Yogi's Ark Lark is a 1972 American animated television film produced by Hanna-Barbera, intended to raise ecological awareness. It was broadcast on September 16, 1972, as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and served as the pilot for Yogi's Gang.
Plot[]
Concerned about the terrible state of the environment, dozens of animals gather for a meeting in Jellystone Park, chaired by Yogi Bear. They decide to leave their homes and search for "the perfect place" — a place free of pollution, deforestation, and other forms of mankind's despoilment. Jellystone maintenance man Noah Smitty helps them build a flying ship (which looks like Noah's Ark with a propeller on top) for their journey, and they decide to name it after him. Because "Smitty's Houseboat" is too long to paint on the bow, they name it "Noah's Ark." With Yogi at the helm, they travel to places around the world, searching for "the perfect place."
They start by driving down the highway into the ocean, where they soon end up on the back of a sleeping Moby Dick. Huckleberry Hound is sent down to wake him. They then end up stranded in the Sahara Desert which they originally mistake for a beach. The desert sun causes Yogi to hallucinate and believe he is pharaoh King Tut and his friends are his slaves, until Boo-Boo and Noah Smitty arrive. Some moments later, So-So the monkey spots an oasis, which is "the perfect place." As Yogi and crew settle down to make themselves at home, Lambsy spots a "dragon" which turns out to be a construction vehicle developing a new city. Yogi and the crew then take their leave of the area. They arrive in Antarctic territory, which is a new and improved "perfect place." They begin settling there, until a similar situation happens like at the oasis. Next, Yogi and the crew wind up in outer space upon going up too far, which is a brand new "perfect place." It isn’t long before Earth ejects its "junk" (missiles, satellites, etc.) into space.
With the Ark back on earth and sailing the sea, tensions arise between the animals: Huck throws water down a pipe which causes Dum-Dum to emerge and throw water at him, Quick Draw McGraw insults Snagglepuss’ slicing of salami, Peter Potamus insults Magilla Gorilla by telling him he looks like a gorilla, and Lippy the Lion grows tired of Hardy Har Har's complaining. Yogi Bear becomes aware of this just as So-So spots a typhoon coming. The animals struggle to survive the typhoon. The typhoon lands them on top of a mountain, and the animals almost believe that they’ve found what they’ve been looking for... only to be disappointed again when Yakky Doodle returns with an empty tin can and the animals notice a deforestation occurring.
At this point, the younger animals (consisting of Atom Ant, Augie Doggie, Baba Looey, Benny the Ball, Boo-Boo, Lambsy Divey, Pixie and Dixie, Shag Rugg, Touché Turtle and Yakky Doodle) decide that they should all simply go back home and clean up the messes that they were trying to escape. This decision is met with unanimous approval, and the animals all head for home so that they can start turning it into "the perfect place".
During the credits, Wally Gator and Squiddly Diddly are cleaning the rivers, Paw and Shag Rugg are picking up garbage around their house, and Yogi Bear picks up a recently discarded hamburger wrapper.
Characters[]
Yogi's Gang (in alphabetical order)
- Atom Ant
- Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
- The Hillbilly Bears
- Maw Rugg
- Paw Rugg
- Floral Rugg
- Shag Rugg (no lines)
- Hokey Wolf and Ding-a-Ling (no lines)
- Huckleberry Hound
- Lambsy Divey
- Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har
- Magilla Gorilla
- Peter Potamus and So-So
- Pixie and Dixie
- Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey
- Ruff and Reddy (no lines)
- Secret Squirrel (no lines)
- Snagglepuss
- Squiddly Diddly
- Top Cat and his gang (Benny the Ball, Spook (no lines), Choo-Choo (no lines), Fancy-Fancy (no lines), and Brain (no lines))
- Touché Turtle (speaking) and Dum-Dum (no lines)
- Wally Gator
- Yakky Doodle (speaking) and Chopper (no lines)
- Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo
Guest Characters
- Lulubelle (from The Flintstones, only guest appearance, no lines)
- Moby Dick (from Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor)
- Sawtooth the Beaver (from Wacky Races, only guest appearance)
Other
- Ranger Smith (mentioned)
- Noah Smitty (only appearance)
- Henry (only appearance)
- Mildred (only appearance)
- Joe (only appearance)
- Mildew Wolf (mentioned)
Groups[]
- Yogi's Gang (first appearance)
Locations[]
Earth[]
- Jellystone Park
- Sahara Desert
Objects[]
- Saw
- Window paint
- Wood planks
- Barrel
- Hammer
- Rope
- Colored TV set
- Top Cat's autographed set of Arnold Palmer golf clubs (only appearance)
- Top Cat's 15th century King Louie XIV bathtub (only appearance)
- Water bucket
- Brooms
- Surfboard
- Volleyball
Food
- Bananas
- Popcorn
Animals[]
- Bears
- Deer
- Squirrel
- Raccoon
Vehicles[]
- Yogi's Ark (first appearance, formerly as Noah's Ark)
- Yogi's fellucca (only appearance, as a mirage)
- Steam shovel (only appearance)
- Snowplow (only appearance)
- Snowmobiles
- Rockets
Songs[]
- The Perfect Place
Cast[]
Differences between pilot and series[]
- Although this was the pilot for Yogi's Gang, some changes were made for the series:
- Noah Smitty was written out, and only the animals were on the ark.
