Let's Watch This: An Episode of "101 Dalmatians: The Series"

Long before that 101 Dalmatian Street show that I have not seen and have no interest in watching, there was 101 Dalmatians: The Series.

This show premiered on ABC in September 1997, developed by Doug creators Jim Jinkins and David Ray Campbell. Obviously it's based on Disney's 1961 animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians and the 1996 live action remake of it, taking place after the movie - remember how the movie ends with them deciding to buy a place in the country? A "Dalmatian Plantation" if you will?

Well, the show gives us a look at life on the Dalmatian Plantation. Roger (voiced by Jeff Bennett) and Anita (Kath Souice) Radcliffe... I mean, Dearly... live on the farm with their dalmatians Pongo (Kevin Schon) and Perdita (Pam Dawber) and their ninety-nine puppies. With one hundred and one different dalmatians, you'd think there'd be a lot of great characters sharing screentime throughout the show's run, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong - Pongo and Perdita, despite being the protagonists of the movie, are minor characters here, and most of the puppies get zero focus whatsoever. We have four main characters - leader Lucky (Pamela Adlon in some episodes and Debi Mae West in others), runt of the litter Cadpig (Kath Souice using her Lil DeVille voice), pudgy food-obsessed Rolly (Kath Souice using her Phil DeVille voice), and their pal Spot the chicken (Tara Strong). And of course Cruella De Vil (April Winchell) is there and constantly making schemes to steal the Dearlys' farm... as opposed to, y'know, being in jail after she stole a bunch of puppies planning to murder and skin them.

The show got two seasons, making for a total of sixty-five episodes. Reruns have aired on Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and Disney Junior. Nowadays, you can find it on Disney Plus. The series also has a reasonably big fanbase. But is it actually any good? That's what we're going to find out. We'll be watching the second episode, which consists of the segments "He Followed Me Home" and "Love 'Em and Flea 'Em". This is 101 Dalmatians: The Series.

"He Followed Me Home" begins with a creepy-looking Casey Jr. knockoff comin' down the track, with a smokey stack... until the boiler starts acting up and they have to stop and fix it. While this is going on, a baby elephant sneaks off the train and winds up getting left behind. His name is Jimbo, as evidenced by the name being written on his hat, just in case you didn't get that we're referencing Dumbo here.

I'm pretty sure they reused this character design for Hathi in Jungle Cubs.
(note to self: do a review of Jungle Cubs at some point)

Then Jimbo notices a trail of peanuts on the ground and starts following it. It's revealed that the trail leads right to the Dearlys' farm, courtesy of the peanuts falling out of a bag that Rolly is carrying in his mouth. He, Lucky, Cadpig, and Spot are understandably pretty shocked to see an elephant wandering around the farm, and after some WHACKY SHENANIGANS, they deduce that he must be a stray. Obviously. Everyone knows there are a lot of stray elephants running around... this show takes place in America, right? Not in London like the original movie?

"I think it's time we addressed the elephant in the room..."

Rolly suggests that they keep Jimbo. "As a PET?! Pets are a lotta responsibility!" Spot points out. "Ya gotta feed 'em, and clean 'em, and keep 'em outta trouble!" Lucky, whose entire shtick as a character seems to be that he's laid-back and "cool", inists that it'll be "no problemo"... but problemo numbero uno immediately rears its ugly head - how will they hide Jimbo from Cruella?

Is it just me, or does Cruella look a lot like Yzma in this show's art style? I know
the show predates The Emperor's New Groove by a few years, but still...

Cruella bugs Roger, who's just recieved a box of sea monkey-esque "Aquarium Pals". According to the Dearlys' deed, which Cruella just so happens to have a copy of, they are only allowed one hundred and one pets - besides the pre-existing livestock - on the farm. If they add any more pets, they'll violate the deed and have to sell the farm. And Cruella wants to buy the farm so she can... I don't know, maybe they said why she wants to buy it in another episode.

