The futuristic undersea adventures of a goofy talking shark and his human musical band companions.
Creators: Joe Ruby, Ken Spears
Stars: Tommy Cook, Barry Gordon, Julie McWhirter
Premise
Jabberjaw, a 15-foot air-breathing great white shark, is the drummer for The Neptunes, a rock group made up of four teenagers — Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead — who live in an underwater civilization in the year 2076. Jabberjaw and The Neptunes travel to various underwater cities where they encounter and deal with assorted megalomaniacs and supervillains who want to conquer the undersea world.
Like a great deal of Hanna-Barbera's 1970s output, the format and writing for Jabberjaw was similar to that for Scooby-Doo,[1] Josie and the Pussycats and Speed Buggy. The show also drew inspiration (in the use of a shark as a character) from the overall shark mania of the mid 1970s[2] caused by the then-recent film Jaws. It also shared The Flintstones' penchant for making use of puns as the names of locations, people, etc., in this case, ocean-themed puns (such as "Aqualaska" instead of Alaska).
Characters
Jabberjaw and The Neptunes. Counterclockwise: Jabberjaw (drums), Bubbles (keyboard), Biff (guitar), Shelly (tambourine) and Clamhead (bass).
Jabberjaw (voiced by Frank Welker) – Jabberjaw is an air-breathing, anthropomorphic great white shark whose voice and mannerisms were similar to Curly Howard of The Three Stooges. Jabberjaw found it hard to get respect in a society where "shark ejectors" (robots that would guard various buildings or cities against sharks being allowed to enter) were commonplace, prompting him to frequently utter his catchphrase (borrowed from the comedian Rodney Dangerfield): "No respect! I get no respect!"
Biff (voiced by Tommy Cook) – Biff is an athletic, handsome, brown-haired young man who is the band's guitar player and level-headed leader who books all the gigs.
Shelly (voiced by Pat Parris) – Shelly is a dark-haired young woman who plays tambourine for The Neptunes. She is attractive, intelligent, haughty, vain and abrasive (like Josie and the Pussycats' Alexandra) and considers herself to be the star of the band. While she holds a great deal of disdain for Jabberjaw (or "Blubberhead" as she calls him), she does have some fondness for him deep down and occasionally shows it.
Bubbles (voiced by Julie McWhirter) – Bubbles is a young woman with blonde, curly hair who plays keyboard for The Neptunes. She is extremely ditzy and dimwitted, has a cute giggle, similar to Josie and the Pussycats' Melody. Shelly sometimes nicknames her "Ding-a-Ling" or "Bubblehead". Whenever she volunteers to help, she usually ends up messing it up.
Clamhead (voiced by Barry Gordon) – Clamhead is a young man who plays bass for The Neptunes. His catchphrases are crying out "Abba-abba-abba!" and "Wowee-wow-wow-wow!" whenever he gets excited. Clamhead is Jabberjaw's best friend
Broadcast history
Sixteen 30-minute episodes of Jabberjaw were produced, which aired on ABC Saturday Morning from September 11, 1976, to September 3, 1977, and rebroadcast for a second season of reruns on Sunday Morning from September 11, 1977, to September 3, 1978. In the 1980s, repeats resurfaced as part of USA Cartoon Express on USA Network, in the 1990s on Cartoon Network and in the 2000s on Boomerang. This is one of a number of shows made before the mid-1980s seen on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang to have been taken from PAL prints.
Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio.
Broadcast schedules (all EDT):
September 11, 1976 – November 27, 1976, ABC Saturday 9:00-9:30 AM
December 4, 1976 – September 3, 1977, ABC Saturday 8:30-9:00 AM
September 11, 1977 – September 3, 1978, ABC Sunday 10:30-11:00 AM
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