Wally Gator

{{Infobox television

| image = wallygator.jpg

| caption = Title card.

| genre = Comedy

| runtime = 24 minutes

| director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera

| developer =

| executive_producer =

| voices = Daws Butler
Don Messick

| country = United States

| producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera

| language = English

| company = Hanna-Barbera Productions

| network = First-run syndication

| first_aired = {{start date|1962|9|3}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1963|8|26}}

| num_seasons = 1

| num_episodes = 52

}}

Wally Gator is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that originally aired as one of the three segments from the syndicated block The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series.{{cite book |last=Sennett |first=Ted |title=The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity |date=1989 |publisher=Studio |isbn=978-0670829781 |url=https://archive.org/details/artofhannabarber00teds/page/120/mode/2up |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=121}} The other two segments that compose the series are Touché Turtle and Dum Dum and Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har.{{cite book |last=Perlmutter |first=David |title=The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538103739 |page=681}} The segment consisted of 52 episodes that aired from September 3, 1962, to August 26, 1963.{{cite book |last=Woolery |first=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series |date=1983 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1557-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/childrenstelevis0000wool/page/130/mode/2up |access-date=22 March 2020 |pages=129–130}}

Wally Gator appears in the HBO Max series Jellystone!, where he is portrayed as the town ditz and voiced by Jeff Bergman.{{Cite web|url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/trailer-hanna-barbera-favorites-return-in-hbo-max-original-jellystone/|title=Trailer: Hanna-Barbera Favorites Return in HBO Max Original 'Jellystone!'|date=24 June 2021}}

Plot

Wally Gator (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Ed Wynn) is an anthropomorphic, happy-go-lucky alligator who wears a collar and a pork pie hat. Although his catchy theme song describes him as a "swingin' alligator of the swamp," his home is in the city zoo.{{cite book |last1=Rovin |first1=Jeff |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals |date=1991 |publisher=Prentice Hall Press |isbn=0-13-275561-0 |access-date=8 April 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc00rovi/page/280/mode/2up/ |page=281}} Mr. Twiddle (voiced by Don Messick) is the zookeeper who keeps a close watch on Wally, who likes to check out what life is like in the outside world.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 |date=2005 |edition=2nd |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-1476665993 |pages=895–896}}

Analysis

Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman noted that Wally Gator follows the formula that Hanna-Barbera established in the previous series, such as the Yogi Bear series. The set up in which these shows placed an animal character within a human-controlled environment and had these characters deal with the social boundaries placed and enforced by humans.Lehman (2007), p. 27 An example being: Yogi lives in a park under the care of a park ranger; Wally lives in a zoo under the supervision of a zookeeper. The theme that drives the series is Wally's desire to escape the zoo, a derivative of the Top Cat series, where the titular character keeps trying to get away from life in the alley.

Lehman notes a rather depressing underlying theme: the zoo and life in captivity seem to be the proper place for Wally. No matter how much he struggles to fit in the society of the outside world, Wally remains an "Other" and is doomed to fail. The status quo follows every unsuccessful attempt at change.

Episodes

Voice cast

Daws Butler as Wally Gator
Don Messick as Mr. Twiddle
Mel Blanc as additional voices, such as Colonel Zachary Gator (ep. "Carpet Bragger")

Home media

Episodes of Wally Gator were released on VHS many times. A DVD set release of the complete series was originally announced for 2006 from Warner Bros. for the Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection but was later canceled due to the poor condition of the masters and was delayed. In 2006, a Warner spokesperson said of the DVDs: "They were pulled because significant remastering work needed to be researched. We are exploring adding them back to the schedule next year." The first episode is available on the DVD set “Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 2”.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5830/|title=tvshowsondvd.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525105919/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5830%2F|archive-date=2011-05-25}} The show was released on iTunes video in 2017 as part of Hanna-Barbera's 60th anniversary and was released on a made-to-order DVD set from Warner Archive on June 25, 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbshop.com/products/wally-gator-the-complete-series-mod|title=Wally Gator: The Complete Series (MOD)|website=WB Shop|access-date=Aug 5, 2020}}

References

Sources

{{citation | last1=Lehman | first1= Christopher P. | title=American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era: A Study of Social Commentary in Films and Television Programs, 1961-1973 | chapter= The Cartoons of 1961-1962| year=2007 | publisher=McFarland & Company| isbn= 978-0786451425| chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=WlEjmDkdc08C&q=Goofy+suburban&pg=PA28}}

External links

[https://archive.today/20120630114408/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Hanna-Barbera_Studios/G-J/The_Hanna-Barbera_New_Cartoon_Series/Wally_Gator/index.html Big Cartoon DataBase: Wally Gator]
[http://www.toonopedia.com/wallygat.htm Toonopedia]
{{IMDb title|0278254|Wally Gator}}

Category:1960s American animated comedy television series

Category:1960s American children's comedy television series

Category:1962 American animated television series debuts

Category:1963 American television series endings

Category:American children's animated comedy television series

Category:American English-language television shows

Category:Fictional Cajuns

Category:Fictional crocodilians

Category:Anthropomorphic crocodilians

Category:Yogi Bear characters

Category:Hanna-Barbera characters

Category:Television series by Hanna-Barbera