Hong Kong Phooey

Infobox Television
show_name = Hong Kong Phooey


genre = animated series
country = USA
language = English
num_episodes = 31
producer = Iwao Takamoto
executive_producer = William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
network = ABC
first_aired = September 7, 1974
last_aired = September 4, 1976
related = Laff-A-Lympics, CB Bears
production_website = http://www.hanna-barbera.com/
imdb_id = 0070996
tv_com_id = 3724

"Hong Kong Phooey" is a 16-episode (31 shorts) Hanna-Barbera animated series that first aired on ABC Saturday morning from September 7, 1974 to September 4, 1976. The star, Hong Kong Phooey, is the secret alter ego of Penrod Pooch, or Penry (sometimes mispronounced "Henry"), a "mild-mannered" police station janitor. Although Penry/Phooey appears to be the only anthropomorphic dog in the entire city where the series is set, no one ever connects his two identities.

Plot

Hong Kong Phooey is supposedly a master of kung fu and other martial arts. Although he is very lithe and athletic, he actually accquired his "skills" through a correspondence course manual, "The Hong Kong School of Kung Foo" (later spelled correctly as "Kung Fu"). Hong Kong Phooey carries this book with him at all times and uses it to look up the "appropriate" move for any situation he's in. On the rare times he loses the book, his self-confidence disappears. On occasion, he also tries "powers of mental concentration" which amount to nothing without either dumb luck or the help of his "faithful companion" Spot, a "police cat." The stories begin at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, works as a mild-mannered janitor. He works with Sergeant Flint ("Sarge") and Rosemary, the telephone operator, who has a crush on Hong Kong Phooey. After Rosemary gets a call and explains the crime, Penry runs into a filing cabinet (and always get stuck) to transform himself into Hong Kong Phooey. He usually enters the lower drawer as Penrod and leaves the upper one as Hong Kong Phooey. In each episode, he ends up needing assistance from Spot. (Except for one episode where he somehow crawls under the carpet from the file cabinet to a nearby door and get no assistance at all from Spot. There's also one episode where he decides to use the middle drawer to leave the cabinet after getting stuck at the upper one but his attempts to show his "skills" get him stuck back there) Hong Kong never quite notices Spot's help, but instead is always proud of himself because he thinks he is the one who does everything.

Phooey gets into his Phooeymobile and uses the "bong of the gong" to turn it into whatever sort of vehicle best suits the occasion. He finds the thieves committing their crime. Spot is usually the one who finds a way to capture the criminals and foil their crime, but on occasion, Hong Kong Phooey captures the villain on his own through sheer dumb luck. Because Hong Kong is the reputed superhero, every time Spot saves the day, everyone else (including Phooey) credits Hong Kong Phooey with being the hero. Every episode ends with a return to police headquarters, where Penry usually has some sort of accident that causes Sarge to yell at him. Penry is never hurt by Sarge's yelling and finds a way to compliment himself on his incognito crime-fighting prowess as Spot sighs.

A running gag is that Hong Kong Phooey is such a respected hero that when his incompetence caused him to crash into, harm, or otherwise inconvenience a civilian, the passerby declares what an honor it was to have so interacted with "the great Hong Kong Phooey." For example, he drives the Phooeymobile through some wet cement, splattering the workers, who say that it was an honor to have a whole day's work ruined by "the great Hong Kong Phooey."

Overview

Sergeant Flint was very similar both in voice and appearance to Botch, assistant zoo-keeper at the Wonderland Zoo on "Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch." Hong Kong Phooey was voiced by Scatman Crothers, who was also the voice of Scat Cat in Disney's "The Aristocats" (not to be confused with Scat Cat from the live-action show called "The Skatebirds" for which Scatman also did the voice). Sergeant Flint was voiced by Joe E. Ross, best known as Officer Gunther Toody in the 50's TV series "Car 54, Where Are You?." As Flint, Ross revived Toody's famous "Oooh! Oooh!" exclamation. Like many Hanna-Barbera shows from this era, "Hong Kong Phooey" was originally broadcast with a laugh track. In the episode "Comedy Cowboys," several new cartoon characters (Honcho, The Mysterious Maverick, and Posse Impossible) appeared and helped to clear Hong Kong of a crime he didn't commit. Posse Impossible found their way onto "The CB Bears Show".

