Hanna-Barbera did not just make cartoons.
It made Saturday morning.
For decades, this one studio was the beating heart of kids’ television, cranking out so many shows that it earned a nickname: the “General Motors of animation.” In a single year, it produced nearly two-thirds of all Saturday-morning cartoons.
The most famous Hanna-Barbera characters are the ones you already know: Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, Tom and Jerry, George Jetson, Top Cat, and Huckleberry Hound.
But the studio made hundreds more, and some of my favorite Hanna-Barbera characters are the classic deep cuts nobody remembers.
So this is my countdown of the 30 best: the icons, the oddballs, and a few obscure deep cuts worth rediscovering.
Quick history. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera met at MGM, created Tom and Jerry, then opened their own studio in 1957.
Over the next four decades they built an empire of iconic cartoon characters before the studio was folded into Warner Bros. in 2001.
Narrowing it down to 30 was hard, so let me get into it.
The Best Hanna-Barbera Characters
Why these Hanna-Barbera characters still hold up:
- Personality first: each one is built around a single, sharp comic idea.
- Great voices: a tiny group of voice legends brought most of them to life.
- Still everywhere: Warner Bros. keeps reviving them in new movies and shows.
- Range: superheroes, spies, cavemen, talking dogs, and one drumming shark.
Jabberjaw
Catchphrase: “No respect! I don’t get no respect!”
Best paired with: his band, The Neptunes
Why it matters: proof the studio would build a whole show around literally anything, even a drum-playing great white.
He is Rodney Dangerfield as a great white, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
Birdman
Catchphrase: a bellowed “Biiirdman!”
Best paired with: Avenger, his eagle sidekick
Why it matters: peak shouty 60s superhero energy, later reborn as a washed-up cartoon lawyer on Adult Swim.
All caps and capes, all the time. I broke him down fully in my Birdman deep dive.
The Smurfs
Catchphrase: turning “smurf” into every other word
Best paired with: their nemesis, the wizard Gargamel
Why it matters: Belgian artist Peyo created them, but Hanna-Barbera turned them into a Saturday-morning empire.
An entire civilization named after single personality traits, and Smurfette held it down as one of the only women in the whole village.
Muttley
Catchphrase: that wheezy, muttered snicker
Best paired with: the mustache-twirling schemer Dick Dastardly
Why it matters: he does more with a grumble than most characters do with a full script.
That snicker is the entire character, and it is perfect. More Wacky Races characters here.
Space Ghost
Best paired with: sidekicks Jan, Jace, and Blip the monkey
Why it matters: he pulled off the strangest career change in cartoon history, from straight-faced space cop to deadpan talk-show host.
The 90s reboot made him a late-night host, but the original is pure hero stuff.
To make cartoons cheap enough for TV, Hanna-Barbera pioneered limited animation: reused backgrounds, held poses, and snappy dialogue doing the heavy lifting. A single short could cost a tiny fraction of a theatrical cartoon, which is exactly how the studio flooded the airwaves with new Hanna-Barbera characters year after year.
Magilla Gorilla
Catchphrase: the jingle, “We’ve got a gorilla for sale”
Best paired with: the pet-shop owner, Mr. Peebles
Why it matters: a sweet, oddly poignant premise the studio wrung real charm out of.
Secretly the premise is a little sad, yet Magilla stays optimistic, so I root for him every time.
Secret Squirrel
Best paired with: his sidekick, Morocco Mole
Why it matters: a full James Bond spoof, voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc.
Basically Bond, if Bond were a rodent in a trench coat. For more sleuths, see my cartoon detective characters roundup.
Penelope Pitstop
Best paired with: her protectors, the Ant Hill Mob
Why it matters: the only woman in the Wacky Races lineup, and a rare Hanna-Barbera female lead who earned her own spin-off.
She is the damsel who is rarely in distress, and usually she saves herself.
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
Catchphrase: Doggie Daddy’s “my son, my son!”
Best paired with: each other, of course
Why it matters: a truly warm father-son act among the studio’s many dog characters.
