The Magilla Gorilla Show


The Magilla Gorilla Show is an animated television series starring Magilla Gorilla. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for, and was originally sponsored in syndication by Ideal Toys from 1964 through 1966. The show had other recurring characters, including Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse, and Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long. In syndication, the main and supporting characters from the Peter Potamus show were also added. Like many of Hanna-Barbera's animal characters, Magilla Gorilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting a bow tie, shorts held up by suspenders, and an undersized derby hat. Repeats were aired in 1966 and 1967 during ABC-TV's Saturday morning schedule.
The show aired on Boomerang until July 22, 2012.

Segments

Magilla Gorilla

Magilla Gorilla is an anthropomorphic gorilla who spent his time languishing in the front display window of a pet shop run by Melvin Peebles, eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked down Magilla's price considerably, but Magilla was invariably only purchased for a short time...for example, by thieves who needed to break into a bank or by an advertising agency looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to refund their money. Magilla often ended each episode with his catchphrase "We'll try again next week." Magilla's only friend was an adorable, admiring little red headed girl named Ogee, who asked, "How much is that Gorilla in the window?" during the show's opening theme song.

Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse

In a send up of the feuding Hatfields and McCoys, an orange hillbilly cat named Punkin' Puss is constantly chasing a hard-to-catch hillbilly mouse named Mushmouse. Punkin' Puss' weapon of choice is a shotgun.

Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long

Ricochet Rabbit works as the sheriff of Hoop N' Holler with his slow as molasses deputy Droop-a-Long Coyote. In addition to his super-speed, Ricochet Rabbit uses an arsenal of trick bullets to help him take down criminals. He would introduce himself as "Sheriff Bing! Bing! Binnnng! Ricochet Rabbit!"

Cast

released the Classic Collection of the Magilla Gorilla Show consisting of 31 episodes of Magilla Gorilla, together with the 23 Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long and 23 Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse shorts in a boxed DVD collection on August 15, 2006. The DVD set does not include the original Magilla Gorilla Show main/end title sequences and the cartoons are not restored, drawing heavy criticism from fans.
A "Diamond Collection" of the complete series was released on June 6, 2017. However, it contains only 23 of the 31 Magilla Gorilla shorts. It is therefore missing 6 shorts previously included on the 2006 Classic Collection, which include Camp Scamps, The Purple Mask, Love at First Fight, Pet Bet, Makin' With the Magilla, High Fly Guy and Deep Sea Doodle. All 23 Ricochet Rabbit and all 23 Punkin' Puss shorts are included as they were on the previous release. There are no special features on this set and the opening and closing titles are still not included.
DVD nameEp #Release dateAdditional information
Classic Collection31August 15, 2006
Diamond Collection23June 6, 2017
  • No special features
  • No opening themes or closing credits
  • Missing 6 Magilla Gorilla shorts