Sunday, January 28, 2018

It Should've Been on a Saturday: Young Robin Hood (1991)

In 1991, Hanna-Barbera joined forces with Canada's Cinar to create Young Robin Hood as a new component of the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera Sunday block. The series was a mid-season replacement, launching on New Year's Day, and was the latest in H-B's continuing line of series rebooting established characters as younger versions (i.e. The Flintstone Kids). That trend would end later in 1991 with Yo, Yogi! being sold to NBC.

The story here is that Robin is left to fend for himself while his father, the Earl of Huntington, is off on a crusade with King Richard the Lionhearted. Otherwise, it's the familiar tale of Robin and his Merry Men evading the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John, presented here as a spoiled child, at every turn. Marion, Robin's girlfriend, serves as a spy for her honey, thwarting the attempts of Gilbert of Gisbourne (instead of Guy in the traditional stories) to win her hand.

After the series ended, Cinar & H-B would not be doing business again.

Edit, 11/6/23: The video has been deleted. In its place is a title card.


Standard H-B adventure fare of the period, but with an all-Canadian voice cast.

Rating: B.

4 comments:

Goldstar said...

This must have been during the time when The Funstastic World of Hanna-Barbera began adding reruns of canceled earlier H-B Saturday morning shows such as Richie Rich and Flintstone Kids to it's lineup, because I wasn't aware of "Young Robin Hood" before today. My teenage self decided that it wasn't worth getting up early on a Sunday morning to watch reruns from a few years earlier, so I decided to just get an extra hour of sleep instead.

This wouldn't be the only time that the main characters in Robin Hood would be re-imagined as kids. See also Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood, an import from Europe (I believe) that is or was at one time airing on Discovery Family here in the States.

hobbyfan said...

Oh, yeah, Mischief in Sherwood was covered not too long ago. Didn't think anyone would try it again, but.....

magicdog said...

I remember this show - barely.

Funny Robin's dad here is called the Duke of Huntington - since in the film (and various written adaptations) it's Robin of Locksley.

hobbyfan said...

Actually, if memory serves, Robin himself was titled as Robin of Locksley as an adult (per "When Things Were Rotten", 1975). I will have to check on that.