Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose

Infobox Film
name = Yogi and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose


caption =
director = Ray Patterson
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
writer =
starring = Daws Butler
Don Messick
Frank Welker
music =
editing =
distributor = Worldvision Enterprises
released = 1987
runtime = 96 min.
country = USA
language = English
imdb_id = 0088433

"Yogi and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose" is a animated telefilm produced by Hanna-Barbera as part of "Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10". It premiered in syndication in 1987 and was released on VHS in 1988. Based on the popular cartoon series, "Yogi Bear", it also stars several other Hanna-Barbera characters.

Plot

Yogi Bear, leading a tourist service appropriately named "Yogi's Jollyday Tours," leads fellow Hanna-Barbera characters Boo Boo, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy on a tour of the "Spruce Goose," the world famous flying boat, built by billionaire Howard Hughes.cite book|last=Barbera|first=Joseph|title=My Life in "Toons": From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century|year=1994|publisher=Turner Publishing|location=Atlanta, GA|isbn= 1-57036-042-1|pages=191-192]

After ignoring a sign blocking an entrance door inside the Spruce Goose, Yogi leads his gang inside and shuts the door, accidentally locking them inside. They then walk throughout the large aircraft trying to find a way out after many attempts fail to open the door, most notably one involving ramming it with a ladder that knocks most of them unconscious. Yogi makes his way to the cabin and proceeds to press buttons in an attempt to open a door. It isn't until he presses the last button that the Spruce Goose's engines begin to light up and magically turn on.

All of a sudden everyone notices that the Spruce Goose is moving and following a path leading outside of the "dome home" and into Long Beach harbor. While they are coasting, Yogi believes it to be only "part of the show" and what they see is just an "optical illusion." He leaves the captain's chair to go to the passenger area of the plane to check up on his friends, some of which are confused, some of which are scared, and some of which just demand for the tour to be over.

Their conversation is interrupted by Boo Boo who frantically runs to Yogi Bear attempting to tell him of "the end of the world" and how they're going to crash into the bridge. It takes a second for Yogi to realize the danger, but when he does he makes his way back to the pilot's seat.

Experimenting, Yogi pulls back on the wheel, causing the Spruce Goose to lift off the water, avoiding the bridge. Turning around to ease his friend's worries, Yogi accidentally leans against the wheel, causing the Spruce Goose to descend back towards the water's surface. He strains to pull the wheel backwards and just narrowly allows the Spruce Goose to land safely back on the water.

They believe everything is going to be okay until they see they are approaching the RMS Queen Mary, and will surely hit it. All of a sudden the Spruce Goose begins to glow golden and lift off the water's surface, flying over the Queen Mary, and flying high up in the clouds. Excited that "Yogi's flying the Spruce Goose," the gang sits back in their chairs and enjoys the "tour."

A segment occurs where they are flying in outer space, and begin to see images of each other drawn in the stars. After passing through a cloud, they witness an event where a young boy, appearing to be a satyr, plays an instrument that leads a Pegasus-like horse out of hiding. He then jumps on the back of the horse and begins to ride it away, when Yogi and Quick Draw attempt to rope the winged horse. Behind the clouds the horse turns into a mad bull and chases Yogi and Quick Draw back into the clouds.

After the segment is over, Yogi and the gang are back flying over California in the Spruce Goose. From the clouds, a small spaceship with Merkin and Firkin appear as they prepare for invasion of the "United States of California." They transform into "Earth People" in an attempt to "mingle among them undetected." They are about to attack when they are startled by the oncoming Spruce Goose. Merkin and Firkin then decide to go somewhere else to begin their invasion.

On the radio, Yogi and the gang hear of trapped animals at the South Pole that are in mortal danger, so they decide to go and help them out. While they are flying south, they notice a flock of birds flying south too. Boo Boo then reminds Yogi that the south the birds are going to is for warmer temperatures, and that the South Pole is freezing cold. The gang becomes nervous at the thought, but are then reassured when Yogi switches back on the radio to hear another telling of the same story.

Flying through blizzard-type weather, the Spruce Goose begins to shake, dip and "hit potholes in the sky" (as Yogi says). Soon, they begin to hear a thumping outside and see a little wounded bird holding on the wing of the airplane. They devise a plan for Huckleberry Hound to attach plungers to his feet and walk out to get him. They successfully bring the bird back on the plane and bandage up its wing. They then let it go to "fly to Miami with his mommy for the winter."

Afterwards, they think their thumping problem is solved until all of a sudden it begins again. They eventually locate Bernice, whom they originally thought was a boy. Bernice says how she was touring the Spruce Goose with her mom when all of a sudden she got lost and woke up locked in a room, somewhat the same story as Yogi and the gang.

They eventually arrive in the South Pole and see that a shift in the ice pack has blocked the animals' lanes to the sea, cutting them off from their food supply. Yogi then devises a dangerous plan to use the Spruce Goose as an "ice/snow plow" and cut right through the tough ice. Because of the magical power of the Spruce Goose, the plan is a success. They are about to leave when all of a sudden they see another situation: a group of penguins are trapped on a tiny ice island surrounded by sharks.

Bernice devises a plan to park the Spruce Goose between the island and the main body of land, allowing the penguins to walk across the wings. When she goes out to check on the status of the penguins, she slips from the frozen wings. Yogi goes outside and notices she's gone. He instantly believes she was eaten by sharks, until he spots her hanging onto one of the Spruce Goose's propellers. His attempt to turn the propeller around to get her back up works, but also backfires as Yogi is now in her same predicament. Bernice gets Quick Draw McGraw who helps get Yogi back up. They are about to leave when Snagglepuss, attempting to help, turns on the engines to throw Yogi back up onto the wing (not knowing he was already saved).

