Doctor Dolittle (TV series)

Doctor Dolittle
Genre	Cartoon series
Created by	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng Paul Harrison Lennie Weinrib
Written by	Paul Harrison Lennie Weinrib
Voices of	Bob Holt Don Messick Hal Smith Robert Towers Lennie Weinrib
Opening theme	"Talk to the Animals" by Bob Holt and Lennie Weinrib
Ending theme	"Talk to the Animals" (instrumental)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
Production
Executive producer(s)	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 12, 1970 – September 2, 1971

Doctor Dolittle is an animated series produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in association with 20th Century-Fox Television. It was created for television by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng in association with Paul Harrison and Lennie Weinrib. The series was broadcast on the NBC network.

Synopsis

The series is loosely based on the books by Hugh Lofting, as well as the 1967 film of the same name which center around Doctor Dolittle (voiced by Bob Holt), an animal doctor who has the ability to talk to animals. Doctor Dolittle travels around the world by ship to help out any sick animal in need. He is aided in his missions by his first mate, young sailor Tommy Stubbins (voiced by Hal Smith), who can also talk to animals. Tommy who was apparently taught how to talk to animals by Dolittle share the ship with its animal crew, which includes

• Chee-Chee - The cabin monkey.
• Dab-Dab - A duck who is also the ship's cook.
• Polynesa Parrot -
• The Pushmi-Pullyu (voiced by Don Messick) - A llama which has two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. It serves as the ship's lookout.
• Too-Too - The wise owl.
• Jip (voiced by Don Messick) - The Hound Dog.

The series' other notable characters are George and the Grasshoppers (a rock group of grasshoppers that lives inside Dolittle's medicine case). At one point during each episode of the series, the group would launch into a rock or pop song, popping the sides of the medicine case open and using it like a stage, with Dolittle's bottles of pills and medicines glowing and flashing into different psychedelic colors behind the group as they sang.

Wherever the Dolittle's ship was, Pirate Island is never far behind. A disguised submarine, Pirate Island is actually the stronghold of Sam Scurvy (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) and his pirate crew:

• Cyclops - A hulking dimwit with an eye patch
• Zig-Zag - An uptight Frenchman
• Nico - An Italian
• Miko - A Chinese pirate.

The pirates dress in an unusual mixture of old-fashioned pirate and gangster gear. Sam Scurvy wears a fedora and a business suit and speaks with a Brooklyn accent. The pirate crew were also a branch of the Democratic Order of Pirates, International, or "DOPI" for short. Sam Scurvy has one goal in life: world domination. He believes that if he can get the secret to talking to animals from Dolittle, he will be able to raise an army of "creepy creatures" to help him take over the world. By using his eavesdropping device the Sneaky Snorkel, Scurvy gets wind of Dolittle's latest missions and then plots to hinder, disrupt, or even kidnap the Doctor - in order to force him to reveal how he is capable of talking to animals. However, due to Dolittle's skills - as well as the pirates' ineptitude - they never succeed.

Episodes

1. The Grasshoppers Are Coming, Hooray, Hooray! -
2. The Bird Who Was Afraid to Fly -
3. The Land of the Tiger Moo -
4. The Great Turkey Race -
5. The Peanut Conspiracy -
6. The Bare Bear -
7. High Flying Hippo -
8. The Near-Sighted Bull -
9. The Silver Seals at the Circus -
10. A Girl for Greco Gorilla -
11. A Tale of Two Snails -
12. A Fox Called...Sherlock? -
13. The Tomb of the Phoenix Bird -
14. The Barnyard Rumble -
15. The Baffled Buffalo -
16. A Hatful of Rabbit -
17. The Bird from O.O.P.S. -

Cast

• Bob Holt - Dr. John Dolittle
• Don Messick - Jip the Dog, Pushmi-Pullyu
• Hal Smith - Tommy Stubbins
• Robert Towers -
• Lennie Weinrib - Sam Scurvy

Syndication problems

Aside from a brief period in the early 1980s as part of "The Krofft Supershow," the series has never been shown in syndication, possibly due to the politically incorrect stereotypes of the pirate crew, as well as the strong drug implications present during George and the Grasshoppers' rock and pop numbers.

It was shown on BBC children's television around early 1972.

External links

• Doctor Dolittle at Internet Movie Database