Gorillas, Chimps, And Orangutans, Oh My!

Since "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" premiered yesterday, I thought I'd list the many apes that have appeared in animation.

Bugs Bunny dealt with gorillas in "Gorilla My Dreams," "Hurdy Gurdy Hare," and "Apes Of Wrath."

"Baby Wants Spinach," Popeye, Famous Studios, 1950. Sweet Pea goes after a ball, and ends up in the gorilla cage at the zoo. Popeye warns him to "stay away from that chipmunk," but ends up getting clobbered himself. Sweetpea plays hero after eating the spinach.

"Casper Comes To Clown," Famous Studios, 1951. When Casper's newest friend, Brownie Bear becomes a juggler in the circus, Casper has to save him from a fierce gorilla who's been turned loose by a jealous monkey.

"Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie," Huckleberry Hound, Hanna-Barbera, 1958. Huck is a cop ordered to bring in Wee Willie, an escaped gorilla. As often happens in these cartoons, the results are not what Huck expected.

"Courageous Cat And Minute Mouse," Sam Singer, 1960. The Frog has a simpleminded henchman, Harry the Gorilla. Note: In the episode "The Case Of The Boxing Champion," the ape's name is changed to Punchy.

Several episodes of "The Flintstones" feature apes, most notably, "Fred Goes Ape," in which Fred, and later, Barney, turn into apes after taking Scram Pills.

The opening credits of "Lippy And Hardy" have them menaced by a gorilla who uses them for a yo-yo.

"Magilla Gorilla," Hanna-Barbera, 1964. The title character causes endless trouble for Mr. Peebles, but occasionally leaves the pet shop to meet people and other animals. Only little Ogee really wants him, but her parents openly oppose having a pet gorilla.

"Attack Of The Tree People," Jonny Quest, Hanna-Barbera, 1964. After escaping from a burning boat, Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit end up on an island, where they meet apes who want them for playmates. Ah, but it wouldn't be a good Jonny Quest story without bad guys, now would it? There were also gorillas in "The Devil's Tower."

"The Island Fling," Peter Potamus, Hanna-Barbera, 1964. Natives mistake Pete for their god Omega, and put him through a series of tests, including one with their orangutan, Luella.

"Fearo The Ferocious," AKA "Fearo," Underdog, Total Television, 1965. An obvious parody of "King Kong." Like his predecessor, Fearo is subdued and captured on an island, only to later break loose, and run off with the heroine, in this case, Sweet Polly. Instead of being shot down by planes, he's lured back to his island when Underdog brings him a bunch of bananas.

"Killer Diller Gorilla," Atom Ant, Hanna-Barbera, 1965. Atom goes into action against a giant gorilla. Sound familiar?


"Big Town Show Down," Ricochet Rabbit, Hanna-Barbera, 1966. Ricochet and Droop Along pursue a big city crook who uses real gorillas for bodyguards.

"King Kong," Rankin-Bass/Toei, 1966. The big ape bonds(no pun intended) with the Bond family, and joins them in their efforts to thwart the plots of Dr. Who. There was a later animated series about Kong from the 90's.

"The Chimp Who Made It Big," Superboy, Filmation, 1966. A chimp was featured here.

"Creatue King," Space Ghost, Hanna-Barbera, 1966. One of the title villain's creatures was a scaly ape, who also surfaced in the "Council Of Doom" miniseries.

"The Herculoids," Hanna-Barbera, 1967. Igoo, the rock ape was a team player. The heroes also contended with the Raider Apes in one episode.

"Speed Racer," Trans-Lux, 1967. Chim Chim is the Racer family's pet chimp.

"The Red Ghost," The Fantastic Four, Hanna-Barbera, 1967. Ivan Kragoff, AKA The Red Ghost, and his apes first appear in this episode. They later return in "It Started On Yancy Street."

"Return Of Korg," Mighty Mightor, Hanna-Barbera, 1967. Sequel to "The Monster Keeper," in which Korg sends a giant ape to capture Sheera.

"Yellow Submarine," King Features, 1968. King Kong is featured in the Beatles' animated classic.

"Pirate Island," The New Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn," Hanna-Barbera, 1968. A hermit and his gorilla help Huck, Tom, and Becky outwit pirates.

