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ABC Weekend Specials: The Puppy Who Wanted A Boy Rant
Reviewed: 10/11/2026
The Beginning Of The Puppy Era!
Well everyone, I'm finally going to do something I am interested in doing. With Peppa Pig going AI and Hey Duggee pretty much done as a show after Roly dug a giant hole in the garden and got cancelled (no, not really; I'm still reviewing that show), I'm kind of bored. I've decided to do something that is more of a trainwreck and I have not seen a lot of reviews on: animated weekend specials of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's. Welcome to the Rant Shack partners, it's time for you all to be held to account like the Disney Afternoon shows would be if copyright wasn't a bigger asshole than Rev. Ash(hole) Taylor. Anyhow, these weekend specials were basically OVA's being put on television because the quality level was television level dependent on a certain year or so. I don't think I need to explain any further than that. It is what it is: a job to keep viewers watching while the emergency continues. Otherwise, on their own, mostly just stuff. Maybe when I start seeing these with a critical eye, I might change my mind about this, but that means it might be worse. We'll see. Okay, so my rules for this will be that the specials will be animated, or animated combined with live action. Ironically, I have already ranted on one of those ABC Weekend Specials already: The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin. The special that used costumes combined with live action. It was just there to suck, and the animated series in Canada was much better, animation production problems aside.
My next choice here will be a lot more of an ink & paint special as it is going to be my fifth Ruby-Spears production, the fourth which came long before a certain blue dweeb made the airwaves. Mega Man, everyone. This next choice is also the first ABC Weekend Special featuring Ruby-Spears as the animation company and is the beginning of multiple specials and an animated television series to boot. Welcome to the Rant Shack: Petey The Puppy and his despressing adventures. You'll see why they are in a moment. I'm only going to do the specials, and not the animated series (as there are two of them) that were released from 1982 onwards. The first special is from 1978 as Petey is going through hell and back to find a boy who would want to adopt him as a pet. I'm all set to rip this episode asunder. How does it fare? Let's rant on shall we...?
The Puppy Who Wanted A Boy is written by Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday. Barbara Avedon died in 1994 and was mostly done as a writer for Cagney & Legacy from 1981-1988. The characters went on even after her death as late as 1996. Also wrote The Donna Reed Show in the 1960's. Also wrote cartoon shorts (Mister Magoo) and The Pinky Lee Show as her debut writing appearance in 1954. Also did story consulting for Fish in 1977. and Trapper John, M.D. in 1981. Barbara Corday debuted writing an episode of Maude in 1974 and worked in Avedon for Cagey & Legacy. She also became an executive producer of Knotts Landing in 1992/1993. Mostly bit writing otherwise. Also did consulting for Just Life in 1990. The story is based on one written by Catherine Woolley. Again, I have not read the book, nor am I interested in doing so. The animation production house is unknown.
Opening Moment #1: The opening features still pictures of all the scenes in the special with voice credits. This one does have a spooky wavy logo that was scarier than the vampire rabbit in the open coffin. I'm going to ignore the scenes because they are clearly not 1:1 with the previous scenes as per "The Incredible Detectives", "Bad Cat" and "Bunnicula, The Vampire Rabbit". They were intended for padding and it make the animated series seem better when they really are not. The music in this opening sequence is way too peppy considering the impending dread that is about to befall on our main character. Another note: I will not be review the host segments featuring Wilie Taylor and his wooden puppet named Lester. I mention this now because the cut I'm using is the original television airing of this special on ABC and is not based on the home video version like in the previous three specials I have done already. I think you can guess how the routine goes without me saying it. Wilie says something, Lester says or does something dumb and we react with laughter or shock. It's the old "straight/idiot" routine you see in comedy. Only the jokes and punchlines are G-rated. As for Wilie Taylor: He did appear on the Canadian show Bizzare, which IMDB does not show in their database. Rowan & Martian's Laugh In is the only real credit of any importance, back in 1972-1973. The Kids Are Alright in 2019 is his most recent credit, although he was supposed to be on Adam Sandler: Love You on Netflix in 2024. Mostly cameos in television obviously. (Note From The Future: I found the home video version of this special, so I didn't need to see the ABC cut of this one either. My apologies.) The voice credits for this special are as follows:
[1.] Petey The Puppy and Sonny are voiced by Todd Turquand. Todd literally has six credits to his resume: Rhoda as Donnie Garard in 1974 as his debut, Burnt Offerings as Young Ben, Kojak in a cameo, and the New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977 as a mouseketeer. That's it. The only other thing of note is vice president of EuropaWatch.com. Tommy is voiced by John Joseph Thomas. John started as a child actor in 1977 with Young Dan'l Boone as Peter Dawes. Then as Spence in Little House On The Prairie, then as Seth in Visions, then young Adam Clapper in The Seekers, until his final acting credit in 1980 as Mark in Blood Beach. From there, he went to school and worked in sound effects and music editing for most of his life, starting with Shoot To Kill in 1988. He has worked on sound effect for more than 100 productions, including the video game Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and most recently the latest Hunger Games movie in 2023, along with Trolls Band Together and Retribution in 2023.
