Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space is a Hanna-Barbera series that debuted September 1972 on CBS. This spin-off of the series launched the characters into outer space; the opening credits sequence shows Alexandra accidentally knocking the cast into a spaceship and launching it into deep space. Every episode centered on the Pussy Cats encountering a strange new world, where they would encounter and often be kidnapped by various alien races before escaping and attempting to return home.
Musical numbers and chase sequences set to newly recorded songs were featured in this spin-off series as with the original. Josie in Outer Space also added the character of Bleep, a pet-sized. white, fluffy alien adopted by Melody, who was the only one who could understand the creature (who only says "Bleep") and numerous other alien animals encountered.
The sixteen episodes of Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space were re-run for the 1973–1974 season until canceled 26 January 1974. Like its predecessor, Josie and the Pussy Cats, Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space contained a laugh track, though this time around, an abridged, inferior track was utilized.
Aftermath[]
Josie and the Pussy Cats made a final appearance as animated characters to date in a guest shot on the 22 September 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat". Early production art for Hanna-Barbera's 1977 "all-star" Battle of the Network Stars spoof Laff-a-Lympics featured Alexandra, Sebastian, Alexander, and Melody among other Hanna-Barbera characters as members of the "Scooby Doobies" team, but legal problems prevented their inclusion in the final program.
In 1976, Rand McNally published a children's book based on the Josie TV show, Hanna-Barbera's Josie and The Pussycats: The Bag Factory Detour.
The original Josie and the Pussy Cats series was re-run on NBC Saturday mornings for the 1975–1976 season. In the mid-1980s, both series, along with a number of other 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons were on board USA Network's Cartoon Express; they would next appear on Cartoon Network in 1992, where all 32 episodes were run in the same timeslot.
Voice Cast[]
- Sherry Alberoni as Alexandra Cabot
- Barbara Pariot as Valerie Brown
- Jerry Dexter as Alan Mayberry
- Jackie Joseph as Melody Valentine
- Casey Kasem as Alexander Cabot III
- Don Messick as Sebastian, Bleep
- Janet Waldo as Josie McCoy
Trivia[]
- Despite its predecessor's home video releases not including the laugh track in any of its episodes, Outer Space oddly still retains the laugh track for most of its episodes.
Episodes[]
| № | Title | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|
| JPO-1 | "Where's Josie?" | 60-1 |
| Finding themselves lost in space aboard a space ship, the Pussy Cats land on planetoid Zelc and encounter a creature named Bleep. At the same time, Josie is kidnapped by an alien named Karnak, a deposed ruler who is intent on reconquering the populace of Zelc. | ||
| JPO-2 | "Make Way for the Multi-Men" | 60-2 |
| The Pussy Cats land on a planet of cat people and quickly learn that the planet's queen is being held by the robot Menton. Can the Pussy Cats save the queen from the robot's clutches? | ||
| JPO-3 | "The Sleeping Planet" | 60-3 |
| The Pussy Cats land on the planet Arcobia, where they try to help expose the corrupt prime minister Rulo as the true thief of a device that is very important to the planet. | ||
| JPO-4 | "Alien Alan" | 60-4 |
| The Pussy Cats encounter a planet heavily devoted to magnets. While on the planet, Alan is brainwashed to serve the ruler Magno and only the Pussy Cats can save him. | ||
| JPO-5 | "The Water Planet" | 60-5 |
| On a water planet, the Pussy Cats' ship is hijacked by locals intent on conquering Earth with a water-controlling device. | ||
| JPO-6 | "The Sun Haters" | 60-6 |
| Josie and the gang encounter a race of giants on a planet that has developed a fluid capable of extinguishing the sun completely. Can the Pussy Cats stop them from carrying out their plan? | ||
