''Yogi's Ark Lark'' is a 1972

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television special produced by Hanna-Barbera, intended to raise

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

awareness. It was broadcast on September 16, 1972, as part of ''

The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie ''The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie'' — retitled ''The New Saturday Superstar Movie'' for its second season — is a series of one-hour animated made-for-television films (some of which also contained live action sequences), broadcast on the ABC ...

'' and served as the four-part episode for ''

Yogi's Gang ''Yogi's Gang'' is an American animated television series and the second incarnation of the ''Yogi Bear'' franchise, which aired 16 half-hour episodes on ABC from , to . The show began as ''Yogi's Ark Lark'', a special TV movie on ''The ABC Satur ...

''. 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 ''Laff-A-Lympics'' is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered as part of the Saturday-morning cartoon program block '' Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics'', on ABC in 1977. The show is a spoof ...

'' and '' Yogi's First Christmas''.

Plot

Concerned about the terrible state of the environment, dozens of animals gather for a meeting in Jellystone Park, chaired by

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

. 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 Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

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 ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

Huckleberry Hound Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to ...

is sent down to wake him. They then end up stranded in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

which they originally mistake for a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

. The desert sun causes Yogi to hallucinate and believe he is pharaoh

King Tut Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

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 Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

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 Dum Dum is a city and a municipality of Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata urban area and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Etymology During the 19th ...

to emerge and throw water at him,

Quick Draw McGraw Quick Draw McGraw is a fictional anthropomorphic horse and the protagonist and title character of '' The Quick Draw McGraw Show''. He is a white horse, wearing a red Stetson cowboy hat, a red holster belt, a light blue bandana, and occasion ...

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 ''Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har'' is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired as part of the 1962 series ''The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series'' starring the titular anthropomorphic lion and hyena duo in a series of go ...

's complaining. Yogi Bear becomes aware of this just as So-So spots a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

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 Atom Ant is a cartoon ant and superhero, created by Hanna-Barbera in 1965. Atom costarred in ''The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show'' (sharing top billing with Secret Squirrel). In syndication, Atom Ant aired alongside '' Precious Pupp'' and '' The ...

, Augie Doggie,

Baba Looey Baba Looey is a fictional Mexican donkey that appeared in ''The Quick Draw McGraw Show''. He is the deputy and familiar to Sheriff Quick Draw McGraw. He speaks Spanish with a Mexican accent. He was originally voiced by Daws Butler. Character ...

, Benny the Ball, Boo-Boo, Lambsy, 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 Wally may refer to: Music * Wally (band), British prog rock band ** ''Wally'' (album), a 1974 album by Wally * ''La Wally'', an opera by Alfredo Catalani Other uses *Wally (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *WALLY, a propose ...

and

Squiddly Diddly Squiddly Diddly is an anthropomorphic animated octopus created by Hanna-Barbera, who was featured in his own cartoon segment on '' The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show'' beginning in 1965. Fictional character biography The round-headed, sailor-hatt ...

are cleaning the rivers,

Paw A paw is the soft foot-like part of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws. Common characteristics The paw is characterised by thin, pigmented, keratinised, hairless epidermis covering subcutaneous collagenous and adipose tissue, ...

and Shag Rugg are picking up garbage around their house, and Yogi Bear picks up a recently discarded hamburger wrapper.

List of characters

The following Hanna-Barbera characters appeared in this movie (not all of whom appeared on ''Yogi’s Gang'') in alphabetical order: *

* Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy * The Hillbilly Bears *

Hokey Wolf ''Hokey Wolf'' is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon about the adventures of a con-artist wolf who is always trying to cheat his way into the simple life. He is often accompanied alongside by his young, diminutive, sidekick son Ding-A-Ling Wolf, both of who ...

and Ding-A-Ling *

* Lambsy *

Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har ''Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har'' is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired as part of the 1962 series ''The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series'' starring the titular anthropomorphic lion and hyena duo in a series of go ...

* Magilla Gorilla * Moby Dick (from '' Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor'') * Peter Potamus and So-So * Pixie and Dixie *

and

* Ruff and Reddy * Sawtooth the Beaver (Rufus Ruffcut's pet beaver on '' Wacky Races'') *

Secret Squirrel ''Secret Squirrel'' is a cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera and also the name of his segment in ''The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show'', which debuted in 1965. He was given his own show in 1966, titled ''The Secret Squirrel Show'', but was ...

* Snagglepuss *

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season of ...

and his gang (Benny the Ball, Spook, Choo-Choo, Fancy-Fancy, and Brain) * Touché Turtle and Dum Dum *

* Yakky Doodle and Chopper *

and Boo-Boo * An unknown dinosaur character

Differences between pilot and series

* Although this was the pilot for ''

'', 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

, were also written out, thus giving the ark a smaller crew. * This one-hour feature was later turned into two half-hour episodes of ''

'' with 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 ''

'', with different lyrics.

Cast

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry H ...

– Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Wally Gator, Peter Potamus, Augie Doggie, Lippy the Lion, Dixie, Baba Looey, Lambsy, Top Cat *

Henry Corden Henry Corden (born Henry Cohen; January 6, 1920 – May 19, 2005) was a Canadian-born American actor, best known for taking over the role of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed's death in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was in the 1 ...

– Paw Rugg, Truck Driver #1 *

Walker Edmiston Walker Edmiston (February 6, 1926 – February 15, 2007) was an American radio, television and voice actor. Early years Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Edmiston participated in local theater productions during his high school years. He later stu ...

– Squiddly Diddly, Yakky Doodle *

Allan Melvin Allan John Melvin (February 18, 1923 – January 17, 2008) was an American actor and impressionist, who was cast in hundreds of television episodes from the 1950s to the early 1990s, often appearing in recurring roles on various series. Some of th ...

– Magilla Gorilla, Truck Driver #2, Man * Don Messick – Boo-Boo, Atom Ant, Touché Turtle, Pixie, So-So, Moby Dick * John Stephenson – Benny the Ball, Doggie Daddy, Hardy Har Har *

Jean Vander Pyl Jean Thurston Vander Pyl (October 11, 1919 – April 10, 1999) was an American voice actress. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon ''The Flintstones''. In ...

– Flo Rugg, Maw Rugg, Woman *

Lennie Weinrib Leonard Weinrib (April 29, 1935 – June 28, 2006) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for playing the title role in the children's television show '' H.R. Pufnstuf'', Grimace in McDonaldland commercials, the title role in ...

– Cap'n Noah Smitty

Home media

''Yogi's Ark Lark'' was released on the ''Yogi's Gang: The Complete Series''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

from the Warner Archive Collection on February 19, 2013.

References

External links

* *
Toonarific Cartoons: Pictures from ''Yogi's Ark Lark''
{{Wally Gator 1972 television films 1972 films Hanna-Barbera animated films Animated crossover films The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie Environmental films Films directed by William Hanna Films directed by Joseph Barbera Noah's Ark in film Yogi Bear films Top Cat films Huckleberry Hound films 1970s American animated films Films produced by Joseph Barbera Films produced by William Hanna Films scored by Hoyt Curtin