Ho-Ho-Límpicos

I was disappointed in the previous "Yogi's Gang" series, but this successor cartoon, a parody of the 1976 Olympic Games, makes up for it. Again many Hanna-Barbera characters are brought back and new ones added, and they are divided into three competing sports teams, the Yogi Yahooies, the Scoobie-Doobies, and the Really Rottens, the latter composed of villainous characters who try to win by cheating.

This is not a morality play, but simply a comedy with the various teams competing in various Olympic-type events. The Really Rottens, invariably jeered by the audience, try to cheat every time, and usually fail, but sometimes they get away with it. Basically a period piece for the tykes, but still enjoyable.

This was a super show when I was a kid. A+ It featured all the cartoon characters from Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo to Fred Flintstone and Captain Caveman! Each week the characters, which were divided into 3 teams, competed in Olympic-type events. I loved this show!

If you like old cartoons, this one is is perfect for you. It features mostly all of the Hanna-Barbera characters in an "Olympic" style setting. There are 3 teams: The Yogi Bear's, the Scooby Dooby's, and the Really Rottons. Each episode, the individual teams try to win enough events to get the gold metal. The Really Rottons hardly ever win, because they mainly resort to cheating. If you like old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, check this one out. I think it may still be playing on Cartoon Network.

I was born in 1976 so I grew up with all these crazy beloved Hanna-Barbera characters. The Laff-A-Lympics are a great show idea of mixing lots of your favorite HB characters, esp the older characters like Huckleberry Hound. The format I'd the show is a great idea AND when you factor in the "who's competing this week? You get a lot more fun. All the locations are awesome. Also it's always fun to see how the Rottens are cheating and (gasp!) are they going to get caught?!? Add to that the silliness of cartoon logic-Speed Buggy and Tinker LOSE the dune buggy race?!? Yakky Doodle is supposed to pull Grape Ape?!? And there's a 3 dog sled race, do the Scoobies strap in Scooby Doo, Scooby Dumb and Dynomutt? Nope they make the Teen Angel girls pull Captain Caveman! So for all that, this is an amazing show concept and delivers all that 5-10 year old me could want.

Now I've rewatched this as an adult and let me just say this-THESE OLYMPICS ARE RIGGED! When you're a kid-it's the Rottens, you're constantly having to keep an eye on them. But they're not the real issue-it's clear that the REAL cheaters are the Scoobies! The name of the show tells you all you need to know, the Scoobies dominate this thing, and it's not even close. Having WAY too much time on my hands, I recorded the wins. And here is the breakdown: in 24 episodes, 1st place wins, Scoobies 14, Yogis 7, the Rottens manage a measly 2 and the final episode is a 3 way tie. Where do I begin? The Yogis are CLEARLY the better team, have more team members, a lot more diversity of talent and a 40 foot gorilla! But time and time again they suffer losses from the no good Scoobies. Tell me how Quick Draw McGraw (the FASTEST draw in the West) loses ANYTHING?!? What about Yogi? He is LITERALLY smarter than the average bear!! But he's taking a loss to Shaggy?!? Get out of here with that nonsense. If the Great Fondue does bad magic, the Rottens get minus 50 points-but if Babu "yapple dapples" it's gold, baby, it's gold for the Scoobies all day. Disgusting.

The opening is your first tip off- every show intro focuses on Scooby, Dynomutt and Captain Caveman who are ALL on Team Scooby. Bias much?!? Sure, there's plenty to like in Team Scooby and they've got 4 solid super heroes (Caveman, B Falcon, Dynomutt AND Hong Kong Phooey!) but the lopsided refereeing is shameless. When the Scoobies win 8 of the first 10 episodes, it's pretty clear the fix is in and the Rottens are just a red herring.

Watching this as adult, my real beef isn't with the Rottens-Daisy Mayhem is going to Daisy Mayhem. I EXPECT that. But I tell you what hurts the most, what really cuts: Snagglepuss. That cat got his start on Yogis show in 1961! That's 60 years of friendship. Does Snagglepuss do the right thing? Does he keep the games on the up and up? Oh heck no! He's clearly been bought and paid for by the Scoobies. Seeing this betrayal is hard. It's embarrassing seeing Snaggiepuss just sitting there, with all his authority, watching this miscarriage of justice and just punking over his old friend. Snag needs to "exit: stage fraudulent."

Can you imagine your kids, glued to the television, watching a cartoon as if it were the real Olympics and rooting for their favorite team of cartoon characters to win? that's sort of exactly what this show was. I vaguely remember arguing with the twins next door about what team was better and worrying that the Really Rottins would win even though they always cheated and....the 80s were insane for children.

Cartoon crack.

And hysterical to boot.

Unfortunately, as you get older, it's harder to really identify with cartoons and root for your favorite teams like you did when you were really little.

It's harder to suspend your disbelief enough to convince yourself that, yes, this is a real competition like the Olympics for cartoons...

But as a kid, this was awesome and as an adult, well, it's as nostalgic as it is embarrassing. The vague memories of your five-year-old self and how memorized you were by the Olympics, how much you felt was at stake...well...

The good news is that now you can introduce it all to 5 year-olds and watch them get as excited about it as you were.