The properties of Hanna-Barbera include some of the best-known cartoon characters of all time, and their properties are still used by Warner Bros today. Choosing the very best among them is an incredibly difficult task.
10 Josie And The Pussycats
While they are currently appearing on Riverdale in a different form, the original screen adaption of this Archie Comics trio was a Hanna-Barbera show in the 1970s. Josie, Melody and Valerie solved mysteries, had to deal with the antics of their manager’s cruel twin sister and played great songs at their rock shows.
Not only did they have a show, but a follow-up series set in space to boot. The trio have remained a great property for Hanna-Barbera and others over the years and even had a film that came out in 2001.
9 Hong Kong Phooey
There is a certain majesty to a dog janitor that learns kung-fu through a mail order catalog. Hong Kong Phooey would constantly try to take down criminals and usually manage it, through one accident or another, as well as through the help of his friends.
This show is well-remembered today, even if it has had fewer revivals than many of the top Hanna-Barbera productions since the initial run. But this take on the 1970s martial arts movies of the time was a joyous watch and remains excellent viewing to this day.
8 Top Cat
The adventures of Top Cat and the many other cats of Hoagy’s Alley was an early Hanna-Barbera production that took off and remains well-known today, through comic book runs and even multiple films released in the last ten years.
While Top Cat had both the smugness of Bugs Bunny in his trickster attitude and a merry band of friends around, it was his foil in Officer Charlie Dibble that really created the formula the show ran so successfully on. Together, Top Cat and Dibble created magic weekly as Top Cat continued attempting to become a member of the upper class through his antics.
7 The Jetsons
A futuristic family that is still revered and remembered in pop culture, and likely will be forever. It would be a much better-regarded property if it had been an original idea, but The Flintstones formula was taken and reused for a future family instead of one set in the far past for George, Jane, and the family.
Mocking 1960s life through their future antics and producing many memorable moments in their run, the Jetsons have again had less revival experience than many of their counterpart Hanna-Barbera productions, but nevertheless, the name is well-remembered in the history of pop culture.
6 Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is another early breakout for Hanna-Barbera, appearing first in 1958 in The Yogi Bear Show alongside his sidekick Boo Boo. A more original form of Top Cat in some ways, Yogi Bear was a charismatic animal lead that constantly frustrated his human foil, in the form of Ranger Smith.
Yogi was so immediately popular that he became the face of Hanna-Barbera for years and many aspects of his show are still ingrained in pop culture to this day. Alongside other fan-favorite characters like Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle, Yogi Bear has endured in popularity as one of the very best Hanna-Barbera properties and had many cartoon follow-ups as well as a film revival in 2010.
5 Tom & Jerry
While Tom & Jerry isn’t a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, it was created by the two men behind the company and is the show that brought them together initially. It will go down in history as a Hanna-Barbera production and had incredibly enduring popularity that even resulted in a live-action film this past year.
The antics of a cartoon cat trying to finally capture a cartoon mouse are classic, elegant, and wonderful fun even to watch back today. Alongside notable names like the Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry is a piece of cartoon history that deserves a revered place.
4 The Flintstones
Whether The Flintstones is the greatest family in cartoon history is up for debate. But they are the greatest created by Hanna-Barbera in one of their favorite formulaic styles, and the stone-age family is still remembered for many reasons as an iconic piece of pop culture.
The original show itself usually involved Fred Flintstone getting into some scheme or misadventure and pulling his best friend Barney Rubble along for the ride. The episodic mishaps and hijinks were given a classic spin with the prehistoric setting, and the formula worked well for many more cartoons and live-action shows in the future.
3 Super Friends
The Justice League is always a recognizable face on the landscape of pop culture. But long before Zack Snyder, Joss Whedon or any of the other current DCEU heads had their say, there were the Super Friends. The campy, 1970s style of this cartoon defined the Justice League and their adversaries the Legion of Doom for years to come.
It took Jason Momoa to finally help fix the face of Aquaman after what this cartoon did to him, and that level of effect, combined with the effortless bringing-to-life of the 1960s comic books at a time when Superman and Batman couldn’t be more popular was a roaring success and an excellently fun cartoon.
2 Wacky Races
Not one of the very best-known properties ever created by Hanna-Barbera, but simply one of the best as it holds up today, Wacky Races featured Dick-Dastardly and his pal Muttley trying to sabotage various racers competing each week for the title of World’s Wackiest Racer. From the intensely smart writing style and asides that Dick would have to the ludicrous ways he would try to cheat his way to a victory, Wacky Races is sheer genius.
The show managed to spin off other shows like “Dastardly and Muttley In Their Flying Machines” and “The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop” but never was there better writing and comedy in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon than in Wacky Races.
1 Scooby-Doo
But the best creation of Hanna-Barbera productions, one which so eternally endures to this day that there are still multiple films and shows running every year, is Scooby-Doo. The Mystery Gang including their faithful, somewhat talking dog, are at the pinnacle of pop culture reverence.
Solving mysteries, unmasking ghoulish figures to reveal one of the two or three people it could possibly be that week, from the fun characters to the montages of Scooby and Shaggy running from creatures to classic 70s tunes, the Scooby-Doo shows were always ingenious.
More:Best Scooby-Doo Crossovers
