The Get-Along Gang
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The Get-Along Gang was a 30-minute television animated series broadcast between 1984 and 1986 on Saturday mornings on the CBS network which was intended for younger viewers. In all, 14 episodes comprising 27 cartoons were produced, which were animated by the Nelvana and DiC animation companies.
The characters' origins lie in greetings cards, specifically the cards of the American Greetings company, which also created the Care Bears.
The series starred a group of pre-adolescent anthropomorphic animal characters in the fictional town of Green Meadow, who had formed a club that met in an abandoned caboose and who had various adventures whose upbeat stories tended to stress the importance of teamwork and friendship.
The series was the product of an era in the 1980s when "Parent Action Groups" held great influence over children's television programming, demanding that shows intended for young viewers emphasise positive values rather than violence or conflict. Consequently, many of the series' stories attempted to reinforce the importance of group harmony over individualism.
Each of the characters had obvious faults, which they learned to overcome with the aid of their friends. For instance, the group's leader "Montgomery Moose" was quite clumsy, while "Woolma Lamb" was extremely vain and "Dotty Dog" was very careless.
Voice talent on the series included Timothy Gibbs, Scott Menville, Don Messick, Frank Welker and a young Nicky Katt.
The brief series spawned a large range of merchandise and spin-off projects including stuffed toys and action figures made by Tomy and storybooks published by Scholastic Press.
The characters were also adapted into comic books. In America their series, which ran for six bi-monthly issues in 1985 and 1986, was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint and in the UK Marvel UK published a weekly Get-Along Gang comic, which ran for 93 issues between April, 1985 and January, 1987.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
The following six members of the Gang were the main characters of the show:
- Montgomery "Good News" Moose, the leader.
- Dotty Dog, a sort of "second-in-command."
- Woolma Lamb, who seemed to be defined by her vanity.
- Zipper Cat, an athletic feline who was always playing the tough guy.
- Portia Porcupine, the youngest member of the Gang.
- Bingo "Bet-it-all" Beaver, a prankster and gambler who sometimes acted as comic relief.
There were also six more members, who didn't appear in every episode:
- Braker Turtle, who was ironically the fastest runner in Green Meadow.
- Rocco Rabbit, who was almost always asleep. He and Braker may have been inspired by The Tortoise and the Hare.
- Rudyard Lion, who had an obvious crush on Woolma.
- Flora "Forget-me-not" Fox, the shyest member of the Gang.
- Bernice Bear, who liked to keep things neat and tidy.
- Lolly Squirrel, whose father owned a candy factory.
Interestingly, the two villains of the show were the only non-mammals in the series:
- Catchum Crocodile, a constant troublemaker who was always trying to take whatever he wanted, regardless of whose it was. More than once he tried to steal the Gang's "clubhouse caboose."
- Leland Lizard, Catchum's sidekick.
Other characters included:
- Officer Growler, a bulldog police officer.
- Mr. Hoofnagel, an old goat who owned and operated the local ice cream parlor.
[edit] Episode guide
[edit] Pilot
(Animation by Nelvana)
In this half-hour 1984 special, the Gang is trying to win a scavenger hunt, despite Catchum's cheating and their own competition-fueled infighting.
[edit] Series
(Animation by DiC)
The show's single season (1985-1986) consisted of 13 half-hour shows, each containing two 11-minute cartoons.
- Episode 1:
- Zipper's Millions
- Half a Map is Better Than None
- Episode 2:
- Caboose on the Loose
- Montgomery's Mechanical Marvel
- Episode 3:
- Head in the Clouds
- Hunt for the Beast
- Episode 4:
- Woolma's Birthday
- The Get Along Detectives
- Episode 5:
- The Get Along Gang Go Hollywood
- Them's the Brakes
- Episode 6:
- A Pinch of This, A Dash of That
- Bingo's Tale
- Episode 7:
- Engineer Roary
- Pick of the Litter
- Episode 8:
- Nose for News
- The Lighthouse Pirates
- Episode 9:
- The Wrong Stuff
- Uneasy Rider
- Episode 10:
- The Get Along Gang Minus One
- Camp Get Along
- Episode 11:
- Bingo's Pen Pal
- Follow the Leader
- Episode 12:
- School's Out
- The Bullies
- Episode 13:
- That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles
- Snowbound Showdown