[2.] Additional voices are provided by Bob Holt, Larry D. Mann and Hazel Shermet. Bob Holt you already know as Dom Gorodio from Adventures Of The Gummi Bears who died in 1985 and the Shadow Demon from Dungeons & Dragons. The Adventure Of The American Rabbit was his final credit. I'm surprised that movie didn't become an animated series. It wouldn't be any worse than Squirrel & Hedgehog from North Korea, couldn't it?! Bob has 127 acting credits to his resume, with Julius Caesar and Gerald McBoing-Boing as his debuts in 1950. Regular characters: The Dogfather, Hoot-Kloot, Fester and even did a cameo as Crazylegs Crane. Again, way too many to list here. Hazel Shermet died in 2016 and debuted on Dragnet in 1954. Mostly a cameo and side character actor. Who Gets Friends as Dr. Freed was his final credit in 1988. New Zoo Revue was his biggest role as Henritta Hippo. Larry D. Mann died in 2014 and debuted on Let's See in 1952. He mostly worked on bit roles and cameos for movies and television until 1960 voicing Foxy Q. Fibble in The New Adventures Of Pinocchio and Tales Of The Wizard of Oz as the Tin-Man in 1961. A show I watched on MITV and discover that in Canada, you can say jackass on a children's show. Same with Rupert in his animated series later on. He was a regular on the 1960's/1970's cartoon scene voicing characters like Blue Racer, Crazylegs Crane, among others. Homefront was his final credit in 1991 as Eddie and was Judge Lee Oberman in Hill Street Blues. He also appeared in another ABC Weekend Special: Weep No More, My Lady, another Ruby-Spears special. I might do that one after the Puppy specials, since it is animated.
[3.] Duke and Dash are voiced by Michael Bell. Joan Gerber and Frank Welker also provided additional voices. Those are the ones who did voices on TaleSpin I should note.
We begin this one with a shot of Anytown, USA, or somewhere in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2004 after White Juan. Either concept works since there is lots of snow on the ground. We pan up a tree to a snow covered nest showing a snow-colored bird. I should note that the video is in color, but the colors are so washed out that it might as well be greyscale. I don't think that was intentional on the artists part, I'm guessing it's a shitty video source. More unanimated shots for a long ass whomping time and then we cut to outside a doghouse with TARDIS powers because somehow four puppies run out barking, even though the doghouse fits only two of them with ease. The dogs slide to the window of a house and inside is the bedroom where generic male adult #1 of the Ruby-Spears era is shown sleeping in his bed. The dogs are barking to wake him up, you see. The dogs can also speak English and the future Duggeese (Read: Speaks in woofs.) as puppy #5 runs out of the doghouse with a yellow collar. This is Petey, our future heroic puppy in these specials. I should point out that I believe at least three different kids voiced Petey throughout his career. Petey of course is a dumb puppy who is so excited that he conveniently forgets that there is a red dog bowl in his way. The animation in this sequence is so bad as everything seems off. The spot is: Petey slips on bowl, Petey flips onto bowl and uses it as a sled, Petey bonks into puppies, everyone is concussed and buried in the snow. The problem is that the spot failed to hit properly and looked like shit. One animated sequence in and Ruby-Spears is in mid-season form. This is going to be brutal, I just know it. The bowl making laughing noises on Petey's ass was the funniest part of this, so it wasn't a total write-off, but damn. The red haired man who was asleep wakes up and is wearing yellow pjs and like most Ruby-Spears shows, they cannot keep the faces on model. We discover that the owner of the puppies is putting the puppies on the adoption to kids and the men acts like he's not doing this in some personal grudge or something. The owner bails and closes the window as the puppies exchange notes on the situation. One of the puppies says he would like a boy to adopt him and Petey says "oh boy" about a half dozen times before asking why. I did chuckle at that one.
