Product Description: The Pink Panther is paws down the world's grooviest cartoon star. In 1964 this pink-inked feline slinked onto the opening credits of Blake Edwards' caper film by the same name and threatened to steal the entire show. Sleek sophisticated and witty the animation produced by Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie was a stylish departure from its contemporaries and an instant hit. A subsequent short film The Pink Phink would go on to win* an Oscar® and spawn a celebrated series of six-minute cartoons featuring the sly cat. Now for the first time 124 cartoons produced by Freleng and DePatie between 1964 and 1980 are collected here in a swingin' 5-disc set. With over 14 hours of "pink comedy" you can't help but lick your whiskers!*1964: Animated Short Subject The Pink PhinkSystem Requirements:Run Time: 782Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC: 027616924674 Manufacturer No: 1008437
Amazon.com: One of the unforeseen (and hugely profitable) benefits of the first Pink Panther movie was the popularity of the cartoon cat from that film's classic credits sequence. Added on a hunch by director Blake Edwards and concocted by the DePatie-Freleng animation team, the slinky pink feline immediately spawned his own series of cartoons, first for theatrical release and later for television. The saga is gathered in The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, five discs of 124 cartoons, plus extras. This would have to be considered the ultimate such collection, and more than the average fan could handle in a few sittings (or a few dozen). But they're all here.
When United Artists commissioned David DePatie and Friz Freleng (whose new company was born from the eclipse of the old Warner Bros. cartoon unit) to make freestanding Pink Panther cartoons, their first effort struck gold. Literally: The Pink Phink won the Oscar for best animated short subject, and is still a prime example of circa-1964 line drawing and visual humor. Most of the early shorts display a sure sense of timing and a cheeky feel for the era; they were directed by Freleng and Hawley Pratt (Pratt's design for the Pink Panther had been selected by Blake Edwards from dozens of offerings at the time of the first feature). In two of the first handful, Sink Pink and Pink Ice, the Pink Panther himself speaks stray lines of dialogue, a mistake that would not be repeated later. One unwelcome aural intrusion: some of the cartoons here have a laugh track from the TV series, even on the Oscar-nominated Pink Blueprint.
Animation voiceover veterans of the era chimed in with narration or voices for other characters; for instance, the indefatigable Paul Frees does the narration on Phinkfinger, a funny spoof of 007-style spy movies. But most of the cartoons are wordless, which is one reason they remained popular internationally for so many years. The main reason is the slinky character of the Panther, a mischievous hipster who could be either the instrument of chaos or the victim, depending on the cartoon. The plots tend toward the cartoon verities: the necessity of catching a mouse or silencing an alarm clock, for instance. A documentary, Behind the Feline, gives a fine account of the history of the character; it is also bundled on a previous boxed set, The Pink Panther Film Collection. Useful new extras include a portrait of Friz Freleng by his daughters, an illuminating interview with animator-director Art Leonardi, and a delightful vignette with Leonardi instructing us on how to quickly draw the Pink Panther. The opening-title sequences from five Pink Panther movies are included. Throughout the cartoons and the extras, you will be reminded of one incalculable boost to the series: Henry Mancini's lithe, foxy theme music, which surely had much to do with the character's enduring fame. Mancini gets an onscreen shout-out in Pink, Plunk, Plink, in which the Panther tries to inject his theme into an orchestral performance of Beethoven's Fifth. --Robert Horton
The Pink Panther is number one! The Pink Panther has always remained a very important figure in the history of modern animation. A character like this one who uses only physical actions to speak for him definitely has universal/worldwide appeal. So, it turned out to be a dream come true when this remarkable 5-disc DVD set entitled "The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection" was released. It contains 124 classic Pink Panther cartoon shorts together on 5 DVDs. Overall, this set is a really great value for your investment. It truly belongs in every DVD home library. Starting off with the first in the series, the Academy Award winning "The Pink Phink", every short is presented in chronological order through the rest of the discs. I remember watching these cartoons shorts when I was a kid; and now, it is an even bigger thrill to be able to share them with my graddaughter. This has become my favorite DVD release of the year 2006, and my second favorite DVD release of all time! No wonder The Pink Panther has become my very all-time favorite cartoon character!
A Great Collection, For the Kid in All of Us. I can remember when I would get up, sneak past my parents room, and rush downstairs to eat breakfast and catch a pink panther cartoon. That was a long time ago, but i now get the same kind of great feeling with this awesome new collection. It contains all of the original cartoons, minus the inspector ones, which you can actually purchase from amazon. So, at this great price, you are getting all of the original classics that make us remember what it is like to be kids.
wat a bargain!!! this is the best cartoon i've ever seen, u get a set of 5 dvds with this reasonable price. i love it and i'm still on the 1st dvd. i love the pink panther, i love him and i love it!!! ^_____^
Why 3 stars? Why only 3? The offensive front material is a part of it. I have to watch clips of lousy movies that have nothing to do with the Pink Panther, and then I get a lecture (on EACH disk) about not downloading pirated movies, and then finally I can watch what I paid to watch.
As far as content, I'd like the option of not hearing the laugh track. And the rest is all my fault, since I watched the originals. I was younger, and I guess anything Pink Panther was hip in those days, according to my taste at the time. There are indeed some gems, and there are some real stinkers.
Especially when you get out to 1978, you can see the writers ran out of ideas, and much contrived junk writing crept in. Not as bad as new stuff, but almost as if they knew they were writing for little kids and adjusted their efforts accordingly.
Separately, I have "The Ant and the Aardvark" DVD. I would say A&A and the Inspector saved the show. It's nice to complain about cartoons adding new features and sidekicks, but the New Pink Panther series would have been a total bust if they had to rely on what they could come up with in the purely Pink Panther episodes.
So that's why 3 stars. Offensive front material and unnecessary laugh tracks cost them two stars. It's my own fault for not remembering just how bad the later stuff was compared to the earlier stuff. If I had remembered, I would like to have have just ordered the first 2 or 3 disks. And "The Ant and the Aardvark." I'm not a cartoon historian. I just watch for entertainment.
Lots of Pink This is great because you get so many episodes. Very clever and fun to watch.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