Episode guide

DVD release

On August 15, 2006, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

Voices

* Scatman Crothers - Hong Kong Phooey/Penrod "Penry" Pooch
* Kathy Gori - Rosemary
* Joe E. Ross - Sergeant Flint
* Don Messick - Spot

"Hong Kong Phooey" in other languages

* Brazilian Portuguese: "Hong Kong Fu"
* Spanish: "Hong Kong Phooey" (the title character is voiced by Julio Lucena)
* German: "Hong Kong Pfui"
* Japanese: ほえよ! 0011 ("Hoeyo! 0011")
* Swedish: "Hong Kong Phooey"
* French: "Hong Kong Foufou"
* Portuguese: "Hong Kong Phooey"

Popular culture

Outside of his native cartoon, Hong Kong Phooey was later featured/referenced in several media:

* In "Laff-A-Lympics", he was a member of the Scooby Doobies (a large Hanna-Barbara franchise group including fellow super-heroes Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and Captain Caveman).

* In "Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue", he along with other Hanna-Barbera characters including: Jabberjaw, The Banana Splits, Scooby-Doo, The Hair Bear Bunch from Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound came to join Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in that 1977 TV Special that was aired on CBS.

* Decades later, Hong Kong Phooey subsequently guest-starred in an episode of "Duck Dodgers". A re-imagining of the character also appeared in a Flash cartoon with a more serious, action-focused tone. The animation was originally viewable on the Cartoon Network website during 2001.

* The show's eponymous theme song later became a novelty hit, airing on "The Dr. Demento Show" several times. Ska-punk band Sublime would later cover this song for the 1995 album Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits. and later it would be released on the DVD of their posthumous 2006 boxset "Everything Under the Sun".. The bassline during the bridge is the same as from their song "Pawn Shop."

* Hong Kong Phooey appeared in the "Robot Chicken" episode "S&M Present" voiced by Seth Green. In the "Enter the Fat One" segment, he was one of the many opponents that Joey Fatone had to face in a martial arts tournament. In another episode of that series, "Ban on the Fun," the "Laff-A-Lympics" experiences the Munich massacre. Scooby finds out that Hong Kong Phooey is dead, and apparently just realized Phooey was a dog.

* In 2006, McFarlane Toys released an action figure of the character through its Hanna-Barbera series of toys.

* A live-action adaptation produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions & Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment is rumored for a 2010 release. Jackie Chan & Larry Joe Campbell have been rumored to have roles with Chan providing the voice of Hong Kong Phooey/Penrod "Penry" Pooch and Larry Joe Campbell in the role of Sergeant Flint. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. [http://www.productioncharts.com/charts/2008/01/hong-kong-phooe.html] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772171/] Verify credibility|date=August 2008

* Hibernian F.C. right back Thierry Gathuessi is known affectionately among fans as "Hong Kong Thierry" on account of his amusingly aggressive playing style.

* In a Halloween episode of What's New Scooby-Doo, one guest attends a party wearing a Hong Kong Phooey costume.

External links

*imdb title|id=0070996|title=Hong Kong Phooey
* [http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Hanna-Barbera_Studios/G-J/Hong_Kong_Phooey/index.html Big Cartoon DataBase: "Hong Kong Phooey"]
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/h/hongkong.htm InternationalHero] Hong Kong Phooey tribute
* [http://www.wingnuttoons.com/Hong_Kong_Phooey.html Wingnut Toons episode list]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060828030404/http://www.cartoonnetworkla.com/english/watch/web_shows/hk_phooey/index.htmll Cartoon Network Flash animation (updated version of 70's original)] - cached copy from Internet Archives
* [http://www2.warnerbros.com/warnervideo/classiccartoons/hongkongphooey/ Warner Bros. - Hong Kong Phooey on DVD - The Official Site]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20000302205845/www.cartoonnetwork.com/doc/hkp/main.html Cartoon Network: Dept. of Cartoons: Hong Kong Phooey] - cached copy from Internet Archives