Customer Reviews

The Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6: The Inspector

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first episode of The Inspector debuted in theaters alongside the James Bond adventure Thunderball in 1965, and fits perfectly with the whole secret agent craze of the 60s. And though each episode was originally released in theaters, the Inspector cartoons also appeared alongside the Pink Panther on Saturday Morning programming for several years.

The character of The Inspector - clearly based on Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther films though his name is never given - bumbles his way through case after case with the aid of his trusty sidekick Deux Deux (pronounced Dudu). Deux Duex is Spanish, but somehow has found his way to the French Surete, and a running gag has The Inspector instructing him that he should say "Oui" instead of "Si" all the time.

The Inspector originally faced off against a host of unique villains, including The Blotch, The Mad Bomber, Captain Clamity, and Two-Faced Harry in a grand total of 34 kid-friendly cartoon shorts. Unfortunately, this DVD will only include half of the series (the other half probably being released seperately in a few months' time).

Episodes included are:
- The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation
- Reaux Reaux Reaux Your Boat
- Napolean Blown-Apart
- Cirrhosis of the Louvre
- Plastered in Paris
- Cock-A-Doodle Deux Deux
- Ape Suzette
- Pique Poquette of Paris, The
- Sicque! Sicque! Sicque!
- That's No Lady - That's Notre Dame
- Unsafe and Seine
- Toulouse La Trick
- Sacre Bleu Cross
- Le Quiet Squad
- Bomb Voyage
- Le Pig-Al Patrol
- Le Bowser Bagger

The slapstick shorts in this series represent to me some of the very best to come from the DePatie-Freleng studio (along with The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection).

Very highly recommended!

Just to clear up the misleading title of this set, the Pink Panther does not appear in these cartoons. It seems that MGM home video felt that nobody would know who The Inspector was, so they had to tag him as one of the Pink Panther's friends.

This cartoon series is historically important, produced in the late 1960's after all but two of the major studios gave up producing new cartoons for the theaters. Friz Freleng (formerly directing for Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies) teamed with David DePatie to form a new Animation studio, Depatie-Freleng, after Warner shut its doors. In an ironic twist Warner then contracted with them to continue producing Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies for theaters!

But around that same time Depatie-Freleng produced an animated title sequence for the first Pink Panther movie. It was so popular that United Artists contracted with them to produce a series of Pink Panther Cartoons. Unlike the title sequence, the Pink Panther was no longer persued by The Inspector.

However, later that year The Inspector got his own theatrical cartoon series, based not on Peter Sellers but on the short, big-nosed character in the title sequences. He was now teamed up with a spanish assistant who joined him in persuing some stylistic villians like a mad bomber who looked like a hairy ink spot, or a three headed black shadow that can take on many forms to conceal itself.

Pat Harrington (who later went on to be the handyman Schneider in ONE DAY AT A TIME) voiced The Inspector, giving a slight impression of Peter Sellers. He was joined by veteran voice actors such as Paul Frees & Larry Storch (Agarn in F TROOP). Animation directors for the old Warner Brothers studio also joined the Depatie-Freleng studios to produce these classic 1960's cartoons. And the quality of their work shows when comparing these to other cartoons produced at the same time from studios such as Walter Lantz.

The Inspector series was retired in 1969 and sold to NBC television as a part of the Pink Panther show. Laugh tracks were added to these theatrical cartoons which gave them a television feel, in general theatrical cartoons ran on TV without the laugh tracks. The title sections were shortened & given a new music track for the TV show.

This collection gathers the first 17 cartoons of the 34 cartoon series with their original theatrical titles & music intact.

I have been waiting a very long time for this particular item to come out on DVD. After the Pink Panther Collection came out, I thought, "Finally! Cartoons I can watch with my kids!" All are highly recommended and I'm hoping that after 'The Inspector', They will release "Mr. Jaws and Tijawana Toads on DVD. I thought that they were sold out online and I went to every store that I could think of to find 'The Inspector' cartoons. Then I found out the release date had been changed. This had better not be some stupid court battle or marketing gimmick of trying to figure out how to bilk the consumer out of more money. These cartoons are timeless. Just like older Disney movies and Peanuts, parents should have the opportunity to share these with their children and grandchildren. It's very selfish of the studios to keep us waiting like this unless this is some sort of emergency. What ever the hold up is, PLEASE get it together. We would very much like to watch these.