Petey is so clueless to the notion that his owner doesn't want him anyone, because reasons! Damn, even the puppies have been suckered into the heinous world of rigid gender roles. One of the female puppies thought dressing up is yucky, so that makes this show slightly more progressive than usual, I guess. Petey is like, I want a boy and I don't give a damn what he does to me or to himself. Which makes Petey, the boy puppy, the most progressive character on the show so far, and he's the clueless dolt. Sigh. Apparently, he wants Taz to be his new owner now. Then the female adult dog in the background comes out and is so far away, I can barely see her informs the children to come back to get ready for the adoption and we fade to black for the end of the first segment of Ruby-Spears first special and it was nothing special. We return to a tree as Daddy is nailing a sign on the tree that says "Free Puppies". Correct me if I am wrong; is this legal?! Giving away free puppies without any legal oversight whatsoever?! If this was legal in 1979, okay fine; but now, I'm certain that it is not. Somehow the dad jumps down and disappears in a way that makes him written out by teleport. SUZY SHEEP~?! Even dumber, there were already two nails in the sign and the third one wouldn't have made a difference if it was square in the middle of the two nails rather than near the free puppies part of the sign. Petey was looking on, looking happy which is a sign that his dreams are about to be crushed in a vicious violent way. Four kids run on the winter street in winter clothes and two of them are carried by someone pulling a sled. Petey does the most botched "pop from the narrow gate" spot ever and informs his mother and the four puppies that the kids are coming. You can guess who doesn't get picked right away without me telling you because if they pick Petey; the special is automatically over since the stake is that Petey has to get a boy through hellish means. The mother dog nuzzles Petey into position and here come the kids to deny Petey his right to a kid adopting him. There are five puppies and four kids. Petey then become the GEEK OF THE WEEK~ by trying to get to the first boy; but the second puppy cuts him off and that puppy becomes the adopted one. Apparently, Petey decides "I'll take a girl, I'm hardcore progressive!" (no, you are not) but gets cut off be a puppy pulling on the laces of purple boots of a girl with it's teeth.
The other two were cuddled even before Petey had a chance and why is anyone surprised?! If Petey gets accepted, the special is over within four minutes. Unless you rebuild the storyline that Petey feels bad that one of the puppies didn't get accepted and helps that puppy find a child to adopt, then Petey getting accepted would make sense. That would make for a better story, but this is Ruby-Spears we are talking about here. Petey is called Sunny by the adult woman dog and she tells him that the next boy is his. Petey accepts it cart-blanche and decides to wait. How long will he be waiting....FOREVER~! FOREVER~! FOREVER~! We scene change to the house on the block as it's snowing again near the doghouse. I discover that Petey's name is actually Sunny after all, which means Petey name was changed in mid-transit. Petey has been waiting all this time as the woman dog wants him back into the doghouse before he catches cold. So he can be a symbol of his status in the eyes of kids?! Damn, that's colder than being outside, madam?! Petey is having none of this and his shedding tears because he wanted a boy to adopt him, dammit. Petey's got a point there, there are enough boys in the world. Convincing them to adopt the puppy is another matter altogether, but I don't buy no one wants to adopt Petey. Petey hasn't done anything that any other puppy has done in it's life, so why exclude him from getting adopted?! The mother dog tries to talk him off the ledge and Petey decides to relent, for now. That sulk tells me he doesn't fully accept his fate and it's going to get more depressing now. We head inside the doghouse and as I expected, it has TARDIS powers. It looks like a cold storage shed that is much bigger than a doghouse could ever be. The mother dog is asleep, Petey is whining as usual. Petey decides to go to the city to find a boy because there is lots of boys, you see. He gets up, he licks his mother's paw and then walks out saying that he'll bark when he's in the neighbourhood. Wow, he turned on his mother in the most polite and kind way possible. It's kind of sad and Ruby-Spears managed to not totally screw it up this time! If only they screwed up a lot less times, they would be like DTVA would be in the late 1980's. Money, talent and time, everyone. That's why Nintendo will always be stable until a vampire turns the real world into plate glass due to an extinction burst, and everyone else is always in danger of dying regardless of value. Time is more important than money and talent even more so.
