After sixteen episodes of Earth-bound adventures during the original run of Josie and the Pussycats, the show was cancelled and quietly rebooted in hopes of tapping into a greater creative magic. What do you do to improve upon the Scooby-Doo-esque adventures of an all-girl rock band? Send them to outer space, of course! Alexandra, always the jealous nightmare of the larger gang following around the Pussycats, lives up to her typical escapades when she tries to steal the spotlight and dominos everyone into a spaceship for a new life of weekly interstellar adventures. The narrative plotting is not the most graceful, but it does provide a way for the show to quickly shake off the cobwebs and embrace the absurdity more than it already was. The show has always been fun, but you can tell that the artists are having a blast playing with more inventive environments and getting to come up with villains that do not have to adhere to what we know about humanoids. It is not a night and day difference from the original show, but it is perhaps a slightly better version in this form.
Once again, the week-to-week episodes follow a bit of a formula with Josie along with her Pussycats, Valerie and Melody, traveling around from planet to planet saving the day and spreading their fanbase to new lifeforms. Josie’s boyfriend, Alan, their manager, Alexander, his sister, Alexandra, and her cat, Sebastian once again return for the fun. With the new out-of-this-world setting also comes the introduction of Bleep, a pet-sized fluffy alien adopted by Melody, who happens to be the only person who can understand him. The journey back to Earth was supposed to be a long one due to the nature of this type of series – you do not rescue the passengers on Gilligan’s Island after four episodes – but CBS would once again decide that the Josie and the Pussycats brand was not meant to continue on and cancelled In Space after sixteen episodes. While this might be considered a bit of a bummer, the compact number of episodes we got from the reboot allows it not to overstay its welcome with its catchy pop songs and wacky alien antics. It is goofy and not intended to be taken seriously, and in that respect the show offers up enough fun to bring a smile to your face.
Video Quality
Warner Archive brings Josie and the Pussycats In Outer Space: The Complete Series to Blu-Ray sourced from newly remastered origins. The quality of these episodes once again is quite wondrous with big, bright colors and no damage spotted anywhere. The textures of all of the environments look naturally filmic and give the series a nice sense of depth. You can still tell that the series is of a certain vintage, but the video quality is impeccable. There is an excellent amount of natural film grain present with a remarkable amount of detail and clarity to the picture. The black levels hold up really well with no instances of black crush to be found. It is clear that Warner Archive has taken a great amount of care to restore these episodes to their most pristine condition. Animation fans will be doing a happy dance after seeing these episodes.
Audio Quality
The audio quality of the Blu-Ray disc is likewise excellent with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio (mono) track that presents essentially no flaws or damage. The effects featured in the series are given impeccable depth and are layered well to give the track a richer sound. The songs are a bit less important in this follow-up series, but they are still present and presented with a pleasing fidelity. While you may have previously seen some of these episodes on TV with all manner of age-related wear and tear, these tracks provide clarity to the dialogue, sound effects and music throughout. This disc also includes optional English (SDH) subtitles during all 16 episodes.
Special Features
There are no special features included on these discs.
Final Thoughts
Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space offers up the same bubblegum fun as its predecessor, but this time it ups the ante with some intergalactic escapades that embraces the lunacy a bit more. The characters once again flesh out this absurd story quite capably, and the introduction of a cute new alien pet is a delight. Warner Archive has delivered a miraculous Blu-Ray featuring a virtually flawless A/V presentation, but nothing in the way of special features. If you are a fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, this deserves a place in your collection. Recommended
Josie and the Pussycats In Outer Space: The Complete Series can be purchased directly through the Warner Archive Amazon Store or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.