Hong Kong Phooey (TV Series 1974 - 1975)



 

Plot



The series stars Hong Kong Phooey, the number one super guy who travels about the city in his Phooeymobile, fighting crime with the aid of his manual, The Hong Kong Book Of Kung Fu.[2] The stories begin at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, works as a mild-mannered janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint ("Sarge"). Also at the police station is Rosemary, the telephone operator, who has a crush on Hong Kong Phooey. After Rosemary gets a call and explains the crime, Penry runs into a filing cabinet and (always getting stuck) transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey.

 

Despite the theme song, Hong Kong Phooey is a classic screw-up, and often fails to save the city only to be saved by his sidekick pet cat, Spot. In a few rare circumstances, Hong Kong Phooey actually does save the city, but usually as an unintended side effect of his intended attack going horribly wrong. Hong Kong Phooey is a respected superhero who always gets full credit for Spots success.

A running gag is that Hong Kong Phooey is such a respected hero that when his incompetence causes him to crash into, harm, or otherwise inconvenience a civilian, the passerby feels honored as opposed to annoyed or embarrassed, such as when he drove the Phooeymobile through wet cement, splattering the workers, who responded that it was an honor to have a whole day's work ruined by "the great Hong Kong Phooey."





 

Episode Guide



Season 1

 

Season 1, Episode 1: Car Thieves/Zoo Story
Original Air Date7 September 1974

Season 1, Episode 2: Iron Head, the Robot/Cotton Pickin' Pocket Picker
Original Air Date14 September 1974

Season 1, Episode 3: Grandma Goody/Candle Power
Original Air Date21 September 1974

Season 1, Episode 4: The Penthouse Burglaries/Batty Bank Mob
Original Air Date28 September 1974

Season 1, Episode 5: The Voltage Villain/The Giggler
Original Air Date????

Season 1, Episode 6: The Gumdrop Kid/Professor Presto
Original Air Date12 October 1974

Season 1, Episode 7: TV or Not TV/Stop Horsing Around
Original Air Date19 October 1974

Season 1, Episode 8: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall/Great Movie Mystery
Original Air Date26 October 1974

Season 1, Episode 9: The Claw/Hong Kong Phooey vs. Hong Kong Phooey
Original Air Date2 November 1974

Season 1, Episode 10: The Abominable Snowman/Professor Crosshatch
Original Air Date9 November 1974

Season 1, Episode 11: Goldfisher/Green Thumb
Original Air Date16 November 1974

Season 1, Episode 12: From Bad to Verse/Kong and the Counterfeiters
Original Air Date23 November 1974

Season 1, Episode 13: The Great Choo Choo Robbery/Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Bakery Man
Original Air Date30 November 1974

Season 1, Episode 14: Mr. Tornado/The Little Crook Who Wasn't There
Original Air Date7 December 1974

Season 1, Episode 15: Dr. Disguiso/The Incredible Mr. Shrink
Original Air Date14 December 1974

Season 1, Episode 16: Comedy Cowboys
Original Air Date21 December 1974



Theme song



Hong Kong Phooey is the greatest crime fighter, but...

Who is this super hero?Sarge?

NoRosemary the Telephone Operator?

NoPenry the mild mannered Janitor?

Could be....Hong Kong Phooey

Number One Super Guy

Hong Kong Phooey

Quicker than the human eye

He's got style a groovy style

And a car that just won't stop

When the going gets rough he's super tough

With a Hong Kong Phooey ChopYa!

Hong Kong Phooey

Number One Super Guy

Hong Kong Phooey

Quicker than the human eye

Hong Kong Phooey

Penerific

 





Characters

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Penry    

(voiced by Scatman Crothers) Penrod "Penry" Pooch is the Janitor of the local Police Station and is always cleaning something. Poor Penry can't seem to do anything right and is always upsetting Sergeant Flint. This is normally because Penry is very accident prone and the Sarge is normally on the receiving end concerning the accident.He loves to talk to himself (or does he know that we are watching?) and announces to Spot what he is going to do next. He is friends with Rosemary, who he sometimes calls her his 'lovable lady fuzz'. When the call comes into the station that there is a criminal on the loose or a crime has happened, Penry suddenly disappears from the police station and no one knows where to?

