The Little Rascals is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King World Productions. It first aired on ABC on September 25, 1982. A spin-off based on the live-action Our Gang comedy shorts, it was broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show in 1982 and then as part of The Monchhichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show in 1983.
The characters were designed by Iwao Takamoto and Bob Singer by using tracing paper on top of actual photographs of the real-life characters, and used a pencil to sketch the characters. The same technique was also used in previous Hanna-Barbera spin-offs such as The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Laverne and Shirley in the Army.
The Little Rascals had been animated for television twice before. In the 1960s, a series of nine clay-animated Little Rascals Color Specials were produced for syndication, presumably by Bura & Hardwick, the British studio responsible for Camberwick Green, using soundtracks from the original Our Gang films. The episodes include "Shiver My Timbers", "Our Gang Follies of 1936", "Second Childhood", "Hearts Are Thumps", "Came the Brawn", "Bear Shooters", "Readin' and Writin'", "The Pinch Singer", and "Teacher's Beau".[citation needed]
In 1979, Fred Wolf produced an animated The Little Rascals Christmas Special for NBC. That company's version was further used in animated public service announcements.
Cast[]
| Image | Character | USA | Mex |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Spanky McFarland | Scott Menville | |
|
Alfalfa Switzer | Julie McWhirter | José María Iglesias |
|
Buckwheat Thomas | Shavar Ross | |
|
Darla Hood | Patty Maloney | |
|
Porky | Julie McWhirter | |
|
Waldo | B.J. Ward | |
|
Tommy "Butch" Bond | B.J. Ward | |
|
Woim | Julie McWhirter | |
|
Pete the Pup | Peter Cullen |