Cartoon Vault: The Pink Panther

I will get back to more of the current Disney cartoons eventually but first I want to talk about the Pink Panther.

The Pink Panther was originally a film series developed by the late Hollywood Director Blake Edwards, known more for Breakfast at Tiffany's. The films were about a jewel heist for the Pink Diamond named the Pink Panther due to it's unusual flaw in the center resembling a leaping panther. They were mostly comedy films and the majority of these films were focused more on the bumbling French Police Officer Inspector Clouseau after Peter Sellars' acting made his character more popular than the actual thief. In the animated opening sequence of the first film the cartoon variant on the literal Pink Panther was born and with the help of the people behind MGM and some directors from the Looney Tunes school of cartoons, turned the Pink Panther into a Bugs Bunny type of karmic trickster but depending on the writer you get hints of misfortune more befitting Daffy Duck. A typical episode would feature the panther being his usual suave self as he unconsciously annoys his regular foil simply referred to as the Little Man or he simply tries something which leads to misfortune, most of these shorts have no dialogue which suits the cartoon better as the only sounds heard are the usual cartoon sound effects and the iconic, jazzy Pink Panther theme played by Henry Mancini, there are some speaking parts from side characters or even a narrator but those are experimental shorts so don't expect much variation among the 124 episodes.
While it doesn't quite get the same laugh out loud moments as Looney Tunes gets and certain episodes are quick to draw guns out every chance possible, it still remains entertaining to fans of the Looney Tunes style.
And finally The Pink Panther is one of only three characters in cartoon history who can pull off the color pink consistently and effectively, the other two being Disney Princess Aurora and My Little Pony's Pinkie Pie. The Pink Panther is also the only regular cartoon character to get away with smoking, which is usually only saved for villains.

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