The Pink Panther (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Pink Panther
Think Pink!
Genre	Comedy Fantasy
Created by	Friz Freleng (characters: The Pink Panther and The Ant and the Aardvark) David H. DePatie Blake Edwards
Directed by	Charles Grosvenor< Byron Vaughns
Starring	Matt Frewer as The Pink Panther
Voices of	Sheryl Bernstein John Byner Dan Castellaneta Jim Cummings Brian George Jess Harnell Joe Piscopo Hal Rayle Charles Nelson Reilly Wallace Shawn Kath Soucie Jo Anne Worley
Theme music composer	Henry Mancini (arranged by Eddie Arkin)
Composer(s)	Albert Olson and James Stemple Mark Watters (supervising composer)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	60
Production
Executive producer(s)	Walter Mirisch Marvin Mirisch Paul Sabella Mark Young
Producer(s)	Kelly Ward Charles Grosvenor Byron Vaughns
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	MGM Animation MGM Television Camelot Entertainment Sales Wang Film Productions
Distributor	Claster Television King World Productions
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	September 11, 1993 (1993-09-11) – April 12, 1995 (1995-04-12)
Chronology
Preceded by	Pink Panther and Sons
Followed by	Pink Panther and Pals

The Pink Panther is an American animated TV show. It stars the famous Pink Panther and other characters from his older cartoons. This series tells brand new stories. It was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation. Unlike most Pink Panther cartoons, this show is special. In this series, both the Pink Panther and the Little Man can actually talk!

The show was even nominated for an Daytime Emmy Award in 1994. This was for its amazing music direction and composition.

What the Show Is About

The 1993 Pink Panther series brought the cool pink cat back for new adventures. He faced all sorts of funny situations. These ranged from everyday life, like being a delivery boy, to wild ones, like living in caveman times.

A big change in this series was that the Pink Panther could speak. This allowed him to talk with other characters. Matt Frewer gave him a funny American voice. This was different from his earlier cartoons where he was mostly silent. In a couple of older shorts, he had a fancy British voice.

Many characters from the original cartoons also appeared in this series:

• The Inspector: The Panther sometimes helped him as a police officer.
• The Ant and the Aardvark: John Byner voiced both of these characters again.
• The Dogfather and his helpers Pugg and Louie: They got new designs for this show.
• The Muscle Man from the cartoon Come On In! The Water's Pink.
• The Witch from the cartoon Pink-A-Rella.
• The Little Man: Like the Panther, he could also speak in this series. Wallace Shawn was his voice.

The show also introduced some new characters. These included a tribal witch doctor named Voodoo Man. There was also a little red-headed girl named Thelma. And a sweet old lady, Mrs. Chubalingo, with her pet parrot Jules.

Meet the Voices

Here are some of the main actors who gave voices to the characters:

• Matt Frewer as the Pink Panther. He also voiced the Whistler and a News Anchor in some episodes.
• Sheryl Bernstein as the Eskimo Mayor.
• John Byner as Charlie Ant and the Blue Aardvark.
• Dan Castellaneta as Voodoo Man, Muck Luck, Chef Sumo, and others.
• Jim Cummings as Dogfather (in one episode) and Rolo.
• Brian George as The Inspector and Pugg.
• Jess Harnell as Louie, Muscle Man, and Pecks.
• Joe Piscopo as Dogfather.
• Charles Nelson Reilly as Jules Parrot.
• Wallace Shawn as The Little Man.
• Kath Soucie as Thelma and Cleopatra.
• Jo Anne Worley as Mrs. Chubalingo.

How the Show Was Made

In 1992, MGM/UA decided to make new Pink Panther cartoons. They wanted to try something different: the Panther would be able to speak! They hoped this would make the character fresh and exciting.

Choosing the Voices

In 1993, Rich Little, who had voiced the Pink Panther briefly in older cartoons, was asked to return. But he didn't remember voicing the character. He also felt that giving the Panther a voice would "ruin the character." Producer David DePatie agreed at first. However, when they heard Matt Frewer try out the voice, they loved it! They thought it was fantastic and decided to go with it.

Home Video Releases

A DVD box set of the show was released in Germany in 2006. It was called "Der rosarote Panther - Die neue Show." This set included the first 40 episodes in English, French, and German. Later, the same set was released in the UK in 2009. The remaining 20 episodes have not been released on DVD yet.