Jellystone

After decades of being largely inactive, the classic characters from the Hanna-Barbera line up from the 60s, 70s and 80s are brought back to the mainstream zeitgeist in Jellystone. With impressive animation, new and inventive personalities and outstanding humor, this show more than succeeds in making these classic cartoons feel new again.

Developed by C. H. Greenblatt (creator of Chowder and Harvey Beaks), Jellystone follows the misadventures of the residents in the titular town. Each episode focuses on a different character and is 11 minutes of pure cartoon silliness. The writing of each episode is very clever and smartly written, taking familiar trope and scenarios and flipping them in unique and funny ways. Episodes like Grocery Store, A Coconut To Remember, El Kabong's Kabong Is Gone and Mr. Flabby Dabby Wabby Jabby take familiar set ups and make them stand out with clever gags, smart character interactions and plenty of slapstick. The show's greatest strengths is indeed it's humor, but that's only made possible with a cast of memorable characters.

The residents of Jellystone have gotten significant upgrades from their early days as series regulars in the 60s and 70s. Yogi Bear is still as aloof as ever but now he's a doctor with Boo Boo and Cindy as his co-workers. Huckleberry Hound is a laid-back and chill mayor of Jellystone with Mr. Jinks as his assistant and Snagglepuss as his public relations advisor. Doggie Daddy is a comically overprotective parent to Augie, but unlike most depictions of this trope, she doesn't seem to mind. Jabberjaw is a boy-crazed cheerful woman, Magilla Gorilla is a mild mannered fashion freak, Captain Caveman is a fun loving friend and the Banana Splits are now a gang of thugs. Other characters in the show also have significant changes to their original depictions but not all of them work so well. Grape Ape is nothing more than a 40 foot tall gorilla who doesn't speak, The King and his gang are cliche dance rivals and Squiddly Diddly is a generic valley girl archetype. All that said though, most of the residents in this town is entertaining and funny enough to make up for its shortcommings.

The voice acting in this show is excellent with many of the actors breathing new life into these characters. Jeff Bergman perfectly captures the aloof personality of Yogi Bear and does an excellent job giving distinct voices to Mr. Jinks, Wally Gator, and Lippy The Lion. Series creator C. H. Greenblatt also does a fantastic job voicing various characters in Jellystone and each of them sounds very distinct and fitting to the character's personality. From the mild mannered Boo Boo to the frantically protective Doggie Daddy, to the nerdy Peter Potamus, Greenblatt is a very talented voice actor that brings his A game to the show. Dana Snyder is does a great job voicing Snagglepuss, Cavey Jr., and Touche Turtle, making them all sound very distinct and entertaining. Ron Funches did a superb job voicing Shag Rugg, making him sound like a kid from the farmland who picked up hip lingo not too long ago and it never once came off as cringy. Georgie Kidder was excellent as Augie, making her sound like a very caring and helpful kid who loves that her father is so protective of her. Jim Conroy also deserves credit for making Huckleberry Hound sound so calm and content, even in grave situations while also making Captain Caveman sound very distinct from him. The voice acting in this show is nothing short of excellent and everyone deserves credit for their work.

Visually, this show has some really good animation. The characters have a more simple design to them, yet they still resemble their original counterparts. The characters move very smoothly and whenever the scene calls for it, the stretch out their limps and get flatten like pancakes in classic cartoony fashion. The look of Jellystone as a town is really well down with the buildings and roads being well detailed and the alley Top Cat and his crew reside in being perfectly grimey and messy.

Jellystone is everything I could've hoped for in a revival of these classic Hanna-Barbera characters. With new and entertaining personalities, really funny gags, impressive animation and excellent voice acting, this is certainly show that I think would've made William Hanna and Joseph Barbera smile. I recommend giving this a watch, even if you're not familiar with Hanna-Barbera characters. I had a great time watching this show and I'm looking forward to Season 2.

The reviews are so extremely mixed because of the nature of the show. Some people are going in expecting a modern fix up of classic Barbera cartoons, however, this is more of a tribute.

This is a tribute to Hanna-Barbera with the twist of modern and Chowder-Esque humor. This can usually be funny even if it doesn't always hit the mark.

