''The Get Along Gang'' is a group of characters created in 1983 by Tony Byrd, Tom Jacobs, Ralph Shaffer, Linda Edwards, Muriel Fahrion, and Mark Spangler for
American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting cards, electr ...
' toy design and licensing division, "Those Characters from Cleveland" (now
Cloudco Entertainment
Those Characters from Cleveland, LLC, officially trading as Cloudco Entertainment and formerly AG Properties and American Greetings Entertainment, is an American company which formerly traded as American Greetings' former character brand division. ...
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
characters in the fictional town of Green Meadow, who form a club that meets in an abandoned
caboose
A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in railway switch, switching and Shunting (rail), shunting, keeping a l ...
and who have various adventures whose upbeat stories were intended to show the importance of teamwork and friendship. The success of the greeting card line led to a Saturday morning television series, which aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
for 13 episodes in the 1984–1985 season, with reruns showing from January to June 1986.
Characters
''The Get Along Gang'' franchise was loosely inspired by
Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter, ...
's '' Our Gang'' series of short films. The core six members of the gang appeared frequently in merchandising and the show. The other six made fewer appearances in the series, but were regulars in merchandising.
Protagonists
* Montgomery
Moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
(voiced by
Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus (born Marcus Issoglio; December 6, 1967) is an American former actor.
Early life
Marcus was born in Hollywood, California.
Career
Marcus was well known for playing the role of the precocious child but also worked extensively as a ...
,
Charles Haid
Charles Maurice Haid III (born June 2, 1943) is an American actor and television director, with notable work in both movies and television. He is best known for his portrayal of Officer Andy Renko in ''Hill Street Blues''.
Haid was born in San ...
(pilot)) – The
leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
of the Get Along Gang. He is very nurturing and kind, although he is sometimes awkward, and he knows right from wrong.
* Dotty
Dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
(voiced by
Bettina Bush
Bettina Bush, also known professionally and simply as Bettina, is an American actress and pop music singer.
Early life
She was born the youngest of three children. Her father was Charles V. Bush, the first African-American graduate of the US ...
) – A cheerleader dog and second in command of the gang. She is very optimistic and always has a way to cheer people up, although sometimes she is quick to judge.
* Woolma
Lamb
Lamb or The Lamb may refer to:
* A young sheep
* Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep
Arts and media Film, television, and theatre
* ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut
* ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...
(voiced by Georgi Irene) – An aspiring
ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...
ewe. She seems to be defined by her vanity and beauty, and is often seen carrying a mirror to admire herself. She can be selfish and irrational, but she still stands up for others.
* Zipper
Cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
(voiced by Robbie Lee) – An athletic feline who excels at sports. He tends to play the "tough guy" role, which often lands him in trouble.
* Portia Porcupine (voiced by
Sherry Lynn
Sherry Lynn is an American voice actress who has played roles in anime, animated television series and video games. She portrayed Sasami Jurai in the ''Tenchi Muyo!'' franchise.
In January 2010, in terms of total film gross, she was the Highest ...
) – The youngest member of the gang. She is inquisitive and
curious
Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
, and tends to cry or throw tantrums when frustrated.
* Bingo Beaver (voiced by
Scott Menville
Scott David Menville (born February 12, 1971) is an American actor who is known for his voice work in animated films, television series and video games.
Life and career
Menville was born on February 12, 1971, to television animator and writer ...
) – A prankster and
gambler
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
whose bets and mistakes sometimes cause his friends to be angry with him.
Additional characters
* Braker
Turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...
(voiced by Frank Welker/ Don Messick) – A smart and sensible problem-solver. He is also the fastest runner in Green Meadow. He enjoys acting hip, despite his nerdy appearance. Braker makes occasional speaking appearances in the DIC cartoon series, usually as a friend of the gang.
* Rocco Rabbit – A reformed bully with a tough exterior.
* Rudyard Lion – A foreign-exchange student who has a crush on Woolma.
* Flora
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
. She is extroverted and is not afraid to speak her mind.
* Bernice Bear – A very sensible girl who likes keeping things neat and tidy.
* Lolly Squirrel – The rich daughter of the candy factory owner. She is a tattletale.
Timothy Gibbs
Timothy Brian Gibbs (born April 17, 1967) is an American director, actor, producer, and screenwriter who has starred in films, such as '' 11-11-11'' as Joseph Crone and ''The Kings of Brooklyn'' as Maximilian Sentor and television programs, such ...
