The Huckleberry Hound Show- The Complete Original Series Blu-ray Review
More Hanna-Barbera in hi-def!
1958’s “The Huckleberry Hound Show” is essentially a variety cartoon with each episode featuring 3 toons. In the first two seasons you get “Yogi Bear,” “Pixie And Dixie And Mr. Jinks,” and “Huckleberry Hound” toons. In seasons 3 and 4 you get ‘Pixie,’ ‘Huckleberry,’ and “Hokey Wolf” (which replaced “Yogi Bear” as Yogi went on to have his own show). Perhaps the coolest inclusion here are the restored opening and ending credits, the animated bumpers and bridge sequences, and the B&W animated commercials (mostly cereal) featuring “The Huckleberry Hound Show” characters. The commercials are a real fun treat and are often better than the episodes themselves!
“The Huckleberry Hound Show” ran 4 seasons with 68 episodes total. As mentioned above, Yogi Bear made his debut here 3 years before the beloved character got his own show. Truth be told, Yogi definitely steals the entire show.
In terms of what to expect, let’s break it down show by show:
“Huckleberry Hound” features the adventures of the chill, southern, hat wearing, titular blue hounddog. Huck is a police officer, but he tends to take on many jobs in many different time periods. He can be a Knight, in the Old West, a farmer, a sheepherder, a Pilgrim, a mailman, a dogcatcher, a caveman, a bullfighter, etc. Nothing ever goes easy for Huck as he rescues people, encounters everything from crows to a giant gorilla, faces off against Powerful Pierre, tries to capture bad guys, or winds up in a fairy tale spoof. Huck is a good natured likable character whose shorts tend to be amusing
“Pixie and Dixie And Mr. Jinks” is one of the many forgettable “Tom And Jerry” clones. Pixie (who sports a bow tie) and Dixie (who wears a vest) are mice that go head to head with an orange cat named Jinks (who wears a blue bow tie). The stories are often your standard chase plots with Jinks trying to devise ways to catch the mice. Other stories involve family and friends, robots, dogs, scare tactics, a Champion Rooster, you get the drift.
“Yogi Bear” is the crown jewel of the animated program. You all know the story. Yogi is an accident prone bear who resides at Jellystone National Park alongside his pal Boo Boo. The 2 are constantly on the search for food (namely picnic baskets full of it), but their hijinks involve meddlesome animals, Ranger Smith, hunters, hibernation, criminals, disguises, and Yogi looking out for others (human or animal). You know what to expect from this cartoon and it always delivers in the laugh department. It’s not hard to see why Yogi went on to have his own show and easily became the most iconic character from this TV series.
“Hokey Wolf” is probably the most obscure character. He’s essentially a Yogi Bear wannabe, but perhaps more curious than that, he’s essentially a proto “Top Cat” (who is infinitely more interesting than “Hokey Wolf”). Hokey is a con-artist who hangs around with his sidekick Ding-A-Ling Wolf as they create schemes or try to steal sheep, hens, eggs, and food. Other stories involve fairy tale reimagings and irate farmers. Unless you’re a nostalgic die hard Hanna-Barbera fan, it’s unlikely “Hokey Wolf” will strike much of a chord with you.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How does it look? The episode transfers are nothing short of impressive. The colors are particularly vibrant and rich on Blu-ray.
Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? From the music to the dialogue, the 2.0 track is lively.
Extras:
* “Quotable Quotes Music Video”- A music video featuring Huckleberry Hound quotes.
* “The Legendary Sound Of Daws Butler”- A 12 minute featurette on the legendary voice actor.
* “Huckleberry Hound: A Linguistical Masterpiece”- A mock extra with linguistics expert Dr. Theodore Rexford McGriffin III talking about Houndspeak.
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