Pound Puppies (1986 TV series)

Pound Puppies is a 1986 animated series made by Hanna-Barbera Productions, based on the famous toy line by Tonka. It is the sequel to the 1985 television special. The show was broadcast on ABC between September 1986 and December 1987. In this series, no mention was made of Violet's whereabouts. The show found itself under a lot of competition from competitors, such as Disney's Fluppy Dogs, which was also adapted into a special, but unlike Pound Puppies, was not made into a regular series. It was the first cartoon adaptation of the property, the second being the 2010 series.

Season 1
The first season introduced Cooler, Nose Marie, Bright Eyes, and Howler, who return from the special, along with Whopper, a new character who is known for telling tall tales. Whopper is usually seen with Bright Eyes, and the two of them share a brother/sister relationship. The show also debuted the evil Katrina Stonehart with her equally evil daughter Brattina, Catgut the cat, and Holly, a friend of the Pound Puppies who originally ran the Puppy Pound. Other characters included the horrific Captain Slaughter, who only appeared in four episodes in season one, and who was responsible for the destruction of the puppies' hometown of Wagga-Wagga. Katrina and Brattina were constantly planning to tear down the pound where the animals lived while organizing themselves to be adopted out to loving families.

Five characters from the special who either guest starred and made cameo appearances in the season one episodes were Nabbit, Dr. Weston, Violet, Barkerville, and Scrounger. Nabbit guest starred in "Snowbound Pound" trying to repair the furnace while an Asian-American version of Dr. Weston also appeared in the same episode. Scrounger, Barkerville, and Violet made a brief cameo appearance in "Wagga-Wagga" in the beginning of Cooler's flashback. At the end of each episode, the Pound Puppies Pet Care Corner takes place where it teaches kids how to take care of their pets by finding solutions to otherwise unsuitable situations.

Holly is a ward of Katrina Stonehart, after the possible death of her parents. But like the puppies' former protector Millicent Trueblood, she possesses the gift of 'puppy power' enabling her to talk to Cooler and the gang. In the original draft for the first season, Holly and Brattina were going to be sisters. In the final draft, Brattina was made into Katrina’s daughter. The writers thought making them mother and daughter would give a reason why they’re both evil. Since this was a last minute change, there was no time to redesign Brattina to make her look like Katrina. This explains why Brattina bears no physical resemblance with Katrina.

Episode titles for Season 1 (1986)

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Season 2
The series later underwent a significant overhaul for the program's second season, where it was retitled All New Pound Puppies. Several of the characters were given very different backgrounds, appearances and personality traits. For example, Bright Eyes was significantly younger and had updated clothing. Nose Marie had changed as well. She dropped her strapless purple dress and flirtatious manner with Cooler in favor of a 1950s sitcom style mom dress with apron, becoming a surrogate mother to Whopper, Bright Eyes and the rest of the puppies.

However, Nose Marie did retain the roots of her southern belle style and her manners. Howler's personality didn't change, but he became more AWOL in this season. Cooler, Whopper, Katrina, Brattina (who started wearing a jacket) and Catgut remained the same. Holly grew longer hair and wore sneakers and jeans (wore shorts in season one). Also, Captain Slaughter no longer appeared in the series. The character was omitted because the writers were unable to think of ideas for him and Peter Cullen was also unavailable to record the voice. It is possible that the driver of the Dog Snatcher van may have been driven by an unseen Captain Slaughter. The Pound Puppies Pet Care Corner that would appear at the end of the show was also removed from the series. Most significant of all however, was that the Puppy Pound was now owned by Katrina Stoneheart who treats the Puppy Pound like (and has the appearance of) a prison, and now seeks to lock up Cooler and the gang forever.

No explanation is given as to how Katrina ended up taking over the Puppy Pound from Holly or why she doesn't shut it down like she intended to do in the first season. In fact, neither Katrina's intentions of shutting down the Puppy Pound or Holly's previous ownership of it are ever mentioned in the second season. This is because the two seasons do not have the same continuity and therefore are two completely different shows. Two characters from the special who guest starred in the season two episodes were Mayor Fist (voiced by Sorrell Booke) and Scrounger (originally voiced by Ron Palillo). Mayor Fist guest starred in Bright Lights, Bright Eyes as one of the judges of the Annual Pet Talent Show. Mayor Fist only said one line "My fellow Americans.." before he was interrupted by Dr. Simon.

Dr. Weston, the veterinarian was renamed Dr. Simon and appears in "Whopper Gets the Point" and "Bright Lights, Bright Eyes". Scrounger (voiced by Gregg Berger) made a larger appearance in "Garbage Night: the Musical" than he did in ''Wagga-Wagga", an episode from Season 1. Only this time, Scrounger's fur was gray instead of orange (yellow in the special).