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Hong Kong Phooey    

(voiced Scatman Crothers)If you didn't know, Penry is in fact the alter ego of Hong Kong Phooey, who transforms into the superhero via a quick change in a filing cabinet. The inept crime fighter Hong Kong Phooey is the number one crime fighter, who uses his Kung Foo skills to catch crooks (mostly by accident). When things are getting bad, he consults the Hong Kong Book of Kung Foo for his latest Kung Foo moves to dispatch his enemies (how does he get the book to stay in his sleeve?).But when he tries out the move it nearly always goes wrong and Spot has to help him out. It seems as if he isn't the martial arts master that most people think he is, and instead he is learning it as he goes along.Hong Kong Phooey has a massive ego and if he was told that Spot was helping him catch the crooks, then he wouldn't believe them. He is that certain that his Kung Foo skills and his mental powers are unrivalled that he has no fear going into a dangerous situation. He has to be careful not to be mobbed when he is out in public as he has thousands of admirers, especially the girls that love to hug and kiss him (its a hard life!). He seems to love to give his autograph out to everyone, even if they don't really want it (normally its to crooks that are in disguise).He drives one of the coolest vehicles ever - the Phooey Mobile, which makes a great sound when its been driven along.  It can convert to loads of different vehicles when he bangs his gong, such as the Phooey Copter.He is also someone who respects safety, as he always puts his seat belt on. What I'd like to know is, how does a low paid dog afford such a fantastic vehicle? Sometimes he dresses up in disguises to catch the crooks, but it is easy to spot which one is Hong Kong Phooey, as its the only disguise that has a black mask on it. Still, the crooks never seem to notice this fact.

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Spot    

(voiced by Don Messick)Spot is the Police Station's cat. It is ironic that the cat that is covered in stripes is called Spot. He cannot believe how inept Penry / Hong Hong Kong Phooey is and is always yawning when he starts talking rubbish on how he will catch the criminal.In fact it is Spot who is the real Super Hero, as he tags along with Hong Kong Phooey and is the one that helps to catch the crooks by pointing him in the right direction. This cat doesn't speak, but can get the attention of Hong Kong Phooey by whistling. He has a knack of getting Hong Kong Phooey out of the filing cabinet when the drawer gets stuck (he bangs on it).

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Rosemary    

(voiced by Kathy Gori)Rosemary is the police telephone operator.  She always answers the phone by saying 'Hello, Hello, Police Headquarters' and infuriates Sarge when she keeps saying 'You Don't Say' on the phone and his curiosity gets the better of him.She is friends with Penry and has some of the best legs I've seen (in a cartoon - of course). She has a massive crush on Hong Kong Phooey and if she knew that Penry was the same person, then she would never let him go. She thinks that Penry will be little more than a janitor (if only she knew). 

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Sergeant Flint    

(voiced by Joe E. Ross)Sergeant Flint (or Sarge as he is also known) is the grumpy Sergeant of Police Headquarters Considering that he is in charge, he has no patience at all and should really go on an anger management course. Maybe this is due to the Police Commissioner always giving him a hard time?He loves to give Penry the dirty jobs to do, but Penry messes most things up, so its Sarge that ends up in a mess! He is always calling Penry a nincompoop.He has a strange habit of going 'ooh ooh' before saying things and tries to get everyone into shape via his Physical Fitness Programme, which is surprising as I think he needs the work out.



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The Gasket Gang

These criminals love to steal any vehicle that they can lay their hands on.'Hot Rod' is the brains of the gang, while 'Crank Case' is the muscle and 'Mousey' is the person that resprays the cars. Hot Rod dressed as a little old lady so not to be detected when stealing cars. Even Hong Kong Phooey helped fix his/her car when he thought she'd broken down.

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The Diamond Thieves

Rocky hid the 'Hopeless Diamond' in a Kangeroo's pouch, but forgot which one he had put it in, so they had to steal all the Kangeroos in the city (his boss wasn't happy).To try to catch them, Hong Kong Phooey disguised himself as a Kangeroo. He soon found out that they weren't easy pickings as they knew Kung Foo too.

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Slippery Smith

He is the worlds greatest safe cracker. He uses a robot, called Iron Head', to steal safes for him. But he doesn't steal them in the normal way and instead Iron Head just crashes through the walls and rips the safes out for Slippery Smith to open.  Fingers MagooHe is one of the fastest pick pockets in the world, he even stole Hong Kong Phooey's book of Kung Foo!

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Grandma Goody

She is a cat burglar who steals cats and even stole Spot from right from under Penry's nose. She drives around in a car and only has to lower a ramp and say 'here kitty, kitty' and then they jump in the back.The cats seem to love her, but she doesn't like cats. In fact she isn't a Grandma at all and is a man dressed up. So what does he do with the cats? He shampoos them, blow dries them and gives them phoney pedigree papers and sells them as expensive pedigree cats.

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The Candle Thieves

Lefty and his boss (Waxy) own the local Wax Museum and make magnificent waxworks and sell them for thousands, but they suddenly find out that they have run out of wax to continue making them. So they embark on a crime spree to steal the whole of the cities candles. But as usual, the boss has the idea, but the brawn (Lefty) has to carry out the plan, and in this instance he bounces around on a pogo stick swiping them all.