| Clue Club | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animation |
| Directed by | Charles A. Nichols |
| Voices of | David Jolliffe Bob Hastings Patricia Stitch Tara Talboy Jim MacGeorge Paul Winchell |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Producer(s) | Alex Lovy |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | August 14, 1976 – September 3, 1977 |
Clue Club is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from August 14, 1976 to September 3, 1977 on CBS.
Clue Club only had one season’s worth of first-run episodes produced, which were shown on Saturday mornings on CBS (the original home of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, which Clue Club had replaced; Scooby-Doo was being groomed for its move to ABC).
In the fall of 1977, cut-down versions of the half-hour episodes of Clue Club appeared under the new title Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives to showcase the show's basset and bloodhound which aired as a segment on the CBS Saturday morning package program The Skatebirds from September 10, 1977 to January 28, 1978.
When The Skatebirds was cancelled in early 1978, Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives re-appeared as a segment alongside The Robonic Stooges on their half-hour show, also on CBS. The full-length versions of Clue Club returned to CBS on Sunday mornings from September 1978 to September 1979, concluding the show’s original network run.
After a mid-1980s revival on USA Cartoon Express, it has since resurfaced on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Contents |
Similar in format to Hanna-Barbera’s successful Scooby-Doo, the show centered around four adolescent siblings who opened the title private investigation agency out of their suburban residence. The sibs were: Larry, 19; Pepper, 18; D.D., 16; and Dotty, 13. They solved mysteries with the help of their two talking hounds, Woofer and Wimper.
Clue Club mysteries usually involved investigating bizarre crimes such as a movie director vanishing or a two-ton statue disappearing into thin air. Their relationship to the police was closer than most of H-B's variations of the formula, with the local Sheriff often requesting their assistance on cases...as well as making arrests at their conclusion.
Dotty (voiced by Tara Talboy) - The youngest member of the Club, endured an arsenal of deprecating nicknames from her elder sister and brothers: "half-pint," "short-stuff," and the like. A prodigy, she normally stayed at home; from there, Dotty provided case-solving information from her minicomputer and/or results from various forensic tests. She also had access to high-tech communications equipment, including audio/video links to the Club's car...and to their wristwatches, which doubled as pagers. (Where and how the Club built or otherwise acquired these devices was never specified; it was hinted that Dotty herself custom-made them.) Dotty's brothers and sister were highly protective of her, and resented it when she joined them in the field...which the girl frequently did, after running out of "homework."
Pepper and D.D. (voiced by Patricia Stitch and Bob Hastings) - They typically searched for leads and/or evidence, which often led to them being chased by the culprit(s). It was never revealed what D.D.'s initials stood for.
Larry (voiced by David Jolliffe) - Normally he interviewed the suspect(s) and/or passed on the Club's findings to Dotty.
Woofer and Wimper (voiced by Paul Winchell and Jim MacGeorge) - Much of the comedy would come from Woofer, who would constantly accuse suspects without good reason, then later back-track while proclaiming his genius; and Wimper, a more down-to-earth, easy-going, yet intelligent dog, who would at times go along with his comrade’s schemes, and other times turn the tables on his pal. This, and Wimper's ability to find pertinent clues elevated his character to equal status. Unlike Scooby-Doo, the dogs are only able to talk to each other and not to humans. They served in cases either as trackers, or delivering messages and/or evidence back to Dotty to analyze. Their voices sound similar to "Amos 'n Andy".
Sheriff Bagley (voiced by John Stephenson) - The local Sheriff who frequently relies on the Clue Club for assistance and arrests suspects at their conclusion.
