Hanna-Barbera's 'The Banana Splits' to return as a horror movie

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/20/hanna-barberas-the-banana.html

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As well as the viral success of the “Movie X recut as a horror trailer” family of memes. I won’t be watching it, because I’m a fully-grown adult who is already afraid enough of the dark, but I cringe thinking about other short-form viral offerings whose huge but casual popularity could not carry a fully-formed entity. Geico Cavemen, I’m looking at you.

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Awww, man, no! The Banana Splits is one of the last purely innocent, silly shows from my childhood that has not been retconned into something awful. The other one would be H.R. Puffenstuff. And yes, as I got older I recognized the implication in the name, but it was innocent fun silliness in my memory, anyway. I guess you could put New Zoo Review in there as well. Sigh. This might belong in “I’m so old that…”

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I would normally expect a corporation to be far more fiercely protective of its brands. But then, “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” could have been completely made up yesterday for all it means to me.

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Exactly! This is probably geared towards a younger audience, so why not target them with creepy takes on Teletubbies, or Barney…oh, wait.

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So disappointed. I thought it was one of those awesome DC Comics/Hanna Barbera cross-overs.

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It should be set at CNN center in Atlanta. Formerly the “Omni” which had a Sid and Marty Krofft theme park upstairs.https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cnn-krofft-amusement-theme-park-atlanta-georgia

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Exactly. Tough to make them more horrifying than they already are.

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Hannah Barbera seem weirdly relaxed about their intellectual property. Perhaps that’s why we of Gen X love them so … well, not fiercely, obviously, but quite a lot.

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I loved this show when I was a kid! Does anyone else remember “Danger Island?” “The Sour Grapes?”

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Jonny Quest! The original, not the horrible remake. Kinda racist now, but still pretty cool for the day.

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This could be cool, as they are kinda creepy already and nobody’s done anything with the characters for about 40 years.

Me, I hope to one day see a really cool sci-fi movie based on Thundarr The Barbarian, but the chances of that actually happening and also being good are next to nil.

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Original Johnny Quest had amazing animation and character design for its era.

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Well as long as Hanna Barberra is licensing their kitschy old properties maybe they should look at a Captain Caveman movie. I hear superheroes are still profitable!

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Dude, you ain’t that old. I remember hating this crap as a kid because it was so fucking awful, but then I grew up with classic Warner Bros cartoons and some of the even weirder old shit that no grown up was paying any attention to.

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They really want to grimdark everything…

(Wait, was Lost just a grimdark remake of Gilligan’s Island?)

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I smell a games thread coming on…

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And The Arabian Knights cartoon, which just this week I was trying to describe to a work colleague (it was way before his time). Fun fact: the Danger Island segments were directed by Richard Donner, who went on to direct The Omen, Superman, Superman II, Ladyhawke, The Goonies, and all the Lethal Weapon films. Uh-oh, Chongo!

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Relevant! :slight_smile:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7571952.stm

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