All this time you’ve been excitedly and knowingly pointing to the Masons or the Illuminati or the Bilderbergers (and maybe the Bilderbergers with Cheese) as being secretly in charge of NASA, a sign they have infiltrated the U.S government in their quest for World Domination™. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you’ve been duped.
I am here to tell you the real force that’s in ultimate control of NASA, the U.S. government, the Earth, the universe, even child-proof caps that adults can’t open, is the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio.
How could your skilful deductive logic, assisted by tinfoil hats, miss the signs? They’re oh-so-obvious.
Oh, I know what you’re saying. That’s only one cartoon. Lots of people made cartoons about outer space; Chuck Jones, for instance. It proves nothing, you insist. Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. For within the bowels of 1416 North La Brea Avenue were hidden the seeds from which grew the irrefutable proof that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera went bent not on entertaining—and maybe getting free boxes of Kellogg’s OKs in the bargain—but nothing less than iron-fisted manipulation of something far greater.


For there was not just one cartoon about beings from another planet. There were others—dare I say, a galaxy of them?—perhaps forgotten by the conspiracy community in their dogged search for The Real Truth. The gentle Huckleberry Hound was menaced by a robotic extraterrestrial in ‘Cop and Saucer.’ Pic-a-nic lover Yogi Bear battled alien evil-doers in ‘Space Bear.’ And then there were The Flintstones. Who could forget the eerie horror of Fred being identically duplicated in ‘Ten Little Flintstones’?

Want more proof? Look at the mid-1960s action/adventure shows. The Herculoids was set on a desolate planet, perhaps emblematic of the next world on the list that Hanna-Barbera, through its iron grip on NASA, wished to conquer, having clandestinely wrested control of the Earth. And when children of 1966 looked for Saturday morning entertainment, did the World Overloads at Hanna-Barbera give them a benign, Casper-like spirit befriending little animals that sounded like Sid Raymond? No! Instead, significantly, they got a Space Ghost.

But the biggest clue showing Hanna-Barbera’s rule of NASA can be found by going back to this very date in 1968 and reading the following dispatch from the Associated Press.
From Apollo’s Schirra
‘Yabba-Dabba-Doo!’ Heard When Big Engine Blasted
SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON, Oct. 18 (AP) — With a jolting burst of energy, the Apollo 7 astronauts fired their steering engine today in the most powerful maneuver ever made by a manned spaceship.
“Yabba-dabba-doo!” shouted Navy Capt. Walter M. Schirra Jr. as the huge engine flashed to life and spurted a steady tail of flame for 66 seconds as Apollo 7 raced 120 miles above the Gulf of Mexico.
Far-fetched you say? They once laughed at manned flight, motor cars and chewable vitamins, too.
Then, again, people who believe in outer space and world domination conspiracies could be nothing more than Space Kidettes.
" Verrrry Interesting " ala Arte Johnson. My father in law came over from Austria in the 1950's, worked with, and personally knew the original " Rocket Team ", including Von Braun. I always wondered way he seems get this gleem in his eye whenvever we watch Hanna-Barbera. Did he work for NASA?.....Marshall Space Flight Center?..Redstone?.....HB Productions?..Bill and Joe knew, but they can't tell, now. Hum...The world may never know!. I'll show him this post. I'm sure sure he'll love it.
ReplyDeleteEven though the threat wasn't space-based, I still thought it was cool that Huck could shoot off a rocket ship and get it to rain potato chips.
ReplyDeleteLest we forget, Magilla Gorilla conquered “Planet Zero”, Peter Potamus and So-So were “Stars on Mars”, and even Ricochet Rabbit was appointed “Space Sheriff”!
ReplyDeleteThe list is endless!
Zoinks, Scoob! Like, that kooky space ghost was really Bill Hannah in a mask the whole time.
ReplyDeleteJL, I wish I could find a good copy of that one. In English. I think they used crumpling paper to simulate the sound of chips falling.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who did the animation but a unique bit is when the potato puts his hand around Huck's head, and Huck talks, but only his ears move. The fear take in the helicopter is different, too.
"Yowp-Yowp" Dodsworth,
ReplyDeleteThis Huckleberry Hound episode which involves that giant potato which caused panic on the people, it's Spud Dud, which's from the third season (1960-61) from The Huckleberry Hound Show (Hanna-Barbera/Columbia Pictures, 1958-62).
This episode was animated by George Nicholas.
Of course the universe got more weirder thanks to galaxy HB after the Jetsons left, and the Partirdges anbd Pussycats appeared, and sports teams [Huddles, Globetrotters], came, as did the Brady kids. WAIT-that's Filmation!!
ReplyDeletePS this is my first posting back from my cruise, and I put it on my fsacebook page..
Can anyone remember the cartoon about the little alien in a flying saucer (big nose) that could transform itself into a shaggy dog when in public with his human friend...
ReplyDeleteLook at the terrorist plots in the Jonny Quest series, 1965.
ReplyDelete