) – The show's main antagonist. He is a constant troublemaker who takes what he wants with no regards to anyone else.
* Leland Lizard (voiced by
Nicky Katt
Nicky Katt (born May 11, 1971) is an American actor. Katt often plays unsympathetic characters, such as an irascible motorhead in ''Dazed and Confused,'' an ill-fated white supremacist child rapist in ''A Time to Kill'', and an embittered bu ...
) – Catchum's sidekick. Although he is dopey, he is very sneaky. In the pilot, he was able to change color, but he showed no such ability in the animated series.
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
officer.
* Mr. Hoofnagel (voiced by Don Messick) – An old
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
who owns the local
ice cream parlor
Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard s ...
.
* Miss Deering (voiced by
Sherry Lynn
Sherry Lynn is an American voice actress who has played roles in anime, animated television series and video games. She portrayed Sasami Jurai in the ''Tenchi Muyo!'' franchise.
In January 2010, in terms of total film gross, she was the Highest ...
) – A
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
and the
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
of the gang's class.
* Susie (voiced by
Sherry Lynn
Sherry Lynn is an American voice actress who has played roles in anime, animated television series and video games. She portrayed Sasami Jurai in the ''Tenchi Muyo!'' franchise.
In January 2010, in terms of total film gross, she was the Highest ...
) – Bingo's
pen pal
Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of let ...
, a squirrel who likes exercise.
* Mayor Bascombe
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of Green Meadow.
* Schneider Squirrel – Lolly's father and owner of the candy factory. Schneider appeared only in the comic books.
*Hocus Hare and Pocus Possum – A pair of magicians.
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
cable network on May 6, 1984. The pilot featured the members of the gang trying to win a
scavenger hunt
''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony R ...
, despite Catchum's cheating and their own competition-fueled infighting. Although all twelve gang members were involved, only the six core members had speaking roles. Among the voice talents in the pilot were
Charles Haid
Charles Maurice Haid III (born June 2, 1943) is an American actor and television director, with notable work in both movies and television. He is best known for his portrayal of Officer Andy Renko in ''Hill Street Blues''.
Haid was born in San ...
(then of ''
Hill Street Blues
''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
'') as Montgomery and Dave Thomas (fresh from his days on '' SCTV'') as Leland.
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969Nelvana at the time, wrote and sang for the pilot.
After the pilot episode, production of the series was handed over to
DIC Audiovisuel
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...
, a French animation studio. The show also was taken off Nickelodeon and moved to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced, each containing two eleven-minute segments. As with the pilot, the focus was on the six core members of the gang, with the other six members making very sporadic appearances. Out of those six, only Braker Turtle had a regular speaking role.
Rebroadcast
In 2000, the pilot aired on many syndicated television channels.
The TV series itself has been re-aired many times.
It has been re-aired on its original broadcast network of CBS from January to June 1986.
From September 1986 until August 1987, all thirteen DIC-produced episodes were rerun as part of a short-lived syndicated cartoon package called
Kideo TV
''Kideo TV'' was a syndicated anthology packaging by DIC Enterprises and LBS Communications, which premiered in April 1986. The show's name is a portmanteau of "kid" and "video".
Hosts
The show was hosted by four youths in auto racing attire wi ...
.
Reruns of the series later aired on The Family Channel (now Freeform) from 1990 to 1993 and on
Pax TV
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ente ...
(now
Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
) from 1999 to 2000 as part of DIC and PAX's "Cloud Nine" children's block.
Other merchandise
The brief series spawned a large range of merchandise and spin-off projects including
stuffed toy
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be ...
s and
action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...
s made by
Tomy
is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Ta ...
, and a series of storybooks published by Scholastic Press. The Tomy action figure line and Scholastic Press books actually lasted longer than the cartoon series itself.
The characters were also adapted into
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s. In America, their series, which ran for six bi-monthly issues in 1985 and 1986, was published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
'
Star Comics
Star Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1984 and featured titles that were aimed at child readers and were often adaptations of children's television series, animated series or toys. The last comic published under the imprint ...
imprint. In the United Kingdom,
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Di ...
published a weekly ''Get Along Gang'' comic, which ran for 93 issues from April 1985 until January 1987.
