History Creator / HannaBarbera

Hanna-Barbera pioneered the use of many LimitedAnimation techniques, such as RingAroundTheCollar, to produce cartoons on a low budget quickly enough to meet a television schedule. As a result a lot of Hanna-Barbera shows put the emphasis more on the voice acting and the writing/gags than the actual animation process itself. Although other animators who enjoyed better budgets in different circumstances, such as famed ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' veteran Creator/ChuckJones, would dismiss this approach as "Illustrated Radio", these practices allowed H-B to continue producing works and employing in times where other studios struggled, and manage to continue doing so well into the 1980s and 1990s. In 1967, the company was purchased by Ohio-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, related to [[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft that Taft]]), which also owned a bunch of regional theme parks such as King's Island in Ohio and Carowinds in North Carolina, and thus Hanna-Barbera properties became prominent at these parks, lasting for years after Taft spun them off (eventually coming under Creator/{{Paramount}} ownership, then Creator/CedarFair; the attractions were rebranded as Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}-themed rides, and then after ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' in later years), and when Taft acquired syndication company Worldvision Enterprises (the former Creator/{{ABC}} Films) in the late 1970s, this meant that not only did H-B have easier access to the syndication market, but Taft television stations also had a built-in cartoon supply.

** ''Film/YogiBearAndTheMagicalFlightOfTheSpruceGoose''

* DarkerAndEdgier: While in some corners of the web the studio isn't thought to be associated with this trope, they have crossed this line many times. It was earliest in the 1960s, with shows like ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' and ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' being action shows where the weekly bad guys didn't always survive the episode.

For a complete list of their shows, check out IMDB.com or TV Tome:

* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360253/ William Hanna - IMDB]]
* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0053484/ Joseph Barbera - IMDB]]
* [[http://www.tv.com/people/william-hanna/ William Hanna - TV.com]]
* [[http://www.tv.com/people/joseph-barbera Joseph Barbera - TV.com]]

* NoExportForYou: In terms of Hanna-Barbera's old-school cartoon distribution, this trope targets Germany and Austria. Hanna-Barbera did not recognize Germany (until 1990, split into West Germany and East Germany) and Austria because of both countries' very harsh history of authoritarianism and is also due to MoralGuardians. Until the 1990s, West Germany (later Germany) and Austria heavily relied on American animation studios other than Hanna-Barbera for American animation distribution. As a result, most classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons were never dubbed into German while some others, like ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'' and ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'', fall into LateExportForYou as they were only released in Germany and Austria in the 1990s.

** As a longtime ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' and HB fan, not only did Van Partible had the honor of writing a crossover episode with the Mystery, Inc. gang for ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' and later story boarding for [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated one of their many televised reboots]], but he also had the chance to work with studio co-founder Joe Barbera himself during ''Johnny'''s first season.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/MobyDickHannaBarbera Moby Dick]]''
%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Monchhichis}}''

** Shows which used exaggerated cartoony designs for their human characters (e.g., WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones, WesternAnimation/TheJetsons) also used four-fingered hands, while shows which used realistically-designed human characters (e.g., WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest, WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo, most HB superhero characters such as WesternAnimation/{{Birdman|1967}} and WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost, and any animated spin-off based on a live-action TV or film) used five-fingered hands.

** Shows which used exaggerated cartoony designs for their human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones, WesternAnimation/TheJetsons) also used four-fingered hands, while shows which used realistically-designed human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest, WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo, most HB superhero characters such as WesternAnimation/{{Birdman|1967}} and WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost, and any LiveAction animated spinoff) used five-fingered hands.
** Some shows had characters with both four-fingered and five-fingered hands, particularly those that had both anthromorphic/cartoony characters paired with more realistically-designed human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels, WesternAnimation/LaffALympics).

* FriendlyEnemy: With Creator/RubySpears, both Ruby and Spears met at Hanna Barbera and split off to form their own studio. Despite doing so to create more competition for them they however shared a generally positive relationship with their old employer. (Given that they shared multiple employees this of course made some sense) Once Ruby-Spears was sold to Taft in 1981, H-B and R-S became sister studios and began producing shows together and co-marketing. The relationship is somewhat fuzzier now since the Ruby-Spears library was merged into the Hanna-Barbera library.

