[to be read in the voice of Nick Wiger] William Hanna and Joseph Barbera met when they were both working at MGM studios in 1930. This was a time when Disney was still building their monopoly on family entertainment, and they were the kings of animation. In 1957, they joined forces to create H-B Enterprises (eventually renamed to Hanna-Barbera Productions), in the hopes of challenging the vast empire that Disney's animated films had created. Jumping off the popularity of the characters Tom & Jerry, originally developed under MGM, they developed a larger cast of characters, including Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear. While Disney and various animated shorts throughout the years had been produced for film, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera saw the future in a new medium that was growing in popularity: television. Up to this point cartoons hadn't been produced specifically for TV, but in 1960, with the creation of The Flintstones, they had figured out the right formula to make cartoons appealing to a primetime audience. By spending slightly less on the animation, but making up for it with dynamite vocal performances (such as hiring the legendary Mel Blanc AKA Bugs Bunny) and all in the sitcom family setting, they could make a cartoon that a lot of people wanted to see. The immense popularity of The Flintstones lead to countless more Hanna-Barbera classics that we know and love, including the futuristic counterpart to The Flinstones called The Jetsons. The Jetsons was far less popular, only getting 24 episodes in the original run, as opposed to the 6 seasons that The Flintstones got, but it slowly built a cult following; and by the 80s it was popular again and for the first time in 20 years, they made new episodes with much of the original cast. However, by '89 much of the cast was getting on in years and it was time to give The Jetsons a theatrical farewell. For Jetsons: The Movie they tried to use the formula that had given them success so long ago, using polished but still simple animation including dynamite vocal performances (this time, hiring the pop icon Tiffany to play Judy Jetson and hopefully bring in a younger audience) and including an environmental message in the main story. But this time, the formula didn't quite work. It was difficult to complete, as both Mel Blanc and George O'Hanlon died during production, and ended up getting pretty awful reviews from the critics at the time. But going back and watching it, the movie (and it's killer 80s pop soundtrack) is a strange time capsule, where it represents both nostalgia for the 60s and the 80s at the same time... with Brad and Jon and Griffin and Alex from Woodchickens!
Wood Chickens links:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/16qvWXhunAfvWhWcp6wCq1?si=u6HP16k_TE-FqFI1p1grkQ
https://woodchickens.bandcamp.com/
Travelers: A Dark Podcast EPISODE 2: https://anchor.fm/travelersadarkpodcast/episodes/Season-1-Ep-3-Past-and-Present--Ep-4-Double-Lives-eka3ho
Other Links:
www.twitter.com/RevoloverAudio
www.anchor.fm/AlbumConceptHour
www.twitter.com/AlbumConceptPod
www.myspace.com/AlbumConceptHour
www.ko-fi.com/RevoloverAudio
