Animated Versions of Prime-Time Series

The 1980's showcased many animated series based upon nighttime hits. Hanna-Barbera produced many of these spin-offs. Below are pictures from some of the Hanna-Barbera adaptations.

The Dukes (CBS-TV 1983)

This animated version of the successful prime-time series, The Dukes of Hazzard, began on CBS-TV on February 5, 1983, as a mid-season replacement series. It tried to duplicate the daredevil driving and down-home country humor of the live-action show by utilizing the voices of the original stars.

Sorrell Booke as Boss Hogg, Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke, James Best as Sherrif Roscoe Coltrane, and Denver Pyle as Uncle Jesse recreated their night-time roles. The cartoon originally featured the voices of Christopher Mayer as Vance Duke and Byron Cherry as Coy Duke, the two actors who had replaced Tom Wopat (Luke Duke) and John Schneider (Bo Duke) for a season on the prime-time series. When Wopat and Schneider returned to the night-time series in September, 1983, they also began voicing their characters on the animated series. Unfortunately it was too late for the cartoon, as it left the air on October 29, 1983, being replaced by reruns of Plastic Man.

Hear the theme, in RealAudio

The Dukes

Hanna-Barbera (CBS-TV) 1983

Fonz and The Happy Days Gang (ABC-TV 1980)

Henry Winkler as the Fonz, Ron Howard as Richie, and Donny Most as Ralph all supplied their voices to this animated version of the hit ABC-TV series, Happy Days

The cartoon added a dog, Mr. Cool (voiced by Frank Welker), and a girl from the future, Cupcake (voiced by DiDi Conn) to the cast as they travel through history in a time machine, trying, as narrator Wolfman Jack put it, "...to get back to 1957 Milwaukee."

Laverne And Shirley In The Army, which had begun on October 10, 1981, was renamed Laverne And Shirley With The Fonz and had the Fonz working in the motor pool as the chief mechanic. The series ran until September 3, 1983.

Mork and Mindy (ABC-TV 1982)

The cast of the prime-time Mork and Mindy series loaned their voices to this animated version of the show.

The series chronicled alien Mork's experiences as a student at Mt. Mount High, where he had enrolled under orders from Orson, his superior from the planet Ork. Orson wanted him to report back on the lifestyle of teen-aged Earthlings.

The series began September 25, 1982 and ran until September 3, 1983. Voices from the live-action series included Robin Williams as Mork, Pam Dawber as Mindy, Conrad Janis as Mindy's father Fred McConnel and Ralph James as Orson. They were joined by Stanley Jones as Mr. Caruthers, the principal, Shavar Ross as Mork's friend Eugene and Mark Taylor as his friend Hamilton.

The cartoon, a Hanna-Barbera Production, was actually animated by Hanna-Barbera's sister company, Ruby-Spears Enterprises, in an arrangement similar to the one they did that year with Scooby Doo.

For more information on Spin-Off Cartoons see
Cartoon-O-Rama's TV Spin-Offs!

Also check out Cartoon-O-Rama's

The Forgotten Works of Hanna-Barbera

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