The Top Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time, Part 4

We're now diving into the depths of despair as we continue to list the Top Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time.  We are now moving onto number four, which means after this we'll be listing the top three....  Please do what you can to refrain from hitting the play button on the videos.   Like a bad accident, once you look you may find yourself not looking away.  Please find something else to watch as we proceed onto number four...

10.  Baby Huey
9.    Squiddly Diddly
8.    Buzzy the Crow
7.    Hippity Hopper
6.    Loopy De Loop
5.    Go Go Gophers
4.    The Blue Racer

Depatie-Freleng produced some pretty bad cartoons at the end of their existence, any one of which would qualify as one of the "Worst Cartoon Characters of all time"  I chose the Blue Racer due to fact that A) it's racially insensitive as well as being a bad series and B) I could find a video on line.

Depatie-Freleng was a studio that got its start from the remains of the old Warner Bros. Cartoon Studio.  Friz Freleng teamed up with former WB cartoon producer Dave Depatie to form their own studio, DFE.  They started with commercial work, and were eventually approached by Blake Edwards to produce a title sequence for his Pink Panther film.  The titles were so successful that DFE soon spun the panther off into a series of cartoon for United Artist.  The studio enjoyed success with the Pink Panther cartoons, and eventually produced other cartoon series such as The Inspector and The Ant and the Aardvark.   However, as they went on to produce more cartoon stars, the quality began to slip more and more with each subsequent series.   The last few cartoon series they produced all had the same attributes:  Good design, good music and some decent animation, but lousy concepts and unfunny scripts.   Among the cartoons were:

The Tijuana Toads, which were later renamed (and redubbed) for television as the Texas Toads. 

Sheriff Hoot Kloot, who was modeled after a spokesman for Dodge Trucks...   I kid you not.

The Dogfather.   This was Depatie Freleng's last theatrical series...  Although in television they would go on to create Crazylegs Crane, MisterJaw, and others...

And finally, we get to the Blue Racer.   The Blue Racer was a snake, based on actual snakes found in the Northern United States.   The Blue Racer claims to be the "Fastest Snake in the World" and is usually shown zipping through the scenic backgrounds.   The Blue Racer has no name and very little personality, so the cartoons live and die by the scripts and gags that the writers came up with for this character.   Unfortunatley, most of the cartoons die a painful death.   To add insult to injury, many of the cartoons have the Blue Racer chasing a Japanese Beetle in an effort to make a meal out of the insect.   The beetle is, of course, the most racial insensitive portrayal the writers can come up with...  which you can judge by yourself by watching the snake's debut cartoon, Hiss and Hers, released in 1972.



I admit, this series should have ranked slightly higher....   but I had a hard time finding samples.   To make up for it, as an added bonus, today only, we offer the last Depatie Freleng Dogfather cartoon...   Medicur, from 1976.



 

The Top Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time, Part 5

We're halfway there!  We have already listed numbers 6-10 in the Top Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time, and are now moving onto the Top Five.   Things will be getting much, much worse now, so please only watch the videos if you truly have NOTHING better to do with your day.   If you really give it some thought, I am sure you can come up with something better.  With all warnings in place, we cautiously move onto number five...

10.  Baby Huey
9.  Squiddly Diddly
8.  Buzzy the Crow
7.  Hippity Hopper
6.  Loopy De Loop
5.  The Go-Go Gophers

This culturally sensitive cartoon series was originally part of the Underdog television show from 1966-1968.   The cartoons all took place in Gopher Gulch, home to a Midwest American army fort during the late 19th century.  In charge of the fort was Colonel Kit Coyote, aided by his Sergeant Okey Homa.  At this point in Gopher Gulch history, all the Indians have been driven out of the area except two remaining members of the Gopher Indian tribe, Chief Running Board and Rumbled Feather.  These two have decided to fight the colonization of their land and stay in Gopher Gulch.  The cartoons all deal with the Colonel's efforts to secure Gopher Gulch by eliminating the remaining Indian population, and how the Gopher Indians thwart his every attempt.


