Yogi the Easter Bear

Yogi the Easter Bear is an animated television special starring Yogi Bear and produced by Hanna-Barbera which was broadcast in syndication on April 3, 1994. This, along with Arabian Nights, was one of Don Messick's last voice-over roles; he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1996 and died in 1997.

Plot
Ranger Smith's boss, the Supreme Commissioner, is attending Jellystone Park's Easter Jamboree. Concerned about making sure the event goes off perfectly, Smith picks out an Easter Bunny suit and orders a truckload of candy for the celebration, ordering his guard, Mortimer, to watch over the candy truck and keep Yogi Bear away from eating any of the candy. Mortimer, however, is legally blind and Yogi steals the Easter Bunny outfit, tricks Mortimer into thinking he is the real Easter Bunny, and eats all the candy in the truck.

Smith is furious and threatens to deport Yogi to the Siberian Circus (just as he had threatened in the previous film), but Boo Boo offers to find the real Easter Bunny and bring him to the jamboree. Smith states that he stopped believing in the Easter Bunny after he didn't get a double-decker raspberry-filled dark chocolate egg from him, but happily accepts Boo Boo's offer. Ranger Smith fears that he too will end up being transferred to Siberia by the commissioner if the jamboree fails. Yogi and Boo Boo seek out the Grand Grizzly in the mountains to see if he knows anything about the Easter Bunny's whereabouts. The cantankerous Grand Grizzly instructs Yogi and Boo Boo to seek the big ears in the sky (a hilltop resembling rabbit ears). They reach the mountain, using the park's hot air balloon, only to find that the Easter Bunny has been kidnapped.

Behind the kidnapping is a short and deranged businessman named Paulie, hellbent on replacing all of the world's Easter eggs with plastic ones, and his massive but dim-witted sidekick named Ernest. Yogi and Boo Boo follow a trail of jelly beans to the factory, where the Easter Bunny is being held captive above a vat of molten plastic. Posing as health inspectors, Yogi and Boo Boo successfully free the Easter Bunny, only to find that Millicent the Magical Easter Chicken is the one responsible for laying the Easter eggs. Yogi and Boo Boo go to the Easter Henhouse to meet her but are accosted by her guard dog, who refuses entry to anyone except Ernest, whom the dog mistakes for the real Easter Bunny. Yogi and Boo Boo, after using a giant slingshot to crash through the henhouse's roof, escape with the chicken before Paulie and Ernest can get to her and head for Jellystone Park. A madcap chase after the chicken begins, with the Easter Bunny falling off a cliff and getting seriously injured three times.

Meanwhile, back at Jellystone Park, Smith is trying in vain to impress the children and the Commissioner at the Easter Jamboree. The stunts he tries either are ridiculously lame or fail spectacularly, and the Commissioner's grandchildren show no response except a few sarcastic claps and a stern look. The boss is on the verge of firing Ranger Smith when the Easter Bunny, Millicent, Yogi, and Boo Boo conveniently fall in to save the day. The Commissioner changes his mind and instead promotes Ranger Smith, who decides to let Yogi stay at Jellystone; to thank Ranger Smith for believing, the Easter Bunny (miraculously healed) gives him what he asked for all these years: a double-decker raspberry-filled dark chocolate egg.

Cast

 * Greg Burson - Yogi Bear
 * Don Messick - Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith
 * Charlie Adler - Paulie
 * Gregg Berger - Supreme Commissioner Clarence
 * Marsha Clark - Female Ranger
 * Jeff Doucette - Ernest
 * Ed Gilbert - Grand Grizzly, Guard Dog
 * Rob Paulsen - Easter Bunny, Male Ranger
 * Jonathan Winters - Ranger Mortimer

