Jabberjaw (TV series)

This article is about the TV series. For the main title character, see Jabberjaw.

Jabberjaw
On-screen title card.
Network:	ABC
Production company:	Hanna-Barbera
Original release:	September 11–December 18, 1976
Starring:	Frank Welker Tommy Cook Julie McWhirter Pat Parris Barry Gordon
Producer(s):	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Music composed by:	Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s):	George Atkins Haskell Barkin John Bates Larz Bourne Tom Dagenais Robert Fisher Ray Parker
Director(s):	Charles A. Nichols

Jabberjaw is an American animated mystery comedy TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) for ABC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran in 1976, airing 16 episodes that spanned one season. It was the ninth Scooby-Doo "clone" series.

The series centres on Jabberjaw, a 15-foot amphibious great white shark and the drummer for The Neptunes, a rock group made up of four teenagers: Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead. They live in an underwater civilization in the year 2076, and travel to various underwater cities where they encounter and deal with assorted megalomaniacs and supervillains who want to conquer the undersea world.

The entire series has been released on DVD.

Production

Development

As with the majority of Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1970s, the format of the series is similar to shows such as Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, and Speed Buggy, the latter two of which are also similar to Scooby-Doo. The series is also inspired by the overall shark mania of the 1970s caused by the then-recent success of the 1975 film Jaws.

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Episodes

Title	Number	Original air date
"Dr. Lo Has Got to Go"	1x01	September 11, 1976
"There's No Place Like Outer Space"	1x02	September 18, 1976
"Atlantis, Get Lost"	1x03	September 25, 1976
"Run, Jabber, Run"	1x04	October 2, 1976
"The Sourpuss Octopus"	1x05	October 9, 1976
"Hang On to Your Hat, Jabber"	1x06	October 16, 1976
"The Great Shark Switch"	1x07	October 23, 1976
"Claim-Jumped Jabber"	1x08	October 30, 1976
"Ali Jabber and the Secret Thieves"	1x09	November 6, 1976
"Help, Help, It's the Phantom of the Kelp"	1x10	November 13, 1976
"No Helpin' the Sculpin"	1x11	November 20, 1976
"The Bermuda Triangle Tangle"	1x12	November 25, 1976
"Malice in Aqualand"	1x13	November 27, 1976
"The Fast Paced Chase Race"	1x14	December 4, 1976
"The Piranha Plot"	1x15	December 11, 1976
"There's No Heel Like El Eel"	1x16	December 18, 1976

Cast

• Frank Welker as Jabberjaw
• Tommy Cook as Biff
• Pat Parris as Shelly
• Julie McWhirter Dees as Bubbles
• Barry Gordon as Clamhead

Legacy

Although the series was considered to be a cash-in to Scooby-Doo, the title character of Jabberjaw would make another appearance in 1977's Laff-A-Lympics, where he is one of the show's guest announcers and referee in some episodes.

In 2021, Jabberjaw and the Neptunes appear in the Jellystone! series on HBO Max (later rebranded as Max), in which Jabberjaw is female in the show's continuity.

In popular culture

• In the Robot Chicken skit "JJ's Summer Vacation" of the episode "Things Look Bad for the Streepster," the Neptunes suggest Jabberjaw to go on a vacation to relax. Although Jabberjaw assumes the gang is using it as an excuse to replace him, he obliges and ventures into the sea. After encountering a not so friendly shark and a "go go dancer" (which is a diver in a cage), Jabberjaw runs into the cast of Jaws, accidentally giving one of the cast a "Shark BJ" trying to get on the boat. He is then killed the same way the shark is killed in Jaws, having a helium tank blown up in his face. The Neptunes are worried about Jabberjaw but are happy with their new drummer; the not so friendly shark Jabberjaw ran into earlier.