Pound Puppies (1986 TV series)

Pound Puppies is a 1986 American animated series made by Hanna-Barbera Productions, based on the toy line by Tonka. It is the sequel to the 1985 television special. The show was broadcast on ABC between September 1986 and December 1987. In this series, no mention was made of Violet's whereabouts. The show found itself under a lot of competition from competitors, such as Disney's Fluppy Dogs, which was also adapted into a special, but unlike Pound Puppies, was not made into a regular series. It was the first cartoon adaptation of the property, the second being the 2010 series.

Season 1
The first season introduced Cooler (voiced by Dan Gilvezan), Nose Marie (voiced by Ruth Buzzi), Bright Eyes (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), and Howler (voiced by Robert Morse), who return from the special, along with Whopper (voiced by B.J. Ward), a new character who is known for telling tall tales. Whopper is usually seen with Bright Eyes, and the two of them share a brother/sister relationship. The show also debuted the evil Katrina Stonehart (voiced by Pat Carroll) with her equally evil daughter Brattina (voiced by Adrienne Alexander), her pet cat Catgut (voiced by Frank Welker), and her goddaughter Holly (voiced by Ami Foster), a friend of the Pound Puppies who originally ran the Puppy Pound. Other characters included the horrific Captain Slaughter (voiced by Peter Cullen), who only appeared in four episodes in season one, and who was responsible for the destruction of the puppies' hometown of Wagga-Wagga. Katrina and Brattina were constantly planning to tear down the pound where the animals lived while organizing themselves to be adopted out to loving families.

Five characters from the special who either guest starred and made cameo appearances in the season one episodes were Nabbit, Dr. Weston, Violet, Barkerville, and Scrounger. Nabbit guest starred in "Snowbound Pound" trying to repair the furnace while an Asian-American version of Dr. Weston also appeared in the same episode. Scrounger, Barkerville, and Violet made a brief cameo appearance in "Wagga-Wagga" in the beginning of Cooler's flashback. At the end of each episode, the Pound Puppies Pet Care Corner takes place where it teaches kids how to take care of their pets by finding solutions to otherwise unsuitable situations.

Holly is a ward of Katrina Stonehart, after the possible death of her parents. But like the puppies' former protector Millicent Trueblood (voiced by June Lockhart), she possesses the gift of 'puppy power' enabling her to talk to Cooler and the gang. In the original draft for the first season, Holly and Brattina were going to be sisters. In the final draft, Brattina was made into Katrina’s daughter. The writers thought making them mother and daughter would give a reason why they’re both evil. Since this was a last minute change, there was no time to redesign Brattina to make her look like Katrina. This explains why Brattina bears no physical resemblance with Katrina.

Season 2
The series later underwent a significant overhaul for the program's second season, where it was retitled All New Pound Puppies. Several of the characters were given very different backgrounds, appearances and personality traits. For example, Bright Eyes was significantly younger and had updated clothing. Nose Marie had changed as well. She dropped her strapless purple dress and flirtatious manner with Cooler in favor of a 1950s sitcom style mom dress with apron, becoming a surrogate mother to Whopper, Bright Eyes and the rest of the puppies.

However, Nose Marie did retain the roots of her southern belle style and her manners. Howler's personality didn't change, but he became more AWOL in this season. Cooler, Whopper, Katrina, Brattina (who started wearing a jacket) and Catgut remained the same. Holly grew longer hair and wore sneakers and jeans (wore a plaid skirt in season one). Also, Captain Slaughter no longer appeared in the series. The character was omitted because the writers were unable to think of ideas for him and Peter Cullen was also unavailable to record the voice. It is possible that the driver of the Dog Snatcher van may have been driven by an unseen Captain Slaughter. The Pound Puppies Pet Care Corner that would appear at the end of the show was also removed from the series. Most significant of all however, was that the Puppy Pound was now owned by Katrina Stoneheart who treats the Puppy Pound like (and has the appearance of) a prison, and now seeks to lock up Cooler and the gang forever.

No explanation is given as to how Katrina ended up taking over the Puppy Pound from Holly or why she doesn't shut it down like she intended to do in the first season. In fact, neither Katrina's intentions of shutting down the Puppy Pound or Holly's previous ownership of it are ever mentioned in the second season. This is because the two seasons do not have the same continuity and therefore are two completely different shows. Two characters from the special who guest starred in the season two episodes were Mayor Fist (originally voiced by Sorrell Booke) and Scrounger (voiced by Gregg Berger who was previously voiced by Ron Palillo). Mayor Fist guest starred in Bright Lights, Bright Eyes as one of the judges of the Annual Pet Talent Show. Mayor Fist only said one line "My fellow Americans.." before he was interrupted by Dr. Simon.

