Josie et les Pussycats

"Josie And The Pussycats" is one of the funniest cartoon shows I've ever seen, it was released in the decade that appeared one of the most popular cartoon shows in that time - yes i'm talking 'bout Scooby-Doo -, the real star and show stealer is Alexandra Cabot (well known in Latin America as Alejandra Cabot), she is the funniest character of the TV and she makes the show funnier than his brother Alex. The show is now showed on Cartoon Network Latin america's new channel Boomerang.

Also other of the most funniest parts of the show is the wacky cat Sebastian.

Sarcastic Alexandra is really the star of this cartoon series, with her cantankerous manner and continual put-downs (she even tells her cat Sebastian off, as with this caveat while unloading the van: "How would you like a suitcase sombrero?"). Josie gets completely lost in the woodwork, offering no solutions and no banter; blonde Alan is also a dullard (is that why they put them together?). I enjoy "Josie and the Pussycats" somewhat more than the similar "Scooby Doo" series simply because it's about musicians in danger and not a motley crew of teenage sleuths (and the music is actually pretty jazzy for bubblegum). Still, there isn't much direction at work here...and no driving force.

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy looking at this show. However a few years after the show went off the air, I read the cartoon series, which is radically different from the television version. For instance, the comic book plays as more of a collegiate version of Archie (coincidentally, the Josie and the Pussycats comic book is published by the same company as the Archie comics) in which they are just your average girls with a rock band and they do not go all over the world fighting the wild villains as they do in the animated version of the series. However, the characters personalities are more or less the same, except for Alex. In the cartoon he is a lily livered coward, while in the comic book he is an ego-maniacal weasel much like Reggie Mantel is in the Archie series. I think I would have preferred to see that version of the show rather than this show, which plays like a combination of Scooby Doo and a juvenile version of The Avengers.

With all the talk about comparing Josie's bunch with that of Scooby-Doo, I seem to vaguely remember that both groups were featured in an episode of the New Scooby-Doo Movies back in 1973. Casey Kasem must have needed a rest after supplying dialog for both Shaggy and Alexander, nervous breakdowns and all...at one point they even both sounded alike!!!! Furthermore with an expanded cast of eleven teens plus the animal mascots, it must have been tough trying to get the personalities straight - particularly with Alexandra as the sarcastic sounding-board. Then again, the animation would have suffered with so many people to keep track of, including the supporting cast of ghosts and ghouls.

It would be nearly three decades when I would see this cartoon again, having totally suppressed all my memories. As I watched a six episode marathon on Cartoon Network, when the song "Lie, Lie, Lie" began in "The Secret Six Secret", I was transformed to my childhood again. Since then I have collected comic books, recorded all the cartoons as well as various storybooks.

Josie began as a female Archie. Her creator, Dan DeCarlo, named her after his own wife. Alexander and Melody were there from the start, and yes, Alexander Cabot III was indeed very similar to Reggie Mantle in Archie.

Basically, Josie and Alexander were gender-reversed Archie and Veronica, to an extent.

When Alexandra appeared in the comic book, she was more of a soundboard for Alexander and would even befriend Josie.

Just before the Hanna Barbera cartoon would be launched six years later, Alan M. would be introduced as a folk-singer and an object of affection for Josie and Alexandra, bringing on what is one of the grandest rivalries this side of Betty & Veronica, totally devoid of any friendly terms.

Believe it or not, Sebastian would be introduced in the comic book as the reincarnation of an ancestor of Alexander and Alexandra. Rarely, if ever, would the comic book cat have the life of the cartoon version.

With the sudden creation of Valerie, the assortment would be complete for the cartoon, which was seeking to cash in on the success of the animated Archie and Scooby Doo.

Tho it would be on for only one year, it would end up a remarkable cartoon. All the other cartoons, Scooby Doo included, would have a group that would leave you wondering why they were there. Were Shaggy and Velma boyfriend and girlfriend, too? Did the Neptune band members in Jabber Jaw date as well, then in what order, since Clamhead and Shelly would run off together.

None of them would be as intertwined as the Josie group was, especially the interfering rivalry of Alexandra. She wanted to be leader of the Pussycats and she wanted Alan, both of which Josie possessed. Josie may have been totally devoid of character, but you had to have pity for the girl with Alexandra after her from both sides like that.

Sebastian's reincarnation would be totally dropped, much for the better. As an upright, anthropomorphic cat, Sebastian seemed more feline than he even might have as an ancestral Cabot wizard.

Alexander was clearly altered into Shaggy II, yes, to cash in on Casey Kasem's vocal talents. The only time this was damaging was in the Scooby Doo movie when Josie met the Scooby Doo gang and Shaggy and Alexander spoke at the same time. Alexander's voice changed.

Hands down, Alexander, Alexandra and Melody kept the cartoon moving. When the gang would split into groups (varying in order, unlike Scooby Doo, which nearly always sent Fred, Velma and Daphne out of the picture), for Alexander to go with Valerie and Melody and Alexandra with JOsie and Alan would be a delight, with character conflict on both ends. When Josie, Alan and Valerie were off together, the show would be uneven.

Alan would attempt a character with a "man of a thousand faces" bit in one episode, but that really bordered on insulting, with native American and oriental depictions. And the face change with pies to the kisser wasn't very entertaining either.

Song-wise, the show was smoother than Archie or Scooby Doo. Lie, Lie, Lie is undoubtably my favorite, but Road Runner, Voodoo, Beat of My Heart, Clock on the Wall are powerhouses unlike the songs in any other cartoon. The song in Midas Mix Up, played while the gang is fleeing down a snowy mountain on skis is truly wonderful.

The Josie gang would attempt to carry on as did Scooby Doo, but they would do the outrageous thing like going into outer space, which isn't regarded as anything near as good as the original show. They even got their own Scrappy Doo in the form of Bleep, a space cotton ball seal thing.

The Pussycats were a groundbreaker as an all-girl band, they were also original in that the female ratio outnumbered the male, unlike Scooby Doo or Archie, yet again, we could perceive why everyone was there.

And the band sequences were animation over real persons, much like Disney had done with Snow White thirty years earlier, another factor that makes the cartoon so endearing.

It would be nice to think that Josie and her gang got their big break some day, but the struggle was also a winner for the show.

The movie blew it by deciding Alan, Alexandra and Alexander were minor and trying to focus on the girl trio. The non-Pussycats would at least be prominently featured, but I would have just loved to see a black and white cat shown just once.

Was that too much to ask for?

Still, observing the transition from comic book to cartoon to movie is a fantastic journey.