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Ranger Smith (known as Mr. Ranger by Yogi Bear or Mr. Smith and President Smith in Jellystone!) is the head ranger of Jellystone Park, Yogi's rival and friend and one of the main fictional characters of the Yogi Bear franchise.

Development[]

In the original Yogi Bear shorts on The Huckleberry Hound Show, a different and unnamed character that would evolve into Ranger Smith had a much different appearance, looking older, and with a white mustache, though his voice was the same (this character model was eventually used for Smith's boss in later specials), and other rangers also served as the authority figures in early episodes.

Even after his trademark appearance had been established, Ranger Smith's design was notably inconsistently drawn throughout each episode of The Yogi Bear Show. In one episode, he appears as his young self, but this may be his first actual encounter with Yogi, as he does not appear to recognize him and refers to Yogi as "that bear".

Reception and Significance[]

Ranger Smith, together with similar children's characters such as Ranger Rick and J. Audubon Woodlore by Disney has become a stereotype of the American park ranger. This had led to some complaints from the park rangers about their job being misunderstood and not treated seriously by the public, which due to those stereotypes fails to recognize park rangers are law enforcement officers.

Background[]

A former US Army soldier, he is the strict, serious and stern head ranger of Jellystone Park, in contrast to Yogi's troublesome antics, and he greatly disapproves of his picnic basket thievery, mainly because it repels parkgoers and creates extra work for him.

Personality[]

Smith is hardworking, works by the book, and is strait-laced, and wants nothing more than for Yogi to do what bears should be doing by not harassing the park visitors by stealing their food. He doesn't completely hate Yogi, it's just that he's always an overbearing exhaustion for Smith to handle. Sometimes he will threaten to send Yogi to other places around the country, or even other parts of the world, like Siberia for example.

He gets along fine with Boo-Boo since he likes him because, unlike Yogi, he always tries to stay out of trouble, and Cindy, because they abide by the rules, or at least better than Yogi manages to.

He seemed to join the group, Yogi's Treasure Hunters in Yogi's Treasure Hunt, to simply keep track of Yogi, because if he wasn't keeping to his job, he would send Yogi back to Jellystone Park.

Physical Appearance[]

Ranger Smith is a tall, slender and middle-aged man with fair skin, black hair (blonde in Yogi's Gang), a bulbous nose, black eyes (blue in the 2010 live-action film), and black eyebrows. When he was a security guard at Jellystone Mall from Yo Yogi!, he had freckles on his cheeks.

Fashion[]

As a ranger for the Yogi Bear franchise, he wears a variously dark-green colored ranger's outfit, including a long-sleeved collar shirt with a yellow shoulder patch, and a black tie, long pants with a black belt with a gold buckle and dark brown or black shoes and a campaign hat.

When he was a security guard at Jellystone Mall from Yo Yogi!, he wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt with a pocket, a white name tag, a blue shoulder badge, a blue tie, blue pants with a black belt and a gold buckle, a light blue hat with a gold oval on the center and a blue visor, and black shoes.

History[]

Early Life[]

He had an evil twin brother, Slippery Smith.

Appearances[]

Television series

Films and specials

Video games

  • Yogi's Frustration (1983), by Mattel for Intellivision
  • Yogi Bear (1987)
  • Yogi's Great Escape
  • Yogi Bear's Math Adventures
  • Yogi Bear visits... the National Parks
  • Yogi's Big Clean Up (1992)
  • Yogi Bear's Gold Rush (1994)
  • Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast
  • Yogi Bear: The Video Game (2010)

Publications

Portrayals[]

Other

Gallery[]

Yogi Bear - Bear Paw Logo
Yogi Bear Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Ranger Smith.

Notes/Trivia[]

  • Ranger Smith's appearances grew larger in the second season of The Huckleberry Hound Show, although he still wasn't so important that he couldn't be replaced with a nameless lookalike stand-in now and then.
  • In the theatrical film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, his first name was revealed to be John, but later in the comic strips, he was called Bill and The New Yogi Bear Show short "Predaterminator", he was called Francis.
  • In Yogi's Gang, he inexplicably had blonde hair.
  • Don Messick voiced both Ranger Smith and Boo-Boo.
  • In the live-action film, and unlike his animated counterpart, Ranger Smith isn't completely enraged by Yogi's antics, instead being a lot calmer (perhaps for realism) in dealing with the latter. Although he did act a little madder at the end of the film.

External Links[]

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