So, we head to AnyCity, USA, or Halifax, Nova Scotia as we get the usual shots of the denizens walking in the snow doing work as usual. Petey walks in complaining about a stiff neck looking at the tall building. Look forward, then! I mention this because he looks up walking into the street and we get the safest and stupid failed run over by cars spot of all time. Petey gets it and bails to behind a fire hydrant because the stereotype is that dogs love to take a leek on them. I assure you real dogs do take leeks all the time on the street, only it's everywhere. Sometimes, it's you and that's funnier; because he's a dog and I'm like "You know dogs do that, so that's your fault!". A paperboy in the street on a bicycle is being chased by a clone of Lassie as Petey sees the rolled up paper thrown on the steps of a apartment complex. Petey is loving this, even though the Lassie clone is acting like he's being tortured because he's getting flat feet while not getting any money. Petey calls it "hot dog", so Milo stole this catchphrase from Petey Puppy. Hand your head in shame, Corey Baxter! Okay, what happens next is funny: Petey chases after the Lassie clone, and offers to take his place as the kid's puppy in order to save the dog from being tortured with flat feet. The Lassie clone headbutts Petey into a snowbank, blows him off for trying to break up his own relationship with the kid and storms off. I howled with laughter seeing this. Petey further cements his status as the GEEK OF THE WEEK~! Petey made a snow angel in the process just to make a total dog's ass out of himself. Okay, this makes the whole special a lot less depressing, but I'm actually loving this! Petey then turns on the boy on the bicycle who literally did nothing to him or vice versa and that is that. Scene change to Petey looking down, walking on the sidewalk. Problem is that Petey walks in a straight line; but the animators forgot to make sure the adult humans stayed out of the line he was walking and one of them in real life would have squashed Petey with their boots. Then a car drives by with a bulldog in the car with a blond haired male wearing a pink shirt. Petey chases after the car as the music is still too peppy to make this feel depressing enough. Good for the kids I guess, but it does taint the tone of the situation methinks. Petey asks if he can be the blond male's adopted puppy. The bulldog has this smile that reads "I don't want to tell you no, but I have to tell you no."
Musical obseveration: Some of the instruments used here sounds like something you hear in moden notification sound effects in applications we see today on mobile phones and computers. It's so uncanny. The bulldog pulls the blinds down on the car. Petey finally stops and the car splashes into a puddle and somehow the power of suggestion causes Petey to get a facewash. There are times when Ruby-Spears screw ups are funny. Petey is gravely offended and blames the blond haired boy even though he is not driving the damn car. Geez, Petey maybe you don't deserve to be adopted. I certainly refuse to adopt someone who blames its adopted son for everything despite having nothing to do with it. Also remind me never to have Petey as a police dog, he'll think everyone is accessory to a crime he committed. Scene change to the exact sequence from the last scene changer, literally. Okay, it makes sense; but purists hate it anyway. Petey is hungry and tired and next up is sniffing the air and it smells...good? It's coming from a building with a giant window called Rudy's Barbeque (Barbecue in British English), which is basically a buffet with a BBQ-theme. There is weak animation, still better than the still shots shown earlier in the episode. Petey decides to run around the alley to the backdoor to steal a meal. Another reason not to make Petey a police dog. Anyhow, Petey stops and notices two heel dogs discussing a plan. The plan is that a 10:00, the bus boy comes out to dump the garbage and they are planning to steal ribs and chickens from the garbage. There is just one problem writer: Once garbage is placed on the street, it is public property, so it is not a crime to steal someone else's garbage. That doesn't make the dogs the bad guys here. Petey then mades the fatal error of bumping a steel can and he is so BUSTED! Thankfully, the two heel dogs finally become heels by proclaiming that they cannot take any chances, which is codeword for "KILL THE PUPPY~!". Petey is so FUBARED now and basically accuses them of robbing the place. What an idiot?! I'm sorry; but I know the law and it's about to kill another idiot who doesn't know. The heel dogs snarl and growl to let us know they are the heels, but they are smart heels so they will be cheered anyway since the babyface is very dumb. Petey bails and it's the SCOOBY-DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE PETEY PUPPY EDITION~!
Petey hides underneath the one place that the two dogs could have seen if the dogs looked down. They don't, so they give up and return to their stations for 10:00. Petey blows them off and doesn't like them. Still smarter than you, you dumbass! Petey then ups his dumb levels by proclaiming that he's going to save them from trouble. Dumb puppy, the law is on THEIR side! Only you don't realize that! Scene change to the two dogs as the bus boy takes out the trash and the two dogs head through the backdoor. Okay, they were going to rob the place blind. Which makes Petey look worse because he was going to do the exact same thing before he found out about this scheme. EVERYONE IS A GEEK~! Including me, actually. We head into the worst kitchen you ever saw, it looks like a closure and mass-borne illness place to happen. The chef is cooking someone in a pot. It might be soup, I don't know. I don't care either. Petey runs in barking like he's sqwaking like a parrot. The humans are confused and this leads to the two heel dogs being busted. I think the two heel dogs are Duke and Dash, but I cannot tell who's Duke and who's Dash because none of them have revealed their names yet. I know who Tommy is though, it's pretty obvious. The heel dogs are pissed off at Petey; but they made a get-away that looks like B-level Hanna Barbara shit. Fitting since the art style is straight out of 1970's Hanna Barbara shit. A waiter get bumped and takes the stiffest shot of a bowl of paste upside down on his noggin. Someone decides to call the dog catcher in this melee, Petey escapes, and his leap frogging sucks. The heel dogs manage to escape through the two dogcatchers with ease, making them look like total fools. Petey wisely bails back into the kitchen and out the backdoor, and hides in a conveniently placed car on the sidewalks with the windows open, in the wintertime. Whomever does this deserves everything they get from Petey. They are that dumb. They are very stupid, and no one has learned anything. Apporos for such a C-level studio like Ruby-Spears. By the way, the mess the dogs made at the buffet was so bad, I couldn't take anything in that scene seriously. It made everyone look like whimpering fools. They didn't even bother to mess up the buffet table during that sequence.