If you want to see some of your favorite cartoon characters interact in the same world together, and like surprising/random humor, this show is your you!

All the classic Hanna barbera charcaters live in a town together. Its done by the creator of Chowder and Harvey Beaks. The gags are prery funny. I particuarly like Doggy Daddy and Augie Doggy. I find it funny how he is a helecopter parent. The art takes a bif of getting used to though.

Set in the town of Jellystone, the series follows the misadventures of the town's eclectic residence consisting of Hanna-Barbera characters like Yogi-Bear, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, and more who each bring their own unique traits to the town's often self-destructive antics.

Jellystone marks the latest attempt by Warner Bros. To revive their Hanna-Barbera stable outside of Scooby-Doo that has been largely dormant. For most of these characters, save for some joke appearances on Adult Swim shows like Robot Chicken and Harvey Birdman, this is the first time in 30 years these characters have headlined a show since the '91 misfire Yo Yogi. Much like Yo Yogi the show re-imagines these characters in a more grounded sitcom-like setting with the characters having established roles and responsibilities as part of a community, but much more well-constructed. While the show doesn't adapt these characters to the format without hiccups, Jellystone more often hits than it misses.

Jellystone is created by C. H. Greenblatt a writer on cartoon benchmarks such as '99-'05 Spongebob Squarepants and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, as well as creator of shows like Chowder and Harvey Beaks. If you're at all familiar with Greenblatt's approach to humor on those shows it's very much on display here and will feel familiar to anyone whose even passively familiar with his previous work. With that said some of his humor works better than others. Some Hanna-Barbera characters are well better adapted to the setting than others. Characters like Yogi, Boo-boo, and Cindy as the quirky staff of Jellystone hospital score some big laughs with Cindy in particular getting great laughs fro her tightly wound tenuous hold on sanity, and Doggie Daddy and his daughter Augie get some good mileage from Doggie Daddy's "helicopter parent" taken to an amusingly insane degree that he builds his entire identity off of being a father while his daughter Augie takes it in stride. Easily the biggest revision is with The Banana Splits who are imagined here as a gang of loan sharks/petty crooks and that alone got me in just how charmingly surreal it was. I wish they'd tried to mimic the original voices such as Fleagle's Tigger-like voice to contrast their more antagonistic nature, but even though they don't take it as far they could I still really enjoyed it.

Other character reimaginings are more mixed. Jabberjaw has been swapped from a Curly Howard "Nyuk Nyuk" knockoff to more of a sassy, man crazy woman in a delivery similar to deliveries of Retta or Nicole Byer and for the most part I enjoyed the character in group settings, but I didn't think Jabberjaw was strong enough to carry an episode by herself. Magilla Gorilla has also been reimagined as a fastidious uptight tailor who specializes exclusively in bow ties and while that makes sense in terms of a show like this needing a straight man to serve as a counterpoint to zanier shenanigans, I didn't feel he was particularly well utilized. Shag Rugg who's basically this show's cocky, arrogant, slang spouting poser type. The character is all about superficiality and when complemented with a rather grating voice and way too much usage over the course of the first season I found him more annoying than endearing. But easily my least favorite was Peter Potamus' reimagining as an Otaku/Fanboy loaner stereotype complete with a creepy reference to a magical girl body pillow and emotional/romantic attachments to his action figures. I really didn't like the Peter Potamus gags because not only do they feel like low blows, but they're basically just tired rehashes on Comic Book Guy jokes from the 90s Simpsons episodes.

While not every element in Jellystone works, enough of it works to warrant a viewing. When the show hits its targets, it hits dead center, but when it misses it lands with a resounding thud.

Jellystone is a show that features a variety of classic characters, who all wish they were Choo Choo the cat.

Choo Choo is the leader of the Top Cat gang. She is a pink cat in a coat with a Bostonian accent, who cares deeply for her fellow felines in crime. She is also the most esteemed citizen in the town of Jellystone.

Jellystone has many fun and creative takes on familiar faces. Unfortunately, this review can only be an 8 out of 10, as these characters interfere in giving Choo Choo more screen time. That said, the existence of Choo Choo does still bring it to a largely positive result. Hopefully in future episodes they will fix this issue, and bring us the first ever show devoid of imperfections.