Warmer and sweeter than it has any right to be.
Hong Kong Phooey
Catchphrase: “Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy!”
Best paired with: Spot, the cat who really solves the cases
Why it matters: Scatman Crothers’ voice makes this bumbling kung-fu janitor dog an all-timer.
His cat does all the work while he takes the credit, and that never stops being funny.
A lot of the studio’s wit came straight from ex-Looney Tunes talent. Writers Michael Maltese and Warren Foster jumped over from Warner Bros., and character designer Iwao Takamoto, who later designed Scooby-Doo himself, gave these cartoons their instantly recognizable look.
Wally Gator
Best paired with: his exasperated zookeeper, Mr. Twiddle
Why it matters: a charming early-60s addition to the studio’s deep bench of animal Hanna-Barbera characters.
A green gator in a little hat who just wants a bit of adventure. Hard not to like him.
Atom Ant
Catchphrase: “Up and at ’em, Atom Ant!”
Best paired with: takes on crooks many times his size solo
Why it matters: proof the studio could make a hero out of literally anything, even an ant.
Tiny bug, huge attitude, and one of the more delightfully absurd Hanna-Barbera characters going.
Josie and the Pussycats
Best paired with: bandmates Valerie and Melody
Why it matters: The Archies meet Scooby-Doo, and Valerie was one of the first Black female leads in Saturday-morning cartoons.
It should not work on paper, and yet it absolutely does. They even blasted into orbit for a spin-off.
Grape Ape
Catchphrase: his own name, “Grape Ape, Grape Ape,” on a loop
Best paired with: his fast-talking dog pal, Beegle Beagle
Why it matters: forty feet of pure gentle-giant energy.
Forty feet of gentle-giant energy, and he means well constantly.
Captain Caveman
Catchphrase: a thunderous “Captain Caaaaaveman!”
Best paired with: his three sidekicks, the Teen Angels
Why it matters: equal parts hero and walking punchline, with that yell courtesy of Mel Blanc, the man behind Bugs Bunny.
One of my all-time favorites among these Hanna-Barbera characters, no contest.
The Huckleberry Hound Show took home an Emmy in 1960, the first animated series ever to do so. Over the years, Hanna-Barbera productions won eight Emmys in total. Not bad for cartoons everyone assumed were just cheap kid stuff.
Hooded Claw
Best paired with: his bumbling henchmen, the Bully Brothers
Why it matters: one of the most gleefully theatrical Hanna-Barbera villains ever drawn.
He ties you to the train tracks and still loses, and that Paul Lynde cackle is the best part.
Super Friends
Catchphrase: “Wonder Twin powers, activate!”
Best paired with: their weekly enemies, the Legion of Doom
Why it matters: it put DC’s heroes on TV every single week and shaped how a generation pictured Superman and Batman.
Gloriously cheesy, and partly why poor Aquaman got mocked for decades.
Snagglepuss
Catchphrase: “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” and “Exit, stage left!”
Best paired with: the pint-sized hunter Major Minor
Why it matters: a theatrical pink lion who talks like a stage actor who wandered into a cartoon by mistake.
Pure Daws Butler channeling a theatre ham, and it is wonderful. I gave him a full Snagglepuss breakdown too.
Huckleberry Hound
Catchphrase: a proudly off-key “Oh my darlin’, Clementine”
Best paired with: the whole early studio gang he headlined
Why it matters: Hanna-Barbera’s first big hit and the show that won animation its first Emmy.
He fails at every job under the sun and never once loses his cool. My full Huckleberry Hound guide covers the rest.
Bubbles
Best paired with: her sisters, Blossom and Buttercup
Why it matters: proof the final wave of Hanna-Barbera characters still minted icons, right before the studio wound down.
Sweet as the “joy and laughter” ingredient, right up until you push her too far. Easily my pick of the trio.
The Flintstones premiered in 1960 as the first animated series to air in prime time, loosely modeled on the sitcom The Honeymooners. Jackie Gleason reportedly weighed suing over the resemblance, then decided he did not want to be the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air.
