The Huckleberry Hound Show: The Complete Original Series presents all four seasons, 68 episodes across eleven Blu-ray discs, of the animated anthology, which originally ran from 1958 to 1961. It was the second series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. On the packaging, it states, “this presentation is designed to be as faithful to the original broadcasts…as possible. [They] restored the original main title (in color) and original end credits (in B&W from the only surviving source) as first broadcast, and have included many of the bumpers, bridges, and original commercials as possible.” Completists should be very happy with the results.
Buy The Huckleberry Hound Show: The Complete Original SeriesEach episode of The Huckleberry Hound Show opens with, contains within, and closes with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes sponsor ads in color or in black and white. Three cartoons appear in each show, alternating their placement. Some cartoons were repeated through the series run and are here as well “in order to maintain continuity.”
Huckleberry Hound [Daws Butler using a voice he previously used for Tex Avery as Southern Wolf in Droopy cartoon, “The Three Little Pups (1953), and as Smedley in Chilly Willy cartoon, “I’m Cold (1954)] is a kind Southern gentlehound, who is frequently put upon. His good nature is frequently tested but he can only take so much abuse. He is an everyhound, working various jobs, in stories that take place around the world and can be set during any era. Huck can be found during modern times, the Old West, and even in classic stories, such as “Little Red Riding Huck.” In the first episode, he “.., Meets Wee Willie” in a Dragnet spoof.
Pixie (voiced by Don Messick) and Dixie and Mr. Jinks (both voiced by Butler) is a variation on Tom & Jerry but instead of one mouse there’s two, playing off the city mouse and country mouse archetypes.The writers do a good job of balancing the abuse the characters endure. Although Jinks frequently declares he “hates meeces to pieces,” they come across as antagonizing friends more often than not.
Yogi (Butler imitating Art Carney’s Ed Norton character from The Honeymoners) is usually looking for food or an escape from Jellystone Park. He has a little pal named Boo Boo, who is supportive but never an instigator in disappointing, frequent nemesis Ranger Smith. After the first two seasons, Yogi Bear was spun off to lead his own anthology show where he was matched with cartoons starring Snagglepuss and Yacky Doodle. Yogi was replaced by Hokey Wolf (Daws Butler imitating Phil Silvers) for the remainder of the series. Hokey is usually running a scheme and, like Yogi, also has a small pal, Ding-A-Ling Wolf. However, Yogi still appears in the show’s advertisements.
“Meticulously restored from 4K scans of original 35mm negatives,” the video has been given a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC displayed at its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Colors pop in vibrant hues. Blacks are inky and whites are accurate, contributing to a strong contrast. Film grain is apparent as are blemishes in the original art, such as splotches on the faces of bowlers Huckleberry Hound and Powerful Pierre in “Ten Pin Alley” from the second season. Some of the ads appear in black and white and black isn’t consistently inky.
The audio is available in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Dialogue is clear. The music comes through with great fidelity. The effects blend well with the other elements. Track sounds free from hiss or signs of age and wear. The audio on some of the commercials and bridges aren’t as clear.
Special Features on Disc Eleven:
- Huckleberry Hound: A Linguistic Masterpiece (6 min) – A rather silly, needless featurette.
- The Legendary Sound of Daws Butler (13 min) – A tribute to a talented man from other voice actors.
- Quotable Quotes Music Video (2 min) – A music video made from HH cartoon clips.
The Huckleberry Hound Show: The Complete Original Series is an outstanding release from the vaults. As a fan who didn’t see them in their original run, it is wonderful to see all the archival material that accompanied the shows. While it gets repetitive while watching multiple episodes, one can easily skip ahead over material. The high-definition presentation shines a spotlight on the skills on the animators, although with that, it also brings forth blemishes as well. Would expect cartoon fans will have it on their “Best of 2025” lists.
