Plot: What’s it about?
Josie and the Pussycats are a smash musical act, with Josie on vocals and guitar, Melody on the drums, and Valerie, who plays a mean tambourine. The group is in the midst of a wild world tour, booked by their manager Alexander Cabot III and his twin sister Alexandra. Josie and the rest of the band are booked to perform all over the globe, in exotic and unusual places. Also on the tour is Josie’s boyfriend Alan, who also helps with the needed muscle to haul the group’s equipment around. The tour should be smooth, but Alexandra has a dislike for Josie and always wants to see her fail. So she plans out tricks and pranks to play on Josie, most of which take unexpected turns. The group also manages to get involved in all kinds of outrageous situations, but they always find a way to escape in time for their performance.
The classic cartoons keep coming, even ones that aren’t so classic. Josie and the Pussycats is by no means a classic cartoon, but it is a fun one. I was a little surprised to see only sixteen episodes, but this is the full run, as these episodes were re-run time and again, from 1970-72. The show itself is rather basic, with each episode following the same formula. But the locations and enemies change from episode to episode, so things aren’t too repetitive. I’d call Josie and the Pussycats a poor man’s Scooby-Doo, down to the blonde guy in the neckerchief. I breezed through all sixteen episodes in an afternoon, so I was a little burned out by the end, but if you space them out, the show still holds up. This two disc collection brings all the episodes, which look decent, plus a nice featurette about the show’s creator. While Josie and the Pussycats isn’t up there with the cartoon greats, if you’re a cartoon fan, you’ll want to give this series a chance.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame, as intended. These episodes look good, as good if not better than I’ve ever seen them presented. The prints show some debris at times and also some minor grain, but these are over thirty years old, so that is acceptable. The grain is never too thick, or at least never causes intense softness, so these imperfections don’t impact the visuals too much. The colors have faded a touch over the three decades, so they’re not as bright, but still come across well. All in all, for a cartoon over forty years, I’d say Josie looks quite decent and should please fans.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is more than acceptable, but not as impressive as the video elements. Then again, this material is mostly over forty years old, so to expect dynamic sound in this case is being a tad unrealistic. You can tell that time has taken a toll at times, but the audio is always passable and is sometimes better than expected. The music sounds good and the over the top sound effects retain their full impact, which is what counts here. This release also includes English subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The lone supplement is a twenty minute featurette on Dan DeCarlo, the show’s creator. His life and career are discussed by those close to him, as well as those he inspired. This is a well made and interesting look at DeCarlo’s legacy, an excellent inclusion, to be sure.
