Western Animation / Yogi's Treasure Hunt

Fun...tastic TREASURE HUNT! It's fun-fun-fun-fun...TASTIC!

— From the show's theme song

Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985-1988) was one of the earliest segments of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, a syndicated block of Sunday-morning cartoons in the mid-1980s. In each episode, Yogi Bear and his friends received an assignment from Top Cat to find a lost treasure. Along the way, our heroes had to outwit Dick Dastardly and Muttley, who sought the same treasure after eavesdropping on Yogi's group.

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This cartoon provides examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: "The Attack of Dr. Mars" has Yogi catching the eye of Connie, a brawny Inca-Dinca woman and the Chief's daughter, who drags him into dancing with her. He later almost gets hitched to her when she protests against him being sacrificed.
  Yogi: If it's all the same to you, I'd rather be sacrificed!
• Animate Inanimate Objects: Strangely in this series and Fender Bender 500, inanimate objects and even shadows come to life by talking or reacting. Similar to the Flintstones' animal tools, the objects do the same thing during comedic gag moments. The painting theft episode more so treated like the painting had a real mountain lion in it.
• Artistic License – Education: The end of "Goodbye, Mr. Chump" has Dick Dastardly Writing Lines on the chalkboard, even though the episode is set at a university rather than an elementary school.
  Dick Dastardly: I hate being kept after class!
  Muttley: Pipe down and write!
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Snagglepuss often tries to take on the bad guys, only to rescind almost immediately afterwards.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Doggie Daddy briefly turns kaiju-sized after being hit by a malfunctioning shrink ray in "The Attack of Dr. Mars".
  • Monstro-Zilla, an Expy of Godzilla, appears in "Beswitched, Buddha'd and Bewildered".
• Big Good: Top Cat. He assigns the treasure hunts around the world.
• Blatant Lies: A Running Gag sees Top Cat lament about how he's too busy to join the team... only to then be shown skiing with some ladies or relaxing by a pool.
• Cannibal Tribe: Played for Laughs. The Inca-Dinca tribe are this... until the working day is over, upon which they drop the act and prove quite amicable to our heroes.
• Character Catchphrase: Dick Dastardly has "This is all your fault, Muttley!"
• Cool Ship: The S.S. Jelly Roger can not only sail, it can fly and go into space. The S.S. Dirty Tricks is Dastardly's version, loaded with gadgets for spying on the heroes and trying to delay them so he can get to the treasure first.
• Crazy-Prepared: Ranger Smith observing the termites trying to chomp away at their deck: "It's a good thing this deck is made of steel and not wood!"
• Creator In-Joke: Snagglepuss does this in one episode:
  It's barbaric, "Hanna-Barberic", even!
• Crossover: Besides the main cast, there were cameos by Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Penelope Pitstop, Ricochet Rabbit, Touché Turtle, Jabberjaw, and Ruff, among others.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: The Trope Namer himself is here! And, as is tradition, most of his plans to stop the 'treasure chumps' end up going awry due to some flaw he overlooks or Muttley misinterpreting his orders.
  • Best emphasized in "To Bee or Not to Bee", where the gang go after a lost pirate treasure to help Cindy Bear pay the mortgage on her farm. Dick Dastardly, as usual, is also after the treasure - but he's also Cindy's landlord and had engineered her problems to get at her valuable plot of land. Arguably, he's in a win-win situation where he could just sit back and wait - either Yogi and the gang delivers the treasure to him or they fail and he gets Cindy's land, getting a fortune either way. But this being Dick Dastardly, he wants both the treasure and the farm, and this greed ends up biting him and ensuring he gets neither.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mid-way through “The Greed Monster”, Nathan becomes the new Greed Monster and decides to keep all the world’s toys for himself, reasoning that no families (including his own) can have fun without toys. This notion is shot down when Yogi points out that children can have fun without toys, and that his family will be having fun without him while he remains all alone with the world’s toys forever, prompting a Heel–Face Turn from Nathan.
  • The original Greed Monster performed a Batman Gambit by stealing all the toys to lure a child greedier than himself to take her place, but never considered that said child would want to turn the now former Greed Monster into a toy once he transformed into a Greed Monster.
• Distracted by the Sexy: A G-rated version in "Beswitched, Buddha'd and Bewildered", in which a pair of geisha approach Dick Dastardly and offer him tea, causing him to completely forget his mission. Muttley isn't amused:
  "Rassafrassin' goof-off!"
• First-Run Syndication: Originally aired as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera^note Additionally, this show's theme song was the basis for the theme music used by the block (i.e., during the intro and "coming up next" segments) for the first three seasons.
• Forced Transformation:
