this sad news came across the wire today. Hanna-Barbera produced a lot of "kids and dog/cat/car/ghost/etc solve mysteries/etc" after Scooby Doo first aired in 1969, but Josie and the Pussycats (and it's sequel) were always my favorites of the bunch. so in honor of the late Josie DeCarlo I'll be reviewing my favorite Josie episode.
anyone who knows me a little bit will know exactly why this is my favorite episode of the first series. see that dinosaur? that's loads of fun, and well designed to boot. one of the things that elevated "Josie" above the rest of the Scooby clones (and above Scooby itself) was that these kids were international, not just local, and they took on villains that wanted to take over the world, not just sell the land of an old amusement park.
the t rex chases the kids into the forest, where they decide to play a song to let any search parties find them easily. sure, that makes sense.
unfortunately for them, this is the island of Dr. Madreau. yes, that's an intentional name, and the resemblance to
Charles Laughton is intentional as well. unfortunately
Bela Lugosi didn't make it into the episode, but this is pretty good for a start.
the good Doctor has invented a ray that can change the molecules of any living thing into anything else. naturally, Alexander Cabot III gets turned into an ape (it's not really a plateau, it's an island, but they had to play on the popular apes movies as well). Sebastion also gets changed into a saber toothed cat as well (and a dog, go figure).
naturally, the gang runs around for a three minute pop song, and we get some cute antics from everyone. Alexandra, who is the catalyst for all the bad things, is pretty much the star of the show, since she propels the plots forward with her poor attitude. I never did figure out why they let her tag along with them, but then the movie explained it: "I'm here 'cause I'm was in the comic book."
works for me. RIP Josie, and thanks for being your husband's inspiration. there will be more on Josie in the future.
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