"Sesame Street." Many animated segments devoted to the letter G featured gorillas.

"The Treacherous Movie Lot Plot," The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop, Hanna-Barbera, 1969. This episode begins with Penelope being captured by a robot King Kong.


"Never Ape An Ape Man," Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Hanna-Barbera, 1969. The gang is on the set of "The Ape Man Of Forbidden Mountain." But the apeman is just a legend...or is he?

"Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch!" Hanna-Barbera, 1971. Bananas the gorilla is one of the animals at the Wonderland Zoo.

"Muddsy Joins The Circus," The Funky Phantom, Hanna-Barbera/Air Programs International, 1971. A man disguised as a gorilla is stealing money from a circus.

"Bongo, Baby, Bongo," The Jackson 5ive, Rankin-Bass, 1971. The Jacksons help a baby ape.

"Rio," The Osmonds, Rankin-Bass, 1972. The brothers mistake the mayor of Rio for Jimmy, since both are weaing ape costumes.

"My Favorite Martians," Filmation, 1973. In this animated spinoff of the sitcom "My Favorite Martian," Bill Brennan and his teenage son Brad have a pet chimp named Chump. The ape is prominently featured in "The Chimp Who Cried Chump" in which a spray formula not only cheers him up, but makes him grow, and "Lonely Oakie," in which he and a few other animals are able to talk to Oakie like humans.

"The Planet Splitter," Superfriends, Hanna-Barbera, 1973. A gorilla escapes at a carnival, but Marvin mistakes him for a man in a fur coat.

"Kingzilla," Speed Buggy, Hanna-Barbera, 1973. Speedy and the gang are captured by a villain who wants to use Kingzilla, a giant ape, in his plans for world domination.

"The Switch," Partridge Family: 2200 A.D., Hanna-Barbera, 1974. The minds of Keith and Bongo the gorilla are switched. How can the Partridges possibly perform at their latest gig?

"The Go Trip(Kon Tacky)" The New Adventures Of Gilligan, Filmation, 1974. A gorilla banging on a rod leads the castaways to believe the island is having an earthquake!

"The Great Grape Ape," Hanna-Barbera, 1975. The title character and his friend Beegly Beagley were paired with new Tom And Jerry cartoons.

"Return To The Planet Of The Apes," Depatie-Freleng, 1975. The only animated version of the franchise, this was darker than DFE-'s previous efforts.

"The No-Face Zombie Chase Case," Scooby-Doo, Hanna-Barbera, 1976. Scooby and the gang solve a mystery involving an old gold coin, a faceless zombie, and a gorilla.

"Heyyy! It's The King!" Hanna-Barbera, 1977. Clyde the gorilla was a member of King's gang in this clever spoof of "Happy Days."

"Challenge Of The Superfriends," Hanna-Barbera, 1978. Grodd the Gorilla was one of the members of the Legion Of Doom. He also appeared in other cartoons featuring DC superheroes.

"Jeepers! It's The Jaguaro!" Scooby-Doo, Hanna-Barbera, 1978. While solving the mystery of the Jaguaro, the gang also has encounters with hostile natives, and a pair of gorillas.

"Space Stars," Hanna-Barbera, 1981. Uglor, the winged ape was the recurring villain on this series.

"Shirt Tales," Hanna-Barbera, 1982. Bogey the orangutan was part of this group. Villains often mistook him for a monkey.

"Filmation's Ghostbusters," Filmation, 1986. Tracy the gorilla helped out the sons of Eddie Spencer and Jake Kong on their ghostbusting missions. Note: Tracy was also featured in the live action version from the '70's, which featured the fathers of the heroes.

"Vikong Lives," Jonny Quest, Hanna-Barbera, 1986. The Quest team encounters Vikong, an ape trained by the Vikings, and try to keep him out of the hands of cruel exploiters.

"A Father Should Be," Jem, Marvel/Sunbow, 1988. In her attempt to rescue Ba Nee from a kidnapper, Jem turns herself into a gorilla.

Two episodes of Captain Planet And The Planeteers were "Gorillas Will Be Missed" and "Orangu-tangle."

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