The Robonic Stooges

The Robonic Stooges was a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series featuring the characters of The Three Stooges in new roles as clumsy crime-fighting bionic superheroes. It was developed by Norman Maurer and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 10, 1977, to March 18, 1978, on CBS and contained two segments, The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives.

The Robonic Stooges originally aired as a segment on The Skatebirds from September 10, 1977, to December 24, 1977, on CBS. When CBS canceled The Skatebirds in early 1978, the trio was given their own half-hour timeslot which ran for 16 episodes.

The Robonic Stooges
Moe, Larry and Curly — are superheroes who fight crime with their special bionic powers and are given assignments via film projector from their frustrated boss Agent 000 (pronounced "Oh-Oh-Oh") who runs the Superhero Employment Agency.

Since all of the original Three Stooges had died when production began (Moe Howard and Larry Fine had both died in 1975, Shemp Howard died in 1955 and Curly Howard in 1952), other voice actors were used to impersonate them, mostly veteran voice actors from other Hanna-Barbera productions. Paul Winchell voiced Moe, Joe Baker voiced Larry, and Frank Welker voiced Curly (Welker had previously used his Curly impersonation for the titular character in Jabberjaw). Unlike cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, The Robonic Stooges did not contain a laugh track.

This was the second animated adaptation of the Three Stooges, the first being Cambria Studios' The New Three Stooges in 1965, which used the actual Stooges' voices. Norman Maurer, who was married to Moe Howard's daughter and had acted as the Stooges' agent during their lifetimes, worked on both series. The Stooges had previously appeared in another Hanna Barbera-created series: The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972), this time as Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe. Though all three stooges were alive when this was produced, none were asked to supply the voice of their respective characters (as it was, Larry had suffered a debilitating stroke in 1970, which left his speech somewhat slurred).

The Robonic Stooges episodes occasionally can be seen between shows as interstitial segments on Boomerang.

Episodes
Aired as part of The Skatebirds:

Aired as part of The Three Robonic Stooges (2 shorts aired per 30-minute episode):

Voices

 * Joe Baker - Larry
 * Ross Martin - Agent 000
 * Frank Welker - Curly, Narrator, Additional Voices
 * Paul Winchell - Moe, Additional Voices

Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives
A shortened and re-titled version of Clue Club featuring two bumbling dogs named Woofer and Wimper who help solve mysteries for the Clue Club, a group of four teenagers: Larry, Pepper, D.D. and Dotty.

Voices

 * Paul Winchell - Woofer
 * Jim MacGeorge - Wimper
 * David Joliffe - Larry
 * Bob Hastings - D.D.
 * Patricia Stitch - Pepper
 * Tara Talboy - Dotty
 * John Stephenson - Sheriffy Bagley

Production credits

 * Executive Producers: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
 * Producer: Terry Morse, Jr.
 * Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
 * Associate Producer: Neil Balnaves
 * Story: Kathy Colburn, Tom Dagenais, Dill Dailey, Dianne Dixon, Kari Oaurs, Andy Heyward, Chris Jenkyns, Mark Jones, Joan Maurer, Michael Maurer, Norman Maurer, Jack Mendelsohn, Howie Post, Cliff Roberts, Sandy Sandifer
 * Story Editors: Norman Maurer, Sid Morse
 * Story Directors: Alvaro Arce, Carl Fallberg, Cullen Houhtailing, Mike O'Connor, Don Sheppard, George Singer, Karren Wright
 * Voices: Joe Baker, Bob Hastings, David Jolliffe, Jim MacGeorge, Ross Martin, John Stephenson, Patricia Stitch, Tara Talboy, Frank Welker, Paul Winchell
 * Editors: Peter Berger, Warner Leighton, Peter Jennings
 * Supervising Film Editor: Dick Elliott
 * Assistant Film Editor: Barry Gold
 * Music: Hoyt Curtin
 * Musical Supervision: Paul DeKorte
 * "Robonic Stooges" Created by: Norman Maurer
 * Recording Director: Wally Burr
 * Graphics: Iraj Paran
 * Character Design: Bob Singer, Norman Maurer, Lew Ott, George Wheeler
 * Layout Supervision: Steve Lumley
 * Layout: Bob Fosbry, Terry Moesker, Joe Shearer, Mike Trebert
 * Backgrounds: Richard Zaloudek, Milan Zahorsky, Jerry Liew, Michael King-Prince, Peter Connell, Ken Wright, Michael Chojecki, Lesley Nicholl
 * Animation Checking: Narelle Nixon
 * Xerography: Ellen Bayley
 * Ink and Paint Supervision: Narelle Derrick
 * Production Managers: R.J. Louis, James Cranston
 * Production Coordinator: Tobi Singleton
 * Production Supervision: Doug Patterson, Mark D'Arcy-Irvine, Adrienne Smith
 * Art Director: Kirk Axtell
 * Script Supervisors: Mary Jane Ferguson, Lester Hoyle
 * Sound Direction: Richard Olson, Bill Getty
 * Sound Mixers: Manuel Topoto, James Pilcher
 * Animation Photography: Terry Smith, Carole Laird, Mark D'Arcy-Irvine, Kieren Mulgrew, Tom Epperson
 * Dubbing Supervision: Pat Foley
 * Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
 * Post Production Supervision: Joed Eaton
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production
 * This Picture Made Under the Jurisdiction of IATSE-IA Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 * © 1978 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.