In 1958, history was made when Hanna-Barbera launched the first completely animated television series to hit American airwaves with The Huckleberry Hound Show. Now, children all over North America were able to tune in on Saturday mornings and thrill to three separate cartoon adventures featuring Yogi Bear, Pixie And Jinxie with Mr. Jinks, and of course, old Huckleberry Hound himself and Kellogg's, being the show's sponsor, was able to capitalize on the audience!

The show ran for fifty-seven episodes in total, of which twenty-six are represented on this first volume. The three story cartoons prove to be a lot of fun and while some of the material sticks a little close to the formula and as such becomes a bit predictable, that's half the fun of the material – just how will Yogi and Boo Boo get that picnic basket and escape the Ranger this time? We know they'll do it, there's no suspense there, the catch lies in 'how' it happens and the masterminds behind this series always seemed to come up with some pretty creative ways to make that happen.

Some of the Pixie and Jinxie material comes dangerously close to being a Tom & Jerry clone in spots but Mr. Jinks is cool enough and funny enough to save these bits, always there with a catch phrase or a one liner to save the day.

While Yogi would go on to get his own show and become a lot more popular than any of the other characters from this series, the star of the show this time out really is Huckleberry Hound himself. His strange southern drawl and penchant for breaking into song make him a completely loveable character and a pretty funny one as well. The writers and animators weren't in the least bit concerned with consistency or realism, nor should they have been, and as such they weren't afraid to place the dog in all manner of oddball scenarios, each one different from the next. One week he's be hanging out with Wee Willie, the next week he'd be taking on some trappers, the week after that he might be helping the police, and then the next week you might find him acting out a famous fairy tale. It was this freewheeling scripting and story development that made Huckleberry Hound as much fun as he was.

While the animation throughout the show might look primitive to those used to today's very different way of bringing moving pictures to life, the flat backgrounds and hand drawn characters have a completely endearing charm all their own and while maybe they're not as technically complex as some of today's animated fare, it's shows like this that remind us how far the industry has come in terms of what it's able to do and how fast it's able to do it. Considering the enduring popularity of the characters that this series spawned and the animation boom that kicked off shortly after this shows success, it's no wonder that the series is held in such high regard by fans of classic cartoons.

Despite the limitations of the animation, the series proved to be quite successful and a lot of the credit for that has to go to the voice actors who brought the series to life. The famous Daws Butler voiced many of the characters that popped up throughout the series, handling vocal duties for not only Yogi Bear but also for Huckleberry Hound and Mr. Jinks. The equally talented Don Messick voiced Boo Boo and Pixie, and he'd later go on to fame as the voice of Scooby-Doo.

The twenty-six episodes contained on this set are laid out as follows (Yogi Bear is usually first, followed by Pixie And Dixie, and concluding with Huckleberry Hound though there is some deviance from that line up from time to time):

Episode One: Yogi Bear's Big Break/Cousin Tex/Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie

Episode Two: Slumber Party Smarty/Judo Jack/Lion-Hearted Huck

Episode Three: Pie Pirates/Kit-Kat-Kit/Tricky Trapper

Episode Four: Big Bad Bully/Jinks' Mice Device/Sir Huckleberry Hound

Episode Five: Foxy Hound Dog/Pistol Packin' Pirate/Sheriff Huckleberry

Episode Six: Big Brave Bear/Scaredy Cat Dog/Rustler-Hustler Huck

Episode Seven: Tally Ho-Ho-Ho/The Little Bird-Mouse/Freeway Patrol

Episode Eight: High-Fly Guy/Jiggers/It's Jinks/Cock-a-Doodle Huck

Episode Nine: Baffled Bear/The Ghost With The Most/Two Corny Crows

Episode Ten: The Brave Little Brave/The Ace of Space/Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie

Episode Eleven: Yogi Bear's Big Break/Jinks Junior/Fireman Huck

Episode Twelve: The Stout Trout/Cousin Tex/Dragon Slayer Huck

Episode Thirteen: The Buzzin' Bear/Jinks The Butler/Lion-Hearted Huck

Episode Fourteen: Slumber Party Smarty/Jinks' Flying Carpet/Hookey Daze

Episode Fifteen: The Runaway Bear/Judo Jack/Skeeter Trouble

Episode Sixteen: Be My Guest Pest/Puppet Pals/Tricky Trapper

Episode Seventeen: Pie Pirates/Mark Of The Mouse/Sheep-Shape Sheepherder

Episode Eighteen: Duck In Luck/Kit-Kat-Kit/Barbecue Hound

Episode Nineteen: Bear On A Picnic/Dinky Jinks/Sir Huckleberry Hound

Episode Twenty: Big Bad Bully/Hypnotize Surprise/Hokum Smokum

Episode Twenty-One: Prize-Fight Fright/Jinks' Mice Device/Birdhouse Blues

Episode Twenty-Two: Brainy Bear/Nice Mice/Postman Picnic

Episode Twenty-Three: Robin Hood Yogi/King-Size Surprise/Ski Champ Chump

Episode Twenty-Four: Daffy Daddy/Cat-Nap Cat/Lion Tamer Huck

Episode Twenty-Five: Scooter Looter/Mouse-Nappers/Little Red Riding Huck

Episode Twenty-Six: Hide And Go Peek/Boxing Buddy/The Tough Little Termite

Overall, this is a really nice selection of material. Though there is a wee bit of repetition in terms of content (a couple of segments show up twice, which is a shame) most of the gags and jokes still work really well even today. The characters and most of the humor has aged very well and it's great to be able to go back to these episodes through the magic of DVD. What hasn't aged so well, however, are some of the racial stereotypes. While personally I'm able to chalk it up to a product of a by gone era where political correctness was nothing more than a vague turn, some of the supporting characters depicted in a couple of episodes could be construed as a little offensive to certain people (the Judo Jack sketch being a prime example). Other than that, having almost half of the complete run of the series in one handy-dandy DVD boxed set is a treat and it's nice to be able to have this material made available again, especially considering its importance in the history of American television animation.

Video:

Each and every one of these episodes was meant to be seen fullframe and that's exactly how they appear in this set. Thankfully, the elements look to have been in pretty good shape for this release as the video quality is great. Colors are nice and strong, print damage is surprisingly minimal, and there aren't any mpeg compression issues noticeable at all. There is a fine coat of grain overtop the picture pretty consistently and a few small scratches here and there but that's to be expected considering the age of the episodes. Overall, this set looks quite nice.