The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight

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. Although Marvel Productions made the titles for Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther a year later, and instead of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, this was the only other Pink Panther cartoon to be produced by Marvel Productions. It is also the last Pink Panther produced by creator David H. DePatie (who later worked on the executive producer in the 1983 mini-series of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Charmkins, and My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle) before his retirement in 1984.

Plot
It is Valentine's Day and the hip feline 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 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 on Valentine's Day. Antics on the job entangle the breezy panther 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 precious violin as an electric guitar), a priest and tough gangsters. Finally, our hero meets the pantheress of his dreams, the ideal feline valentine.

DVD Release
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 made-for-television All New Pink Panther Show worked on Pink at First Sight. The special also utilized the musical score that appeared on the The All New Pink Panther Show as well. Unlike The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, Friz Freleng was absent from this production due to his departing from DFE to return to Warner Bros. Animation. Many of the characters' voices on this special (saving the silent Panther himself) were done by Frank Welker.