Credits

 * "Yogi the Easter Bear"
 * Executive Producers: Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Thomas A. Mayfield
 * Music by: Steven Bramson
 * Story by: Davis Doi, Jeff Holder, Scott Jeralds, Bob Onorato, Pat Ventura, Larry Spiegel, John Barrett
 * Produced by: Davis Doi and Chuck Jones
 * Directed by: Robert Alvarez and Hawley Pratt
 * Story Editor: Joe Barbera
 * Production Design: Davis Doi, Scott Jeralds, Gary Lund, Roy Morita, Barry Goldberg, Rosemary O'Connor
 * Teleplay by: Jeff Holder
 * Unit Production Supervisor: Victoria McCollum
 * Storyboard Artists: Kirk Hanson, Scott Jeralds, Chuck Jones, Bob Onorato, Gary Lund, Roy Morita, Barry Goldberg, Rosemary O'Connor, Hal Mason
 * Argentina · Storyboarding: Jaime Diaz Studios
 * Animation Directors: Joanna Romersa, Allen Wilzbach, Robert Alvarez, Joan Drake, Frank Andrina, Rick Bowman
 * Casting and Recording Director: Kris Zimmerman
 * Talent Coordinator: Jill Ziegenhagen
 * Supervising Recording Engineer: Edwin Collins
 * Recording Engineer: Alvy Dorman
 * Voices: Charlie Adler, Gregg Berger, Greg Burson, Marsha Clark, Jeff Doucette, Ed Gilbert, Don Messick, Rob Paulsen, Jonathan Winters
 * Design Consultant: Maurice Noble
 * Design Supervisor: Bob Onorato
 * Designers: Mike Takamoto, Pete Alvarado, Eric Clark, Kirk Hanson, Butch Hartman, Scott Hill, Scott Jeralds, Lew Ott, Steve Swaja
 * Design Assistants: Dana Jo Granger, Donna Zeller, Jesus Rodriguez
 * Animators: Robert Taylor, Manny Gould, Manny Perez, Warren Batchelder, Don Williams, Phil Roman, Hal Ambro, George Nicholas, Fred Madison, Ken Walker, Bob Richardson, Bob Bransford, Jim Davis, Bob Bemiller, Ken Muse, John Freeman, Frank Gonzales, Reuben Timmins, Barney Posner, Bill Ackerman, John McGuire, Irv Anderson, Fred Wolf, Sam Nicholson, Jim Duffy, Ken O'Brien, Lil Evans, Tom Ray, Tom Baron, Virgil Ross, Hal Mason
 * Layout Keys Supervisor: Drew Gentle
 * Layout: Bob Givens, Dick Ung, Drew Gentle, Martin Strudler, Lew Ott, Karenia Kaminski, Dean Thompson, John Perry, Hal Mason, Chuck Jones
 * Background Supervisors: Al Gmuer, Ron Dias
 * Background Color Stylist: Ron Dias
 * Background Design: Gary Lund, Richard H. Thomas
 * Background: Ruben Chavez, Leonard Robledo, Patricia Palmer-Phillipson, Richard H. Thomas, Flamarion Ferreira, Mike Humphries, Alison Julian, F. Monte, Andy Phillipson, Phil Phillipson, Jeff Richards, Craig Robertson, Tom Woodington
 * Director of Music Production: Bodie Chandler
 * Ink & Paint Supervisor: Alison Leopold
 * Ink and Paint by: C&D Ink and Paint Service, Burbank, California · Supervisor: Shannon Meyer and C&D Productions, Inc., Avon Park, Florida · Supervisors: Al and Frances Kirsten
 * Color Key: Suzette Darling
 * Xerography: Star Wirth
 * Animation Checking Supervisor: Jan Adams
 * Animation Checking: Beth Goodwin
 * Graphics: Don Foster
 * Title Design: Herbert Klynn
 * Post Production Supervisor: Tom Gleason
 * Camera: John Burton Jr., Larry Hogan, Ray Lee
 * Camera by: Ted Bemiller & Son's Camera, Morgan's Maxi-Cam
 * Supervising Editors: Tim Iverson, Lee Gunther
 * Editors: Gil Iverson, Rick Steward, Joe Siracusa, Roger Donley, Allan Potter, Franklin Cofod
 * Post Production Coordinator: Jeannine Roussel
 * Track Readers: Jim Hearn, Kay Douglas, Carol Iverson, Kerry Iverson
 * Sound Editing: Three Rivers Editorial, Inc. · Michele Douglas, Jon Johnson, Ron Fedele, Paul Douglas
 * Orchestrations by: Steven Bramson, Bruce Broughton, Don Davis
 * Additional Music by: Edward Yelin and William Loose
 * Orchestra Conducted by: Bruce Broughton, Don Davis
 * Music Recording Engineer: Eric A. Thomlinson
 * Music Editing: Kim Naves
 * Re-Recording Mixers: James Aicholtz, C.A.S., Rex Slinkard
 * Negative Consultant: William DeBoer, Jr.
 * Telecine Colorist: Trent Johnson
 * Production Supervisors: Debby Hindman, Jim Foss
 * Production Coordinator: Harry Love
 * Assistant to the Producer: Mary Roscoe
 * Production Assistants: Sandy Benenati, Valerie Menk, Linda Moore, Gail Prewitt
 * Animation Production Service by: Fil-Cartoons, Inc.
 * Overseas Production Manager: Jerry Smith
 * Overseas Layout Director: Margaret Parkes
 * Overseas Animation Directors: Chris Cuddington, Aichu So
 * Animators: Bong Macarayan, Jessie Romero
 * Executives in Charge of Production: Stanley E. Paperny and Jayne Barbera
 * Production Executive: Catherine Winder
 * Program Executive: Jeff Holder
 * This Picture Made Under the Jurisdiction of IATSE-IA Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 * © 1994 Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 * Produced and Finished by: DimenMark Broadcasting
 * A Hanna-Barbera/Marvel Production in association with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Sienna Productions with the participation of DimenMark Films International

VHS release
On February 15, 1995 Turner Home Entertainment released Yogi the Easter Bear on VHS in Region 1 in the United States and on VHS in Region 4 on December 22, 1995 by Roadshow Entertainment in Australia.

DVD release
Warner Home Video released Yogi the Easter Bear on DVD in Region 1 on February 8, 2005. The special was re-released together with the 2010 film Yogi Bear in a limited DVD double pack on March 22, 2011.