Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space

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Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space
IOS title card.png
On-screen title card.
Network CBS
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Archie Comics
Distributor Taft Broadcasting
Original release September 9December 23, 1972
Run time 20 minutes
Starring Janet Waldo
Barbara Pariot
Jackie Joseph
Jerry Dexter
Sherry Alberoni
Casey Kasem
Don Messick
Producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Art Scott
Music composed by Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s) Larz Bourne
Tom Dagenais
Phil Davis
Joel Kane
Fred Freiberger
Woody Kling
Draper Lewis
Bill Lutz
Dennis Marks
Paul West
Director(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Animation director(s) Charles A. Nichols
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Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, titled on-screen as Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space, is an American animated sci-fi musical/adventure/comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and Radio Comics, the latter an imprint of Archie Comics, for CBS' Saturday morning line-up. It ran in 1972, airing 16 episodes that spanned one season. It is a direct spin-off to Josie and the Pussycats, which aired from 1970 to 1971.

In a very brief attempt at trying to explain how Josie and the Pussycats could possibly get lost in space, the theme song depicts the group and their friends taking publicity photos in front of a spaceship (wearing futuristic space uniforms), when Alexandra pushes them out the way to get more attention, but accidentally pushes all of them in the spaceship which launches into space. They then spend the duration of the series trying to set the controls back to Earth, which inevitably get reset by Alexandra in some typical foul-up.

Instead of the pilot being about the Pussycats being rocketed into space, it is about Melody's discovery of her new alien companion, Bleep, who can only communicate through bleeping sounds, which she can only understand.

There was never a conclusion to the series, so they could be floating in space right now (or perhaps not).

The entire series has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Production

Development

Music

The theme song was sung by Patrice Holloway. The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, credited as musical director, with Paul DeKorte as musical supervisor.

Episodes

Episode Number Original air date
"Where's Josie?" 1x01 September 9, 1972
"Make Way for the Multi-Men" 1x02 September 16, 1972
"The Sleeping Planet" 1x03 September 23, 1972
"Alien Alan" 1x04 September 30, 1972
"The Water Planet" 1x05 October 7, 1972
"The Sun Haters" 1x06 October 14, 1972
"The Mini-Man Menace" 1x07 October 21, 1972
"The Space Pirates" 1x08 October 28, 1972
"Anything You Can Zoo" 1x09 November 4, 1972
"Now You See Them, Now You Don't" 1x10 November 11, 1972
"The Four-Eyed Dragon of Cygnon" 1x11 November 18, 1972
"The Forward Backward People of Xarock" 1x12 November 25, 1972
"The Hollow Planet" 1x13 December 2, 1972
"All Hail Goddess Melody" 1x14 December 9, 1972
"Outer Space Ark" 1x15 December 16, 1972
"Warrior Women of Amazonia" 1x16 December 23, 1972

Cast

In popular culture

  • If the MGM live-action Josie and the Pussycats film had done well, the crew had hoped to base a sequel on Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.
  • In the Futurama episode "Möbius Dick," while the Planet Express ship flies through the Bermuda Tetrahedron, the crew pass an aged-looking version of Josie's spaceship, implying that Josie and the Pussycats never made it back to Earth and their rotten corpses are probably inside.
  • In the Comic Book Men episode "Ghostbusting in the Stash," Mike said his favorite cartoon was Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space because it had songs in the middle of a bad guy showing up. Brian compared it to "Spice Girls in space."
  • Archie Comics collaborated with ComiXology to publish the digital exclusive limited comic Josie and the Pussycats in Space.
  • There is an unofficial conclusion to the series in The Bleepin' Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special, where they land in Riverdale and fight off an alien invasion. The ship is also called the S.S. Hitachi Wand due to its unintended shape.

References