It's almost mind-boggling how many Hanna-Barbera cartoons have expanded across the generations. Dating as far back as 1958, Hanna-Barbera first started growing its hold on children's television when Yogi Bear spun out of Huckleberry Hound's show to get his own program. The result was a Hanna-Barberaverse now fully embraced by its latest production, Jellystone!. Set in a town filled with classic cartoon characters, the new show embraces all the best parts of a shared universe to bring the cast into the 21st century.
Jellystone! explicitly refers to a Hanna-Barberaverse in its first season. While the term is sort of glib and self-aware, there's truly no better way to describe the project. Complete with an ensemble cast that shares the narrative weight, Jellystone! focuses on the titular town where Huckleberry Hound is the mayor, Yogi and Cindy Bear are doctors and the genie Shazzan runs the box office at the local movie theater. Aside from nostalgia, the best thing about Jellystone! embracing the Hanna-Barberaverse is that it works.
Each episode splits into halves that focus on a different member of the town. There's rarely an opportunity for any one character's story to grow stale or tiring with so many residents. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast appear as supporting cast members to pop up and entertain. However, the real fun of the show comes in seeing just how all of Jellystone's citizens fit together.
There are even sly winks and nods to other Hanna-Barbera properties. Perhaps one of the best is the romance novel Cindy Bear and her book club read that depicts the steamy romance between Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Waiting to catch other similar references gives Jellystone! an undercurrent that provides an extra layer of entertainment for adults that may be watching.
Perhaps best of all is that it feels so refreshingly modern. Such cartoon characters could easily seem like relics of the 1960s or 1980s long past their heyday. However, giving them the frenetic energy of a self-aware show that puts a modern spin on its universe helps them feel very much 2021. After all, many may know these characters best from Boomerang reruns, and with such a change of venue, they needed a change in pace.
Jellystone! breathes new life into its interconnected universe. Audiences can catch the new series July 29 on HBO Max.
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