Yogi's Ark Lark

Yogi's Ark Lark is a 1972 American animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, intended to raise ecological awareness. Written by Bob Ogle and Dick Robbins and directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, it was broadcast on ABC on September 16, 1972 as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, and served as the two-part pilot for Yogi's Gang.
Aside from its environmental message, the film marked a milestone in Hanna-Barbera's history: a wide range of the studio’s characters were united in one story for the first time. This set the tone for future series and specials, such as Laff-A-Lympics and Yogi's First Christmas.
Concerned about the terrible state of the environment, the entire animal kingdom from Hanna-Barbera gather for a meeting in Jellystone Park, chaired by Yogi Bear. They decide to leave their homes and search for "the perfect place" — a legendary and trouble-free place free of pollution, deforestation, and other forms of mankind's despoilment and has a few simple problems. Though Boo-Boo Bear states to Yogi that Ranger Smith will not like it. Jellystone maintenance man Noah Smitty helps them build a flying ship (which looks like Noah's Ark with a propeller on top and retractable wheels) for their journey, and they decide to name it after him. Because "Smitty's Houseboat" is too long to paint on the bow, they name it "Noah's Ark." With Yogi at the helm, they travel to places around the world, searching for "the perfect place" as the ark is powered by Magilla Gorilla running on a treadmill to get to his bananas.
They start by driving down the highway into the ocean, where they soon end up on the back of a sleeping Moby Dick. Huckleberry Hound is sent down to wake him. They then end up stranded in the Sahara Desert which they originally mistake for a beach. The desert sun causes Yogi to hallucinate and believe he is the pharaoh King Tut and his friends are his slaves until Boo-Boo and Noah Smitty arrive. Some moments later, So-So the monkey spots an oasis which is "the perfect place." As Yogi and crew settle down to make themselves at home, Lambsy spots a "dragon" which turns out to be a construction vehicle developing a new city. Yogi and the crew then take their leave of the area.
They arrive in Antarctic territory, which is a brand new "perfect place." They begin settling there until a similar situation happens like at the oasis.
Next, Yogi and the crew wind up in outer space upon going up too far, which is a new and improved "perfect place." It isn’t long before Earth ejects its "junk" (missiles, satellites, etc.) into space.
With the Ark back on earth and sailing the sea, morale has dropped among the animals: Huck throws water down a pipe which causes Dum Dum to emerge and throw water at him, Quick Draw McGraw insults Snagglepuss' slicing of salami, Peter Potamus insults Magilla Gorilla by telling him "he looks like a gorilla", and Lippy the Lion grows tired of Hardy Har Har's complaining. Yogi Bear becomes aware of this just as So-So spots a typhoon coming. The animals struggle to survive the typhoon like Dum Dum roping Huck and Lippy saving Hardy. The typhoon lands them on top of a mountain, and the animals almost believe that they’ve found what they’ve been looking for....only to be disappointed again when Yakky Doodle returns with an empty tin can and the animals notice a deforestation occurring.
At this point, the younger animals (consisting of Atom Ant, Augie Doggie, Baba Looey, Benny the Ball, Boo-Boo, Ding-a-Ling Wolf, Lambsy, Pixie and Dixie, Shag Rugg, Touché Turtle, and Yakky Doodle) decide that they should all simply go back home and clean up the messes that they were trying to escape. This decision is met with unanimous approval, and the animals all head for home so that they can start turning it into "the perfect place".
During the credits, Wally Gator and Squiddly Diddly are cleaning the rivers, Paw and Shag Rugg are picking up garbage around their house, and Yogi Bear picks up a recently-discarded hamburger wrapper.
The following Hanna-Barbera characters appeared in this movie (not all of whom appeared on Yogi’s Gang) in alphabetical order:
Yogi's Ark Lark was released on the Yogi's Gang: The Complete Series DVD from the Warner Archive Collection on February 19, 2013.
Yogi's Ark Lark was included as a bonus feature for the Blu-ray release of Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears from Warner Archive on February 20, 2024.