Wednesday, August 29, 2012

In The Lemon-Limelight:Littlest Pet Shop

Everything they do is a wow.


Littlest Pet Shop was a series based off of the ever-popular toy line, made by Sunbow Entertainment. It premiered on UPN 20 in 1995.

The show concerned the kindly(but slightly eccentric) pet shop owner Elwood P. Harvey and the group of mouse-sized pets inhabiting his shop. Said pets had the propensity to cause mayhem and get into wacky misadventures, much to Elwood's chagrin.

The main cast of pets consisted of the smart, sensible, but sometimes sarcastic purple cat Chloe who seemed to be the group's leader, the dopey but lovable blue dog Stu(no relation), the witty, British-accented pink rabbit Viv who was something of a musician and whose hat contained a band(consisting of a rat, a mouse, and a squirrel), the feisty, short-tempered yellow horse Chet who acted like a stereotypical cowboy(not unlike Ultimate Muscle's Terry Kenyon*), and the hyper, comedic red monkey Squeaks who spoke in chatters and was obsessed with bananas(Everytime he saw a banana, he'd go DOWNRIGHT CRAZY!!!)

Allies of the group, who appeared on occasion, were the talkative parrot Harriet, Sarge the hamster, who, as his name implied, looked and acted like a millitary sergeant, Bernice, a large yellow hamster who was Sarge's on again-off again girlfriend, and Rookie, a normal-sized Dachshund puppy**. The group's main antagonist was Delilah, a normal-sized Monitor lizard who spoke and acted like Zsa Zsa Gabor. Delilah was forever trying to gobble up the little pets(This behavior, of course, always occured in Elwood's absence). Some other recurring antagonists were a trio of bugs who lived in the pet shop's walls. Occasional appearances were also made by Elwood's globetrotting mother Mumsy.

Episode plots involved various wacky mishaps the pets would get into, such as getting an owner who'd end up not working out, or sneaking into someplace and trying not to get caught; the group would occasionally meet other littlest pets as well(one most notable being a white tiger). Much madcap humor and Looney Toons-cum-Tex Avery-eque slapstick adorned every episode.

The show only lasted a year, with only 40 episodes made. While this show, regrettably, isn't currently available on TV or DVD, four different videos were made, containing four episodes each(except for the Christmas one, which only contains two):

 
 
 
 
 
Overall, this is a fun, entertaining, and downright HILARIOUS show that really deserved more attention. The characters are likeable and humorous, and the episodes are a lot of fun. Some fans have (somewhat unfairly) criticised the show's art style and music(Honestly, I'll admit it's no Toy Story 3, but it's pretty well done for something of that era). An underappreciated series that's definetly worth a peek;like the Littlest Pet Shop franchise(as I do) and you like hilarious TV shows(as I also do) this is the show for you!

The theme song captures the show's wacky nature perfectly****
 
 
Several action figures were made of the various characters*****, as well as several playsets and a few keychain plushies, all bearing the official Littlest Pet Shop label. These items appear on ebay from time to time.
 
 
"It's all for one and one for all, and also slightly off the wall!"
 
 
 
 
 
*More on that franchise later....
 
**Rookie's my fav character, BTW.
 
***BTW, I highly reccommend the title episode of this video. IT'S A SCREAM-A-MINUTE!!!! :-D
:-D :-D
 
****Lyrics were later added to the theme song, but regrettably, I haven't been able to find the version with the lyrics. If I do, however, I'll post it here.
 





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