Yogi’s Gang

Yogi’s Gang was a spin-off series based on the 1972, ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, Yogi’s Lark Ark. In Yogi’s Ark Lark, Yogi Bear was joined by a host of established Hanna-Barbera characters as they traveled around the globe in a large, flying houseboat they called Noah’s Ark in search of “the perfect place” to establish a new home, away from all the pollution and litter that naturally accumulate wherever mankind takes up residence. The boat was named after Noah Smitty, the Jellystone Park maintenance man who oversaw the building of the boat and was named the crew’s captain.

Yogi’s Gang was based off the TV special, but with several differences. In the series, the crew continued to travel the globe in a flying boat, but Yogi Bear was skipper of the crew and the craft itself was called Yogi’s Ark. In addition, rather than focusing on ecological issues, the show pitted Yogi and his friends against the moral imperfections of mankind, personified by individual villains with names that identified their flaws, such as Mr. Fibber, The Envy Brothers, Mr. Cheater, Mr. Bigot and the like. Usually, one or more members of the crew were unwittingly afflicted with these darker tendencies by the villain of the episode, who was full of bad advice and false wisdom, until the crew eventually realized what was happening and overcame their adversary with some clear-headed thinking.

The series ran for two years on ABC. In 1977 it was rebroadcast as a segment on the syndicated weekday series, Fred Flintstone and Friends.