The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight
8 /10 1 Votes
Language English | Director Bob Richardson Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Owen Crump , D.W. Owen Release date February 14, 1981 Similar The Pink Panther in: A Pink Christmas, The Pink Phink, The Pink Panther (1963 film) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight is an animated Valentine's Day special starring The Pink Panther. It premiered on ABC on February 14, 1981. This was the final new Pink Panther production (to date) produced by co-creator David H. DePatie (his first and only solo work on The Pink Panther without partner Friz Freleng) before his retirement in 1984 and was the first Pink Panther cartoon produced by Marvel Productions, which would go on to make the movie titles for Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther.
Contents
Plot
It is Valentine's Day and the Pink Panther has no love and no money except for seven cents. He goes to a messenger service for a job but messes his rehearsal up. He then goes to a store, buys a cassette player and pre-recorded cassettes with the seven cents he had left and goes back to the messenger service miming to "Vesti la giubba", an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, and gets hired as a messenger. Antics on the job entangle the breezy cat with a jealous husband (after the Panther steals the heart of a housewife whilst miming a 50s-ish sounding ballad), a snobby classic violinist (after the Panther, who had the wrong recording on at the time, used a Stradivarius violin like an electric guitar), a priest (whom the Panther apparently gave the wrong present) and a crime boss and tough gangsters (which their present was a bomb). Finally, after warding off the gangsters with a cassette containing excerpts of a police radio show, our hero meets the pantheress of his dreams, the ideal feline valentine.
Home Media releases
The special made its debut release on VHS by MGM/UA Home Video. On November 6, 2007, Pink at First Sight alongside Olym-Pinks and A Pink Christmas was released as part of the DVD collection The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas from MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Production
Most of the animation staff utilized for the 1978 television series The All New Pink Panther Show worked on Pink at First Sight. The special also utilized several music cues from the series as well. Unlike the TV show, a laugh track was not featured. Friz Freleng was absent from this production due to his departing from the DePatie-Freleng studios to return to Warner Bros. Animation. Many of the characters' voices on this special (saving the silent Panther himself) were done by Frank Welker, Brian Cummings, Marilyn Schreffler, and Hal Smith. Muppet performer, Jerry Nelson also has a small voice role as in a jester-like messenger who sings "Happy Valentines day" and giving a gift to the Pink Panther.
