Jabberjaw And The Neptunes

''Jabberjaw'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired 16 original episodes on ABC from September 11 to December 18, 1976. Reruns continued on ABC until September 3, 1978.

Premise

Jabberjaw, a 15-foot amphibious great white shark, is the drummer for The Neptunes, a rock group made up of four teenagers — Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead — who live in an underwater civilization in the year 2076. Jabberjaw and The Neptunes travel to various underwater cities where they encounter and deal with assorted megalomaniacs and supervillains who want to conquer the undersea world.

Like a great deal of Hanna-Barbera's 1970s output, the format and writing for ''Jabberjaw'' was similar to that for '' Scooby-Doo'', '' Josie and the Pussycats'' and '' Speed Buggy''. The show also drew inspiration (in the use of a shark as a character) from the overall shark mania of the mid-1970s caused by the then-recent film '' Jaws''. It also shared '' The Flintstones penchant for making use of puns as the names of locations, people, etc., in this case, ocean-themed puns (such as "Aqualaska" instead of Alaska). Every episode ended with a musical chase sequence where Jabberjaw and the gang would run from the villains, performing zany cartoon antics in order to escape while a song by The Neptunes played in the background.

Characters

* Jabberjaw (voiced by Frank Welker impersonating Curly Howard) – An air-breathing, Brooklyn-accented anthropomorphic great white shark. Jabberjaw found it hard to get respect in a society where "shark ejectors" ( robots that would guard various buildings or cities from sharks entering) were commonplace. These robots, as well as unpleasant treatment from others, frequently prompt him to utter some variation of his catchphrase (borrowed from the comedian Rodney Dangerfield): "''I don't get no respect!''" He has the unique ability to change his shape or adapt himself to act like various objects such as a trampoline, parachute, jack, throw rug, etc., either to get himself and the gang out of a jam, or just to hide.
* Biff (voiced by Tommy Cook) – An athletic, handsome, white-skinned brown-haired young man who is the band's guitar player and level-headed leader who books all the gigs. In many episodes, his hair is drawn black. His main catchphrase is ''"Jumpin' jellyfish!"'' (occasionally, ''"Hoppin' halibut!"'')
* Shelly (voiced by Patricia Parris) – A white-skinned dark-haired young woman who plays tambourine and sings backup vocals for The Neptunes. She is attractive and intelligent, but haughty, vain, and abrasive (like '' Josie and the Pussycats''' Alexandra) and considers herself to be the star of the band. While she holds a great deal of disdain for Jabberjaw (or "''Blubberhead''" as she calls him), she does have some grudging fondness for him deep down and occasionally shows it.
* Bubbles (voiced by Julie McWhirter) – A young white-skinned woman with blonde curly hair who plays keyboard for The Neptunes. She is extremely ditzy and dimwitted, has a cute giggle, similar to '' Josie and the Pussycats''' Melody. Shelly sometimes nicknames her "''Ding-a-Ling''" or "''Bubblehead''". Whenever she volunteers to help, she usually ends up messing it up.
* Clamhead (voiced by Barry Gordon) – A tall and slim, white-skinned red-haired young man who plays bass for The Neptunes and is Jabberjaw's best friend. His catchphrases are crying out "''Abba-abba-abba!''" and "''Wowee-wow-wow-wow!''" (or some variation, commonly featuring the word "zowie") whenever he gets excited.

Broadcast history

Sixteen 30-minute episodes of ''Jabberjaw'' were produced, which aired on ABC Saturday Morning from September 11, 1976, to September 3, 1977, and rebroadcast for a second season of reruns on Sunday Morning from September 11, 1977, to September 3, 1978. In the 1980s, repeats resurfaced as part of '' USA Cartoon Express'' on USA Network, in the 1990s on Cartoon Network and in the 2000s on Boomerang. This is one of a number of shows made before the mid-1980s seen on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang to have been taken from PAL prints.

Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio.

Broadcast schedules (all EDT):
*September 11, 1976 – November 27, 1976, ABC Saturday 9:00-9:30 AM
*December 4, 1976 – September 3, 1977, ABC Saturday 8:30-9:00 AM
*September 11, 1977 – September 3, 1978, ABC Sunday 10:30-11:00 AM

Episodes

Other appearances

* Jabberjaw appeared as a guest announcer or referee on the '' Laff-A-Lympics'' segment of '' Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics / Scooby's All-Stars'' in the episodes "Mexico and England" (1977), "India and Israel" (1977), "Africa and California" (1977), "New York and Turkey" (1978) and "Louisiana and Atlantis" (1978).
* Jabberjaw made a special guest appearance at a celebrity roast honoring Fred Flintstone on the TV special ''Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue'' (1978). In this appearance, Jabberjaw is voiced by Don Messick.
* Jabberjaw co-starred on the short-lived 1978 series '' Yogi's Space Race'' in which he participated in intergalactic racing competitions with Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and other characters; his racing partner was a lazy bloodhound named Buford (from ''The Buford Files'' of ''Buford and the Galloping Ghost'') and their race ship contained a track on which Buford ran to increase speed. Jabber and Buford were both voiced by Frank Welker.
* Jabberjaw also appeared in the medium of comic books. He made appearances in ''Laff-A-Lympics'' issues #8 through #12 published by Marvel Comics in 1978–79. He also appeared in ''Hanna-Barbera Presents Superstar Olympics'' (issue #6) published by Archie Comics

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