Pound Puppies
Pound Puppies was an American Cartoon Television that was released in September 1986 on ABC. It ended in December 1988.
Before It Was a Show, It Was a Merchandise
Tonka purchased the license to sell the toy. Pound Puppy shipments over five years generated sales of $300 million in 35 countries.
The puppies have a variety of plush stuffed dog dolls with floppy ears and droopy eyes. They came in a variety of colors, some with spots. Each one came in a carrying case with adoption papers. Smaller versions were also created (approximately 5 inches (13 cm) long), and a line of cats called Pound Purries was also released. Each authentic puppy had a heart shaped emblem near its tail that sported a "PP" logo with either a dog (Puppies) or cat (Purries) peeking around it. In 1987, Hardee's restaurants also offered a series of Pound Puppies with their Children's Meals.
Original Cartoon Movie
In 1985, Hanna-Barbera made an animated television special based on the fad, broadcasting on ABC, pairing this movie with Star Fairies. Characters in the cartoon included the Fonzie-styled leader Cooler (Dan Gilvezan), the cheerleader Bright Eyes (Nancy Cartwright), the southern belle Nose Marie (Ruth Buzzi), the goofy inventor aptly named Howler (Robert Morse), and a new character named Whopper (B. J. Ward), who usually lies a lot.
A female dog named Violet Vanderfeller is picked up and taken to the city pound, where she meets the gang and discovers their mission of uniting themselves up with homes. The film plot centers on Violet attempting to reunite with her family, ultimately succeeding. Two other dogs appeared in the special. They were the upperclass snob Barkerville and the garbagecan-digging Scrounger, who later appeared in the season 2 episode Garbage Night.
Pound Puppies: The First Season
After the movie, another series was created. The show that was loosely based on the special was broadcast on ABC between 1986 and 1988. Most of the puppies from the earlier movie return, but no mention is made of Violet's whereabouts. But around the time the series was under alot of competitions on having one or two other shows being aired and trying to be the best such as Fluppy Dogs. When that special aired on November and didn't get the series credit and a season on ABC, it was said and done, that Pound Puppies won and ran.
The first season introduced Cooler, Nose Marie, Bright Eyes, Whopper and Howler. But ironically Howler did not appear in allot of episodes of the series, as he was seen often and on. The show also introduced the debut of Katrina Stonehart with ehr daughter Brattina and the feline cat Catgut and Holly. The horrific Captain Slaughter (Peter Cullen), who only appeared in four episodes (not counting the christmas episodes in Katrina's dream sequence) in season one. Katrina and Brattina were constantly planning to tear down the pound where the animals lived while organizing themselves to be adopted out to loving families.
Holly is a ward of Katrina Stonehart, but like the puppie's former protector Millicent Trueblood, she possesses the gift of 'puppy power' enabling her to have psychic connection with the dogs.[1].
Pound Puppies: The Second Season Relaunch
When the first season ended, the second season was totally different from the last one completely. It was one of the classic cartoons to create a relaunch series with a new look. The characters were all the same but different. or example, Bright Eyes was no longer an adult dog but a young puppy. The relationship with her and Cooler as lovers/mates was never revealed on why Bright Eyes was changed to that staged on being a child. And yet and still she was one of the favorite characters that kids loved in the 80's. Nose Marie had changed as well, she dropped her strapless purple dress and flirtatious manner with Cooler to form herself into a 60's sitcom style mom dress with apron and became a surrogate mother to Whopper, Bright Eyes and the rest of the puppies. But somewhere along the line, Nose Marie was still with the roots of her southern belle style and her manners as well. Cooler, Whopper, Howler, Katrina, Brattina and Catgut's still remained the same. Holly grew longer hair and wore sneakers and jeans following her last appearance style. And Captain Slaughter no longer appeared in the series following the last season of his appearance.
Pound Puppies and the Legends of Big Paws (Film)
In 1988, Tri-Star Pictures released a Pound Puppies movie entitled Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw. It was produced by Atlantic Releasing, Carolco, Family Home Entertainment and Kushner-Locke with The Maltese Companies.
Although the movie was made, it received negative feedbacks and undemanding promotions. Animations during the movie was messed up and a lot of errors were made with the colors, characters and there role lines. It wasn't that much the same as the series was originally.
Another situational problem was with the Cooler and Nose Marie situation, the two were madly in with each other but yet and still animators didn't seem to show the real truth with the two at all. Even in the series, Cooler was with Bright Eyes first before she was changed to a child. The meaning with the two was never discussed or even mentioned.
Fans also wondered if Whopper and possibly Bright Eyes were the perfect couple, because during the movie in the beginning Whopper was an adult and his niece and nephews looked just like Whopper but as he was a surrogated son in the series to the movie, it's still not a truthful possibility if of not he was dating Bright Eyes. But others compared Bright Eyes and Howler to be a great couple.
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