** Shows which used exaggerated cartoony designs for their human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones, WesternAnimation/TheJetsons) also used four-fingered hands, while shows which used realistically-designed human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest, WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo, most HB superhero characters such as WesternAnimation/{{Birdman|1967}} and WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost) used five-fingered hands.

* FourFingeredHands: Played with. Shows which used exaggerated cartoony designs for their human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones, WesternAnimation/TheJetsons) used four-fingered hands, while shows which used realistically-designed human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest, WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo) used five-fingered hands. Some shows had characters with both four-fingered and five-fingered hands, particularly those that had both cartoony characters paired with more realistically-designed human characters (e.g. WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder, WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels).

Hanna-Barbera pioneered the use of many LimitedAnimation techniques, such as RingAroundTheCollar, to produce cartoons on a low budget quickly enough to meet a television schedule. As a result a lot of Hanna-Barbera shows put the emphasis more on the voice acting and the writing/gags than the actual animation process itself. Other animators who have enjoyed better budgets in different circumstances like the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''-famed Creator/ChuckJones would dismiss this approach as "Illustrated Radio." These practices allowed them to continue producing works and employing in times where other studios struggled and managed to continue doing so well into the 1980s and 1990s. In 1967, the company was purchased by Ohio-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, related to [[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft that Taft]]), which also owned a bunch of regional theme parks such as King's Island in Ohio and Carowinds in North Carolina, and thus Hanna-Barbera properties became prominent at these parks, lasting for years after Taft spun them off (eventually coming under Creator/{{Paramount}} ownership, then Creator/CedarFair; the attractions were rebranded as Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}-themed rides, and then after ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' in later years); after Taft acquired syndication company Worldvision Enterprises (the former Creator/{{ABC}} Films) in the late 1970s, this meant that not only did H-B have easier access to the syndication market, but Taft's television stations also had a built-in cartoon supply.

[[caption-width-right:350:Joseph Barbera (left) and William Hanna (right) with plushes of some of their many characters and a couple of the Emmys their studio won over the years.[[note]] On Barbera and Hanna's knees, respectively: [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone and Dino the dinosaur]]. Middle, back row, L-R: WesternAnimation/WallyGator, WesternAnimation/YogiBear, WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw; front row, L-R: [[WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow Huckleberry Hound]], WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry, WesternAnimation/TopCat.[[/note]]]]

The partnership of William Denby "Bill" Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) and Joseph Roland "Joe" Barbera (March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) (yes, it was ''not,'' in fact, created by a woman named Hanna Barbera) began at [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation MGM's animation studio]], where the pair created WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry and spent almost 20 years directing their cartoon shorts. After MGM got out of the cartoon business in 1957, Hanna and Barbera founded their own studio, which came to dominate WesternAnimation on television for decades.

* NoExportForYou: In terms of Hanna-Barbera's old-school cartoon distribution, this trope targets Germany and Austria. Hanna-Barbera did not recognize Germany (until 1990, split into West Germany and East Germany) and Austria because of both countries' very harsh history of authoritarianism and is also due to MoralGuardians. Until the 1990s, West Germany (later Germany) and Austria heavily relied on American animation studios other than Hanna-Barbera for American animation distribution. As a result, most classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons were never been dubbed into German while some others, like ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'' and ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'', fall into LateExportForYou as they were only released in Germany and Austria in the 1990s.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Monchhichis}}''

** The studio's sister company, Creator/RubySpears, has received some of this by way of how the Turner buyout merged their library into the Hanna Barbera library. Some of their cartoons are branded in the Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection, some are not. However all claim Hanna Barbera as their owner in the legal crawl on the back, because legally now they are. [[note]]The reason behind this was because the Ruby Spears' pre-1991 back catalog was purchased by Turner Entertainment along with HB, but not the studio itself. This is why their final cartoons, like ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'', don't appear with the rest of their library on DVD, as they were produced after the buyout when RB was operating independently.[[/note]]

