Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Krypto the Superdog"

First things first - for the longest time, I thought the dog's name was KYPTO.

Anyhow, Krypto the Superdog premiered on Cartoon Network in 2005, developed by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series fame. After tackling Superman, I guess they decided that they wanted to work on something with his dog. However, unlike their previous shows, Krypto was made to resemble Hanna-Barbera's shows - veteran Hanna-Barbera character designer Iwao Takamoto even served as a creative consultant.

What's the plot? Well, apparently, Superman is too busy saving the world to take care of his dog, so he arranges to have Krypto stay with a nine-year-old boy named Kevin Whitney. Krypto poses as an ordinary dog for Kevin's family, but when there's trouble, he becomes a superdog. Actually, Kevin is the only one in his family who knows of his dog being a superhero. Why they choose to keep it a secret, I don't know. Krypto is assisted in his adventures by a cat named Streaky. Allies include Batman's dog Ace the Bat-Hound, and foes include Lex Luthor's pet lizard and the Joker's hyenas.

I'm admittedly not much of a DC Comics fan, but the idea of doing a film about superheroes' pets intrigues me. I guess that just stems from the fact that I love animals. And I've heard mainly good things about the show, so I figured, what the heck? I'll give it a watch. We'll be watching the third episode - this is one of those "two segments per episode" cartoons, so we've got "Meet the Dog Stars" and "The Streaky Story".

God, hearing the theme song immediately takes me back. It works its way into your head and never leaves.

Okay, so "Meet the Dog-Stars" begins with Krypto (voiced by Sam Vincent) lamenting the fact that his "super-smell" can pick up the scent of bacon... and then he discovers that it's in a completely different town. Then he hears a kitten meowing for help and rushes to he rescue.

Actually, the kitten is meowing for help because it's run into a group of dogs who, because I knew vaguely about the characters before watching this show, I know are in fact good guys. From left to right, we have Mammoth Mutt (Kelly Sheridan), Bull Dog (Michael Dobson), Tail Terrier (Peter Kelamis), and Hot Dog (Trevor Devall)… yes, a dachshund named Hot Dog. How original.

I assume the weird fur colors are the result of their having superpowers.

Since this is an early episode, Krypto doesn't know these dogs yet, so he assumes that they mean the kitten harm. As they're arguing, the kitten gets away. Bull Dog pursues it, but Krypto is all "You'll have to go through ME!"

So then Bull Dog demonstrates what HIS superpower is - he can grow horns. You know, like a bull's. Which is why he's called "Bull Dog". It's a pun.

Not a very GOOD pun, or even an ORIGINAL pun, but a pun nonetheless.

After Bull Dog sends him flying into a bunch of boxes, the other dogs show Krypto what THEIR superpowers are... Tail Terrier has the ability to turn his tail into a lasso, Hot Dog can breathe rings of fire, and Mammoth Mutt can grow to an enormous size. The kitten gets away, and then we get a Star Trek reference as the dogs are all beamed up onto a spaceship.

If there's a Mark Wahlberg-voiced Blue Falcon around here, I'm turning
this off.

On the ship there's a purple dog named Brainy Barker (Ellen Kennedy), who introduces herself and the other dogs as the "Dog Star Patrol". They come from many worlds, "in this galaxy and beyond". Their job is to keep the world safe from such evil beings as the kitten that Krypto allowed to get away - yes, not a joke. That kitten is one of the most evil felines in the galaxy. His name is... Snooky Wookums. And here I thought it would be something intimidating, like "Sheldon" or "Tim".

"Don't let his bright button eyes fool you," Brainy Barker tells Krypto. "Snooky was sneaky from the start. You name it, he's done it. He began by taking squeaky toys from his own brothers, then moved up to stealing milk products from the Milky Way. We tracked him across the universe in hopes of stopping him before he got to Planet Earth." "We had him, too! 'Till YOU came along!" Hot Dog adds.

Ya done messed up, Krypto.

Fortunately, the dogs' map alerts them as to where Snooky is now. "I know where that is! He's at the City Animal Shelter!" Krypto exclaims.

Speaking of which, once arriving at the Animal Shelter, Snooky (Nicole Bourma) uses a toy mouse with a video-phone in it to call up his boss, a figure in the shadows called Mechanikat. (Mark Oliver) He says that in just a few minutes, Mechanikat will have his army. "Excellent," Mechanikat purrs. "Good work, Agent Snooky." Before Snooky can start freeing cats from the shelter, Krypto and the Dog Stars arrive. They're all "We're gonna stop you!" and Snooky is all "Uh-UH!" and then frees the cats at the shelter with an exploding hairball. How disgusting. And then he uses his collar to turn the cats into gigantic saber-toothed beasts.

