One of the components of the Cattanooga Cats anthology series was Around the World in 79 Days, an updating of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, which would become a series proper 3 years later for NBC.
In Hanna-Barbera's version, Phinney Fogg (Bruce Watson, heard in the Three Musketeers & Micro Ventures segments of Banana Splits) accepts a bet to complete the same global tour that Verne's hero, Phineas Fogg, did, in 1 fewer day. Crumden, supposedly Phinneas' butler, wants the inheritance for himself (what a shock), and determines to sabotage the younger Fogg's efforts.
Small wonder this series failed. The greedy villain angle mirrors H-B stablemate, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, which premiered the same year over on CBS. After all, it was money that the Hooded Claw was ultimately after, wasn't it?
Right now, check out the opener, "The Race is On":
All things considered, it was slightly better than the adaptation of the novel that would follow.....
Rating: B-.
2 comments:
This wasn't too bad but like a lot of similar shows we never got a finale and see Crumden et al finally get their just desserts.
So true. I'd like to see WB pick up the plot threads and re-do this as a full-on movie.
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