If you are searching for hilarious cartoon this is it. They don't make them like this anymore.For me I find The inspector just as funny as when I watched the cartoon as a child. Where is the rest of the inspector!The inspector and pink panther are my favorite cartoons besides looney tunes. I wonder if I will have to wait 5 years or longer for the release of vol.7?If I am not wrong there are 34 episodes all together of "the inspector".They give you 17 episodes in vol.6.Please release vol.7!

I wish that the episodes of the Pink Panther, Inspector, etc., would have been done by the season instead to be sure that none were missing.

The 17 shorts on this disc are only half of the Inspector shorts produced by DFE. A boxset containing the entire run of the Pink Panther shorts, the Ant and the Aardvark shorts, two discs of Inspector shorts (this one and presumably one with the other 17 shorts) and the Roland and Ratfink shorts has been announced both as part of a larger set which will include most of the Peter Sellers PP films and the animated shorts and as a set featuring only the animated shorts I've listed above.

I very much hope that they'll release the second Inspector disc and the Roland and Ratfink disc as individual discs, because I have all the others and can't afford to buy the whole set just for the two DVDs I don't have.

For anyone who doesn't have the other DVDs, the set does look like a very good release if you're interested in the DePatie-Freleng shorts. If all you want are the Inspector shorts, then this particular DVD is well worth getting and hopefully the second disc of Inspector shorts will also be a stand-alone release.

This collection is a great start, but where is volume 2 and the rest of the cartoons missing from this collection?

For fans of The Pink Panther Show who were disappointed that cartoons of spin-off character The Inspector were not included in the 5-disc Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, MGM/Fox Home Entertainment offers The Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, Volume 6 - The Inspector! Featuring animation by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, theme music ("A Shot in the Dark") by Henry Mancini, music score by William Lava and Walter Greene, and the voice talents of Pat Harrington Jr. (as the Inspector and Sgt. Deux Deux), Paul Frees, Larry Storch and June Foray, The Inspector is anything but clueless when it comes to providing laugh-out-loud fun and humor Friz Freleng style. This single-disc (119 min.) set features 17 [of 34] episodes from the series; Full-Frame (1.33:1) video; English mono audio; Closed Caption; English, French and Spanish subtitles; a play all feature and episode & language selection. Considering the age of the shorts, the picture and sound are fairly good, rivaling the transfers on The Pink Panther 5-disc set, minus the extras.

This DVD is worth every penny I paid for it. Really, I'd pay twice that amount, considering how much enjoyment my children have gotten out of it. They watch it over and over, until I make them turn it off anyway. They giggle hysterically the whole time, and then walk around for the next few days acting out their favorite parts (thankfully not in a way anyone gets hurt) and quoting others. They've picked up on the "say oui, not si" joke and run with it. (7 year old asks 4 year old "did you see that part in Star Wars where...". 4 year old answers, "say oui, not si". Both fall over laughing.)

I suppose it might annoy someone else, but I grew up watching "The Inspector", and it was one of favorite cartoons. It's not quite as hilarious to me now, or I would have given it 5 stars. But it's still a great show, that your kids will love.

In the 60s, most major cartoon studios shut down their doors, and stop the making theatrical cartoons. But, former WB classic cartoon director Friz Freleng with partner David DePatie did their best jobs and made some of the greatest cartoons in the 60s. Their now-legendary cartoon series The Pink Panther is everybody remebers as DePatie-Freleng teams finest outings, but they made two more important series. They're The Ant and the Aardvark series and The Inspector series.

The Inspector is somewhat spin-off series of The Pink Panther series. Pink Panther and The Inspector series bringing freshness and inventiveness for almost-dying 60s theatrical cartoon markets. They're both visual cartoon with their best weapons are pantomime gags. It's like old silent comedies. Some dialogues are still intact, but basically it's simply visual gag oriented cartoons. Especially, The Inspector series had some of the funniest moments DePatie-Freleng team ever achieved.

You can get almost two hour parade of Inspector cartoons with this collection. It has every Inspector cartoon ever made, I think. The Inspector and The Ant and the Aardvark series are both less than twnty cartoons only made. So, single disc can get every Inspector cartoon or The Ant and the Aardvark cartoon. Reasonably good price, I think this is a pretty good collection for every classic cartoon fans. If you like classic cartoons, please check it out my other reviews for The Ant and the Aardvark series, Woody Woodpecker and classic cartoon collection and Tex Avery's Droopy:compleat theatrical collection. Thanks for reading.