  • One episode includes a lot of crazy transformations by the end, with Yogi and the rest of the crew being forcibly turned into toys (Yogi and Boo Boo become teddy bears, Huckleberry becomes a wind-up toy, Quick-Draw becomes a rocking horse, etc.), a little girl becomes a doll, and the same girl, the boy traveling with the crew, and Dastardly and Muttley all take turns being giant Greed Monsters.
  • An episode that was a parody of Snow White (with Penelope Pitstop replacing Snow White) also sees the gang (plus special guest Ricochet Rabbit) briefly being turned into frogs by the Wicked Queen during the climax.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In one episode, Dastardly builds a body-swapping machine and successfully uses it on Yogi and everyone else. Yogi is switched with Boo Boo, Huckleberry is switched with Quick Draw, Augie Doggie is switched with his dear ol' Doggie Daddy, Snooper and Blabber are switched with each other, and finally Ranger Smith is switched with Snagglepuss. The episode also sees Dastardly and Muttley themselves briefly switched with each other, and Muttley closes out the episode by switching with the Kaiju that was the focus of the episode. Cue Dastardly running for his life from a snarling and roaring Muttley.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Huckleberry Hound seems to make most of the gadgets used in the gang's treasure hunting. Most of them don't always work quite as planned.
• Hopeless with Tech: Quick Draw. Despite ostensibly being the computer expert on the team, he has no clue how they work due to coming from the Wild West.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Inca-Dinca Tribe from "The Attack of Doctor Mars". They start off wanting to devour Yogi and the gang, then become perfectly friendly when the working day ends. Then, when Yogi accidentally breaks their jukebox, they try to sacrifice Yogi as punishment (under Dick Dastardly's direction). But once Dastardly leaves, they end up being more of an annoyance in trying to marry Yogi to the chief's daughter, finally graduating back to friendly once Huck fixes the jukebox at episode's end.
• Lethal Chef: Snagglepuss is apparently the ship's cook, but other characters will remark on how foul his food smells/tastes. Best demonstrated in the first episode - his chocolate cake is so heavy, it breaks a hole in the Jelly Roger when Yogi drops it.
• Literal Surveillance Bug: "Follow the Yellow Brick Gold" features Dick Dastardly using one to find out where the crew of the Jelly Roger will go to search for the treasure of the week. Although Boo-Boo swats it thinking it's a real fly, it lasts long enough for Dastardly to find out what the gang is after.
• Lovely Assistant: In "Goodbye, Mr. Chump", Penelope Pitstop was a lovely assistant to Hokey Wolf.
• Madness Mantra: In the episode "Yogi's Heroes", Dick Dastardly and Muttley capture Yogi and his friends and force them to watch episodes of Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines. By the time they're finished, all anyone can do is chant "Stop the pigeon, stop the pigeon, stop the pigeon..." until Quick Draw McGraw as El Kabong uses his "kabonger" as a remedy.
• Monster Is a Mommy: The Not Zilla is revealed to be one. After Dastardly and Muttley steal the egg from the cave, it hatches and the baby starts crying for the mother. The larger monster hears this and exclaims "My baby!" before giving chase.
• Needle in a Stack of Needles: In "Follow the Yellow Brick Gold", the treasure of the week is a pot of gold and Dastardly and Muttley force two leprechauns to reveal its location. Needing shovels to pick it up, the villains tie a handkerchief to a nearby tree and make the leprechauns promise they won't remove it. When Dastardly and Muttley return with shovels, they find several trees with one identical handkerchief each.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Besides Yogi and his friends, Dr. Mars was a caricature of "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer.
• No Fourth Wall: Seasons two and three took on a more self-satirical tone as the characters would not only address the audience but often poke fun of themselves doing it. An episode in which El Kabong was on trial for assault with his Kabonger, making it in Judge Hokey Wolf's mind a bad influence on the kids watching, tells:
  El Kabong: (to audience) Gawsh, kids, we're only trying to make you laugh, but don't try this at home!
  • And in another episode, a character asks Top Cat why he can't give them any more clues than he does:
    Top Cat: Are you kidding? I gotta milk this bit part for everything it's worth! Sheesh!
  • Halfway into another episode, Snagglepuss gets sent to jail and finds his cellmates are Dastardly and Muttley. Dastardly bemoans having been stuck there for the entire runtime, and Muttley derides the script as just rotten.
• Not Zilla: Monstro-Zilla, an Expy of Godzilla that shows up in "Beawitched, Buddha'd and Bewildered". The treasure of the week has gone missing, prompting him to return and start smashing up Japan.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Follow the Yellow Brick Gold", the gang is trapped in a room filling with water, and as Huckleberry Hound yells for help the show fades out to an ad break. When the show returns the gang are safe and sound on the roof of the building, and Huck - in one of the show's many No Fourth Wall moments - tells the viewers that they'd have seen an incredible escape "if it weren't for that there commercial interruption" ("Yeah, take Huck's word for it," Snooper adds, "it was a doozy!").
