C. H. Greenblatt's latest, Jellystone, debuts on HBO Max in 5 weeks, on July 29. The trailer has been released. Prepare to cringe:
Jabberjaw is being voiced by a woman this time, rather than have Frank Welker reprise. Greenblatt is voicing some of the characters himself, including Peter Potamus. If you looked quick, Shazzan does appear, but how he or that two-part ring, made it to the 21st century will be revealed in the series. They actually hired an actor of Iraqi & Canadian background for the part. Jeff Bergman reprises as Yogi Bear, and, yes, I think that is also Bergman as Yogi in that GEICO commercial.
I think Greenblatt and his staff intentionally made their designs with an eye toward gearing the show toward pre-teens as well as teens and young adults. Purists will be unhappy, to be sure. Yes, Captain Caveman has his son with him, and, as of now, only one of the Teen Angels, Dee Dee, is set to appear. Wikipedia does not have the complete cast list. We think.
The countdown is on. HBO Max may have finally laid an egg, but we'll see.
Update, 6/25: It appears the Teen Angels will in fact be together. Brenda hasn't been cast, but Taffy has.
3 comments:
Goldstar and I saw the trailer this morning. While I'm not exactly feeling the designs, I will say the following:
1. This may not cause the uproar of something like, say, Thundercats Roar, because these characters were made for wacky comedy rather than action-drama. Hopefully, the show's writing will be up to snuff.
2. I can appreciate how deep Mr. Greenlbatt is foraging into the well of obscure characters for this; the trailer featured characters which I haven't thought about in years.
3. Note how several of these HB toons have been re-imagined as females. When the show was in its' earliest announcements, I conjectured that that was something they could do, given the sheer number of characters they have at their disposal, many of them kind of interchangeable otherwise. Some purists may indeed not be happy with this decision, but I reckon that many of the kiddos whom this show is aiming for won't mind or even notice, as I don't many of today's children know who most of these characters even are.
-I confess that I'm actually kind of curious to see this show. The premise sounds like it could be fun, kind of like Marvel's Super Hero Squad Show but with HB stars and minus the action parts. The appeal will hinge on the writing and execution.
I'm not wild about the character designs, but I like the premise; many of the H-B comedy characters sharing a single home base a la Toontown, and it's not just animal toons, but Jonny Quest, Hadji and Shazzan as well. It's sounds like Marvel's Super Hero Squad Show, only with H-B characters.
And yeah, several of the more obscure H-B toon animals have been re-imagined as females for Jellystone. Not just Jabberjaw, but also Loopy De Loop, Squiddly Diddly, Big H (from "Hey, It's the King!"), and one or two of Top Cat's alley cat gang (I think that I spotted a female version of Chopper from the Yakky Doodle cartoons in one scene). Some purists aren't going to like that. I can already hear them tapping away at their keyboards venting their disapproval over this decision, but many of these characters are almost wholly unknown to younger viewers, and the show's producers clearly knew that they needed some female characters on the show in order to attract more female viewers.
And, hey, any show that brings The Banana Splits and Winsome Witch back to television can't be all bad.
Looks like Top Cat's whole gang will be included. Benny, Choo Choo, Brain, & Fancy Fancy.
To your point, Goldstar, many of these characters are unknown to today's generation, leaving them open to reinterpretation, such as Jabber, Loopy, Squiddly, Brain, et al.
And if they're going to include Shazzan, why stop there? Young Samson, anyone?
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