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Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear is a fictional anthropomorphic bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. He was the first break-out character created by Hanna-Barbera Studios, and was eventually more popular than Huckleberry Hound. In 1961 he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show, which also included the segments Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. Hokey Wolf replaced his segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show. A musical animated feature film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, was produced in 1964.

Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar, which allowed the body to be kept static and to redraw just the head in each frame when he was speaking, thus reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from 14,000 to around 2,000.

In October 2008, it was announced that Warner Bros. will film a live-action/animated version similar to Fox and Bagdasarian's Alvin & the Chipmunks.

Yogi Bear was voiced by Daws Butler and much later by Greg Burson.

Spin offs and other appearances

Over the years he appeared in many other spin-off series as well, including:

Yogi's Gang (1973-1975)
Yogi's Space Race (1978-1979)
Galaxy Goof-Ups (1978-1979)
Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985-1988)
The New Yogi Bear Show (1988-1989)
Wake, Rattle, and Roll (1990-1991) (Fender Bender segment)
Yo Yogi! (1991-1992)

Yogi was team captain of the Yogi Yahooeys on Laff-A-Lympics from 1977 to 1979.

In 1999, animator John Kricfalusi's Spümcø company created and directed two Yogi cartoons, which were "A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith" and "Boo Boo Runs Wild". Both shorts aired that year on the Cartoon Network as part of a Yogi Bear special. "Boo Boo Runs Wild" features a fight between Yogi and Ranger Smith, which was heavily edited for broadcast for both violence and torture situations. A third Yogi cartoon from Spumco was planned and storyboarded, but was not finished.

In 2003, Spumco created another Boo Boo cartoon, "Boo Boo and the Man", which was made with Macromedia Flash and released on Cartoon Network's website. Hanna-Barbera produced an instructional comic book on earthquake preparedness called Yogi's Quakey Shakey Van.

On October 2, 2008, it was announced that a live-action/CGI Yogi Bear movie is in the works.

Personality

Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration. Yogi's name is a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra, though Hanna and Barbera denied this intent. The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. There had been a 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon, Wabbit Twouble, that used the more obvious name "Jellostone" Park, a play on both the name of the national park and the dessert Jell-O. Yogi, accompanied by his reluctant best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the chagrin of Park Ranger Smith. A girlfriend, Cindy Bear, turned up sometimes, and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.

Catchphrases

Besides often speaking in rhyme, Yogi Bear is well-known for a variety of different catchphrases, including his pet name for picnic baskets ("pic-a-nic baskets") and his favorite self-promotion ("I'm smarter than the average bear!"), although he often overestimates his own cleverness. He often greets the ranger with a cordial, "Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!" He also likes to say, "Hey, Boo Boo!" as his preferred greeting to his humbler sidekick.

Broadcasts

Yogi Bear is currently aired by Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang, worldwide.

There was also a Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites video where William Hanna and Joseph Barbera picked their favorite Yogi Bear episodes, including the very first one, "Yogi Bear's Big Break", and Yogi meeting some storybook friends: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Little Red Riding Hood.

Comic books

Over the years, several publishers put out Yogi Bear comic books.

Gold Key Comics was first, with a title that ran 33 issues from 1962-70.
Charlton Comics then did a title for 35 issues from 1970-77.
Marvel Comics did a title for 9 issues in 1977.
Harvey Comics then did several titles for a total of 10 issues in 1992-94.
Archie Comics regularly featured Yogi Bear stories in the anthology comics Hanna-Barbera All-Stars and Hanna-Barbera Presents. After the cancellation of both titles, Archie put out a separate Yogi Bear comic that got one issue.
DC Comics semi-regularly featured Yogi in Cartoon Network Presents.

From 1961 until 1988, there was also a Yogi Bear comic strip, created by Gene Hazelton and distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.

DVD release

On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD R1.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #33	Release Date	Additional Information
	The Yogi Bear Show- The Complete Series	33	November 15 2005	Collectible animation cel Original episode with bridges and bumpers Never-before-seen animation sketches come to life Yogi gets global: One episode in a variety of languages Featurette on the art of Hanna-Barbera sound

Video games

Yogi Bear (Commodore 64) (1987)
Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster (Commodore 64) (1989)
Yogi's Great Escape (Amiga) (1990)
Yogi Bear's Math Adventures (DOS) (1990)
Yogi's Big Clean Up (Amiga) (1992)
Adventures of Yogi Bear (Super NES), (1994)
Yogi's Gold Rush (Game Boy) (1994)
Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast (Game Boy Color) (2000)

Parks

Yogi Bear lends his name to a chain of recreational vehicle and camping parks, "Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts", with the first opening in 1969 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and as of 1971, had 10 locations. As of 2008, there are over 70 locations, including Van Buren, Missouri and Gardner, New York. Many young children come here during the summer for a little bit of family excitement. Sarah Adamo(founder) espicially enjoys coming here with her whole family. There is also one remaining restaurant from the chain bearing Yogi's name, "Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken",in Hartsville SC. In the '60's and '70's these were around in the Southeast US(These were owned/franchised by Hardee's). In both cases, Hanna-Barbera licensed the name and likenesses to the respective companies.

Popular culture

In a Full House episode "The Return of Grandma," Stephanie and Joey fight over whether they should watch Bugs Bunny or Yogi Bear.
On "The Story Stick" episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith both have cameos in the story. Yogi Bear appears at the start of the episode and then again later in the show when he scares away the Totem Pole Monster for Scooby-Doo and the gang. Ranger Smith shows up to haul off the culprit when the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency captures him.
Yogi Bear has made a cameo in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Here Thar Be Dwarfs" voiced by Dave Foquette.
Yogi Bear has also appeared in an episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
In the film 2006 Rocky Balboa, Rocky says "I'm smarter than the average bear (though where that came from I don't know)" to Little Marie.
On "The Fairly Odd Parents" Mr. Crocker wonders why a bear could be "smarter than the average bear" and figures it has to do with Timmy's fairy godparents.
The Simpsons episode "Much Apu About Nothing" pays homage to Yogi Bear in a scene where Moe complains to Mayor Quimby, on a supposed bear outbreak, that "These bears are smarter than the av-er-age bear, they swiped my pic-a-nic basket!" (after which Mayor Quimby is seen to have taken said picnic basket). The episode "When You Dish Upon a Star" features an introductory sequence in which Homer dreams he's Yogi, with Bart as Boo Boo and Ned Flanders as the Ranger. As they walk through Jellystone Park Bart-Bart warns Homie that Ranger Ned won't like them stealing picnic baskets (for legal reasons they couldn't say "pic-a-nic"). Homie reassures his young friend that he's "smarter than the average bear!", and easily capable of dealing with Ned. When Ranger Ned does appear to reprimand him, Homie drags Ned behind a bush and viciously mauls him. When Homer wakes, he recalls it as "a beautiful dream", in which he wore "a collar and tie, with no pants!"
A music video made for a song called "Yogi Bear" airs on Boomerang. It is made of scenes from the Yogi Bear series and is credited as being performed by "High School Jim."
On The Price is Right, Drew Carey sometimes does his Yogi Bear impersonation when the item up for bid in the Contestant's Row round are a collection of picnic baskets.