In 1996, Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting, putting them under the same corporate roof as Creator/WarnerBros. This reunited a few H-B shows that had been in the hands of Warner Bros.[[note]]Namely the AnimatedAdaptation versions of ''Series/{{The Dukes of Hazzard}}'', ''[[Creator/AbbottAndCostello The Abbott and Costello Show]]'' and Ruby-Spears' WesternAnimation/PoliceAcademyTheAnimatedSeries[[/note]], and reunited the pre-1948 ''Looney Tunes'' with the rest of the library.[[note]]The Warner Bros. library (and the rest of Warner Bros. Television, for that matter) is still separate from the Turner and H-B libraries, but can be co-marketed when they wish.[[/note]] From this point Hanna-Barbera was slowly merged into Warner Bros. Animation, with the intent that the new company didn't need more than one animation studio. This, however, didn't go entirely smoothly. [[note]]The short version is that basically there were way too many people with different goals trying to be shoved under one roof. You had very pro WB people who didn't want to be associated with HB in any way. You had HB people that felt the new generation disrespected the HB legacy. You had younger employees not wanting to be shackled to the WB or HB legacies. You had WB execs who had helped with Nickelodeon not wanting to work with CN. And you had a lot of people stuck in the middle wanting the whole thing to just end already.[[/note]] Just before the then-imminent death of Bill Hanna in 2001, Cartoon Network programming and the units producing them were spun out into their own entity (Cartoon Network Studios) under the Turner silo and Warner Bros. assumed the production of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', the company's [[LongRunners longest-running franchise]] and picked up all their legacy properties with Hanna-Barbera credited as the copyright holder under the Warner Bros. silo. By this point in time, the Cartoon Cartoon efforts had dominated the studio's output, in comparison to other general Hanna Barbera productions, and from here on out the earliest Cartoon Cartoons (including ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'')[[note]]the final series to use the company's trademark "swirling star" logo (and even then, it was originally done as a throwback, as it was last used in 1992, outside an odd ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode in 1997, apparently an editing error)[[/note]] stopped being associated with Hanna-Barbera as well.

In the late 1980s, Taft (which later renamed itself to Great American Broadcasting) faced a lot of internal and financial issues (chiefly stemming from a hostile takeover led by junk bond trader [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lindner_Jr. Carl Lindner]]). This had a major impact on the fates of Hanna-Barbera and its siblings. As a way of cutting costs, they began to look to sell off the studios. The first sale happened in 1988, when a buyout was reached for Hanna-Barbera's Australian division. That entity became the Southern Star Group and took the rights of the shows and specials produced by that sub-entity. The problems however still continued, as this lead to an exodus of 80s Hanna-Barbera staff to go help revitalize the Creator/WarnerBros Animation studio. In the early 1990s, GAB decided to put Hanna-Barbera and sister studio Ruby-Spears up for sale as well.

In the late 1980s, Taft (which later renamed itself to Great American Broadcasting) faced a lot of internal and financial issues. This had a major impact on the fates of Hanna-Barbera and its siblings. As a way of cutting costs, they began to look to sell off the studios. The first sale happened in 1988, when a buyout was reached for Hanna-Barbera's Australian division. That entity became the Southern Star Group and took the rights of the shows and specials produced by that sub-entity. The problems however still continued, as this lead to an exodus of 80s Hanna-Barbera staff to go help revitalize the Creator/WarnerBros Animation studio. In the early 1990s, GAB decided to put Hanna-Barbera and sister studio Ruby-Spears up for sale as well.

In 1991 a deal was struck between GAB and [[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Turner Broadcasting]] that resulted in Turner purchasing Hanna-Barbera and its library. Turner also purchased the Creator/RubySpears library, but not the studio, which became its own entity again. It was here those libraries merged and the HB shows were united with the predecessor shorts Bill and Joe had done for MGM, but are legally not in the same library. [[note]]All Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears shows are listed as property of Hanna-Barbera, whereas Tom and Jerry and other MGM shorts are listed as property of Turner Entertainment Co., though they are free to be co-marketed as much as WB wants; not to mention that Tom and Jerry, in recent years, has been marketed under the Hanna-Barbera name a few times[[/note]] Under the new ownership, everything that was in planning but not funded was put on hold, and in 1992 Turner launched Creator/CartoonNetwork. The HB libraries and MGM libraries, along with the pre-1948 ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' library acquired when Turner bought out MGM in 1986[[note]]Turner had wanted the entire studio but was met with debt problems. This resulted in him selling off MGM/UA after only 74 days, but he kept the library. The pre-1948 ''Looney Tunes'' had been owned by United Artists via Associated Artists Productions, which had bought the entire pre-1948 WB library in the 1950s[[/note]]. This combined library, along with some other material, made up a good chunk of the schedule at the dawn of the network. However, as the channel grew, so did the initiative to bring new original content to the channel. The studio at the time had an influx of younger talent that had been brought in to fill the gap left by the earlier exodus. In 1994, Hanna-Barbera was internally reorganized as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and with a new sub-entity that began to refocus their efforts towards what was originally called "World Premiere Toons", essentially allowing many of the younger members of the studio to launch their own pilots in the hopes of becoming new original shows. Originally this was only seen as a sub-division while the rest of the studio made their efforts to switch over from other channels. [[note]]The animated ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' series, a co-production with corporate sibling Creator/NewLineCinema, was the company's final non-Cartoon Network series.[[/note]]

