Jellystone

C. H. Greenblatt (known for his early works on SpongeBob and Billy & Mandy and later creating Chowder and Harvey Beaks) gives us a surreal and comedic take on the H. B. characters. There are plenty of Easter Eggs and references for older generations that grew up with the familiar all the way down to the most obscure characters. The jokes are hit-and-miss, the animation is nicely done, some characters are different (most notably half of the characters are gender-bent, which I am perfectly fine with) while others maintain their traits from the classic era. Overall, a good and funny tribute to the classic Saturday morning cartoons that longtime fans and newcomers will enjoy.

I saw a clip of this on twitter and actually laughed, so I knew I needed to watch this. The art style is a bit jarring at first, but once you watch a few episodes you get used to it. The writing makes this show hilarious and even if you weren't familiar with Hanna-Barbera, anybody of all ages would like it. I recommend it.

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.

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.

I grew up watching Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Jabberjaw, and other Hanna Barbera cartoons. I honestly think the gender switches were necessary to bring in more female characters. CH Greenblatt proves why he loves and respects the Hanna Barbera characters while giving it a Chowder and Harvey Beaks feel!