48 Fun Facts About 70s Cartoons

What did Hanna-Barbera's 1975 The Tom and Jerry Show do to the cat and mouse?

Made them friends, since Hanna-Barbera had to meet strict rules against violence on children's TV.

Who voiced Shaggy Rogers, Scooby's best friend, in the original Scooby-Doo series?

Casey Kasem, a vegan, quit as Shaggy over a Burger King ad and returned in 2002 once Shaggy was made vegetarian.

What set The New Scooby-Doo Movies apart from earlier Scooby-Doo cartoons?

Hour-long episodes with celebrity guests such as Don Knotts ran for two seasons, and 2019's Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? brought the guest-star idea back.

Which puppy was added to the Scooby-Doo franchise in 1979 to rescue its sinking ratings?

Scrappy-Doo debuted in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979) and lifted the ratings; Lennie Weinrib voiced him for one season before Don Messick took over.

What relation is the Great Dane puppy introduced in 1979 to Scooby-Doo?

Nephew: the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo film made the pup its villain, out for revenge on the gang that had abandoned him.

Which DC Comics team was Super Friends based on?

The Justice League of America became the Super Friends, and to meet broadcast standards the villains were often talked into better ways instead of being beaten.

Which three sidekicks with no powers were created for the 1973 Super Friends?

Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog were powerless teen sidekicks invented for the 1973 show; they were dropped in 1977 in favour of the super-powered Wonder Twins.

What is the name of the Wonder Twins' pet monkey, introduced in The All-New Super Friends Hour?

Gleek, an alien monkey, arrived in 1977 with Zan and Jayna, sidekicks given real powers so they could finally join the fights.

What is the day job of Penrod Pooch, secret identity of Hong Kong Phooey?

Police station janitor Penry turns into Hong Kong Phooey by leaping into a filing cabinet, but it's his cat Spot who quietly solves the cases.

Which actor, later Dick Hallorann in The Shining, voiced Hong Kong Phooey?

Scatman Crothers took his stage name from his scat singing while he had his own radio show in Dayton, Ohio.

Josie and the Pussycats was based on characters from which publisher?

Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo named Josie after his wife, whose cat costume on a Caribbean cruise was how the character started.

Which Pussycat was the first regularly appearing Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon?

Valerie replaced a planned white character, Pepper, after producer Danny Janssen refused to drop singer Patrice Holloway from the trio.

Which future Charlie's Angels star was Melody's singing voice in Josie and the Pussycats?

Cheryl Ladd, billed as Cherie Moor, sang as Melody; in 1977 she replaced Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels, playing her character's younger sister.

Where did the band go in the 1972 relaunch of Josie and the Pussycats?

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space sent the band into the cosmos after Alexandra accidentally launched their rocket; sixteen episodes aired on CBS in 1972–73.

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973), what do Charlie Brown and Snoopy serve their uninvited guests?

Toast, popcorn and jelly beans, plus pretzel sticks and sundaes, made up the meal, so Peppermint Patty blew up, then apologised once Marcie reminded her she'd invited herself.

In which city's junkyard did Fat Albert's gang play their cobbled-together instruments?

North Philadelphia was Cosby's own childhood neighbourhood, and his stand-up stories about the gang there, first heard on 1967's Revenge album, became the cartoon.

What was Fat Albert's catchphrase?

'Hey hey hey!' was Fat Albert's catchphrase, and Bill Cosby wrote his 1976 doctoral dissertation on using the cartoon as a classroom teaching aid.

Which Multiplication Rock song launched Schoolhouse Rock! in 1973?

'Three Is a Magic Number' came first: ad man David McCall asked jazz musician Bob Dorough to set the times tables to music, and the song won Dorough the musical director job.

Which Star Wars bounty hunter first appeared on screen in a cartoon inside the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special?

Boba Fett made his screen debut in a Nelvana cartoon, the high point of a widely panned special that was never rebroadcast.

Which Fantastic Four member did the 1978 cartoon The New Fantastic Four swap for a robot named H.E.R.B.I.E.?

The Human Torch had been optioned for a Universal film that was never made, so the cartoon couldn't use him.

Which voice actor gave the talking car its voice in Hanna-Barbera's 1973 cartoon Speed Buggy?

Mel Blanc voiced the car, and after a 1961 crash left him in a coma, he first responded when a doctor asked how Bugs Bunny was feeling.

What kind of animal is Jabberjaw?

A great white shark, Jabberjaw drums for the Neptunes, and the show cashed in on the shark mania stirred up by the film Jaws.

Frank Welker voiced Jabberjaw as an impression of which comedian?

Curly of the Three Stooges shaped the voice, and his cry of getting no respect fit a society where robots guarded buildings and cities against his kind.

How is Captain Caveman discovered by the Teen Angels?