Here's a question: why didn't the Dearlys get a restraining order against Cruella after she,
y'know, stole their puppies?

After Cruella drives off, Lucky announces that they will not be letting her stop them from having a pet elephant. All they have to do is keep him hidden and Cruella will never know!

While the other, nondescript puppies are conveniently asleep, Jimbo helps himself to the farm's supply of hay. And wouldn't you know it, Cruella just so happens to be spying on the farm, and she spots (no pun intended) the elephant. "That farm is as good as MINE!" she declares.

After Jimbo eats some more, Spot insists that they can't handle having a pet elephant. Not once is it pointed out that they themselves are pets, so maybe they're not fit to have a pet. After all, if you let a pet have a pet, then the pet's pet will probably want a pet too, and then the pet's pet's pet will want a pet, and then the pet's pet's pet's pet will want a pet, and then... yeah, you can see where this is going. Rolly, Spot, and Cadpig start suggesting ways to disguise Jimbo - they can put him on wheels and claim he's a vaccuum cleaner, stick magnets on him and claim he's a refrigerator, put a saddle on him and claim he's a horse with a glandular problem... but Lucky has a better idea.

When Cruella comes into the barn determined to find the elephant, she instead finds this:

Yes, apparently Lucky, Cadpig, and Rolly filled the other puppies in as to what was going on, painted Jimbo to look like a dalmatian, and arranged themselves in a way that Cruella wouldn't be able to see him. In what was presumably under a minute, too. Pretty impressive.

After that, Jimbo jumps into a mud puddle, flattening a pig in the process, which means that it's time for the pups to give him a bath. How the heck did they sneak him into the house?

It's a good thing they're bathing him, otherwise he'd be a smell-ephant. Ba-dum ksssh.

But wouldn't you know it? Cruella is spying on the Dearlys with her telescope again, and she sees the elephant. Jeez, she doesn't give up, does she? Or does she just spy on the Dearlys for the heck of it? She has way too much free time.

Eventually, Roger comes into the bathroom to take a shower, so the pups cover up the elephant with a shower curtain. Thus, when Cruella barges in to catch the elephant in the act of existing on the Dearlys' farm, she is greeted by Roger naked. And when she starts rambling about how she saw an elephant in their shower, Roger and Anita are surprisingly not concerned over the fact that she basically just admitted to spying on them but are still convinced that she is crazy. Which she is. So...

Afterwards, a gust of wind blows Jimbo's hat up to the top of a silo, and he climbs up to get it. I'm pretty sure elephants can't climb tall buildings, but why bring realism into a show where dogs can talk? The result - Jimbo falls onto the pups and Spot, flattening them. After this, Lucky tells Spot - in his usual smug laid-back trying-to-be-cool-but-just-coming-across-as-a-massive-tool sort of fashion - that he doesn't think they can keep Jimbo, he's just too heavy a responsibility. "You don't say!" a very, very agitated Spot replies.

I've decided that Spot is my favorite character on the show. I think it mainly stems from the fact that she's voiced by Tara Strong. Using the very same voice that she uses for Truffles from Chowder.

Also, I like her design. Especially the bulging eyes.

Then Cruella shows up and she's all "I've got you now, elephant!" but then a helicopter with the word "CIRCUS" appears overhead. Two girls in circus clothing come out of the helicopter and tell Cruella that the elephant is theirs, so as a result Cruella just winds up looking like even more of an insane person.

Once the girls and the elephant leave, Lucky insists that Roger's "Aquarium Pals" will be much easier to take care of. All you have to do is add water and...

…well, on the bright side, that thing could totally eat Cruella.

Now on to "Love 'Em and Flea 'Em"...

The Dearlys are having themselves a yard sale. Cadpig watches Nanny set up for it with another puppy, Two-Tone (Tara Strong). Two-Tone has a complicated relationship with yard sales... she loves the bargains, but she doesn't like the fact that the items are used.