In 1996, Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting, putting them under the same corporate roof as Creator/WarnerBros. This reunited a few H-B shows that had been in the hands of Warner Bros.[[note]]Namely the AnimatedAdaptation versions of ''Series/{{The Dukes of Hazzard}}'', ''[[Creator/AbbottAndCostello The Abbott and Costello Show]]'' and Ruby-Spears' WesternAnimation/PoliceAcademyTheAnimatedSeries[[/note]], and reunited the pre-1948 ''Looney Tunes'' with the rest of the library.[[note]]The Warner Bros. library (and the rest of Warner Bros. Television, for that matter) is still separate from the Turner and H-B libraries, but can be co-marketed when they wish.[[/note]] From this point Hanna-Barbera was slowly merged into Warner Bros. Animation with the intent that the new company didn't need more than one animation studio. This however didn't go entirely smoothly. [[note]]The short version is that basically there were way too many people with different goals trying to be shoved under one roof. You had very pro WB people who didn't want to be associated with HB in any way. You had HB people that felt the new generation disrespected the HB legacy. You had younger employees not wanting to be shackled to the WB or HB legacies. You had WB execs who had helped with Nickelodeon not wanting to work with CN. And you had a lot of people stuck in the middle wanting the whole thing to just end already.[[/note]] Just before the then-imminent death of Bill Hanna in 2001, Cartoon Network programming and the units producing them were spun out into their own entity (Cartoon Network Studios) under the Turner silo and Warner Bros. assumed the production of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', the company's [[LongRunners longest-running franchise]] and picked up all their legacy properties with Hanna-Barbera credited as the copyright holder under the Warner Bros. silo. By this point in time the Cartoon Cartoon brands had dominated the studio's output in comparison to other general Hanna Barbera productions and from here on out the earliest Cartoon Cartoons (including ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'')[[note]]the final series to use the company's trademark "swirling star" logo (and even then, it was originally done as a throwback, as it was last used in 1992, outside an odd ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode in 1997, apparently an editing error)[[/note]] stopped being associated with Hanna-Barbera as well.

** This is also the case with their more obscure adult-oriented productions. While everyone can remember types such as FunnyAnimal and YouMeddlingKids cartoons from Hanna-Barbera, they've occasionaly deviated from their target audience to produce cartoons like the serious drama ''WesternAnimation/{{Devlin}}'' and the primetime adult sketch comedy show ''Jokebook''. These shows are so against what people associate with Hanna-Barbera that you can change a the course of an entire conversation just by mentioning them.
** Their obscure live-action TV special ''The Last Halloween'' marked the first and only time Hanna-Barbera used CGI to animate their characters. They've experimented with the technology before, but primarily used it for visual effects like with the Funtastic World ride.

* FlipFlopOfGod: Given his Businessman personality, Joe was known to backtrack on his own thoughts during pitch meetings and, on occasions, casual conversations. This likely explains why John Kricfalusi made claim that Joe hated ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' when he really didn't, Joe just wanted to be on John's good side when he offered a character design position to him; especially since John was one of his biggest fans.

* InNameOnly: Turner's initial idea for Cartoon Network Studios was to serve as an in-house example of this for Hanna-Barbera. While HB was wrapping production on their then current shows, this new "subdivision" would be in charge of testing the waters for more original content on the channel until the rest of the company shifted focus towards this goal. It wasn't until ExecutiveMeddling from the Time Warner buyout caused CN Studios to become recognized as a full-fledge production arm of Hanna-Barbera before eventually spinning off into its own company. This is why CN Studios [[MyRealDaddy isn't credited on most of the channel's first shows despite already having been formed]], as they weren't intended to be a permanent addition to HB from the start. Before such CN's president Betty Cohen and Hanna Barbera's head Fred Seibert had enjoyed a good working relationship and given how much Turner's CN utilized the classic HB roster looking back in hindsight can make one stunned at just how much the failed merger affected every institution involved.