I'm not sure who decided the genocide of the Native Americans was great fodder for a cartoon series, especially in the 1960's, but for some reason this series was quite successful.  After appearing on Underdog, the Go-Go Gophers were spun off into their own series from 1968-1969.  They then made random appearances on Tennessee Tuxedo and other Total Television shows in syndication.   As recently as 2012 their cartoons were released on a series of DVD's, despite the fact that the cartoons are probably the most un-PC cartoons ever made for television.  (Interested in buying?  Here's the link)  The subject matter is insensitive and the stereotypes are broad and insulting, with Chief Running Board speaking in dialect that went out of fashion long ago.  Rumpled Feather hardly speaks at all.

In addition to all this, the cartoons are all pretty much the same, not terribly funny, and cheaply animated.   Here's a typical example of a Go Go Gopher cartoon... 

On your right, a set of glasses featuring the Gopher Indians.  A Pepsi giveaway from the late 60's or early 70's.

Below, a 2012 DVD release of "The Best of the Go Go Gophers."   I'm no sure who chose which ones were the best, but if he had to watch all 48 cartoons to decide, he definitely has my sympathies.

The Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time, Number 6

We're still at work, listing the Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time!  Number six has checked in, and you can read all about him in the blog entry below.  Remember, if you have your own list you'd like printed, please send it in and I'll print it and the end of the series.   Now, on to number six...

10.  Baby Huey
9.  Squiddly Diddly
8.  Buzzy the Crow
7.  Hippity Hopper
6.  Loopy De Loop

When I was a kid, we had a book around the house entitled "Huckleberry Hound Treasury."  I loved the early Hanna-Barbera characters at that time, and read this book constantly during my childhood.  It was a great book, containing full-color illustrated stories of all the Hanna-Barbera characters at the time.   Here's a picture of the book.

Such memorable characters!   Yogi Bear!   Mr. Jinks!  Quick Draw McGraw!   Loopy De Loop!   Pixie and...    Loopy De Loop?  Who the heck is Loopy De Loop?    I watched all the Hanna Barbera shows religiously and had never seen hide nor hair of any character named Loopy the Loop.  Was he some long-lost relative of Hokey Wolf?  This character was a total mystery to me.  It took me years until I was able to finally discover his identity.

Loopy was the star in a series of theatrical cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera between 1959 and 1964.   Hanna-Barbera productions was created in 1957 by Joe Barbera and William Hanna.   Joe and Bill had just been fired after almost 20 years with the MGM cartoon department, where they created the Tom and Jerry characters.  They had immediate success in television, creating Ruff and Reddy in 1957, Huckleberry Hound in 1958 and Quick Draw McGraw in 1959.  Meanwhile, theatrical cartoons were going through a uneven time, as several studios were closing their cartoon departments but still wanting a steady supply of new cartoons.   Columbia Pictures was an earlier supporter of Hanna-Barbera (Harry Cohn owned 18% of H-B at the time) and its Screen Gems television subsidiary was handling the H-B product.   Columbia was releasing UPA cartoons to theaters in the late 1950's and when UPA stopped producing theatrical shorts, Columbia turned to H-B for a new series.  H-B created Loopy De Loop, who starred in 48 cartoons between 1959 and 1965.  The cartoons eventually received limited television exposure, but quickly slipped into cartoon oblivion.

A rare Loopy De Loop theater poster

Loopy De Loop is a French-Canadian wolf who has dedicated his life to clearing the bad name wolves have earned throughout the years.  Loopy is a "good wolf" who spends his time trying to do good deeds and prove to the world that he is a "good wolf."   However, he has a hard time convincing everyone of his honorable intentions, and usually gets shot or beaten for his efforts.  The problem with this formula is: 1) it is extremely repetative, and 2) it isn't funny.  After one or two of these cartoons you wish Loopy would revert to "bad wolf" and eat everyone he has encountered in the last 6 minutes.  The cartoons were produced in the same fashion as the rest of H-B's product at the time, which means limited animation and stock music.

For reasons I don't quite understand, Warner Bros. has chosen to release a DVD set of all of Loopy's cartoons (sigh...   yes, I admit, I bought a copy).   For the sadistics out there, here's a link.   Below is Loopy's first appearance in the 1959 cartoon "Wolf Hounded."

Loopy got his own Little Golden Book that was eventually reprinted in the Huckleberry Hound Treasury.

More Loopy merchandise.  Loopy looks a little too...  loopy here.