The Houndcats

Among the sluggish animation style during the 70s (this was the era of the OPEC oil price increases, thus even Hollywood had to scrimp and save), this series was at least watchable. While clearly a rip-off of Mission: Impossible, I also saw it as a rip-off of another short-lived series: Bearcats (with Dennis Cole). After all, the gang drives the same car, they seek adventure and the leader of this group is Stutz, as in Stutz bearcat. It was stupid but not boring. Reminds of Get Smart in a vintage car.

This De Patie Freleng offering was better than many of its contemporaries from Hannah Barbera. It was entertaining and didn't have any of Scooby Doo's predictability and sameness. It also had the of the best cartoon themes, although listening to the theme now I think the singers will start singing George Formby's window cleaning song at any moment. I never realised at the time it was a Mission Impossible parody. I mean, it's not obvious. Like Dastardly and Muttley and Penelope Pitstop it's set in a fantasy early 20th century. But the show had this wonderful recurring gag, based on Mission Impossible's trademark self-destructing record. Each week it would self-destruct in a different and totally unpredictable way. This show deserved to run for more than one season. In fact, I think it should be remade for today's kids.

I was *really* into "The Houndcats" as a kid, and I'm not (too) embarrassed to admit I liked it today. While the show is indeed a combination of "Mission: Impossible" and the quickly canceled "Bearcats", I think another major influence was "The Wild, Wild West", only without the fights and the scantily clad women. At least there were plenty of power-hungry villains, though. (Remember, not only was "The Houndcats" a kids' show, but it was produced at a time when concern about violence on children's television was at its peak. That's probably one reason why the "Mission: Impossible" formula appealed to the producers: the Houndcats always tricked their opponents into defeat instead of beating them up.) Also, I'd like to correct a common error about "The Houndcats"' voice cast. Daws Butler did *not* play Stutz; that was Michael Bell. Butler played Rhubarb in a few episodes (presumably when Arte Johnson was unavailable; remember "Laugh-In" was still in production) and also played two of the villains, Grogan and Dr. Strangeless.