ogi Bear remains
one of the most successful and enduring characters to have been
created by Hanna-Barbera. He began as just another backing
segment; episodes of Yogi Bear forming part of The Huckleberry
Hound Show in 1958. By 1961 he was headlining his own series,
The Yogi Bear Show, with supporting segments
Snagglepuss and
Yakky Doodle.
Yogi lived in
Jellystone National Park, and from the very first episode made
the park rangers question their career choice. For his part,
Yogi suffered mainly from boredom, hunger and hunters. On
occasion he attempted to escape the confines of the park and the
repetition of his daily routine, only to find that life inside
the park was actually kind of soft and easy compared to the
unprotected habitat outside its boundaries. In early episodes he
either begged for food from campers when looking for an easy
meal or snatched (at least, attempted to) unguarded goodies.
Adding to his problems, apparently Jellystone Park had loose
hunting restrictions, because Yogi sometimes had to contend with
hunters who were either after him or other woodland creatures
(whom he tried to protect). When faced with opposition Yogi
often proclaimed himself, "Smarter than the av-er-age (fill in
the blank)", although this boast turned out to be overly
optimistic on many occasions.
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Accompanying
Yogi much of the time was his little pal Boo Boo. Where Yogi
was rash, Boo Boo was more often the voice of reason,
attempting to curb Yogi's impulsive habits.
Another common
supporting character in the series was Ranger Smith, although it
wasn't until the twenty-fourth episode, Lullabye-Bye Bear
that one of the rangers first referred to himself by that name.
Before that, all of the rangers had just been called "ranger" or
identified by various first names. (Once Ranger Smith became an
established character the name was retrofitted (by fans) to
earlier appearances of the various ranger characters.) It was at
this point in the series that the stories began to focus on the
thing that Yogi Bear is popularly remembered for; namely,
carrying out clever schemes to deprive campers of their
"pic-a-nic" baskets or otherwise con a meal, and his personal
struggle with the ever harassed Ranger Smith, who did his best
to uphold park policy.
Yogi was too big a
star to let fall into obscurity once his own series ran its
course, so for several decades he served as the front man for
numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons that brought together large
casts of characters who formerly had their own series. In
addition to numerous specials, Yogi starred in
Yogi's Gang
(1973), Yogi's Space Race (1978) and its spin-off series Galaxy
Goof-Ups (also 1978), Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985), The New Yogi
Bear Show (1988) and Yo Yogi! (1991). He was also team leader of
the Yogi Yahooeys
in the 1977 series, Scooby's All Star
Laff-A-Lympics.