The Jetsons
Catchphrase: George’s panicked “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”
Best paired with: Astro the dog and Rosie the robot maid
Why it matters: it predicted video calls and smartwatches decades before they existed.
Flying cars, a robot maid, and a talking dog. Meet the rest of the crew on my Jetsons characters page.
Quick Draw McGraw
Catchphrase: “I’ll do the thin’in’ around here, and don’t you forget it!”
Best paired with: his loyal burro deputy, Baba Looey
Why it matters: a gunslinging horse lawman whose masked alter ego, El Kabong, fought crooks with a guitar.
Not the brightest lawman in the West, but he commits. More horse cartoon characters here.
Tom and Jerry
Best paired with: each other, locked in eternal war
Why it matters: Hanna and Barbera created this duo at MGM, won seven Oscars with them, and basically funded the studio that followed.
Barely a word of dialogue and still the funniest rivalry in animation. But are they secretly best friends?
Jonny Quest
Best paired with: best friend Hadji and bodyguard Race Bannon
Why it matters: real adventure with real danger, far more intense than the average 60s cartoon.
It still holds up as a proper adventure show, not just a kids’ one.
Top Cat
Best paired with: his long-suffering foil, Officer Dibble
Why it matters: basically Sgt. Bilko as a con-artist alley cat, carried by Arnold Stang’s fast-talking voice.
The schemes, the gang, the endless Dibble-dodging, all of it timeless.
After Scooby-Doo hit in 1969, the studio ran the “teens plus a comic-relief pet solve mysteries” template into the ground. It spun out Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman, and clones like The Funky Phantom. When something worked, Hanna-Barbera made ten more just like it.
Boo-Boo Bear
Catchphrase: “Mr. Ranger isn’t gonna like this, Yogi.”
Best paired with: Yogi Bear, always
Why it matters: the conscience of Jellystone Park and half of one of the studio’s defining double acts.
He is the responsible friend we all have and never once listen to.
Yogi Bear
Catchphrase: “Smarter than the average bear!”
Best paired with: Boo-Boo, while dodging Ranger Smith
Why it matters: so popular he got his own show within two years and became the studio’s first feature-film star.
Smarter than the average bear, and he never lets you forget it.
Barney Rubble
Catchphrase: that unmistakable giggle
Best paired with: his best pal, Fred Flintstone
Why it matters: the calm, good-natured half of prime-time TV’s first animated duo.
He goes along with every scheme out of pure friendship, mostly in the voice of the great Mel Blanc.
Fred Flintstone
Catchphrase: “Yabba-dabba-doo!”
Best paired with: neighbor and best friend Barney Rubble
Why it matters: the loud, lovable star of the first prime-time animated sitcom, the show that proved cartoons could headline the evening.
A Stone Age Ralph Kramden, short-tempered but soft-hearted, and one of the definitive Hanna-Barbera characters.
Scooby-Doo
Catchphrase: “Scooby-Dooby-Doo!”
Best paired with: his partner in cowardice, Shaggy
Why it matters: the most famous of all the Hanna-Barbera characters, still headlining movies and shows more than fifty years on.
He would rather eat a Scooby Snack than catch a ghost, and yet he saves the day anyway. A fitting number one.
Hanna-Barbera Characters at a Glance
Here are the biggest Hanna-Barbera characters, the shows they came from, and the legends who voiced them.
| Character | Show (Year) | Original Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Scooby-Doo | Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969) | Don Messick |
| Fred Flintstone | The Flintstones (1960) | Alan Reed |
| Yogi Bear | The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958) | Daws Butler |
| George Jetson | The Jetsons (1962) | George O’Hanlon |
| Top Cat | Top Cat (1961) | Arnold Stang |
| Huckleberry Hound | The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958) | Daws Butler |
| Quick Draw McGraw | The Quick Draw McGraw Show (1959) | Daws Butler |
| Snagglepuss | The Yogi Bear Show (1961) | Daws Butler |
| Space Ghost | Space Ghost (1966) | Gary Owens |
| Jonny Quest | Jonny Quest (1964) | Tim Matheson |
| Hong Kong Phooey | Hong Kong Phooey (1974) | Scatman Crothers |
| Captain Caveman | Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977) | Mel Blanc |
Two voices carried most of the studio: Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss) and Don Messick (Scooby-Doo, Boo-Boo, Astro, Muttley), with Mel Blanc filling out the cast as Barney Rubble, Dino, and Captain Caveman.
