Hanna-Barbera have made so many great and well beloved shows and characters from The Flintstones to Scooby-Doo. They have however made some shows that not alot of people know about or if they do it's largely forgotten such is the case with the episode that i'm going to be reviewing as this episode is the first part of the first full episode of a show that isn't that well remembered and so then join me as I review the episode that introduced us a kung fu expert dog with the episode in question being called simply just "Car Thieves" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when a bunch or car thieves strike again it's up to Hong Kong Phooey to find them and stop them before its to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The episodes plot is a decent enough plot for what is quite literally the first episode of the show as the plot does give you a good idea of what the rest of the shows plots are going to be moving forward as each episode of the show does have a very similar plot to that of this episode. However tho given the fact that this is the first episode of the show this episodes plot isn't the strongest one out there as the plot does come across as being quite thin and weak whereas if the show had gone with a more a stronger plot maybe one that's double the length of this one then it would have helped get the show of on the right foot as while this show is indeed episodic in nature and therefor what happens in one episode isn't going to effect the following episode the plot for this episode did still need to be good enough inorder to get more people to watch the next episode and that is something that they very easily might not have done with this episode, this is not to say that the plot is bad by any means as it's not as the idea of having this character trying to track down a bunch of car thieves is a good idea it's one that did also need to have more time given to it to fully flesh that idea and while that was never going to happen given the fact that Hanna-Barbera wasn't producing full episodes at this time it is something that should have happened for this episodes plot to work at it's best with the plot of this episode really being entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opininons anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Scatman Crothers as Penry Pooch / Hong Kong Phooey and Joe E. Ross as Sergeant Flint. Also starring in this episode is Kathy Gori as Rosemary and Scooby-Doo icon Don Messick as Hot Rod. Whilst there are more speaking characters in this episode the four people listed are the only ones that have it listed who they are playing online and to be fair alot of them do have really good voices that fit there respective characters with Kathy Gori for example giving Rosemary a voice that does sound kind of like Penelope Pitstop almost to the point where it does make you wonder if they had Janey Waldo come in to play the character and Scatman Crothers is good as well using his speaking voice for the titular character and it is something that really does for this show and this episode on the whole. It would have been nice to find out who was voicing the other characters tho as there are some good voices heard in this episode and while the IMDB page for this episode has alot more actors listen that's only due to the fact that there also including the shows second segment and even then all but two of the actors don't have it listed who there playing this is something that does it make hard to work out just who is playing who as Spot the cat for example does make some noises in this episode but there is no actor listed as playing him with all of the episodes actors giving there respective characters some really good sounding voices and heck it wouldn't be all that surprising if it came out that the actors for not only this episode but this show on the whole recorded all of there voices at the same time as the voices do sound very natural with each other almost as if they were saying them in the same room with the only voice that doesn't quite work as it is a bit forgettable is the voice of one of the villains Hot Rod as the voice is bland and doesn't really stand out at you all that much even when not being compared to the rest of the episodes voices.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With all of this episodes actors giving us some fairly solid performances in this episode and while OK fair enough this shows acting was never going to be winning any kind of awards for the kind of show that this is the fact that we managed to even have some somewhat good acting in it is a miracle on to it's self as by all rights this episodes acting should have been really bad and yet you can tell that this episodes actors are doing there best work possible. With the best actor in this whole entire episode being Scatman Crothers as Penry Pooch / Hong Kong Phooey which granted might sound like a cliche thing to say but it's also something that's true with him even having alot of screen time in this episode which is something that does make as he does play the title character and yet every single time that he is on screen you are captivated by his performance and you hang on every word that he says as Scatman Crothers does have this silky smooth voice that is perfect for Penry Pooch / Hong Kong Phooey and fits the character perfectly with him giving us a really solid performance as the character with his own natural charm really coming through in his performance. With the actin that's in this very episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that were currently over at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To be frank this episodes animation is about what you would expect from Hanna-Barbera as it does look cheap alot of the time with the backgrounds not only repeating themselves but also lacking any fine detail something which it could be argued was also true for Top Cat. Yet here it does seem really out of place as the episode does put alot of attention on the backgrounds due to the fact the thieves are stealing things in plain sight and while the characters movements aren't as stilted as they are in say either The Flintstones or again Top Cat as there are times where the characters do have some really fluid movements to them even they do look cheap as there are time where the makers of this episode will animated just the mouths of a character and not the whole body which does make the episodes animation feel more cheap even for a Hanna-Barbera show and yet it didn't have to be this way as even if the makers of this show just put some more detail into the episodes backgrounds or even had characters walking in the background both of these yes granted aren't much but they would have made the episodes animation come across as being alot less cheap but on the other hand given that this show had to spread it's budget across thirty episodes it does make sense that corners would be cut to make the shows animation come in under budget.
Whilst this is no doubt a comedy show there is alot of focus put on the episodes action however tho in order to appease parents groups the makers of this show were pretty much forced into making this a comedy. As the only way that they could have made this show in the first place where the focus is on Kung Fu is to make the hero someone who always messes up and never really hits anyone this is something that might seem like it's holding the episode back and to be fair that would be an understandable thing however it really doesn't as it now forces the makers of this episode to get creative with the episodes action as now not only do they have think of creative ways for Hong Kong Phooey to get into a fight but they also have to think of creative ways for him to win the fight without actually harming anyone. With the fact that he is this self proclaimed Kung Fu master and yet he never really hits any moves on anyone or anything for that matter being something that does add some charm to not only this episode but the show as as whole as it would have been super easy for the makers of this episode to just show him beating up the bad guys in a a funny but still violent way but the fact that they didn't do that and they went all the way in making him this oblivious character who really does think that he's doing all of this things himself actually adds something to his character as it makes him more of someone who is an egotist but is also an idiot at the same time with the fact that the whole town just believes that Hong Kong Phooey is this tuff as nails superhero being something that does hit home this point all the more harder but in saying this tho it would have been nice if we did get to see him land some moves but instead of having them hurt someone the villains just shake it off as it's nothing with Penry just believing that the villains are just as strong as he is this is something that would feed well into his character and could make for a solid running joke in the rest of the series.
