The Get Along Gang - The 1984 animated series

The Get Along Gang is a group of characters created in 1983 by Tony Byrd, Tom Jacobs, Ralph Shaffer, Linda Edwards, Muriel Fahrion and Mark Spangler for the toy design and licensing division of American Greetings, "Those Characters from Cleveland" ( now American Greetings Properties), for a series of greeting cards. The Get Along Gang is a group of 12 pre-adolescent anthropomorphic animal characters in the fictional town of Green Meadow, who form a club that meets in an abandoned wagon and who have various adventures whose merry stories were meant to show the importance of work of team and friendship. The success of the greeting card line led to a Saturday morning television series, which aired on CBS for 13 episodes in the 1984-1985 season, with reruns airing from January to June 1986.

Characters

The Get Along Gang franchise was loosely inspired by Hal Roach's 'Our Gang' short film series. The six main members of the gang have appeared frequently in merchandising and entertainment. The other six made fewer appearances in the series, but were regular in merchandising.

Montgomery Moose (voiced by Sparky Marcus, Charles Haid (pilot))

The leader of the Get Along Gang. He is very kind and thoughtful, even though he is embarrassing at times and knows good from bad.

Dotty Dog (voiced by Bettina Bush)

A cheerleader dog and second in command of the gang. He is very optimistic and always has a way to cheer people up, even if he is quick to judge at times.

Woolma Lamb (voiced by Georgi Irene)

An aspiring dancer. She appears to be defined by her vanity and beauty, and is often seen carrying a mirror to admire herself. He can be selfish and irrational, but he still defends others.

Zipper Cat (voiced by Robbie Lee)

An athletic feline that excels at sports. He tends to play the role of the "tough guy", which often gets him into trouble.

Portia Porcupine (voiced by Sherry Lynn)

The youngest member of the gang. She is curious and curious and tends to cry or throw tantrums when frustrated.

Bingo Beaver (voiced by Scott Menville)

A prankster and gambler whose bets and mistakes sometimes make his friends angry with him.

Braker Turtle (voiced by Frank Welker / Don Messick) - An intelligent and sensitive problem solver. He is also the fastest runner in Green Meadow. He likes to act in fashion, despite his nerdy looks. Braker makes occasional appearances in the DIC cartoon series, usually as a friend of the gang.

Rocco Rabbit - A reformed bully with a tough outside.
Rudyard Lion - A foreign student who has a crush on Woolma.

Flora Fox - A passionate botanist and photographer. She is outgoing and not afraid to say what she thinks.

Bernice Bear - A very sensitive girl who likes to keep things neat and tidy.

Lolly Squirrel - The rich daughter of the owner of the candy factory. She is a gossip.

antagonists

Catchum Crocodile (voiced by Timothy Gibbs) - The show's main antagonist. He is a constant troublemaker who takes what he wants without regard for anyone else.

Leland Lizard (voiced by Nicky Katt) - Catchum's aide. Although it is stupid, it is very sneaky. In the pilot, he was able to change colors, but he didn't show that ability in the animated series.

Growler Officer (voiced by Don Messick) - A bulldog police officer.

Mr. Hoofnagel (voiced by Don Messick) - An old goat who owns the local ice cream shop.

Miss Deering (voiced by Sherry Lynn) - A deer and the gang's class teacher.

Susie (voiced by Sherry Lynn) - Bingo's pen pal, a squirrel who likes exercise.

Mayor Bascombe Badger (voiced by Don Messick) - The Mayor of Green Meadow.

Schneider Squirrel - Lolly's father and owner of the candy factory. Schneider only appeared in comics.

Hocus Hare and Pocus Possum - A pair of wizards.

Animated series

Canadian studio Nelvana, in association with Scholastic Entertainment, Those Characters from Cleveland and LBS produced a pilot episode of The Get Along Gang, which aired on the Nickelodeon cable network on May 6, 1984. The pilot featured gang members trying to win a treasure hunt, despite Catchum's scams and their competition-fueled infighting. Although all twelve members of the gang were involved, only the six main members had speaking roles. Among the voice actors in the pilot were Charles Haid (then of Hill Street Blues) as Montgomery and Dave Thomas (fresh from his days on SCTV) as Leland. John Sebastian, famous for working for Nelvana at the time, wrote and sang for the pilot.

After the pilot episode, the production of the series was entrusted to DIC Audiovisuel, a French animation studio. The show was also taken out of Nickelodeon and transferred to CBS. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced, each containing two eleven-minute segments. As with the pilot, the focus was on the six main members of the gang, with the other six members making very sporadic appearances. Of those six, only Braker Turtle had a regular speaker role.

Technical data

Authors Tony Byrd, Tom Jacobs, Ralph Shaffer, Linda Edwards, Muriel Fahrion and Mark Spangler for those Cleveland characters
Country of origin: France, Canada (pilot episode)
Original language English
Number of episodes 13 (26 segments) + pilot
Executive producers: Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin
Duration 22 minutes (2 segments of 11 minutes, excluding the pilot)
Production company: DIC Audiovisuel, Nelvana (pilot episode)
Original network: Nickelodeon (pilot), CBS (TV series)
Date of transmission May 6 - December 8, 1984