** Donovan Cook has often sited ''WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel'' as one of his favorite shows growing up and as a key inspiration for his decision to enter the animation industry. So it wasn't a shock to many when he decided to revive the character as a side story between episodes of his [[WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs first TV series]].

** In later years, the history of the studio's catalog and Cartoon Network is a turbulent one, to say the least. Originally, reruns of HB (and Ruby-Spears) shows made up a good chunk of the schedule, making it for some people a resource and even possibly the place they first ever learned about that huge list above. The major change in this is often pinpointed to be 2001, a year that brought many changes to Cartoon Network as the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger occurred. As you read above some of this really began earlier but the splitting of the studios and the Kellner vs Cohen feud of 2001 is really the point that is impossible to change course on. See [[NetworkDecay/UniqueSituations here]] for the very long summary that explains the Cartoon Network side of this history.
** Upon the split Warner Bros Animation continued on with HB legacy productions and had Kids WB as an alternative. Cartoon Network had it's own studio to produce its original content for themselves. As time went on though under the Jim Samples era more and more HB shows lost their places on the network. Some were able to find semi-reliable space on Boomerang, while others did not. As a result, some shows on the main page were victims of the KeepCirculatingTheTapes trope for over a decade and some still are.

*** Some of the earliest ones that were of the earliest featured Dexter and Weasel explaining time zone listings while Dr Quest stood in the background and got chastised for dropping a lab flask. Then Weasel did a presentation explaining the difference between a cartoon cartoons and cartoons with less than enthusiastic descriptions of some less popular HB and RS shows. Then they had WesternAnimation/YogiBear not being allowed into the building without an ID, even though they featured his poster behind the reception desk. There was the "parking lot" promo where [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]], WesternAnimation/{{Thundarr|TheBarbarian}} and [[WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken Chicken]] try to find a parking spot (as the lot is overcrowded thanks to all the characters), which ultimately culminates in a standoff with Anime/SpeedRacer. Another one had Ugh from ''WesternAnimation/DinoBoy'' having to help [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy Edd]] find the recording room at the CN offices, with Ugh spending the entire time complaining that he has next to no work there anymore since it "got crowded". The most famous (and a notable TakeThat) one, though, had [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scrappy-Doo]] going on a rant, in which he outright snaps at the Cartoon Cartoons for them being treated like "the kings and queens of this network".
** Some specific shows are cited as having been caught in the middle of the Cartoon Network situation. ''Cave Kids'' was a new show made for the network and it was cancelled after only a few episodes. Meanwhile, it is reportedly the reason why shows like ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' and ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' were cancelled as more of the budget went towards producing Cartoon Network originals rather then rehoming HB series from other networks (though fans of the latter have {{Misblamed}} Ted Turner for supposedly preferring ''Captain Planet'' and cancelling ''SK''... which is ironic, given ''CP'' ended not long after for the same reason). In later years, some of WB's ideas for Hanna-Barbera legacy properties found themselves being rejected due to CN not having any interest in green-lighting them. Not to mention, several of the shows that ''did'' get produced have had their scheduling so backed up (thanks to Vishnu Atreya's spamming of popular shows to the detriment of everything else on the schedule,) even the people who worked on them admitted they had no idea when or where they'd air.
** This last note is again for both HB and RS. While a good chunk of their shows appeared at some point on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, recent revelations by the Warner Archive proved some shows from both parts of the library have legally been theirs the whole time, yet never were shown on Cartoon Network or Boomerang. Jerry Beck back in the older days did note that CN never had copies of every single thing in the libraries so it begs the question which were deliberatly snubbed and which were innocently overlooked.

* {{Crossover}}[=/=]LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The studio made good use of its huge roster of popular characters. In the early days, characters would sometimes cameo in each other's shows or even passively name-drop them. The first true crossover was Yogi's Birthday Party, the end special to ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'' and this was followed by the Council of Doom arc on ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost''. ''WesternAnimation/YogisGang'' became the first series built around the idea as a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, which itself followed off the ''WesternAnimation/YogisArkLark'' special. Many more series and movies of the like followed from this such as ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsonsMeetTheFlintstones,'' and ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics''.

