# Hanna-Barbera cartoon formulas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091 "2004-06-18T18:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/21 "2004-06-19T00:33:09Z")
Hey, do any of you Great Literature experts see any of the HB archetypes in _Beowulf_ or Homer or the like? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/22 "2004-06-19T01:14:48Z")
But…what about _SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron_? It doesn’t seem to fit **any** mold. Very cool, though. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/23 "2004-06-19T01:42:20Z")
Whew! When you said “Hanna-Barbera cartoon **formulas** ” I was taken aback by the plural. I’m still not convinced they made more than one Yogi Bear or Magilla Gorilla. But The Flintstones went beyond being ‘essentially a prehistoric “Honeymooners”’ by steeling not just plots but large amounts of dialogue from the so-called “lost” episodes that finally surfaced a few years ago. I guess Bill Hanna never expected anybody to find the kinescopes. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/24 "2004-06-19T04:27:16Z")
doesn’t anyone remember _Butch Cassedy and the Sundance Kids_? IIRC it was kind of a rock-band Scooby Doo. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/25 "2004-06-19T12:15:40Z")
> [@Roadwalker](#): > > doesn’t anyone remember _Butch Cassedy and the Sundance Kids_? > IIRC it was kind of a rock-band Scooby Doo. Correct. And they answered to a giant supercomputer called Mr Socrates, who was allergic to dogs. I don’t know what made it a supercomputer, it seemed to just have flashing lights and a moving walkway. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/26 "2004-06-19T20:50:45Z")
I thought this thread looked familiar! [Ahem.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=62701) ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/27 "2004-06-19T21:35:41Z")
In Josie, the studious one is Valerie, one of few Black people at the time, along with Bill Cosby in _I Spy_, and Garrett Morris in _Mission Impossible_ who survives in every adventure/intrigue episode or movie. Therefore, _Josie_ was a combination of _I Spy_ by way of _Mission Impossible_. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/28 "2004-06-19T21:43:48Z")
So, H-B essentially made a few twists to previously well-worn and heavily-adapted movie and TV genres. Even though the cartoons were formulaic, the writing was for the most part well-done. Hanna-Barbera, I believe, learned to tame the Tex Avery in them by adopting a Bob Newhart style of understated humor. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/29 "2004-06-20T01:51:15Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > I thought this thread looked familiar! > > [Ahem.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=62701) Must’ve been during one of my sabbaticals. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/30 "2004-06-20T03:50:50Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Do you mean Dick Dastardly? He was the mustache-twirling HB villain, with his snickering dog Muttley. You may have been thinking of Snidely Whiplash, from Dudley DoRight (not an HB cartoon). However, even though I never really watched the Flintstones, I don’t remember evil neighbors! Or possibly Sylvester Sneekly, alias The hooded Claw ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091/31 "2004-06-20T07:00:51Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > In Josie, the studious one is Valerie, one of few Black people at the time, along with Bill Cosby in _I Spy_, and Garrett Morris in _Mission Impossible_ who survives in every adventure/intrigue episode or movie. > > Therefore, _Josie_ was a combination of _I Spy_ by way of _Mission Impossible_. Garrett Morris was not the black actor on _Mission Impossible._ Garrett Morris was the black actor on _Saturday Night Live_, from 1975 to 1980. _Greg_ Morris was the black actor on _Mission Impossible_. He was not, however, as funny as Garrett Morris. Although it was a near thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanna-barbera-cartoon-formulas/251091.md?page=1)