Touché Turtle and Dum Dum

Touché Turtle and Dum Dum is a series of animated segments as part of The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Airing in syndication, it ran from 1962 to 1963, airing 52 episodes that spanned two seasons.

When the series started airing as reruns on Boomerang, the original film masters were in noticeably poor condition and also had notable film damages.

So far, the Warner Archive Collection has made no announcements of releasing the entire series onto DVD, likely due to those same film damages and poor maintenance, although the Warner Archive account on Facebook confirmed that the series was included in a poll back in 2012. Touché was later expected to be released on DVD with Wally and Lippy back in 2020, but Warner Archive was unsure on weather to release the series as it had severe film damages.

Development
Early in development, the character of Touché was originally going to be a swashbuckling rabbit named "Hairbrain Hare" (or "Harbreath Hare" in one of the illustrations). A design of a turtle resembling Touché was also created around this time, likely as a sidekick to "Hairbrain" or a third character, but it was later proposed that Touché would be made as a turtle instead. According to writer Tony Benedict, the concept of "Hairbrain Hare" was repurposed years later for the western-themed Ricochet Rabbit.

The cartoon was first publicly mentioned (as "Hairbrain Hare") in a story by Variety magazine on October 20, 1960, along with Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har. It was then mentioned again (as Touché Turtle and Dum Dum) by Variety in an October 31, 1961 story, in addition to Wally Gator, with the proposal of 156 five-minute segments in total.

A longer theme song was initially proposed with lyrics written by Michael Maltese, but a much shorter theme was instead used in the final product.

Music
Touché away!
 * Opening theme song lyrics

Touché away!

Touché away!

It's Touché Turtle!

When there is trouble
 * Unused theme song lyrics

Who comes on the double

And saves you in the nick of time....

It's not a masked avenger

Not a lonesome stranger

It's TOUCHÉ TURTLE every time!

When there's as much as

Twenty villain clutches

Turning villainy to crime

Who will make them pale

And send them all to jail

It's TOUCHÉ TURTLE every time

TOUCHÉ......AWAY!

To save the day......so...

Who's the greatest hero?

Who comes from far and near, oh!....

It's TOUCHÉ TURTLE every time!

Cast

 * Bill Thompson as Touché Turtle
 * Alan Reed as Dum Dum

Legacy
In the next two decades, Touché and Dum Dum went on to make cameos in Yogi's Gang and Yogi's Treasure Hunt.

In 2021, Touché—without Dum Dum—appears as the head of the Jellystone Police Department in the HBO Max original series Jellystone!

Board game
In 1962, a board game was released by Transogram based on the cartoon.