Launch into Nostalgia with Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space

Josie and the Pussycats were the quintessential teen rock band of animated cartoons. Spinning out of Archie Comics and travelling the globe to spread their music far and wide, the only way the animated series could top itself was for Dan DeCarlo's little girl to take the show to a whole new level.

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space didn't get an origin episode to launch this new endeavor. It didn't need one. The show's musical intro ingeniously did this in just a couple of beats, showing how a photo opportunity for a space launch went awry when Alexandra pushed her way to the front of the group, knocking them all into the rocket and accidentally pulling the launch lever. Now they careen throughout space, looking for a way to get back home to Earth.

Viewed with more than a seven-year-old's knowledge of space, the show must be forgiven much. They never seem to leave the solar system, passing by Venus once (which, cosmologically speaking, is right next door), and even zip by Earth in one episode, but fail to engage the retro rockets. And it's probably a good thing, too, because nearly every planet the Pussycats do land on seems to be ruled by someone intent on invading the Earth unless the gang can put a stop to the evil machinations. The space travel motif was a sure-fire hit with the Saturday morning crowd, though. We were still sending men to the moon at the time, so space travel was still something at the forefront of everyone's minds.

The sci-fi sequel retains the original and irreplaceable voice cast of the former series, with Janet Waldo playing the title role of Josie, Jerry Dexter as Alan, Barbara Pariot as Valerie, Jackie Joseph as Melody, Sherry Alberoni as Alexandra and radio legend Casey Kasem as Alexander. The series also introduced a new space pet that joins the team in the first episode. Bleep, voiced by Don Messick (because who else are you going to get?), was a sort of fuzzy space-shmoo that could do just about anything a cartoon blob can do. 

Through sixteen episodes of hijinks, the team gets captured and imprisoned by villains who have mastered magnetic powers, duplication powers, sun-extinguishing technology, de-aging rays, and various other world-conquering schemes. The episode are about twenty minutes each without the commercial breaks, and with no special features to dig into afterward the entire sixteen-episode Blu-ray collection can be binged in a single day.

Featuring simple but fun plots, and a soundtrack of groovy, funky harmonies, this is one slice of nostalgia that doesn't get stale when revisited.