'Hong Kong Phooey: The Complete Series'
'Hong Kong Phooey'
Discuss this story now
Crime-fighting mutt chops his way onto DVD
So it was with some trepidation that I popped in the DVD of "Hong Kong Phooey: The Complete Series." The karate-chopping dog is one of the first TV characters burned into my brain, and I loved him as a kid; I even went trick-or-treating as him one year. Would the show stand up to my memories of it?
The answer is probably "not quite," but that's not necessarily a bad thing. As a grown-up, I can tell that the animation is not all that advanced, and I cringe at some of the corny jokes. But I can also take more pleasure in Scatman Crothers' sly vocal performance as the title character (he also sang the show's very hip theme song) and place "Hong Kong Phooey" in better context.
The show, which was produced in 1974, was Hanna-Barbera's way of capitalizing on the surge of martial arts in pop culture around that time, led of course by Bruce Lee. Of course, Hong Kong Phooey -- the alter ego of unassuming police-station janitor Penry -- never actually landed a chop or kick on one of his opponents; his world-renowned ability to catch the bad guys was invariably the result of an assist from his cat, Spot (who was striped), or some sort of dumb luck.
The animation, as it was on a lot of Hanna-Barbera cartoons at the time, was only serviceable, but the minimalist, water-colored backgrounds (a subtle reference to Asian culture, layout manager Willie Ito notes in a documentary included in the DVD set) are fairly interesting. Easily the best thing about the show is Crothers, whose deadpan delivery hints just enough at the essential goofiness of "Hong Kong Phooey's" premise.
Extras on the DVD set are slight. Commentary on three episodes by animators Iwao Takamoto and Willie Ito, along with animation historian Scott Jeralds, doesn't add much unless you're already familiar with the inner workings of Hanna-Barbera at the time. Better is the "Phoo-nomenon" featurette, which does a more complete job at explaining the show's origins. There's also a storyboard feature in which early sketches run side-by-side with a finished episode.
STUDIO: Warner Home Video
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15
RATING: NR
PRICE: $26.98
TIME: 6 hours, 37 minutes
DVD EXTRAS: Commentary on three episodes, "Phoo-nomenon" featurette, storyboards.
Advertisement
Random Reads Recommended