I'm wondering why the Dearlys got Two-Tone's ear pierced. Who gets a dog's ears pierced?

I love Cadpig's expression here.

Two-Tone raids a box of things the Dearlys are selling to find something she can wear to the "Four-Legged Ball" that night, which she will be attending with Mooch.

After that, we see Lucky and Rolly. Lucky comments that he wishes Two-Tone was going to the dance with him... hey, wait. It's established that Two-Tone lives on the farm, she's not some random puppy who belongs to a neighbor or something. Doesn't that mean she and Lucky are siblings? And Lucky still has a thing for her? Errrrrrr...

Then we see this Mooch (Danny Cooksey) who Two-Tone has the hots for. He's the non-dalmatian in the following screencap:

I guess the writers forgot about the "only one hundred and one pets allowed" rule from the previous segment. Or is Mooch just considered one of the livestock?

With him are Whizzer (Christine Cavanaugh) and Dipstick (Thom Adcox Hernandez). Unfortunately for Two-Tone, Mooch isn't exactly the nicest dog on the farm. So Two-Tone decides to go with Lucky instead. In response, he makes this hilarious face:

"LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLADIES..."

Helloooooooooo, new potential meme.

Two-Tone brags to Mooch about how she's going to the dance with Lucky instead of him. This makes Mooch MAD! So he and his two dimwitted friends decide to give Lucky fleas. Conga-dancing fleas, in fact!

Okay, these guys are my new favorite characters on the show.

The only way Lucky can get rid of the partying fleas is by taking a bath. Problem is, Lucky hates baths more than fleas. Fortunately, Spot has an idea - she ties a rope around Lucky, then ties the other end of the rope around one of the windmill's blades, and it'll spin him around and around and the fleas won't be able to hold on. It doesn't work - in fact, it backfires on him, as he's sent flying into a skunk's den. And we all know what happens when a cartoon character encounters a skunk.

So now Lucky has fleas, AND he smells like a skunk. And the fleas continue to be the show's funniest characters:

The little scuba suit is what makes it.

No way out of it now - Lucky needs a flea bath. He gets the attention of Nanny, who notices that the fleas are now doing this...

Have I mentioned how much I love these fleas?

But Mooch isn't done messing with Lucky yet - he dumps pink food coloring into Lucky's bath water. As a result, Lucky turns pink.

And thus was born Courage the Cowardly Dog.

While trying to avoid being seen by anyone, Lucky overhears Mooch bragging about how he'll be taking his place at the dance. This makes him MAD... but not mad enough to get back at him like you'd expect him to. Instead, he whines to Rolly and Cadpig about how Two-Tone will never want to go to the dance with him now that he's Pepto-Bismol colored. But then he gets an idea - first he'll jump into a bag of flour, then he has Rolly and Cadpig paint black spots on him. Soon he's back to his usual coloring.

So Mooch's plan to take Lucky's place at the dance has been foiled, correct? Not yet - he notices that Lucky's paws are still pink, puts two and two together, and blows all the flour off Lucky, revealing his pinkness to the world. But don't worry, Two-Tone still loves him. Mooch turns red with anger. The end.

"I have a thing for dogs who look like Snagglepuss. Especially when they're my brother..."

Wait, the episode can't be over yet. I demand one more gag involving the fleas. Have them take up residence in Mooch's fur and start up another conga line.

What's the Verdict?

So, that's 101 Dalmatians: The Series. I personally think it's pretty good. I particularly like Spot and those hilarious fleas. Admittedly, Lucky is kind of a blah protagonist - his default personality seems to be "laid-back and chill", but like I said, he really just comes across as a massive tool. It's also kind of surprising how little Pongo and Perdita are in the show. They didn't appear in either of the episodes I reviewed, for crying out loud. But apparently this did result in a funny gag pointing it out in one episode, so at least there's that. If you like the movie (the original, not the remake where the dogs don't talk), I'd recommend seeking it out.

Here's a teaser for what we'll be looking at next time...