The Little Rascals (animated series)

Pete pulling Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa, Porky, and Buckwheat.

Vignette title card. Left to right: Porky, Alfalfa, Spanky, Darla, Buckwheat, Pete.

An interstitial used as part of the umbrella series The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show. This is rare instance in which the Rascals acknowledge their cartoon costars.

The Little Rascals was a short-lived animated television series produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The series aired Saturday mornings on ABC from September 25, 1982 to September 1, 1984. The half-hour series aired as part of an umbrella package consisting of two other Hanna-Barbera cartoons. During the series' first season, it aired with Pac-Man and Richie Rich. During the series' second season, Pac-Man was replaced by The Monchhichis when the former was paired with Rubik, the Amazing Cube. As was the case with most 'umbrella' Hanna-Barbera series, the individual cartoons featured in the show never officially crossed paths. However, characters from The Little Rascals, Pac-Man, and Richie Rich would interact in occasional interstitial segments shown in between shorts.

The first season consisted of two eleven minute cartoons, and one untitled thirty second cartoon. The second season only featured one new eleven minute cartoon (though a repeated cartoon from the previous season would sometimes air in between new episodes). When the series was offered as a syndicated package in foreign markets, individual cartoons from the second season were paired together.

The series took place in a modern day setting, with references to television, computers, etc. mentioned. The characters are still depicted as living in Greenpoint. Instead of a barn or basement, the kids' hangout was a treehouse. They rode around town in a hand-made cart pulled by Pete the Pup.

After only two seasons on the air, the series was cancelled, and has never re-aired in the United States nor released to home video since. In March 1984, Eugene Lee filed a lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera Productions, claiming that his likeliness was a complete copy of the version he portrayed from 1935 to 1939. This may be the reason for the series' cancellation. It is unknown who currently owns the rights for the series but it is believed to be either CBS Media Ventures or Warner Brothers. In April 2016, it was confirmed by Warner Archive on Facebook that this series is not cleared for a DVD release.

Cast and Characters

• Peter Cullen as Pete the Pup and Officer Ed
• Patty Maloney as Darla
• Julie McWhirter Dees as Alfalfa, Porky, and Woim
• Scott Menville as Spanky
• Shavar Ross as Buckwheat
• B.J. Ward as Butch and Waldo

Notes

• The series was originally intended to premiere on ABC on September 11, 1982, but was delayed two weeks because of an animators' strike. The key issue in the dispute was out-sourcing work to other countries.
• Alfalfa's catchphrase in this series was "Why do these things always happen to me?", or some variation on the line. It was actually first uttered in the Our Gang film Fishy Tales.
• In this series, Buckwheat is depicted as being a clever inventor and also has an interest in science.
• Porky has a speech impediment, which Buckwheat usually translates for the others. He is also obsessed with food, similar to Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo franchise.
• Darla's hairstyle is in more of a 1980s fashion, and unlike the theatrical shorts, she wore a pink bow in her hair.
• Waldo's family turns out to have money. This was mostly unconfirmed in the original series, but carried over into The Little Rascals motion picture.
• Save for Butch, the Rascals all pronounce Woim's name as "Worm".
• In the first season, Darla's white shoes appeared to be thinner, while in the second season, according to two eleven-minute shorts, her shoes appeared to be thicker, similar to "Mary Jane" shoes.
• When aired on ABC, the episodes were aired in higher quality, but when aired in syndication, the episodes aired as if they were from a filmstrip.
• The syndicated rerun package contained 17 episodes, covering all of the 30-second vignettes and all of the 11-minute segments except for "The Zero Hero". It is assumed that in order to allow for two 11-minute segments in a half-hour broadcast, omitting "The Zero Hero" was necessary. "The Zero Hero" was available on the defunct Toon Tracker website.
• The series was co-produced by King World Productions. King World packaged the animated series with the Hal Roach talkie shorts for television in France. The series was called Les Petites Canailles, which means "Small Scoundrels". A theme song was also written for this series.
• In Canada, along the Atlantic coast, the series aired in syndication (supposedly distributed by World Vision Enterprises at that time) on ASN (Atlantic Satellite Network) during the 1983-84 TV season. The series was pulled off the schedule by the summer of 1984. There is no certainty if the package contained strictly episodes from the first season, or both that season along with at least select episodes from the second season (then airing on ABC).
• According to www.wunschliste.de, the series aired on Tele 5 in Germany in 1988, and again in January 1990. It was also aired in Germany on Cable from August 30, 1995 to September 21, 1995, being shown at 1:20 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. It later aired frequently in Germany on the pay-per-view channel Junior from September 10, 1999 to August 14, 2004. From 2003 to 2004, the series airtime change frequently, originally being shown Mondays through Fridays 10:00 a.m., only to be later changed to 7:40 a.m., and finally to 11:55 a.m. In late 2004, the series made it's last run on Junior, being shown Saturdays and Sundays at 3:25 p.m. Beginning in October 1, 2011, the series aired on the German version of Boomerang, being aired Saturdays and Sundays at 7:50 a.m., with repeats at 3:05 p.m. Boomerang Germany dropped the show in 2014.
• Kennedy is the only adult character from the Our Gang series to appear.
• The series doesn't seem to be in the same continuity as the Christmas special for various reasons.
  • The gang looks completely different.
  • Porky doesn't speak well.
  • Stymie is absent and was replaced with Buckwheat. Ironically Buckwheat replaced Stymie after Teacher's Pet and Stymie replaced Buckwheat in the aftermentioned special.