Dr. Weston, the veterinarian was renamed Dr. Simon and appears in "Whopper Gets the Point" and "Bright Lights, Bright Eyes". Scrounger made a larger appearance in "Garbage Night: the Musical" than he did in "Wagga-Wagga," an episode from Season 1. Only this time, Scrounger's fur was gray instead of orange (yellow in the special).

Cast

 * Adrienne Alexander - Brattina, Brattina's Ancestor (in "The Star Pup"), Mouseketeer 3 (in "The Captain and the Cats")
 * Ruth Buzzi - Nose Marie, Muffy (in "The Captain and the Cats"), Raccoon 1 (in "In Pups We Trust"), Nose Marie's Ancestor in ("The Star Pup"), Charlie's Mom and Woman (in "Happy Howlidays")
 * Pat Carroll - Katrina Stoneheart
 * Nancy Cartwright - Bright Eyes, Raccoon 2 (in "In Pups We Trust"), Bright Eyes' Ancestor (in "The Star Pup")
 * Peter Cullen - Captain Slaughter (4 episodes), Slaghtar (in "The Star Pup"), Owner of the Bark and Growl Cafe (in "Bright Eyes, Come Home")
 * Dan Gilvezan - Cooler, Cooler's Ancestor (in "The Star Pup"), Cooler Wolf (in "Casey, Come Back"), Canine Cafe Patron (in "Garbage Night: The Musical")
 * Ami Foster - Holly (25 episodes), Spats (in "Cooler, Come Back")
 * Robert Morse - Howler (25 episodes), Barkerville (in "Wagga-Wagga"), Howler's Ancestor (in "The Star Pup"), Mrs. Gugenfeller (in "Bright Light, Bright Eyes")
 * B.J. Ward - Whopper, Mrs. Simon (in "Snowbound Pound"), Whooper's Ancestor (in "The Star Pup")
 * Frank Welker - Catgut (25 episodes), Nabbit and Wolves (in "Snowbound Pound"), Scrounger and Danny (in "Wagga-Wagga"), Alley Cats (in "Bright Eyes Come Home"), Mouseketeer 2 (in "The Captain and the Cats"), Spy 2 (in "Secret Agent Pup"), Mayor Fist (in "Bright Light, Bright Eyes"), Squiggie (in "Dog and Caterpillar")

Additional voice cast

 * Chad Allen
 * René Auberjonois
 * Bever-Leigh Banfield
 * Allyce Beasley
 * Brice Beckham
 * Gregg Berger - Scrounger (in "Garbage Night: The Musical")
 * Deonca Brown
 * Steve Bulen
 * Arthur Burghardt
 * Kristina Chan
 * Danny Cooksey - Tiny (in "Happy Howlidays"), Mervin (in "The Fairy Dogmother"), Casey (in "Casey, Come Home")
 * Brian Cummings - Truck Driver (in "Ghost Hounders"), Bulldog 1 (in "How to Found a Pound")
 * Jim Cummings
 * Gabriel Damon
 * Barry Dennen
 * Bob Doqui
 * Casey Ellison
 * Richard Erdman
 * Pat Fraley - Pupnick (in "Secret Agent Pup"), Mouseketeer 1 (in "The Captain and the Cats"), Santa Claus (in "Happy Howlidays"), Yapper (in "Ghost Hounders"), Fleaco (in "The Star Pup"), Sherlock Bones (in "In Pups We Trust")
 * Lauri Fraser
 * Joan Gardner
 * Linda Gary
 * Phillip Glasser
 * Justin Gocke
 * Benjie Gregory
 * Edan Gross
 * Kathleen Hellpie
 * Lise Hilboldt
 * Dana Hill
 * Josh Horowitz
 * Ernie Hudson


 * Erv Immerman
 * Vaughn Jelks
 * Thy Lee
 * Katie Leigh
 * Michael Lembeck
 * Marilyn Lightstone
 * Nancy Linari
 * June Lockhart - Millicent Trueblood (in "How to Found a Pound")
 * Chuck McCann - Biff Barker (in "Ghost Hounders")
 * David Mendenhall
 * Haunani Minn
 * Brian Stokes Mitchell
 * Lorenzo Music - Teensy (in "Little Big Dog")
 * Pat Parris
 * Phil Proctor - Rusty (in "Where Do Puppies Come from?" and "Pups on the Loose")
 * Clive Revill
 * Susan Rhee
 * Roger Rose
 * Ann Ryerson
 * Ronnie Schell
 * Kath Soucie
 * Leslie Speights
 * John Stephenson
 * Lauren Taylor
 * Russi Taylor
 * Janice Tori
 * Marcelo Tubert
 * R. J. Williams
 * Mitsuru Yamahata
 * Dion Zamora
 * Patric Zimmerman

Home media release
Various episodes of the show had been released on VHS between 1988 and 1990 by Family Home Entertainment.