Reception and criticism
In 1986, Ralph Novak of ''
People Weekly
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...
'' observed that Nelvana's pilot special "is enlivened by the music of John Sebastian and some relatively sophisticated (for television) animation. Cartoon violence is only the most innocuous sort."
The series was the product of an era in the 1980s when television watchgroups held great influence over children's programming, demanding that shows intended for young viewers emphasize positive values rather than violence or conflict. Consequently, critics of the series accused it of "enforcing" the importance of group harmony over
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
.
In an August 8, 1997 article written by television/cartoon writer
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and b ...
for his website, ''POVonline'', in which he recalled writing for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' cartoon series, which premiered one year before ''The Get Along Gang'' (and aired alongside it on the CBS lineup), Evanier noted:
Decline and attempted revival
In mid-to-late 1985 the toy and greeting card sales began to decline, the first sign of the gang's popularity waning. A few products (plastic figurines, some greeting cards, and a coloring book) were released, with Hocus Hare and Pocus Possum joining at the tail-end of the Gang's run. The greeting card, toy line and US by-monthly comic book series had all ended by 1987.
In mid-2004, the Joester Loria Group, a licensing and marketing agency, announced the addition of ''The Get Along Gang'' to its stable of classic properties. Plans called for the availability of merchandise, such as clothing, toys, games and home decor; however, this relaunch never materialized. In 2005, American Greetings started plans for an official relaunch of the franchise, which was going to feature 6 new characters: Mogo (a moose), Reagan (a dog), Hatch (a cat), Mayfield (a lamb) and Domino (a beaver), and an elderly porcupine named Mrs. Bristlemore. There was even a CGI pilot in development at Richcrest Animation, an unfinished version of which has been posted online. However, for unknown reasons, the planned revival was shelved by late 2007, shortly after American Greetings refused to approve the original DVD release of the series.
Home entertainment releases
Karl-Lorimar released the Nelvana pilot on VHS shortly after it premiered on television in 1984. During the show's run, Kideo Video released several VHS tapes that included select episodes.
In April 2007, plans for a DVD release of the series were announced by S'More Entertainment; however, the planned release was announced to be cancelled a month later because American Greetings would not approve it. Before the announcement of the cancellation, a representative of S'More stated that it was unlikely the release would include the pilot episode, since it involved royalty issues with Nelvana and John Sebastian.
On July 19, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released ''The Best of The Get Along Gang'', a 1-disc set featuring 10 of the 13 half-hour episodes (20 of the 26 individual stories). The remaining episodes were released as bonus material on other Mill Creek DVD releases in 2012.
''Camp Get Along'' and ''School's Out'' are included as a bonus feature on Mill Creek's DVD release of '' Heathcliff: Season One, Volume One'', released in February 2012.
In other countries
While the characters' popularity was generally strong only in the United States, the series was released in several countries and dubbed into multiple languages. In Spanish, the series was translated as ''La Pandilla Feliz'' (''The Happy Gang'') and aired on channels in Colombia,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, but did not have the same impact or popularity of other 1980s cartoons. In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
the series was translated as ''A Nossa Turma'' (''Our Gang'') and was a modest success running on
SBT
sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala (programming language), Scala and Java (programming language), Java projects, similar to Apache Software Foundation, Apache's Apache Maven, Maven and Gradle.
Its main features are:
*Native support fo ...
during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In France, it was known as ''Les Amichaines''.
The animated series also aired in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1980s, in an early morning slot on the ITV network, where it was a modest success, also generating merchandise in the country. However, all merchandise in the UK was discontinued in early 1987. A weekly comic book series in the United Kingdom attained reasonable popularity, running for 93 issues from April 1985. It was then merged with the
Care Bears
Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears.
The characters headlined their own televis ...
comic in January 1987, until the latter was discontinued in 1989. The Scholastic book line also continued for some time afterwards, whilst repeats of the animated series continued to play a part on the UK television network
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's weekend morning schedule for a time, but both of these gradually diminished after a few years. The franchise had completely disappeared in the UK by 1993.
Episode guide
Nelvana
Pilot: ''The Adventures of the Get Along Gang'' (May 6, 1984)
*The gang participates in their town's annual scavenger hunt, but the stakes are made even higher when Bingo makes a bet with Catchum that, if Catchum wins, he and Leland get the gang's clubhouse.