Frozen in a block of ice, the caveman was thawed out to join three teen detectives, though his power to fly always seemed to fail at the worst moment.

Which superhero teamed with the robotic dog in the 1976 series Dynomutt, Dog Wonder?

The Blue Falcon, a Batman spoof, relied on Dynomutt, whose endless built-in gadgets often malfunctioned.

How does Grape Ape usually travel?

On a van's roof: at 40 feet tall, he has to ride on top of the small yellow van his friend drives.

What is the name of Grape Ape's canine companion?

Beegle Beagle, voiced by Marty Ingels, travels with the gentle 40-foot ape, whose size sends strangers running off screaming.

Laff-A-Lympics, which pitted Hanna-Barbera characters in Olympic events, parodied which show?

Battle of the Network Stars was the target, and Mumbly captained the cheating Really Rottens because Dick Dastardly and Muttley were co-owned by Heatter-Quigley.

The Pink Panther Show originally paired Pink Panther cartoons with shorts starring which character?

The Inspector shared the 1969 show with the Panther, and NBC added a laugh track and narrator segments to the theatrical cartoons.

Which two men produced the Pink Panther cartoons?

David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng's studio made the Panther for the 1963 film's opening titles, and it proved so popular that United Artists ordered cartoon shorts.

Who composed "The Pink Panther Theme", used throughout the cartoons?

Henry Mancini wrote the theme for the 1963 film, in which the Pink Panther was really a diamond with a flaw shaped like a leaping panther.

Star Trek: The Animated Series was the first Star Trek series to win what?

An Emmy Award came in 1975 for children's series, and animation let the show add aliens live action couldn't manage, such as three-armed Arex.

Which original Star Trek cast member was missing from the voice cast of Star Trek: The Animated Series?

Walter Koenig was left out, so Chekov never appears, yet Koenig still wrote the episode 'The Infinite Vulcan'.

Battle of the Planets was an American adaptation of which Japanese anime?

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was toned down for US viewers, with narration claiming cities had been evacuated before they were destroyed.

What is the name of the five-member team in Battle of the Planets?

G-Force's five pilots fought Zoltar of planet Spectra, but American edits cut the original Japanese show's graphic violence.

What was the plot-explaining robot added to Battle of the Planets called?

7-Zark-7 was new US footage, a Star Wars-style robot who narrated and bridged the cut scenes, with a robot dog named 1-Rover-1.

Hanna-Barbera's 1978 Godzilla cartoon gave the monster a cowardly young relative named what?

Godzooky usually just coughed up smoke rings when he tried to breathe fire like Godzilla.

Which actor returned to voice Gilligan in the 1974 cartoon The New Adventures of Gilligan?

Bob Denver came back with most of the original cast, but Mary Ann was voiced by Jane Webb instead of Dawn Wells.

Which witch shared a 1970 Saturday morning cartoon hour with the Groovie Goolies?

Sabrina anchored the 1970 hour, and after one season the Goolies were spun off into their own show.

Which studio behind Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer produced The Jackson 5ive cartoon for ABC in 1971?

Rankin/Bass had it animated mainly in London, and because the group was so busy, voice actors spoke for the brothers, who were heard only in song.

Inch High, Private Eye was modelled on which TV character?

Maxwell Smart of Get Smart was the model, so Lennie Weinrib voiced the one-inch detective with a Don Adams impression.

In Ruby-Spears' 1978 cartoon Fangface, which character does the werewolf keep trying to eat?

Puggsy: any reference to food set the werewolf off trying to eat him, and the gang had to calm him down.

In the cartoon Yogi's Gang, Yogi Bear and friends faced villains named for what?

Social ills such as waste and bigotry named foes like Dr. Bigot and Lotta Litter, and the TV movie that launched the show was later split into its two-part finale.

Which real basketball team got its own Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon on CBS in 1970?

The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon had the players settle local conflicts on their travels with a basketball game, which they always won.

Where do the bears of Hanna-Barbera's 1971 cartoon the Hair Bear Bunch live, dodging Mr. Peevly and Botch?

A zoo, patrolled by keepers Eustace P. Peevly and Lionel J. Botch; critics compared the premise to Yogi Bear and Top Cat.

The 1972 prime-time cartoon Wait Till Your Father Gets Home began as a one-off segment on which anthology series?

Love, American Style aired the segment first, then a live-action pilot starring Van Johnson failed, and the series went ahead as a cartoon.

The Brady Kids cartoon (1972) spun off Mission: Magic, a Filmation series built around which future pop star?

Rick Springfield got the spin-off, and when stars quit The Brady Kids after season one, producer Lou Scheimer's children voiced two of the Bradys.

Who voiced Batman and Robin in Filmation's 1977 cartoon The New Adventures of Batman?

Adam West and Burt Ward returned as Batman and Robin, alongside Bat-Mite, an imp whose attempts to help often created more problems.