Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Ship of fools.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 9, 2021

Hanna-Barbera's Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space is a spinoff of the original animated series and epitomizes the phrase "what you see is what you get". Originally broadcast in the 1972-73 American TV season, this 16-episode run jettisons those Archie Comics transplants into deep space where all sorts of wacky adventures await. It's pure goofiness and probably a touch more original than the first go-round, but let's be honest: this is still just Scooby-Doo with the haunted houses and mask-pulling swapped out for pop music and aliens. High adventure it ain't, but those with fond memories of either iteration -- or Hanna-Barbera's 1960s-70s output in general -- should settle in just fine.

Similar to their treatment of the original series (released last year, review forthcoming), Warner Archive's two-disc treatment of Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space serves up all 16 episodes on two dual-layered discs. As usual, they've been carefully polished to preserve the scruffy, low-budget charm of that era's limited animation. The only real change here is that, like the original series, no laugh tracks are present; this might irk a few fans, but I despite laugh tracks with a passion so it's no deal-breaker for me. Either way, the episodes detailed below will certainly scratch a certain nostalgic itch, although they're best experienced in smaller doses rather than a six-hour marathon.

• Disc One

• "Where's Josie?" - Careening wildly through deep space, Josie and her crew land on the planetoid Zelc before she's kidnapped by the dastardly ex-ruler Karnak -- who's looking to regain control -- and replaced with a mechanical lookalike. Also, cuddly alien Bleep comes aboard! He's kinda cute, I guess.
• "Make Way for the Multi-Men" - On a distant planet inhabited by cat people, our heroes aim to rescue Queen Felina from her captor, an evil robot named Menton who creates duplicates of himself.
• "The Sleeping Planet" - Onward to planet Arcobia! Our crew once again comes to the rescue as they do battle with corrupt prime minister Rulo for control of a powerful artifact.
• "Alien Alan" - The Pussy Cats' beefy roadie is enslaved by villainous ruler Magno on a planet loaded with ICP's favorite miraculous technology, so it's up to Josie and company to get him back.
• "The Water Planet" - Our heroes splash down to fight Aquar and his faithful followers, who seem bent on conquering Earth with their water-controlling device.
• "The Sun Haters" - Following the template of earlier episodes, this is another Earth-will-be-doomed episode featuring giant creatures -- led by Orco and his henchman, Lujak -- who take aim at the Sun.
• "The Mini-Man Menace" - Captured by robots, Josie and company are forced to land on a mysterious planet ruled by Mighty Mitchko and other pint-sized threats.
• "The Space Pirates" - Again with the kidnapping? This time, our heroes get jacked by a (figurative) band of robotic space pirates and their leader, Captain Braggo, who just wants their ship.

• Disc Two

• "Anything You Can Zoo" - The gang ventures to planet Kalex but are forced to star in a circus led by Throg and his frog-men, who unsurprisingly will soon be attacking Earth for good measure.
• "Now You See Them, Now You Don't" - An invisible threat looms when Josie and company are faced with alien creaturs who can vanish at will... that is, until Melody somehow figures out their trick.
• "The Four-Eyed Dragon of Cygnon" - On a remote planet, Josie and the Pussy Cats meet two aliens pleading for their help to defeat a dragon. But who's the real villain here? (Or is it villains?)
• "The Forward Backward People of Xarock" - Containing one of the series' best ideas (a lukewarm compliment, obviously), this outing pits our heroes against the dastardly Tyran, whose weapon causes targets to move backwards. It's closer to the Pharcyde's "Drop" than Tenet, thankfully.
• "The Hollow Planet" - An alien ship resembling a small planet roams the galaxy, turning its targets into small children. But what happens when a kid gets shot with it? That's what I want to know.
• "All Hail Goddess Melody" - An alien race worships ditzy Melody after the gang lands on a strange planet. Wasn't this an episode of Firefly? And whatever happened to Adam Baldwin? Oh.
• "Outer Space Ark" - The Vengeful scientist Arkapus re-enacts everyone's favorite fable by using a sonic transmitter to take control of the surrounding wildlife, two by two.
• "Warrior Women of Amazonia" - Evil Merla and her followers capture the gang on a planet where women rule all. Luckily, um, the guys have to save the day. (And there's no snu-snu involved.)

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Not surprisingly, pretty much every compliment that can be heaped upon Warner Archive's previous Hanna-Barbera Blu-ray releases -- which now include Thundarr the Barbarian, Jonny Quest, The Jetsons, Space Ghost and Dino Boy, and The Herculoids -- applies to Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space too. (I have yet to spin the original animated series, but I'd imagine it looks great too.) Quite simply, it's limited animation done right: the series' low-budget, scruffy aesthetic has been preserved nicely, complete with plenty of odd jump-cuts, choppy transitions, and other unpolished errors. Warner Archive typically doesn't attempt to "correct" such mistakes, instead utilizing fresh scans of surviving elements -- in this case, likely the original negatives -- with careful manual cleanup that all but eradicates most dirt, debris, and other age-related damage without disturbing anything else. It's a good formula that produces great results, with mostly vivid colors, a slight but steady presence of natural film grain, and no flagrant compression-related issues including artifacts, banding, or interlacing. Once again, it's top-tier work that easily outpaces the old DVD set.

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although music was a calling card of the original show, Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space dials back on the pop tunes a bit -- they're still very much present, but the songs are shorter and a bit more repetitive this time around. Nonetheless, they still sound good on this DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, which supports the original one-channel roots with a reasonably full-bodied mix that balances crisp dialogue, familiar stock sound effects, and those occasional music diversions nicely and without any major damage or noticeable sync issues. It's a shame both Josie iterations weren't produced in stereo -- which was still at least a decade away for Saturday morning fare -- but Warner Archive has once again gone the purist-friendly route for a faithful presentation of the original experience.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during all 16 episodes... but like The Herculoids, all of the primary sound effects are shown in lower-case letters with no punctuation. (Examples: "crash", "zap", "hiss".) This is very distracting, although their appearance isn't nearly as regular as they are on that more action-driven series.

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc set ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase with vintage cover artwork; no inserts are included, but episode names are printed on the discs themselves. Unlike the original series' release, no extras are on board here.

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Almost 50 years after its original broadcast, Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space launches onto Blu-ray in a no-frills but welcome package from the reliably great Warner Archive. I'll admit to liking this odd spin-off a little more than the lukewarm original animated series (which wasn't exactly a high bar to clear), but mostly due to its more imaginative settings and villains -- the core series is so similar to Scooby-Doo that any changes are an improvement. Either way, this two-disc set comes Recommended, but only to die-hard fans of the show or classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons in general. As usual, Warner Archive's terrific A/V presentation makes up for the lack of bonus features.