| JPO-7 | "The Mini-Man Menace" | 60-7 |
| The Pussy Cats are shanghaied by robots and forced to journey to a planet ruled by the ambitious villain Mitchko. | ||
| JPO-8 | "The Space Pirates" | 60-8 |
| The Pussy Cats' ship is seized by robotic space pirates under the command of Captain Braggo. Braggo intends to use the ship as a vessel in his pirate fleet to loot and plunder ships and planets he comes across. | ||
| JPO-9 | "Anything You Can Zoo" | 60-9 |
| The ship containing the Pussy Cats lands on a planet Kalex and Josie and the gang quickly find themselves unwilling parts of a circus run by frog-men of Kalex. The ruler Throg plans an attack on Earth and only Josie and her friends can stop him. | ||
| JPO-10 | "Now You See Them, Now You Don't" | 60-10 |
| The Pussy Cats encounter aliens who can seemingly become invisible at will. Josie and the others are baffled as to how to stop the aliens until Melody acquires the same ability as the aliens by chewing bubble gum. | ||
| JPO-11 | "The Four-Eyed Dragon of Cygnon" | 60-11 |
| The Pussy Cats encounter two aliens, who attempt to persuade Josie and the gang to help them against a dragon that is menacing them. Can the Pussy Cats figure out who is the true menace before it's too late? | ||
| JPO-12 | "The Forward Backward People of Xarock" | 60-12 |
| Josie and the gang meet Tyran, whose weapon causes everything it zaps to go backward. | ||
| JPO-13 | "The Hollow Planet" | 60-13 |
| Aliens that reside on a ship that resembles a planet plan to enslave others by using a ray that turns the victims into children. Can Josie and the Pussy Cats stop them? | ||
| JPO-14 | "All Hail Goddess Melody" | 60-14 |
| The Pussy Cats land on the planet Gezzner and are very surprised to find the natives hailing Melody as their goddess due to her similarity to images they have. | ||
| JPO-15 | "Outer Space Ark" | 60-15 |
| The group thwarts a power plot by the mad scientist Arkapus, whose sonic transmitter has enabled him to train the local animals for conquest. | ||
| JPO-16 | "Warrior Women of Amazonia" | 60-16 |
| Josie and the gang see flashes and decide to head toward them, but are captured by Merla and her Amazon warriors on a planet where only women rule. Merla then uses mind control rings to add the girls to her army. It's up to Alexander and Alan to escape and free them as well. | ||
Credits[]
- Produced and Directed by: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
- Associate Producer: Art Scott
- Story: Larz Bourne, Tom Dagenais, Phil Davis, Joel Kane, Fred Freiberger, Woody Kling, Draper Lewis, Bill Lutz, Dennis Marks, Paul West
- Story Direction: Artie Davis, Brad Case, Carl Fallberg, George Singer, Steve Clark
- Special Model Design: Alex Toth
- Vocals by: Cathy Douglas, Patricia Holloway, Cherie Moore
- Voices: Sherry Alberoni, Jerry Dexter, Jackie Joseph, Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Barbara Pariot, Janet Waldo
- Animation Director: Charles A. Nichols
- Production Design: Iwao Takamoto
- Production Supervisor: Victor O. Schipek
- Animation Supervision: Rudy Zamora
- Background Styling: Walt Peregoy, Bob Inman, Cathy Patrick, Daniela Bielecka, Don Watson, Rolly Oliva
- Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
- Musical Supervision: Paul DeKorte
- Sound Direction: Richard Olson, Bill Getty
- Editorial Supervision: Larry Cowan
- Film Editors: Joe Reitano, Wayne Hughes
- Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
- Post Production: Joed Eaton
- A Hanna-Barbera Production
- in association with: Filmation Associates
- RCA Sound Recording
- This Picture Made Under the Jurisdiction of IATSE-IA Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
- © 1972 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc./Radio Comics, Inc.
References[]
- M. Keith Booker (2006). Drawn to television: prime-time animation from the Flintstones to Family Guy. Westort, CT: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group. page 158.