The engines turn on, blowing Yogi, Bernice, and Quick Draw off the wing onto a small iceberg. They are about to be eaten by chasing sharks until a large whale intervenes and scares them off. The whale helps the gang back to the Spruce Goose and they leave with the grateful animals behind waving goodbye.

On their way back home, the gang overhears on the radio of an unmanned ocean liner full of abandoned poached animals adrift on the Zelman Sea.

Merkin and Firkin, scared away from California by the Spruce Goose, locate the unmanned ocean liner full of abandoned poached animals and decide to start their invasion there. They transform into "Earth animals" in an attempt to, once again, mingle among them. All of a sudden, once again, they are scared by the oncoming Spruce Goose and leave again. The gang arrives to save the animals.

Their first idea is to pull the ship with the Spruce Goose. This plan works at first, but soon backfires when the doors crack open, letting tons of seawater in and causing the ship to begin sinking. It isn't until Bernice devises a plan to open the front of the Spruce Goose up, allowing the animals to come inside. This plan works and the animals come in safely. The gang then takes off and begins searching for land. When they finally reach an island, they notice the word "HELP" written in the sand.

They land and release the animals, and then soon realize the word "HELP" could have been written by someone who was trapped on the island. The gang starts a search party, but unbeknownst to them something is lurking in the bushes listening in on them. As the gang begin to search, the thing in the bushes makes its way through the jungle and back to a tree where a familiar red plane has crashed. Mumbly then awakens The Dread Baron (from "Laff-A-Lympics") and attempts to tell him of the plane. Looking through a telescope, The Dread Baron realizes the plane is the Spruce Goose, and that with it he can become rich. He then notices Yogi and his gang and realizes his plans could be foiled by them. It isn't until Dread Baron notices Bernice that he devises a plan to use her to get to the "Goose."

When Bernice goes off looking by herself, she becomes stuck in quicksand. The Dread Baron attempts to save her, but he is stuck himself. It isn't until Bernice uses the Baron's stuck body to free herself, that he begins to call for help. The gang hears the call and arrives to find the Dread Baron and Mumbly.

After being freed, The Baron begs for mercy that they get him off this island. Yogi then comes up with an idea: The Dread Baron must prove himself worthy by taking a lost egg back to its nest. The Dread Baron and Mumbly accomplish this task, although they had to face a cave full of bats, a large and strange lizard, and other obstacles.

With the Baron and Mumbly on board, the gang take off and head towards home. While they are cleaning up, Baron and Mumbly devise a plan to take control of the Spruce Goose and take it to their original intended location, the Island of Moolah-Moolah. As gratitude toward Yogi and the gang for freeing them from being trapped on the island, Baron and Mumbly begin to make a gigantic feast, complete with sandwiches, cookies, and picnic baskets. While the gang are eating in a cargo hold, Baron and Mumbly trap them in and take the controls of the Spruce Goose.

Looking for a spot to land at night is tough for The Dread Baron, who comments how there are no landing lights available. He eventually makes a "one-point landing" on top of a volcano on the island of Moolah-Moolah. They decide to sleep and get rest for tomorrow. The next day, Baron and Mumbly discover a tribe honoring a huge statue resembling The Dread Baron himself. He then parachutes down and takes his place as their king, ordering all of their gold to be stored inside of the Spruce Goose.

Still trapped on board, Yogi and the gang hear the chant of the tribal men ("Moolah-moolah, ma-la goolah"). They soon escape and exit the plane, but are soon trapped by The Dread Baron. All of a sudden, they are startled by a gigantic rumbling sound. It isn't until they look up that they see the mountain the Spruce Goose is resting upon is a volcano ready to erupt. The gang then runs towards the plane to escape, with Dread Baron and Mumbly following. They all make it onboard the plane and have the engines going full-power, but they cannot take off the top of the mountain because they "need room to taxi."

In the sky appears, once again, the alien spacecraft containing Merkin and Ferkin, who prepare to begin their invasion of the isle of Moolah-Moolah. As they move in, the volcano explodes, sending the Spruce Goose high into the air. The aliens see the gigantic plane coming towards them, and are thrown off course spinning.

While flying, some of the Spruce Goose's engines begin to stall and stop. They realize their load is too heavy and Yogi and Quick Draw decide to dump the gold. Dread Baron, seeing his precious gold being thrown, jumps out of the plane to obtain it. He realizes he jumped without his parachute, which Mumbly has now. With all of the gold gone, the Spruce Goose regains its full power and flies back towards Long Beach, California. Back on the Island of Moolah-Moolah, Mumbly has been made the new king and Dread Baron must attend to his every whim.

The gang arrive back in Long Beach, California as Yogi allows the Spruce Goose to land itself back inside of its dome while they go to sleep. The next morning, they are woken up by an employee who opens the stuck door and finds them lying there next to the broken ladder. Afterwards, they all get back in Yogi's "Jollyday Tours" van and prepare to go home. They see Bernice and her mom in a car beside them as she tries to tell her mom about their story.

Driving home, they hear the stories on the radio of how animals were saved at the South Pole and at the Zelman Sea, to which he claims nobody knows how that happened. Yogi claims he knows how it all happened as he and the gang cheer for the Spruce Goose.

Cast

* Daws Butler - Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie
* Dave Coulier - Firkin
* Don Messick - Boo Boo Bear, Mumbly
* Marilyn Schrefler - Bernice
* John Stephenson - Doggie Daddy, Pelican
* Frank Welker - Merkin
* Paul Winchell - Dread Baron

References

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