* ''Film/{{Hardcase}}'' (HB's first live action production)

* "How Long's A Tear Take To Dry" AnimatedMusicVideo for Music/TheBeautifulSouth

* ''WesternAnimation/WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome''

In 1996, Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting, putting them under the same corporate roof as Creator/WarnerBros. This reunited a few H-B shows that had been in the hands of Warner Bros.[[note]]Namely the AnimatedAdaptation versions of ''Series/{{The Dukes of Hazzard}}'', ''[[Creator/AbbottAndCostello The Abbott and Costello Show]]'' and Ruby-Spears' WesternAnimation/PoliceAcademyTheAnimatedSeries[[/note]], and reunited the pre-1948 ''Looney Tunes'' with the rest of the library.[[note]]The Warner Bros. library (and the rest of Warner Bros. Television, for that matter) is still separate from the Turner and H-B libraries, but can be co-marketed when they wish.[[/note]] From this point Hanna-Barbera was slowly merged into Warner Bros. Animation with the intent that the new company didn't need more than one animation studio. This however didn't go entirely smoothly. [[note]]The short version is that basically there were way too many people with different goals trying to be shoved under one roof. You had very pro WB people who didn't want to be associated with HB in any way. You had HB people that felt the new generation disrespected the HB legacy. You had younger employees not wanting to be shackled to the WB or HB legacies. You had WB execs who had helped with Nickelodeon not wanting to work with CN. And you had a lot of people stuck in the middle wanting the whole thing to just end already.[[/note]] Just before the then-imminent death of Bill Hanna in 2001, Cartoon Network programming and the units producing them were spun out into their own entity (Cartoon Network Studios) under the Turner silo and Warner Bros. assumed the production of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', the company's [[LongRunners longest-running franchise]] and picked up all their legacy properties with Hanna-Barbera credited as the copyright holder under the Warner Bros. silo. By this point in time the Cartoon Cartoon brands had dominated the studios output in comparison to other general Hanna Barbera productions and from here on out the earliest Cartoon Cartoons (including ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'')[[note]]the final series to use the company's trademark "swirling star" logo (and even then, it was originally done as a throwback, as it was last used in 1992, outside an odd ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode in 1997, apparently an editing error)[[/note]] stopped being associated with Hanna-Barbera as well.

In 1991 a deal was struck between GAB and [[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Turner Broadcasting]] that resulted in Turner purchasing Hanna-Barbera and its library. Turner also purchased the Creator/RubySpears library, but not the studio, which became its own entity again. It was here those libraries merged and the HB shows were united with the predecessor shorts Bill and Joe had done for MGM, but are legally not in the same library. [[note]]All Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears shows are listed as property of Hanna-Barbera, whereas Tom and Jerry and other MGM shorts are listed as property of Turner Entertainment Co., though they are free to be co-marketed as much as WB wants; not to mention that Tom and Jerry, in recent years, has been marketed under the Hanna-Barbera name a few times[[/note]] Under the new ownership, everything that was in planning but not funded was put on hold, and in 1992 Turner launched Creator/CartoonNetwork. The HB libraries and MGM libraries, along with the pre-1948 ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' library acquired when Turner bought out MGM in 1986[[note]]Turner had wanted the entire studio but was met with debt problems. This resulted in him selling off MGM/UA after only 74 days, but he kept the library. The pre-1948 ''Looney Tunes'' had been owned by United Artists via Associated Artists Productions, which had bought the entire pre-1948 WB library in the 1950s[[/note]]. This combined library, along with some other material, made up a good chunk of the schedule at the dawn of the network. However, as the channel grew, so did the initiative to bring new original content to the channel. The studio at the time had an influx of younger talent that had been brought in to the fill the gap left by the earlier exodus. In 1994, Hanna-Barbera was internally reorganized as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and with a new sub-entity that began to refocus their efforts towards what was originally called "World Premiere Toons", essentially allowing many of the younger members of the studio to launch their own pilots in the hopes of becoming new original shows. Originally this was only seen as a sub-division while the rest of the studio made their efforts to switch over from other channels. [[note]]The animated ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' series, a co-production with corporate sibling Creator/NewLineCinema, was the company's final non-Cartoon Network series.[[/note]]

** Believe it or not, Hanna-Barbera cartoons were actually ''more'' animated than the very first TV cartoons like WesternAnimation/CrusaderRabbit. That show was originally part of a package called ''The Comic Strips of Television'' because the characters literally didn’t move at all.