The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang was a short-lived animated spin-off of Happy Days produced by Hanna-Barbera for ABC. Fonz, Richie and Ralph, plus talking dog Mr. Cool and Cupcake, a girl from the future with magic powers, who travelled through time. Yes, it was real
, and it went on for two seasons, from November 1980 to November 1981.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: Potsie was featured in comic book ads for the show when it was new, yet ultimately never appeared.
- Animated Adaptation: Three main characters of Happy Days appear as the main cast, Fonz, Ralph and Richie, voiced by their live-action actors.
- Animorphism: When Cupcake and guest wizard Merlin both tried to cast a spell at once, their spells simultaneously hit Richie, turning him into a hawk with his sweater's sleeve markings on his wings. It wore off at exactly the wrong time.
- Crossover: Of a sort. After this series ended, the Fonz and Mr. Cool joined Laverne & Shirley in the Army, the Animated Adaptation of Happy Days' own live-action spin-off Laverne & Shirley.
- Denser and Wackier: Let's just say that this cartoon makes the infamous shark-jump episode of the original show look like a sober drama.
- Expository Theme Tune: Explains how the Fonz, the Happy Days Gang, and Mr. Cool the dog met Cupcake and ended up on their adventures."And now the gang got zapped in to that time machine and they're, like... travlin'... through time!"
- Failure Is the Only Option: Cupcake's magic powers always failed. At best (i.e., late in the episode), they failed in a manner that the Fonz could take advantage of. Also, every effort to return the gang to their own time.
- Fishbowl Helmet: Invoked any time the cast needs to be in space. Cupcake's is noticably huge to account for her hair without having to draw her hair differently.
- Formally-Named Pet: Mr. Cool.
- Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: Mr. Cool, despite being a dog, walks around on his hind legs.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Cupcake can get really jealous whenever Fonzie gets hit on by another woman.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The gang splits up as the norm in cartoons such as this.
- Opening Narration: By Wolfman Jack.
- Percussive Maintenance: Fonzie's schtick is carried over from the original Happy Days. The only thing he couldn't seem to fix was the time machine itself.
- Pun-Based Title: Every episode title was an Incredibly Lame Pun: "May The Farce Be With You", "The Vampire Strikes Back", "You'll Never Get Witch", "Gone With The Wand", "Greece is the Word", "Fjords and Sorcery",...
- Shout-Out: While it helped fan the
Urban Legend of Zelda on the trivia page, the interior of Cupcake's ship does resemble the inside of the most famous time traveling machine of the then era, the TARDIS. - Speech-Impaired Animal: Much like Scooby-Doo, Mr. Cool talks in a growly voice that sounds like barking, but you can still make out what he says.
- The Stoic: The Fonz is so cool that he doesn't fear any danger. At least, he didn't show it. More monstrous enemies would sometimes send him running (albeit in a very cool way), for a while at least.
- Time Travel: Every episode the characters tried to travel back to their own time period, but ended up in another period of history instead. Some episodes were set in the historical past (Ancient Rome, Middle Ages,...), but others in the far future to create some science fiction fantasies.