• Only Sane Man: Ranger Smith has more common sense than the rest of the cast. Probably deliberate, as he's the guy who gives the orders around the ship.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Dick Dastardly often uses these. Then again, he and Muttley once fooled Ranger Smith with their impersonations of Yogi and Boo Boo.
• Pie in the Face: In "Heavens to Planetoid", it's apparently a Murgatroydian custom to thank people by throwing pies in their faces. Yogi Bear naturally approves.
• Poor Communication Kills: Doctor Mars in "The Attack of Doctor Mars" claims that unless the Big Dipper Booty is found in twenty-four hours, the planet will be destroyed. Everyone panics, thinking she's going to blow up the Earth, and her actions (taking Doggie Daddy hostage with her shrink ray) don't help her case. It isn't until the episode's climax that she explains what she actually meant — the treasure was a time bomb' that would have detonated the planet if not found in time.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Hokey Wolf appears in "Yogi and the Unicorn" as the villainous wolf in different fairy tales. He admits things were a little slow back home, so he took this part-time job for extra cash. When his obligations are taken care of, he lends Huckleberry Hound a hand on the current quest.
  • The Inca-Dinca Tribe from "The Attack of Doctor Mars" are only a stereotypical Hollywood Native Cannibal Tribe during the working day and are perfectly friendly outside of working hours. Although they do become hostile again when the jukebox breaks, it's implied that Dick Dastardly's essentially gained control of the tribe, since they eagerly jump to it when he orders them to sacrifice Yogi.
• Reel Torture: "Yogi's Heroes" has Dick Dastardly torture Yogi and his friends with an endless marathon of Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines. Or, at least, the Ear Worm theme tune on a loop.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Yogi, as usual. After the "Freaky Friday" Flip, though, he finds himself struggling to do this and considers that just as distressing as his sudden lack of appetite. He's quite relieved when things get back to normal.
• Running Gag: Dick Dastardly proclaiming he'll be rich, followed by Muttley biting him, causing Dastardly to correct himself to say that they'll be rich.
• Silly Reason for War: In "Yogi's Heroes", the reason that Yogi Bear declares war on Dicaragua wasn't because of the exploding pizza delivered by Dick Dastardly. It was because the pizza was cold.
• Spoofs "R" Us: In "The Search For the Moaning Liza", there's a neon sign on the Louvre that says "Art Я us".
• Taps: "Follow the Yellow Brick Gold" has Muttley play the first three notes to honor the Literal Surveillance Bug afer it gets swatted by Boo.
• Theme Tune Rap: Performed by Jon "Bowzer" Bauman.
  "Now you're gonna get a riddle! You're gonna get a clue! You wanna know where the treasure is, the answer's up to you!...^note Hey!"
• Those Two Guys: Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound are never apart in this series.
• Token Human: Ranger Smith was the only human in Yogi's band of treasure hunters. He was all but phased out by the second season, however.
• Toy Transmutation: This befalls the entire regular cast in the episode "The Greed Monster" when they get captured by the eponymous monster and are put through her toy-making machine at the behest of selfish Tagalong Kid Nathan, with Yogi and Boo Boo becoming teddy bears, Huckleberry Hound becoming a wind-up dog toy, Quick Draw McGraw becoming a rocking horse, etc. When Nathan becomes the next Greed Monster due to his selfishness and stinginess with his toys outweighing that of the previous Greed Monster (who turns back into a human girl), he puts her through the machine too, turning her into a doll. While everyone is still animate and able to talk in toy form, none of them are able to get themselves back to normal, return the world's toys to their respective owners, and save the day until Nathan has a Jerkass Realization and does so himself.
• Valley Girl: The "square rock" from "Riddle in the Middle of the Earth."
• Voices Are Mental: "Beswitched, Buddha'd and Bewildered" to the extreme, as noted under "Freaky Friday" Flip.
• Whole Episode Flashback: "The Great American Treasure" explains how Top Cat first brought the team together, having responded to President Ronald Reagan's plea for someone to find the missing American treasure. The Framing Device is T.C. being interviewed on a talk show.
• Worthless Treasure Twist: Reagan explains that the Great American Treasure isn't the statuette (which is actually worthless), saying instead that it's the compassion and kindness that citizens should show each other and what the treasure hunters themselves demonstrated throughout the quest. Yogi and friends consider this heartening and the inspiration to continue searching for other people's missing treasures, while Dick Dastardly is annoyed that all he got out of this was a worthless statuette.
• Your Heart's Desire: Upon the gang entering his castle, the Greed Monster uses "temptation traps" to keep Yogi and the others distracted while Nathan falls right into the trap of giving into his own greed. Yogi and Boo Boo are tempted with a room full of picnic baskets; Snagglepuss, a theater; Augie and Doggie Daddy, a dream doghouse; Snooper and Blabber, their own detective agency, and Huckleberry and Quick Draw, a record studio so they can live out their dream of being country singers.

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