That is my run through the Hanna-Barbera archive and my ranking of the best Hanna-Barbera characters, from the deepest cuts to the number-one legend.
Who did I rank too low?
Drop your pick in the comments and tell me which classic cartoon character deserves a bump.
Everyone forgets about Squiddly Diddly. He was an octopus whose biggest dream was leaving the underwater park to become famous, and I think he deserves a lot more attention. His whole character was built around chasing a dream that always seemed just out of reach, which made him surprisingly relatable. He may not be as iconic as Yogi Bear or Huckleberry Hound, but he’s definitely one of Hanna-Barbera’s most underrated characters.
### Adult Males
1. Fred Flintstone
2. Barney Rubble
3. George Jetson
4. Shaggy Rogers
5. Fred Jones
6. Dick Dastardly
7. Race Bannon
8. Dr. Benton Quest
9. Cosmo Spacely
10. Mr. Slate
11. Captain Caveman
12. Space Ghost
13. Harvey Birdman
14. Ranger Smith
15. Scooby-Doo
16. Yogi Bear
17. Huckleberry Hound
18. Top Cat
19. Quick Draw McGraw
20. Snagglepuss
21. Magilla Gorilla
22. Muttley
23. Secret Squirrel
24. Hong Kong Phooey / Penry
25. Wally Gator
26. Peter Potamus
27. Jabberjaw
28. Tom Cat
29. Jerry Mouse
30. Atom Ant
31. Doggie Daddy
32. Baba Looey
33. Mr. Jinks
34. Morocco Mole
35. Grape Ape
36. Blue Falcon
37. Dynomutt
38. Mildew Wolf
39. Touché Turtle
40. Dum Dum
41. Papa Smurf
42. Lippy the Lion
43. Hardy Har Har
44. Squiddly Diddly
45. Frankenstein Jr.
46. Multi Man
47. Fluid Man
48. Coil Man
49. Benny the Ball
50. Choo-Choo
51. Spook
52. Brain
53. Fancy-Fancy
54. Officer Dibble
55. Droop-a-Long
56. Ricochet Rabbit
### Adult Females
1. Wilma Flintstone
2. Betty Rubble
3. Jane Jetson
4. Daphne Blake
5. Velma Dinkley
6. Penelope Pitstop
7. Josie McCoy
8. Valerie Brown
9. Melody Valentine
10. Brenda Chance
11. Dee Dee Sykes
12. Taffy Dare
13. Granny Sweet
14. Rosie the Robot
15. Cindy Bear
16. Smurfette
17. Maw Rugg
18. Floral Rugg
19. Alexandra Cabot
20. Stella Spacely
21. Pearl Slaghoople
22. Mrs. Slate
### Kids – Boys
1. Elroy Jetson
2. Jonny Quest
3. Hadji Singh
4. Bamm-Bamm Rubble
5. Chuck
6. Boo-Boo Bear
7. Augie Doggie
8. Scrappy-Doo
9. Pixie
10. Dixie
11. Shag Rugg
12. Dexter
13. Henry Chan
14. Stanley Chan
15. Alan Chan
16. Tom Chan
17. Flip Chan
18. Scooter Chan
### Kids – Girls
1. Pebbles Flintstone
2. Judy Jetson
3. Nancy
4. Blossom
5. Bubbles
6. Buttercup
7. Suzie Chan
8. Anne Chan
9. Nancy Chan
10. Mimi Chan
11. Sassette Smurfling
12. Dee Dee