The Inspector is a series of theatrical cartoon shorts produced between 1965 and 1969 by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The cartoons feature an animated version of Inspector Clouseau comically battling against a rogues' gallery of French-styled villains. Outside of the episode titles, much of the humor in these shorts is derived in part from the surreality of the villains and situations, and also from the stylized animated slapstick, much of which is bore by the Inspector, who is often bested by his nemeses, forcing the Inspector to face the wrath of the blustery and ill-tempered Commissioner who holds him in well-deserved contempt.
The Inspector
The Inspector is a senior detective for the Sûreté and assisted in most earlier episodes by Sergeant Deux-Deux. Though his actual name is never mentioned, the character is clearly based on Inspector Jacques Clouseau from The Pink Panther films. However, in contrast to the live-action Clouseau, who is portrayed as totally inept, the Inspector is slightly more competent, though he is still prone to bad luck and poor judgement.
Sergeant Deux-Deux
Sergeant Deux-Deux is a slow-talking Spaniard and gendarme who loves Mexican food. He often replies in his native tongue saying "Señor" and "Sí", only to be admonished by the Inspector who frequently tells him, "Don't say 'Sí', say 'Oui'", or "Don't say 'Señor', say 'Monsieur'", which sometimes leads to confusing situations between the two. On a couple of occasions, when the Inspector is incapacitated, Deux-Deux himself almost effortlessly manages to apprehend the culprit.
Production
provided voices for both the Inspector and Deux-Deux. The Commissioner was voiced primarily by Paul Frees, Larry Storch, Marvin Miller and Mark Skor. Miller also assumed the role of both the Inspector and Sgt. Deux-Deux in the wraparound bumpers produced for the inaugural season of The Pink Panther Show. The first entry in the series, The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation, preceded screenings of the 1965 James Bond filmThunderball. While the Inspector character design remained basically the same throughout the DePatie–Freleng shorts, and was used in the opening credit sequence of the 1968 live-action filmInspector Clouseau, the Inspector featured in the opening titles of later Pink Panther features beginning in the 1970s, changed dramatically to resemble Sellers, and then Steve Martin in the 2006 reboot of the series. The theme music heard during the titles of the cartoon was the instrumental "A Shot in the Dark" by Henry Mancini, from the 1964 feature film of the same name. Additional music in the cartoons was composed initially by William Lava, then by Walter Greene. Two shorts had their own unique version of the theme music, Napoleon Blown-Aparte and Cock-A-Doodle Deux Deux. 17 entries made their television debut during the inaugural season of The Pink Panther Show, featuring shorter opening titles. The remaining 17 entries appeared during the show's second season with complete theatrical opening titles.
A DVD containing the first 17 shorts was released on March 4, 2008 from MGM Home Entertainment/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. A DVD set titled Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection released on January 27, 2009 by MGM Home Entertainment contains the previously-released set of the first 17 shorts and a second set of the last 17 shorts. The first season of The Pink Panther is available for viewing on Amazon Video in the United States. On April 26, 2016, Kino Lorber released The Inspector: The DePatie-Freleng Collection on DVD and Blu-ray. This 2-disc set collects the 34 Inspector shorts, along with retrospective featurettes focusing on DePatie-Freling Enterprises.
Revival
The Inspector was revived in 1993 for the syndicated series, The Pink Panther, voiced by Brian George. The Inspector often works alongside the Pink Panther when he is depicted in law enforcement.
