Hong Kong Phooey was an animated TV series that was broadcasted on ABC and produced by Hanna-Barbera. It aired from September 7, 1974, to December 21, 1974. Hong Kong Phooey is the secret identity ofthe clownishly and clumsy dog named Penrod Pooch who is working at a police station as a janitor under the supervision of Sergeant Flint. When Penrod Pooch needs to disguise himself as Hong Kong Phooey, he jumps into a filing cabinet, where he always get stuckand rides his “Phooeymobile” car that can transform into a plane, a boat, and even a telephone booth depending on what he needs on a certain situation.
Penrod Pooch or Hong Kong Phooey fights the bad guys according to the “Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu” which contains different correspondence-course martial-arts instructions. But he would not successfully fight crimes without the help of Spot, who is a striped cat that always provides a solution to the challenges.
Hong Kong Phooey-duction
Penrod Pooch was voiced by Scatman Crothers while Sergeant Flint was voiced by Joe E. Ross who is famous for his role as Officer Gunther Toody in the 60s TV series “Car 54, Where Are You?”. Hong Kong Phooey’s last episode was a two-part special which featured new cartoon characters such as Posse Impossible, Mystery Maverick, and Honcho. They all helped out Hong Kong Phooey to fight crime. It turns out that this final episode was a backdoor pilot for a continuing segment entitled “Posse Impossible” which aired as a part of CB Bears which is a 60-minute Saturday morning show that was produced by Hanna-Barbera.
Hong Kong Phooey in Other Media
In 2001, Alan Lau together with Wildbrain.com produced a flash animation webseries cartoon of Hong Kong Phooey which was featured on CartoonNetwork.com. in this webseries, Penrod Pooch appears to be identical to the 70s Penrod Pooch but he was larger and a highly competent and skilled fighter.
In 200 there were rumors that a Hong Kong Phooey film was on the works and Alex Zamm was slated to direct it with Andrew Kosove, Bret Ratner, Jay Stern, and Broderick Johnson as producers. In 2011 they announced that Eddie Murphy was going to voice this skilled pooch.
Hong Kong Phooey or Penrod Pooch also appeared in the Hanna-Barbera series Wacky Races and on the segment S&M Presents and Ban on the Fun.
During Hong Kong Phooey’s popularity in the 70s, a short children’s novel entitled Hong Kong Phooey and the Fortune Cookie Caper and Hong Kong Phooey and the Bird’s Nest Snatchers was written by Jean Lewis and illustrated by Phil Ostapczuk. It was published under Rand McNally and Company.
He also appeared in a 2017 special digital comic book entitled Scooby-Doo Team-Up. And in 2018, Hong Kong Phooey had a re-imagined version that appeared in the DC comic book entitled Black Lightning/ Hong Kong Phooey Special #1.
A ceramic street art mosaic of Hong Kong Phooey was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in January 2015 for two million Hong Kong dollars.