This Hanna-Barbera series was another in the studio's 1960s action lineup. Moby Dick features the adventures of Moby Dick the Super Whale with his friends Tom and Tubb and Scooby the Seal. The two boys were blown away from their uncle's exploration boat and rescued from sharks by the giant white whale, who becomes their guardian against the numerous perils of the ocean.
This series so highly deviated from Herman Melville's book Moby-Dick that it might as well be In Name Only, unless our lead himself only is named after said book without actually being the same whale.
In his original series, Moby Dick shared a half hour with Mighty Mightor.
Tropes
- Action Series: One of several produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s, with an underwater theme.
- Adaptational Heroism: Moby isn't a mindless Sea Monster here, but much more benevolent.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: In "The Shimmering Screen", Tom doesn't believe that Tubb has seen a mermaid, and then barely believes his own eyes when he sees the Manta Knight chasing her. This despite routinely encountering other aquatic humanoids (the Gillmen, the Iguana Men, etc) and even multiple encounters with aliens.
- Bat Deduction: "The Sinister Sea Saucer" has the boys doing this exchange when they notice a space capsule making splashdown nearby.Tubb: Maybe some evil force is guiding it into this area!Tom: That's exactly what I was thinking!
- Black Knight: Probably the most unusual threat the boys faced, what with the environment the show chose. In the episode "The Shimmering Screen" (which took place in another dimension, connected to the real world by the aforementioned screen), a "manta knight" shows up with an underwater castle and an army of soldiers while trying to capture a mermaid to lock her up in his tallest tower.
- Cartoon Whale: Moby Dick is drawn as a huge, high-forehead white whale.
- Character Catchphrase: "Gerono-Moby!" Usually spoken by Tubb, but even Moby himself utters it (though his voice is badly garbled).
- Crossover:
- With Space Ghost in his Council of Doom arc. Jan, Jace and Blip get rescued by Moby and friends.
- Moby Dick would also appear in Yogi's Ark Lark, the pilot movie to Yogi's Gang.
- Tom, Tubb and Scooby also appeared in one episode of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
- Glad He's On Our Side: In the episode "The Sinister Sea Saucer". Tug says this about Moby after Moby blows away a giant enemy manta ray.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Inverted. The titular whale in the original novel is written from
the perspective of 1850s whalemen, framed as a legendary, almost Satanic monster. The real whale he was based off of, Mocha Dick, was anything but aggressive. Reports say he was actually curious and docile, and was finally killed attempting to protect another whale and her calf from a group of whalers. Hanna-Barbera's adaptation is more faithful to the Gentle Giant nature of the cetacean. - In Name Only: If you were expecting a faithful adaptation of Melville's book, this is the wrong cartoon for you. However, it could also be that this Moby himself is named after the whale in Melville's book. As in truth the series works fine without any knowledge of the book at all.
- The Juggernaut: Moby is a nigh-unstoppable force of nature that always comes to the boys aid and triumphing over their adversaries.
- Kid Sidekick: Two of them: Tom and Tubb.
- Monster of the Week: Moby had to fight plenty.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Scooby the Seal is one, as Moby himself is the star. The rest of the cast are Moby's sidekicks (as well as exposition-spouters, since Moby can't talk).
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Moby's shown in a few episodes to have the very Aquaman style power to talk to other sea life to get specialized help (swordfish or sawfish to stab or cut the kids free, for instance) in a pinch.
- Superhero: Kind of odd to think of Moby-Dick in this way, but he is one here, especially with how many of the dangers Moby has to protect the boys come from comic-style supervillains who'd be right at home battling Aquaman instead.
- Swallowed Whole: Both in a more "protect us Moby" fashion and in a more nefarious one where in the episode "The Sea Monster". Tubb is swallowed by the title monster and finds that its interior is hollow.
- Threatening Shark: They appear not only in the origin story but also in several episodes.
- Three Shorts: The show ran on this format. This was the middle segment between two Mighty Mightor cartoons. Unusually, Moby got top billing even though Mightor dominated the show.
- Trapped in Another World: Effectively, since the boys are in the middle of "uncharted waters" (whatever that meant even in 1967) and never try to make their way to back to land to rejoin civilization.
- In the "Shimmering Screen", this is taken to the next level, as the titular Screen is a portal between dimensions that only opens only once every hundred years, and they're in danger or becoming trapped on the other side. At the end of the episode, the mermaid they rescue chooses to stay on their side of the portal as it closes.
- We Will Meet Again: Most defeated villains promised to get revenge for their defeat. The series didn't run long enough for any of this to prove true.
