The Little Rascals was a 1982-1984 Saturday morning cartoon series produced jointly by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King World, and broadcast on ABC. Based upon the classic Our Gang comedy short films, it was part of a 90-minute package program, The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show, with Pac-Man and Richie Rich in 1982 - 1983, and part of the 30-minute The Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show in 1983 - 1984.
The Little Rascals had been animated for television twice before. In the 1960s a series of clay-animated Little Rascals Color Specials were produced for syndication, presumably by Art Clokey, using soundtracks from the original Our Gang films. 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.
Hanna-Barbera's Little Rascals animated series had six voice actors:
The animated series and the original live-action Our Gang films differ in a number of ways. The gang now lives in a contemporary 1980s setting, with computers and television. Buckwheat is now a clever inventor, always creating new devices for the gang, and Darla's eyes were changed from hazel to blue. Also in the animated series, the Rascals met in a treehouse and drove around the town of Greenpoint in a dog-drawn vehicle.
This television package includes every sound Hal Roach-produced Our Gang comedy, except for Big Ears (1931), which was censored for sensitive subject matter (divorce), and the following shorts, which were all censored for sensitive racial content/ subject matter: Lazy Days (1929) Moan & Groan, Inc. (1929) Tough Winter, A (1930) Little Daddy (1931) Lad an' a Lamp, A (1932) Kid from Borneo, The (1933) Little Sinner (1935) Numerous other shorts in the series, while added to this broadcast package, were edited down to up to half of their original length for content.
