Goober and the Ghost Chasers


Goober and the Ghost Chasers is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, animated by Eric Porter Studios in Australia and broadcast on ABC from September 8, 1973, to August 30, 1975. A total of 16 half-hour episodes of Goober and the Ghost Chasers were produced. The show's episodes were later serialized as part of the syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends in 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 successful Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Goober and the Ghost Chasers also features a group of teenagers solving spooky mysteries with their Afghan Hound-like dog Goober. Writing for Ghost Chasers Magazine, the group uses their equipment from the Apparition Kit when it comes to determining whether the ghost is real or not. The major differences were that the ghosts they eventually find are real and would help in defeating the fake ghosts. Some of those people behind the mask of some fake ghosts are not criminals. Goober had the power to become invisible and his closest human companion is reckless instead of cowardly. Also unlike Scooby-Doo, Goober can speak more clearly, but speaks only to "break the fourth wall" with a comment aimed at the viewers; otherwise, he merely barks.
In eight of the first 11 episodes, the Partridge Kids were regular members of the cast, with their live-action counterparts voicing the parts. They disappear after the eleventh episode and did not appear when other guest stars appeared.

Episodes

Each of the following episodes was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and written by Tom Dagenais, Warren S. Murray, and Dick Robbins.
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Cast

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, 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, 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 release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.