Hong Kong Phooey

Hong Kong Phooey title card

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.

Synopsis

This cartoon stars Hong Kong Phooey, the “number one super guy” who travels about the city in his “Phooeymobile”, fighting crime with the aid of his manual “The Hong Kong Book Of Kung Fu”. The stories begin at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, works as a mild-mannered janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint ("Sarge"). Also at the police station is 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 getting stuck) transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey.

A less than competent super-hero, Phooey’s crime solving is done either by fortunate blunder or, most likely, with the help of his faithful companion, Spot the police cat. Hong Kong Phooey is a respected superhero who always gets full credit for Spot’s success.

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."

Details

Hong Kong Phooey was voiced by Scatman Crothers. 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. 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.

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.

Theme song

The show’s theme song, titled Underdog, was written by Chester Stover, Watts Biggers, Treadwell Covington, and Joseph Harris.

A cover of the show’s theme song, performed by Sublime, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records.

Popular culture

Template:Trivia 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".

• 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.[1][2] Template:Verify credibility

• 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

• Hong Kong Phooey at the Internet Movie Database
• Hong Kong Phooey at TV.com
• Big Cartoon DataBase: Hong Kong Phooey
• InternationalHero Hong Kong Phooey tribute
• Wingnut Toons episode list
• Warner Bros. - Hong Kong Phooey on DVD - The Official Site
• Cartoon Network: Dept. of Cartoons: Hong Kong Phooey - cached copy from Internet Archives