Rock Odyssey

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Rock Odyssey
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Production company	Hanna-Barbera
Release date	July 13, 1987
Run time	120 minutes
Starring	Scatman Crothers Frank Welker
Producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Screenplay by	Joseph Barbera Neal Barbera Robert Taylor
Director(s)	Joseph Barbera William Hanna Robert Taylor
Title card

Rock Odyssey is an American animated musical television movie. It aired on July 13, 1987 at the Los Angeles International Animation Celebration. It was written by Joseph Barbera, Neal Barbera, Robert Taylor, and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the founders of Hanna-Barbera.

The film was meant to be a prime-time TV special for a 1982 release on ABC, but the project was shelved after executives at Hanna-Barbera and corporate parent, Taft Entertainment saw the film's graphic imagery, particularly relating to the 1960s and the Vietnam War.

Warner Archive Collection confirmed that they still have the film in their vaults, but are unable to release the film on home video due to music clearance issues.

A mysterious girl called Laura goes on a magical trip through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s to find her true love, all while the most popular songs of the decades play.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
The Jukebox	Scatman Crothers
Laura	Madeline Vergari
Jerry Lee Lewis
Fats Domino
Marlon Brando
Elvis Presley (neon sign)	N/A
Billy	Robert Jason
James Dean (photo)	N/A
John Wayne (photo)	N/A
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan
Janis Joplin
Bob	N/A
Sir Gleam (photo)	N/A
The Moon	N/A
Jack	N/A
Jack's pet lobster	N/A
Seagull	N/A
Whale	N/A
Aileen Spence
Rosalie Purl
George Jetson	N/A
Jet Screamer	N/A
Boo Boo Bear	N/A
Yogi Bear	N/A
Cindy Bear	N/A
Fred Flintstone	N/A
Green Goose	N/A
Barney Rubble	N/A
Pebbles Flintstone	N/A
Bamm-Bamm Rubble	N/A
Tanya	N/A
Wilma Flintstone	N/A
Betty Rubble	N/A
White Rabbit	N/A
Alice	N/A
Judy Jetson	N/A

Organizations

• The Platters (mentioned)
• H.B. Realty
• The 5th Dimension (mentioned)
• Buffalo Springfield (mentioned)
• The Beach Boys (mentioned)
• The Doors (mentioned)
• The Supremes (mentioned)
• The Rolling Stones (mentioned)
• The Band (mentioned)
• Led Zeppelin (mentioned)

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Drive-in restaurant
    • Amusement park
    • High school
    • Bob's residence
    • Stanford Arms
    • Orbit City
    • Jellystone Park
    • Bedrock
• The Moon
• The Sun
• Hell
• Heaven

Objects

• Sir Gleam Fights the Evil Tooth
• Ouija board
• Wheel of Destiny

Vehicles

• Billy's car
• Jack's boat
• Titantic (mentioned)

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Songs

• "Rock It (Prime Jive)" - Paul DeKorte, Doug Boyd
• "Blue Suede Shoes" - Robert Jason
• "The Great Pretender" - Paul DeKorte, Mitch Gordon, Richard Bolks, James Gilstrap, Ron Hicklin
• "Searchin'" - Billy Richards, Herman Channey, Bobby Sheen, Bobby Nunn
• "Blueberry Hill" - James Gilstrap
• "Great Balls of Fire" - Robert Jason
• "Bye Bye Love" - Jerry Whitman, Ron Hicklin
• "Till We Meet Again" - Loulie Jean Norman
• "Roll Over Beethoven" - Robert Jason
• "Help" - Paul DeKorte, Doug Boyd, Ron Hicklin
• "Satisfaction" - Jim Haas, Ron Hicklin
• "For What It's Worth" - Paul DeKorte, Robert Jason
• "Aquarius" - Ron Harris, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Paul DeKorte, Mitch Gordon, Myrna Matthews, Sandie Hall, Ron Hicklin
• "Purple Haze" - Hanna-Barbera Orchestra
• "Blowin' in the Wind" - Hanna-Barbera Orchestra
• "You Keep Me Hangin' On" - Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Myrna Matthews, Sandie Hall
• "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" - Myrna Matthews, Sandie Hall, Robert Jason, Gail Farrell
• "Rock the Boat" - Jess Harnell, Jon Joyce, Sandie Hall
• "Yesterday" - Doug Boyd
• "Yesterdays" - Hanna-Barbera Orchestra
• "I Really Don't Want to Know" - Robert Jason
• "Summer Breeze" - Paul DeKorte, Doug Boyd
• "I'm a Woman" - Madeline Vergari
• "Stayin' Alive" - Robert Jason
• "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" - Paul DeKorte, Sandie Hall, Ron Hicklin, Edie Lehmann Boddicker
• "On the Road Again" - Paul DeKorte, Robert Jason

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: July 13, 1987 at Los Angeles' International Animation Celebration

Behind the scenes

• All the songs are of popular bands and solo acts of each decade, although they are all covers.
• The characters are mute but will occasionally be given their "voice" when they start singing the song that plays.
• H.B. Realty is a reference to Hanna-Barbera, the company that produced this movie.
• At the restaurant, there is a poster advertising a dance for October 3rd.
• During the "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" sequence, scenes from past Hanna-Barbera shows and movies are used, including The Jetsons episode "A Date with Jet Screamer, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear, The Man Called Flintstone, and Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This?
  • This was inspired by HBTV, which did use songs by their real performers over scenes from Hanna-Barbera productions, some of which actually included scenes from Rock Odyssey.

Everlasting influence

• In the 1993 TV film Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby, there was an Easter egg with a poster advertising a musical called Rock Oddity.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• Unlikely due to music clearance issues mentioned above.