The Pink Panther: Difference between revisions

The first film had animated credits, produced by [[DePatie-Freleng Enterprises]], that featured a "literal" representation of the flaw in the eponymous diamond. [[Ensemble Darkhorse|This proved so popular with audiences]] -- indeed, all the films thus have animated credits (during the end credits for ''Return'' he even appears alongside the institutionalized Dreyfus as a hallucination), including the reboot -- that the character, an anthropomorphic [[The Speechless|mute]], was spun off into a series of animated shorts the following year.

The Panther's status was increased when the newly founded DePatie-Freleng studio's first short, "The Pink Phink," won the 1964 [[Academy Award]] for Best Animated Short Subject -- the first time an animation studio had won one with its very first cartoon. The shorts put the Panther in situations ranging from the mundane to the fantastic, always with Henry Mancini's popular theme music somewhere in the score (the shorts were silent save for gibberish, sound effects, and music; attempts to give the Panther a voice were washes).

Along with the Panther's shorts, the original TV run also included '''''The Inspector''''', shorts inspired by Clouseau's character. The Inspector in these shorts was more competent than his movie counterpart, though still prone to bad judgement calls, and the general [[Butt Monkey]] of the series overall, even when he did succeed in the end. These shorts were soon joined by other series':

* '''The Ant and the Aardvark''': A 17-episode Cat-And-Mouse series about the two titular characters, a red ant and the blue aardvark who constantly tries to eat him.

* '''Tijuana Toads''': A series about a pair of Mexican toads who usually fail in catching food, but are luckier in avoiding the hunger of one '''Crazylegs Crane''' (who later got his own series). This was eventually redubbed into ''Texas Toads'' to be less offensive.

* '''Roland and Rattfink''': A series of shorts about the conflict between the perfectly pacifistic Roland and the [[Dastardly Whiplash]]-like Rattfink.

* '''Hoot Kloot''': The misadventures of [[Wild West]] lawman Kloot and his horse.

* '''Misterjaw''': A series about an affable German-accented shark and his catfish buddy, with many takeoffs from ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]''.

While the shorts were specifically made for Saturday morning TV by the end of the original run in the late 1970s, even those were released to theatres into the early 1980s, making the Panther the last great theatrical shorts character. The character also starred in three prime time specials (1978's ''A Pink [[Christmas Special]]'', 1980's ''Olym-Pinks'', and 1982's ''Pink at First Sight'') and was later revived for TV with ''Pink Panther [[Spinoff Babies|and Sons]]'' (1984, though the Panther himself was reduced to mere cameos, the focus being instead on sons "Pinky" and "Panky" and a group of kids called "The Rainbow Panthers"), ''The Pink Panther'' (1993) (which had the character voiced by Matt Frewer), and ''Pink Panther and Pals'' (2010). He continues to be a popular commercial mascot, most notably for Owens Corning (pink) fiberglass insulation.

The German translation of the series however featured an ever-present, rhymed voice-over reminiscent of [[Wilhelm Busch]]'s work, spoken by the German voice of [[Sean Connery]]. It was also only in this dub that the Panther was given a name: Paul. But more often than not, the cutsey version "Paulchen" was used.

* [[Animated Anthology]]: When the animated shorts began airing on Saturday morning TV in 1969 as ''The Pink Panther Show'', it was in a half-hour timeslot and an ABA format: two Pink Panther shorts and an Inspector short. This particular setup persisted via syndicated airings and (later) Cartoon Network for years. As [[The Seventies]] progressed, the various Pink Panther anthology shows came to include other DePatie-Freleng shorts.

* [[Depth Deception]]: A faked alien invasion in an episode of the animated series.

** The Pink Panther animated shorts all have the word "pink" in the title, and most of the Inspector shorts are puns on French words or phrases.

** The cartoons have the title "Blake Edwards' Pink Panther" when he appears.

*** The Pink Panther Strikes again takes it up to eleven, Dreyfus disintegrates the UN building, attempted to destroy England, yet two movies later, ''Trail'', he is Commissioner again and no one talks about it (though this is because of [[Plot Hole]]).

** Jaqcues Gambrelli, though its Justified because he is Clouseau's son.

* [[Running Gag]] / [[Sequel Escalation]]: Clouseau's accent, his disguises in the later films, Cato's attacks and the subsequent fights, Dreyfus' murder attempts and his eye twitch, and the [[Non-Fatal Explosions]].

* [[Snap Back]] / [[Unexplained Recovery]]: Dreyfus' presence in ''Revenge'' and the subsequent films, after {{spoiler|apparently getting disintegrated at the end of ''Strikes Again''. Wikipedia's entry for ''Revenge'' says that some fans regard ''Revenge'' as either a prequel or substitute for ''Strikes Again'', and that the rest don't matter}}.

[[Category:Saturday Morning Cartoon]]