Goober and the Ghost Chasers

Image
Genre	Mystery Comedy
Runtime	30 minutes
Theme Music Composer	Hoyt Curtin
Director	Charles A. Nichols
Executive Producer	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Composer	Hoyt Curtin
Voices	Paul Winchell Jerry Dexter Jo Ann Harris Ronnie Schell
Company	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Country	United States
Language	English
Network	ABC
First Aired	1973-9-8
Last Aired	1973-12-22
Num Seasons	1
Num Episodes	16
Related	Fred Flintstone and Friends Partridge Family 2200 A.D.

Goober and the Ghost Chasers is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, broadcast on ABC from September 8 to December 22, 1973. A total of 16 half-hour episodes of Goober and the Ghost Chasers were produced. It was later serialized as part of the syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends during 1977–78. On cable, it was shown as part of USA Cartoon Express and on Boomerang starting in 2000.

Like many animated television programs created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio. Cartoon Network and Boomerang airings of the show have the track muted.

Plot

Similar to Hanna-Barbera's earlier series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Goober and the Ghost Chasers centers on three teenagers—Ted, Gilly and Tina—solving mysteries with their companion Goober, a spindly, green-colored Saluki who can involuntarily become invisible. Writing for the Ghost Chasers Magazine, the group travel to various places and use equipment from their Apparition Kit to determine whether or not the ghost is real. Eventually, the group comes across the real ghost, which would help in defeating the fake ghosts; in some instances, the impostors are not actually criminals. Compared to Scooby-Doo, Goober can speak more clearly, but his dialogue is not understood by other characters; Goober's lines are mainly fourth wall-breaking retorts.

Guest appearances

The Partridge children, characters from The Partridge Family, made semi-regular appearances in the series, featuring in eight episodes; their respective voice actors reprised their roles. Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Gray each appeared once.

Cast

Paul Winchell as Goober
Jerry Dexter as Ted
Jo Ann Harris as Tina
Ronnie Schell as Gilly

Additional

Danny Bonaduce as Danny Partridge
Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge
Susan Dey as Laurie Partridge
Brian Forster as Chris Partridge
Wilt Chamberlain as himself
Michael Gray as himself

Episodes

Merchandising

In 1974, King Seeley released a metal lunchbox and thermos featuring Goober, which shared space with another Hanna-Barbera series, Inch High, Private Eye.

Goober was featured in a magic trading card set that was offered free inside Wonder Bread packages in 1974.

Home media

In 1986 and 1988, two videocassette editions of the series were released. Goober and the Ghost Chasers, a 45-minute cassette containing the first two episodes guest-starring The Partridge Kids ("Brush Up Your Shakespeare" and "Assignment: The Ahab Apparition"), was released by Worldvision Home Video on October 21, 1986, and Goober and the Ghost Chasers: The Chase Is On!, an 81-minute cassette containing four episodes ("The Singing Ghost", "Aloha Ghost", "Mummy Knows Best" and "The Haunted Wax Museum"), was released by Hanna-Barbera Home Video on September 29, 1988.

The Goober and the Ghost Chasers premiere episode, "Assignment: The Ahab Apparition", was included on the DVD compilation Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s – Volume 1 released by Warner Home Video on May 26, 2009.
On October 26, 2010, Warner Archive released Goober and the Ghost Chasers: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.

Legacy

The Ghost Chasers appeared in the third season of Jellystone!, where they are impersonated by the Really Rottens; they harass Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo Bear, only to be caught in action by characters disguised as Mystery Inc., in a mockery of the Ghost Chasers being a derivative of Mystery Inc.

References

Perlmutter, David, The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, 2018, Rowman & Littlefield, 252–253
Erickson, Hal, Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003, 2005, 2nd, McFarland & Co
Woolery, George W., Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, 1983, Scarecrow Press, 14 March 2020, 125–126
Rovin, Jeff, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals, 1991, Prentice Hall Press, 8 April 2020
Lambert, David, October 13, 2010, Goober and the Ghost-Chasers - Another Hanna-Barbera Classic Comes to Warner's MOD Program!, dead, 2010-10-17, TVShowsOnDVD.com

External links

Goober and the Ghost Chasers at CMonGetHappy.com

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