| No. | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| CLC-1 | "The Paper Shaper Caper" | August 14, 1976 |
| The News Press has the press running without Mr. Kitrich's notice. The Clue Club have a lead on Ms. Twitchell and Dotty has a lead to the Apex Printing Company. While getting abducted in the theatre Larry, D.D. and Pepper find out about a counterfeiting scheme organised by Mr. Whitaker. | ||
| CLC-2 | "The Case of the Lighthouse Mouse" | August 21, 1976 |
| The Clue Club investigate a museum robbery in which the jewels are swiped one by one and Uncle Salty is suspected to be the thief. There seems to be a connection with the lighthouse Uncle Salty once worked in. Larry recreates the crime scene to expose the thief as Mr. Gooch and his trained mouse Barrymore. | ||
| CLC-3 | "The Real Gone Gondola" | August 28, 1976 |
| The Clue Club investigates a mysterious disappearance of Ms. Coldwell caused by someone named Vortex. After much travelling between home and Blizzard Mountain and avoiding mysterious encounters, they conclude Tom Coldwell caused all this in order to scare away the interested buyers of the ski resort. | ||
| CLC-4 | "Who's to Blame For the Empty Frame?" | September 4, 1976 |
| The Clue Club investigate a stolen million dollar painting in the Castle Museum. When Woofer and Wimper are assigned to guard a Ming vase, they get stolen, but they meet up with the Clue Club soon. Larry reveals the heist was carried out by a pantomimist Mr. Carlottie and the cleaner Mr. Tobais. | ||
| CLC-5 | "The Wild Seaweed Smuggling Caper" | September 11, 1976 |
| The Clue Club investigate the dock area where a sea monster dwells. What spooks them is someone named Doomsday who seems to be observing them. After combing the shorelines the Clue Club and Sheriff Bagley catch the three diamond smugglers who were able to conceal the diamonds in golf balls. | ||
| CLC-6 | "The Green Thumb Caper" | September 18, 1976 |
| The Clue Club investigate multiple robberies at Mr. Cosgrave's manor, caused by some masked person in the dark. A trail leads to the suspects the butler Mr. Wilkins and the nursery gardener Ms. Carter who smuggled the jewels in Venus fly traps. | ||
| CLC-7 | "The Disappearing Airport Caper" | September 25, 1976 |
| A pilot Corky requests the Clue Club to clear his name of an X7 plane hijack, which carries insurance. After a major check through on Brock's cow pasture, Larry reveals that a fake airport had been temporarily placed here and Eddie himself stole and hid the plane after getting Corky to land. | ||
| CLC-8 | "The Walking House Caper" | October 2, 1976 |
| Mr. Lean asks the Clue Club to check it out a top security safe. The safe gets taken clean away. Mr. Benchley tells Larry, Mr. Lean's house moves around, while everyone else is pursued by a sasquatch. Larry reveals that safe was never stolen, but they were taken to an exact matching house by Mr. Benchley. | ||
| CLC-9 | "The Solar Energy Caper" | October 9, 1976 |
| The Clue Club visits a science fair. Just then the new solar generator is stolen. With many suspects in mind, Larry, D.D and Pepper check out Reed's Electronics. A final check reveals that a hologram was placed within the exhibit instead of the actual device, all devised by the scientist Mr. Foster. | ||
| CLC-10 | "The Vanishing Train Caper" | October 16, 1976 |
| The Clue Club witness a train with a gold bullion vanish past a mountain. The only clue is iron pyrite pointing to the ghost town Dobson City. In an old mine nearby the Clue Club find the stolen train and its gold which was diverted by an alternate track in the mountain, carried out by the train dispatcher. | ||
| CLC-11 | "The Dissolving Statue Caper" | October 23, 1976 |
| At the Fun Mountain amusement park, the Clue Club are presented with a magnificent statue owned by Bobo Cahuna. The statue then vanishes. Finding out that, this statue was made of sugar, the evidence indicates Mr. Crane crafted it and his monkey dissolved it and the real statue remained in the cargo it was shipped in. | ||
| CLC-12 | "The Missing Pig Caper" | October 30, 1976 |
| At the county fair Sally takes the Clue Club to see her prize pig Sweet Pea, except he has been taken away. Dotty notifies a suspicious character, Mr. Glut's butler Mr. Cleek. After looking in the Glut residence, the pignapper is revealed to be the ice-cream man who had the means to sell the pig to Mr. Glut. | ||
| CLC-13 | "One of Our Elephants is Missing" | November 6, 1976 |
| The Clue Club go to the zoo to search for a missing elephant, but also some other animals. D.D.'s idea of disguising as a chimp to stake out the thief doesn't work. At the docks Chris Carloff and his accomplice Dr. Henkan are proved to be the thieves that smuggled the zoo animals. | ||
| CLC-14 | "The Amazing Heist" | November 13, 1976 |
| At the Rock Festival, the Crown of Dileria gets swiped. While searching, D.D. and Pepper are pursued by a werewolf. Dotty briefs a likely suspect Mr. Grayson. The whole theft was schemed by Madame Hortense who strongly believes the crown is hers by birthright. | ||
| CLC-15 | "The Circus Caper" | November 20, 1976 |
| On a trip to the circus the Clue Club, see the acrobat Karelli vanish. The case seems complicated since many people have their views against Karelli. The acrobats Tonio and Peter are revealed to be the ones trying so hard to get rid of Karelli to become the best team. | ||
| CLC-16 | "The Prehistoric Monster Caper" | November 27, 1976 |
| During filming shoot, the director Mr. Simmons vanishes. D.D. and Pepper are chased by a dinosaur in their search for clues. Brett Winsome reveals the definite way Mr. Simmons disappeared. Mr. Wolf posed as Mr. Simmons and make it seem like the director disappeared. | ||
Broadcast schedules (all EDT):
CLUE CLUB
THE SKATEBIRDS/WOOFER & WIMPER, DOG DETECTIVES
THE THREE ROBONIC STOOGES/WOOFER & WIMPER, DOG DETECTIVES:
CLUE CLUB