Were saber-toothed cats really that big? I dunno, I'm not a paleontology expert...

The dogs rather quickly take down the saber-toothed cats, but Snooky isn't fazed - there are more cats in the Animal Shelter he can turn prehistoric. Enough for a whole ARMY, in fact! Fortunately, Krypto uses his laser vision to destroy Snooky's collar, which turns the cats back to normal. "Hey, this wasn't OUR idea, okay?!" one of them protests.

Alas, Snooky winds up getting away, but at least he has to tell Mechanikat that his mission was a failure.

"I've been a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad kitty..."

Back on the dogs' ship (which looks like a giant fire hydrant, fittingly enough), the Dog Stars tell Krypto that Snooky is well out of his solar system and invite him to become a member. He accepts. And now, on to "The Streaky Story"!

Just a bit of backstory here - in the comics, Streaky is Supergirl's cat. In this show, he's just a normal cat until he gets superpowers. Dunno why they made the change.

So, "The Streaky Story" begins with Krypto flying around the city. But then he sees a cat - Streaky - being chased by a group of growling dogs. He saves the cat, which makes the dogs mad because, after all, cartoon cats and dogs go together like oil and water.

You can see the Hanna-Barbera influence here in the character designs. Streaky wouldn't look out of place amongst Top Cat and his crew.

Well, if you gave him clothes, I guess...

Krypto recognizes the cat as Streaky (Brian Drummond), the pet of Kevin's next-door neighbor. Streaky says that if Krypto hadn't shown up, he could've handled the dogs. Then his owner, a girl named Andrea (Tabitha St. Germain), takes him inside to give him a bath. Cats and water, another thing that go together like mold and bread.

Later that day, Streaky runs afoul of those mean dogs again. They give chase, but fortunately Krypto just so happens to be nearby, and Streaky winds up getting away anyhow. He falls through a window into a place with what looks like a giant laser in it... that can't mean anything good.

Word of advice - if you see a giant laser and you're in a cartoon, run
like heck.

Streaky accidentally turns on the laser, which as it turns out has the ability to duplicate things. Krypto flies in to save him, only for the laser to zap him and then zap Streaky. Okay, so this is how Streaky gets his superpowers, right? The laser duplicates Krypto's superpowers and then transfers the duplicated superpowers to Streaky?

Why didn't it make another Krypto instead? Actually, Krypto explains that to Streaky and the audience - when he was hit by the laser, the duplicating beam couldn't go through his "supercoat", so it bounced off and hit Streaky.

The next morning, Krypto discovers that Streaky now has superpowers - he can fly, lift heavy objects, stuff like that. Krypto gives him the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" speech, but Streaky insists that he'll use his powers for good. Then we cut back to the mean dogs.

How does a dog grow a mustache? Then again, I've never seen a dog shave...

Streaky shows up and beats the crap out of the dogs, making a bunch of unfunny one-liners in the process. But when the building that they're in starts to crumble above them, Streaky realizes that using superpowers to get revenge on others is WRONG. He tries to stop the building, but it's futile. He needs Krypto's help.

The good news is, Krypto isn't too far away. He flies in to help Streaky by saving the dogs, and the next day Streaky admits that getting back at the dogs left him unsatisfied. "I told you, having superpowers is a super responsibility," Krypto says. "You've gotta use them to help others." But before Streaky can do that, Andrea shows up to give him another bath. Wah wah wah wah wah...

What's the Verdict?

Krypto the Superdog should satisfy fans of DC Comics. It's got fighting bad guys, likeable heroes, good voice acting, and an art style that uniquely harkens back to the days of shows like Scooby-Doo and Top Cat (you don't see many superhero cartoons doing that). I think even those that aren't familiar with DC Comics like me would like it, provided they're fans of talking animals.

It's a shame that this is one of DC's lesser-known cartoons. It did manage to get two seasons, but you don't see a whole lot of people talking about Krypto nowadays. Fortunately, Warner Animation Group is currently working on a movie starring Krypto and his fellow super-pets fittingly titled DC Super Pets, planned for a 2022 release. Perhaps if the film does well, it'll give Krypto a burst of popularity and we might just see him return to television. But, we'll have to wait and see.

Here's our one piece of concept art for DC Super Pets.