- The vessel’s name was changed from "Noah's Ark" to "Yogi's Ark".
- Some of the animals, such as Top Cat, were also written out, thus giving the ark a smaller crew.
- This one-hour feature was later turned into two half-hour episodes of Yogi's Gang with a new intro and concluding sequences for each episode. To fit the feature into these new time frames, some of its sequences were shortened or edited out.
- The song "The Perfect Place" is sung six times throughout the film, and would later be remade as the theme song for Yogi's Gang, with different lyrics.
Credits[]
Produced and Directed by
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Associate Producer
Lew Marshall
Story
Bob Ogle
Dick Robbins
Story Direction
George Gordon
Starring
Daws Butler as the voices of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and others
Other Voices
Henry Corden
Walker Edmiston
Don Messick
Allan Melvin
John Stephenson
Jean Vander Pyl
Lennie Weinrib
Animation Director
Charles A. Nichols
Production Design
Iwao Takamoto
Production Supervisor
Victor O. Schipek
Layout
Dick Bickenbach
Pete Alvarado
Jaime Diaz
Don Sheppard
Roman Arambula
Joel Seibel
Terry Slade
Animators
Dick Lundy
Rudy Catadli
Hicks Lokey
Tony Love
Tom Ray
Ken Southworth
Bob Goe
Ed Love
Bill Hutten
Morey Reden
Carlo Vinci
Backgrounds
Daniela Bielecka
Cathy Patrick
Walt Peregoy
Don Watson
Titles
Iraj Paran
Musical Director
Hoyt Curtin
Musical Supervision
Paul DeKorte
Technical Supervisor
Frank Paiker
Ink and Paint Supervisor
Jayne Barbera
Xerography
Robert 'Tiger' West
Sound Direction
Richard Olson
Bill Getty
Editorial Supervision
Larry Cowan
Film Editor
James Yaras
Negative Consultant
William E. DeBoer
Post Production
Joed Eaton
Camera
Dennis Weaver
Dick Blundell
Roy Wade
Ralph Migliori
Notes/Trivia[]
- Aside from its environmental message, the film marked a milestone in Hanna-Barbera's history: a wide range of the studio’s characters were united in one story for the first time. This set the tone for future series and specials, such as Laff-a-Lympics and Yogi's First Christmas.
- Top Cat was voiced by Daws Butler, as Arnold Stang wasn't available at the time. This was also the main reason Hokey Wolf didn't have any dialogue in the film.
Errors[]
- At the start of the flashback, when the gang is cheering, Hokey is mistakenly colored like Hardy Har Har.
- Throughout a majority of the film, although it can be speculated that they are there in-universe, the following characters become absent, only to reappear or disappear randomly:
- Lulubelle disappears after helping with building the Ark.
- Sawtooth only appears when he is helping on building the Ark.
- Hokey and Ding-a-Ling randomly disappear and reappear in the background.
- Ruff and Reddy randomly disappear and reappear in the background.
- Lambsy disappears after his first role in the film, only for him to reappear out of nowhere at the end.
- Wally Gator isn't present during a chunk of the film.
- When the gang is convinced that they landed on a beach and go out running, Fancy-Fancy is mistakenly colored blue.
- When the gang finds an island on the Sahara Desert, Daws Butler mistakenly used his Peter Potamus impression for Quick Draw when saying "It's perfect!"