Episode List

Season 1 - 1982 Cartoons

• Episode 1 (September 25, 1982):
  • Rascals' Revenge
  • Yachtsa Luck
  • Fish Fright

• Episode 2 (October 2, 1982):
  • Grin And Bear It
  • Beauty Queen For A Day
  • The Serenade

• Episode 3 (October 9, 1982):
  • Big City Rascals
  • Alfalfakazam!
  • Scoop Dupes

• Episode 4 (October 16, 1982):
  • Showdown At The Rascal Corral
  • Poached Pooch
  • Ice Escapades

• Episode 5 (October 23, 1982):
  • Porky-O And Julie-Et
  • Just Desserts
  • No Hit Wit

• Episode 6 (October 30, 1982):
  • Alfalfa For President
  • Rock And Roll Rascals
  • A Swimming We Will Go

• Episode 7 (November 6, 1982):
  • The Irate Pirates
  • All The Loot That's Fit To Print
  • The Spare

• Episode 8 (November 13, 1982):
  • Alfalfa's Athlete Feat
  • Darla's Dream Dance
  • Fiscal Fitness

• Episode 9 (November 20, 1982):
  • Cap'n Spanky's Showboat
  • Case Of The Puzzled Pals
  • Go Cart Go

• Episode 10 (November 27, 1982):
  • Falling Heir
  • Flim Flam Film Fans
  • Do Or Diet

• Episode 11 (December 4, 1982):
  • Trash Can Treasures
  • King Of The Hobos
  • Out On A Limb

• Episode 12 (December 11, 1982):
  • Tiny Terror
  • Science Fair And Foul
  • Sea Song

• Episode 13 (December 18, 1982):
  • Big Top Rascals
  • Class Act
  • He Who Runs Away

Season 2 - 1983 Cartoon

• Episode 14: Wash And Werewolf (September 10, 1983).

• Episode 15: Save Our Treehouse! (September 17, 1983).

• Episode 16: Horse Sense (September 24, 1983).

• Episode 17: After Hours (October 1, 1983)

• Episode 18: A Not So Buenos Días (October 15, 1983).

• Episode 19: Fright Night (October 29, 1983)

• Episode 20: The Big Sneeze (November 12, 1983)

• Episode 21: Pete's Big Break (November 19, 1983)

• Episode 22: The Zero Hero (December 2, 1983).

Other Cartoons

• The Surgeon (date unknown)

Credits

• Executive Producers: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
• Producer: Oscar Dufau
• Story Editors: Bryce Malek, Dick Robbins
• Supervising Director: Ray Patterson
• Directors: George Gordon, Bob Hathcock, Carl Urbano, Rudy Zamora
• Assistant Directors: Bob Goe, Bill Hutten Terry Harrison
• Story: Teed Anasti, Doug Booth, Patsy Cameron, Rowby Goren, Earl Kress
• Story Directors: Rich Fogel, Jan Green, Stephen Hickner, Cullen Houghtaling, Chris Jenkyns, Emilie Kong, Larry Latham, Tom Minton, Mario Piluso, Tom Yakutis
• Recording Director: Gordon Hunt
• Animation Casting Director: Ginny McSwain
• Voices: Richard Balin, Jered Barclay, Julie Bennett, Susan Blu, Bill Callaway, Peter Cullen, Brian Cummings, Julie McWhirter Dees, Jeff Doucette, Peggy Frees, Philip Hartman, Ery Immerman, Kip King, Earl Kress, Sherry Lynn, Patty Maloney, Larry D. Mann, Kenneth Mars, Joseph Medalis, Scott Menville, Robert Ridgely, Shavar Ross, Michael Sheehan, Gary Stamm, Jeffrey Tambor, Russi Taylor, B.J. Ward, Lennie Weinrib, Jimmy Weldon, Frank Welker, Ted Zeigler
• Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
• Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
• Musical Supervisor: Paul DeKorte
• Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
• Design Supervisor: Bob Singer
• Character Design: Floro Dery, Mel Keefer, Lew Ott, Jesse Santo, James Stenstrum
• Layout: Marija Dajl, Paul Gruwell, Darrel McNeil, Floyd Norman, Mario Piluso, Joel Seibel, Jim Simon, Leo Sullivan, Dean Thompson
• Animation Supervisor: Don Patterson
• Animation: Carlos Alfonso, Juan Pina
• Sound Direction: Dick Olson, Joe Wachter
• Supervising Film Editor: Larry G. Cowan
• Dubbing Supervisor: Pat Foley
• Music Editors: Terry Moore, Joe Sandusky, Robert Talboy
• Effects Editors: Mike Bradley, Mary Gleason, Carol Lewis, Catherine MacKenzie, Sue Sawade, Kerry Williams
• Show Editor: Gil Iverson
• Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
• Post Production Supervisor: Joed Eaton
• Production Managers: James Wang, Larry Smith
• Executives in Charge of Production: Margaret Loesch and Jayne Barbera

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