This episode is kind of hard to describe as it's about as simple as it gets which is something that could be seen as being good thing but is also a bad thing. It's a bad thing in that it does make the episode not only plain and straight forward as everything is layed out to you in black and white which yes was the trend up until very recently but it does also make the episode quite boring to watch as well as you know right away not only what is going to happen but also how things will play out which fair enough there wasn't really all that much that the makers of this show could have done to make this episode feel unpredictable as they did have have alot of parents groups to please but they still could have done something to make this episode feel different from the rest of the show even if it's just making this episode a full twenty two minuets granted that's not much but it's something. On the other hand tho it's a good thing as this episodes target kid audience aren't going to be wanting something complex they just want something simple and easy to follow and that's exactly what this episode is in all of the best ways possible as all of the characters are very simple and all of the jokes are very easy to spot coming a mile away and while these are things that it very well could be argued helped to make the show bland and forgettable as let's be honest here not alot of people have thought about this show for decades it is also something that means that when someone does discover it then they could get to expirence how weird and unique both this show and this episode are and even those that did watch the show either when it was airing on ABC in 1974 or perhaps on many of the other channels when it was being repeated in the nineties.
The villains plan in this episode was actually a pretty good as while they don't outright say what there plan is its obvious that to steal cars from people , repaint them and then sell to people at a higher price. We know this as we do see the villains repaint one of the cars in the episode therefor the rest is more of an educated guess and its a plan that does make alot of sense as people will always need cars be it for travelling to work or to see friends and therefor they'd be willing to pay through the nose to get a car even if it turns out that its there own car ad the fact that we get to see this episodes villains go to these extreme lengths to get cars not only from nearby people but from moving lorries and even car dealerships does hit him just how prepared and how quick that these villains strike. With the thing that lets the plan down being the fact that we not only don't get confirmation on what there plan is and therefor we dont know what there end goal is but we also don't get to see there plan in action this is something that would have added some small amount of stakes to the episode and it would be able to create a nice contrast with the end of the episode if at the start of the episode we see the town that this show takes place in being fearful of these villains and yet by the end of the episode we see that the town is happy now that there gone and heck while we do get word that they stole several police cars we don't get to see the villains interacting with the episodes main heroes all that much before the start of the episodes plot which again is something that would have been nice as the interactions that Penry has with them is pretty good, with the villains themselves being the kind of typical villains that you'd expect to find in a Saturday morning kids TV show which is something that does work for the episode but it would have been nice if more thought was given into making them more thought out and a bit more scary as villains.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly eleven minuets and twelve seconds. With this show having two segments per-episode something which was par the course for Hanna-Barbera at this time and yet you really don't feel like this episode is as short as it is as the episode does feel like that it has the right amount of time given the fact that the episodes plot isn't all that strong in the first place and while this episode doesn't really have to set up alot of things like how the characters are etc it still would have been nice if this episode did do that and it would have been able to do that if this episode did have a longer running time but it wasn't needed as this episode works either way with this episode having more then enough plot to cover this amount of running time in the first place. However tho this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot this is something that is n doubt due to the fact that the episode does have a shorter running time and therefor it really can't afford to add things to the plot to make it feel more developed as the episode not only has the great theme song to fit in but it also has to tell an entire story in just over eleven minuets with the makers of this episode being more focused on making sure that we laugh with Hong Kong Phooey then they were in giving the episode a well developed plot. This is something that dies also effect the episodes character development as while it's not unheard of for Hanna-Barbera shows to not develop there characters it still would have been nice if time was given into giving any one of this episodes characters some form of character development with the makers of this show being more focused on fitting in as many Kung Fu Asian stereotypes then they were in giving any one of this episodes characters character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The episode does poke alot of fun at the fact that Hong Kong Phooey isn't the smartest bulb in the shed as she does alot of the time get things wrong and while this does make him look like an idiot this is something that is also part of the charm of the show and of the episode as we know that he's not going to get it right and therefor the comedy comes more from how the people around still think that he's this good superhero when in actuality he's just lucky. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being the series running joke where he ends up getting stuck in the filing cabinet when transforming into Hong Kong Phooey with him this time trying to give it a super human punch as he calls only for Spot the cat to role he eyes and bang on the cabinet to let him out that whole joke is a very simple joke and it works because of the fact that it's a simple with a simple set up and pay off whereas if the joke was alot more complicated and was more hard to follow then it wouldn't work as well however due to the fact that everything in the world this show takes place it is just straight up insane you do end up buying into the fact that someone can enter the lower part of a cabinet and exit through the top as a super hero with the fact that he struggles to get out of the top end of it being something that does make it funny with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whist this episode wasn't the best episode to start this show out on one could also make the argument that none of this shows episodes would have made for a good debut episode with this episode being a bland but still mostly enjoyable episode that was alot of fun to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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