Jabberjaw
He is also a drummer for The Neptunes, a rock group made up of four teenagers — Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead — who live in an underwater civilization in the year 2076. Jabberjaw and The Neptunes travel to various underwater cities where they encounter and deal with diabolical villains who want to conquer the undersea world.
Per a great deal of Hanna-Barbera's output in the 1970s, the format and writing for Jabberjaw was similar to that for Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussycats.
The show also drew inspiration (in the use of a shark as a character) from the then-recent film Jaws. It also shared The Flintstones' penchant for making use of puns as the names of locations, people, etc., in this case, ocean-themed puns (such as "Aqualaska" instead of Alaska).
Sixteen 30-minute episodes of Jabberjaw were produced, which aired on ABC Saturday Morning from September 11, 1976 to September 3, 1977 and rebroadcast for a second season of reruns on Sunday Morning from September 11, 1977 to September 3, 1978.
In the 1980s, repeats of the kooky Carcharodon were shown on USA Cartoon Express and later resurfaced on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. For whatever reason, this is one of a number of shows made before the mid-1980s seen on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang to have been taken from PAL prints.
Characters
Jabberjaw (voiced by Frank Welker) is an air-breathing great white shark whose voice and mannerisms were similar to Curly Howard of the Three Stooges.
Jabberjaw found it hard to get respect in a society where "shark ejectors" (robots that would guard various buildings or cities against sharks being allowed to enter) were commonplace, prompting him to frequently utter his catchphrase (borrowed from comedian Rodney Dangerfield): "No respect!"
Biff (voiced by Tommy Cook) is a brunette-haired young man who was the band's guitar player and level-headed leader who booked all the gigs, similar to Scooby-Doo's Fred and Josie and the Pussycats' Alan.
Shelly (voiced by Pat Parris) is a dark-haired young woman who played tambourine for The Neptunes. Shelly was intelligent, haughty and abrasive (similar to Josie and the Pussycats' Alexandra) and while she held a great deal of contempt for Jabberjaw (or "blubberhead" as she would call him), she did have some fondness for him deep down and occasionally showed it.
Also, she's sometimes irritated by Bubbles' idiocy.
Bubbles (voiced by Julie McWhirter) is a blonde-haired young woman who played keyboard for The Neptunes. She was extremely ditzy and dimwitted, has a cute giggle, similar to Josie and the Pussycats' Melody.
Her voice and mannerisms were similar to Gracie Allen, wife of George Burns. Clamhead was Jabberjaw's best friend, and bore a strong resemblance to Scooby-Doo's Shaggy and to Josie and the Pussycats' Alexander.
Broadcast history
Original ABC broadcast:
Telecast: ABC Saturday Morning September 11, 1976 - September 3, 1977
Retelecast: ABC Sunday Morning September 11, 1977 - September 3, 1978
Broadcast schedules (all EDT):
September 1976 - November 1976, ABC Saturday 9:00-9:30 am
December 1976 - September 1977, ABC Saturday 8:30-9:00 am
September 1977 - September 1978, ABC Sunday 10:30-11:00 am
Episodes
Jabberjaw and The Neptunes.
Counterclockwise: Jabberjaw (drums), Bubbles (keyboard), Biff (guitar), Shelly (tambourine) and Clamhead (bass guitar).
JBJ-1. Nichols
CREATIVE PRODUCER: Iwao Takamoto
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Alex Lovy
STORYBOARD DIRECTION: Don Jurwich, Michael O'Connor, Paul Sommer, Kay Wright
RECORDING DIRECTOR: Alex Lovy
STORY EDITOR: Ray Parker
STORY: George Atkins, Haskell Barkin, John Bates, Larz Bourne, Tom Dagenais, Robert Fisher
VOICES: Tommy Cook, Regis Cordic, Ron Feinberg, Barry Gordon, Gay Hartwig, Hettie Lynn Hurtes, Casey Kasem, Keye Luke, Julie McWhirter, Don Messick, Pat Parris, Vic Perrin, Barney Phillips, Hal Smith, John Stephenson, Janet Waldo, Lennie Weinrib, Frank Welker
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR: Victor O.
Hartman, Alex Ignatiev, Ray Jacobs, Homer Jonas, Bill Lignante, Jim Mueller, Tony Rivera, Linda Rowley, Tony Sgrol, Al Wilson
ANIMATION: Frank Andrina, Tom Barnes, Bill Carney, Rudy Cataldi, Lillian Evans, Otto Feuer, Hugh Fraser, Fernando Gonzalez, Jack Hadley, Bob Hathcock, Dan Mills, Ken Muse, Constantin Mustatea, Floyd Norman, Eduardo Olivares, Don Patterson, Tom Ray, Morey Reden, Lenn Redman, Ken Southworth, Leo Sullivan, Dick Thompson, Carlo Vinci, Russ Von Neida
BACKGROUNDS: Fernando Arce, Fernando Montealegre, Phil Phillipson, Robert Schaefer, Marilyn Shimokochi, Dennis Venizelos
TECHNICAL SUPERVISOR: Frank Paiker
CHECKING AND SCENE PLANNING: Evelyn Sherwood
INK AND PAINT SUPERVISOR: Billie Kerns
XEROGRAPHY: Star Wirth
SOUND DIRECTION: Bill Getty, Richard Olson
SUPERVISING FILM EDITOR: Larry Cowan
MUSIC EDITORS: Pat Foley, Chip Yaras
EFFECT EDITORS: Richard Allen, Terry Moore
NEGATIVE CONSULTANT: William E. Jabber's racing partner was a lazy bloodhound named Buford (from The Buford Files of Buford and the Galloping Ghost).
Other appearances
Jabberjaw participated in a celebrity roast for Fred Flintstone on the CBS TV-special Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1977) hosted by Roy Clark and Bonnie Franklin.
Jabberjaw made special appearances as a guest announcer on Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (1977) and Scooby's All-Stars (1978).
Jabberjaw made a guest appearance in the Adult Swim animated television series Sealab 2021 in the episode, "Return of Marco" (2004), where he was one of the many sharks impaled with spears by the underwater cave tribe called The Snarkells.
Jabberjaw appeared later still in sporadic appearances on Cartoon Network's Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2002) where the Neptunes were accused of stealing Shouyu Weanie's song.
In this show, Frank Welker reprises his role of Jabberjaw and also voices Biff. Clamhead made another appearance in the episode "Identity Theft" where he was voiced by Steven Blum.
Jabberjaw also appeared on Cartoon Network (and later Boomerang) in a music video set to Pain's "Jabberjaw (Running Underwater)" with Jabberjaw and The Neptunes portrayed as a ska band, with the group dressed in modern clothing, and with Jabberjaw sporting a goatee and nose ring.