ogi's Gang was a
spin-off series based on the 1972, ABC Saturday Superstar Movie,
Yogi's Lark Ark. In Yogi's Ark Lark, Yogi Bear was joined by a
host of established Hanna-Barbera characters as they traveled
around the globe in a large, flying houseboat they called Noah's
Ark in search of "the perfect place" to establish a new home,
away from all the pollution and litter that naturally accumulate
wherever mankind takes up residence. The boat was named after
Noah Smitty, the Jellystone Park maintenance man who oversaw the
building of the boat and was named the crew's captain.
Yogi's Gang was
based off the TV special, but with several differences. In
the series, the crew continued to travel the globe in a
flying boat, but Yogi Bear was skipper of the crew and the
craft itself was called Yogi's Ark. In addition, rather than
focusing on ecological issues, the show pitted Yogi and his
friends against the moral imperfections of mankind,
personified by individual villains with names that
identified their flaws, such as Mr. Fibber, The Envy
Brothers, Mr. Cheater, Mr. Bigot and the like. Usually, one
or more members of the crew were unwittingly afflicted with
these darker tendencies by the villain of the episode, who
was full of bad advice and false wisdom, until the crew
eventually realized what was happening and overcame their
adversary with some clear-headed thinking.
The series ran for
two years on ABC. In 1977 it was rebroadcast as a segment on the
syndicated weekday series, Fred Flintstone and Friends.