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9 Hanna-Barbera cartoons based on other shows
It's not just The Honeymooners that got the Hanna-Barbera treatment!
Everyone knows that The Flintstones is based on The Honeymooners, but what if we told you that isn't the only Hanna-Barbera cartoon that's based on another show? Parodying, or homaging, worked well for The Flintstones, so it makes sense that Hanna-Barbera would use this approach with other cartoons. They were able to take a pre-existing concept and make it even funnier by setting it in the future, caveman times, or in Mr. Peebles' pet shop. Not only that, they had voice actors Mel Blanc, Arnold Stang, and Daws Butler, who were skilled at celebrity impersonations and able to parody the actors in the original shows. Let's take a look at all the Hanna-Barbera parody cartoons.
Top Cat - The Phil Silvers Show
Take Sergeant Bilko and make it catty, and you've got Top Cat! This feline parody even had Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman on the original show, voicing one of the cats! Arnold Stang, the voice actor for Top Cat, used his impression of Sergeant Bilko when voicing Top Cat. Talk about copycats!
Jeannie - I Dream of Jeannie
Jeannie is another hidden Hanna-Barbera gem that was meant to be a spinoff of I Dream of Jeannie, but quickly evolved into its own thing. In the animated show, Jeannie and her genie-in-training, Babu, are discovered by high schoolers in Los Angeles. Mark Hamill voiced one of the teens on the show!
Atom Ant - Batman
While Atom Ant as a character is not inspired by Batman, many of his missions parodied the Dark Knight. The local police force is both unreliable and underfunded, often requiring Atom Ant's help. They only have one rusted police car, but somehow they have the technology to send sonic wave alerts to Atom Ant.
The Hillbilly Bears - The Beverly Hillbillies and others
The Hillbilly Bears drew inspiration from rural sitcoms of the time like The Andy Griffith Show and Green Acres, but we see a lot of similarities with The Beverly Hillbillies. Paw Rugg is the bear version of Jed Clampett, Maw Rugg is similar to Granny, and Floral is similar to Elly May...guess that leaves Jethro Bodine as the inspiration for Shag Rugg!
Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long - Gunsmoke
Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long is based on Westerns in general, but Droop-a-long as a character is based on Festus Haggen. Mel Blanc did an impression of the deputy for the cartoon.
Wacky Races - The Great Race
Wacky Races was majorly inspired by the 1965 movie The Great Race, which followed a race from New York to Paris with a beautiful lady racer, a practically perfect male racer, a competitive professor, and a saboteur named Maximiliam Meen...sound familiar?
Secret Squirrel - James Bond
Like many espionage cartoons, Secret Squirrel is a parody of the James Bond series. Secret Squirrel even goes by the codename Agent 000 and his archnemesis is the Yellow Pinkie, a parody of the Bond villain Goldfinger.
Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks - Tom and Jerry
Hanna-Barbera went back to their Tom and Jerry roots and created two new cartoon series: Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks and Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse. Both shows readapted storylines from Tom and Jerry but added a slight change with characters (an extra mouse) or setting (the countryside).
The Flintstones - The Honeymooners
The original Hanna-Barbera cartoon parody, The Flintstones was an animated, prehistoric replica of The Honeymooners.
