missile Bound Yogi
Bear Foot Soldiers

[Fibber Fox]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I've always felt the series what at its best when Ranger Smith didn't make an appearance

I like the earliest, pre-Jellystone cartoons, too. The one with the wily trout, black out gags with Yogi crossing the freeway, 'Pie Pirates', etc. The one with the native kid and his bow-and-arrow is kinda bland, though.

Once they dropped the Capitol stock music and started doing formula stuff, it got a little dull.

FF

[angilbas]

Yogi Bear's Big Break
Pie Pirates
Big Bad Bully
Baffled Bear
Tally Ho-Ho-Ho
The Stout Trout
Be My Guest Pest
Papa Yogi
Rah Rah Bear
Bewitched Bear
Hoodwinked Bear
Space Bear
Queen Bee for a Day
Bear Foot Soldiers


-Tony

[Matt the Y]

I like the earliest, pre-Jellystone cartoons, too. The one with the wily trout, black out gags with Yogi crossing the freeway, 'Pie Pirates', etc. The one with the native kid and his bow-and-arrow is kinda bland, though.

Once they dropped the Capitol stock music and started doing formula stuff, it got a little dull.

FF

I agree with you both 100%. First of all, Yogi had a genuine personality in the earlier shorts. He wasn't always cheerful and was even capable of being a bit cantankerous once in a while. Second, the series was less formulaic because not every short had to take place in Jellystone National Park (sometime they took place in a natural forest; hence Yogi's occasional encounter with hunters!) and even Yogi's "faithful" companion Boo-Boo wasn't always present.

Once Yogi spun off into his own show, Hanna and Barbera resorted to their usual "1-2-3" method of formula story-telling and the series became very formulaic. As you may have guessed by my selection of favorites, my favorites are the ones in the series that occasionally got away from the formula by putting the bear in different than usual situations. Plus, I like the ones with wittier-than-usual dialogue as well such as "Big Brave Bear" which has some hilarious dialogue by the gangsters ("Yeah. We wanna see the bears. Hyah-heh-hee!"; "What kinda furniture is dis? Early nothin'?") and "Missile Bound Yogi" in which Yogi freaks because he thinks Jellystone is being invaded by enemy soldiers and proceeds to attack most of them in self-defense; one such attack is preceded by this clever exchange between two soldiers; "That's what I like about these foxholes. Ya stay in 'em and ya don't get hurt!" WHACK! WHACK! ;) :D

[Marty26]

I agree with you both 100%. First of all, Yogi had a genuine personality in the earlier shorts. He wasn't always cheerful and was even capable of being a bit cantankerous once in a while. Second, the series was less formulaic because not every short had to take place in Jellystone National Park (sometime they took place in a natural forest; hence Yogi's occasional encounter with hunters!) and even Yogi's "faithful" companion Boo-Boo wasn't always present.

Once Yogi spun off into his own show, Hanna and Barbera resorted to their usual "1-2-3" method of formula story-telling and the series became very formulaic. As you may have guessed by my selection of favorites, my favorites are the ones in the series that occasionally got away from the formula by putting the bear in different than usual situations. Plus, I like the ones with wittier-than-usual dialogue as well such as "Big Brave Bear" which has some hilarious dialogue by the gangsters ("Yeah. We wanna see the bears. Hyah-heh-hee!"; "What kinda furniture is dis? Early nothin'?") and "Missile Bound Yogi" in which Yogi freaks because he thinks Jellystone is being invaded by enemy soldiers and proceeds to attack most of them in self-defense; one such attack is preceded by this clever exchange between two soldiers; "That's what I like about these foxholes. Ya stay in 'em and ya don't get hurt!" WHACK! WHACK! ;) :D

I also noticed that, in the later Yogi Bear cartoons (particularly once the John Seeley stock music was dropped in favor of Hanna Barbara's early/mid-1960s scores, also heard in The Flintstones and most of their other 1960's cartoons), Yogi became quite a bit smarter/sharper ("Smarter than the average Bear" if you will), which really made him less funny IMO. There were still some good cartoons even then (my two favorites of that period being probably the cartoon where Yogi's godmother gives him the Picnic Touch and the one where Ranger Smith has a kiddie train ride installed around the park). But I agree that the series really did become quite formulaic by then. I think the last cartoon where the ranger did not appear was Acrobatty Bear (which was really a semi-remake of The Greatest Showoff On Earth, albeit better IMO because of Yogi's interaction with Cindy).

Out of curiosity, was it actually when Yogi got his own show that the musical score was changed?

[Fibber Fox]

Out of curiosity, was it actually when Yogi got his own show that the musical score was changed?

I think so, Marty.

It's funny, I love the Yogi theme (it's hard to believe it must have been over 45 years ago when I first watched these cartoons), but I prefer the old Capitol library better as an underscore.

Regardless, Daws Butler is a real treat in any of them. He's one of those people I would have loved to have met if I had the chance.

FF

[Marty26]

I think so, Marty.

It's funny, I love the Yogi theme (it's hard to believe it must have been over 45 years ago when I first watched these cartoons), but I prefer the old Capitol library better as an underscore.

Regardless, Daws Butler is a real treat in any of them. He's one of those people I would have loved to have met if I had the chance.

FF

I also prefer the old Capitol library. It has a slightly less "dated" sound, and it's just all around more interesting. I think Bear Faced Disguise was the last cartoon to use the Capitol music, and Slap Happy Birthday was the first to use the "new" musical score.

[Marty26]

On a small side note, a lot of the late-80s Yogi Bear shorts actually tried mixing the then-current 1980s Hannah Barbara music with their early/mid-1960s music. The combination didn't work at all and was fortunately dropped after, I believe, Little Big Foot.