Oh, and speaking of stupid people: The guy who finds him is a mustache male wearing a hat and clothes, I don't care. He looks creepier than most stranger stereotypes I have ever saw. He teases being evil, but then offers food and shelter to Petey as he gets in and they drive away. They make it to a worn-down, broken down house in the middle of nowhere and the man walks in, opens the door and asks if Petey likes it. Petey probably would have woofed "yes"; except there is clearly an EVIL CAT on the table. Walt Disney does not have a monopoly on evil cats in animation. Keep in mind that this is Ruby-Spears' first real production that got over as a seller, so they haven't ripped off themselves. Yet. The cat's name is Katuska, which is Slavic for "Pure Girl". The cat is also has Snagglepuss's fur color and a pea green collar. Katuska is a mean cat, but doesn't hate her master. The guy takes Petey into the basement and we discover that the basement is actually a dungeon! The man takes Petey to a cell, throws him into the cell, shuts the cell dor, cuts a promo about this being his temporary home and then laughs like a monster heel on the way out! Saw that one coming about 2.5 kms away. He's either going to sell him, or kill him. The former sounds okay compared to the later on actually. Petey is whimpering and then gets cut off by a dog named Duke, who looks like the dog from All Dogs Go To Heaven. Wow, that movie should hang it's head in shame, copying a Ruby-Spears character. Yes, I got it wrong, the two heel dogs are not Duke and Dash. Sadly, the off-modeling of Ruby-Spears strikes again as Duke looks like a tough Scooby-Doo with a lavander hanky around it's neck. He also has a dog whistling band, and I don't mean that in the usual horrible sense. He literally has dogs who whistle as a band. Okay, then; I have seen worse gag than this. We exchange notes for a while as I discover that they are being sold and killed at the same time. That's why it shouldn't be okay to sell them then! What a fool I am?! Merely selling them to kids would make the guy just a jerk babyface instead of the monster heel they were shooting for in this special. Then Petey claims that he's nameless, which makes sense since Petey is the official name of the dog when the special is over. Spoiler Alert, everyone. I thought his name was Sunny at this point since his mother calls him that and no one else. Wow, Petey is trolling his mom for some reason here.
The Dog Whistling Band hear Petey's promo on love and affection and they are touched by this. It's certainly better than where they are now: Being sold for spare parts, if you know what I mean. Duke is having none of this because the real world is a horrible place to him. He would make a perfect Christian preacher methinks, and be a treasonous asshole to boot! The tallest dog in the band is so touched by this, I almost laughed at him when I shouldn't have. He's so overdramatic. I'm guessing that his name is Dash. Dash literally tells him his story as a greyhound race dog and he was extremely successful and his master treated him like an equal. Almost, since he's a dog you see. Treating his equally would mean Dash would have to be a homo sapien, which is not possible even in the FUBARED logic of the real world. Then the legs gave way and he had to retire from competition, and Dash simply ran away from his master. The white female dog I believe her name is Zoot, agrees with Dash that this was a huge mistake to leave their masters because their masters treated them better than his monster heel who has imprisoned them. Petey then gives up and Duke now want to bust out of here. Even Petey is confused. Something tells me Duke has no master at all, and even though Duke has no master, he basically admitted that his band is better off with their masters than in his prison cells waiting for the slaughter. Petey accepts the terms anyway and is happy again. That was awfully confusing there, special. Scene change to the house AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) and I wouldn't have known this because the video is washed-out. I only knew this because it is 10:30 PM and the monster heel adult is asleep, snoring on the sofa below the clock shown on the wall near the window. Katuska is sleeping on the table and has been completely useless so far. Huh, a bunch of dogs with a monster heel present. I wonder if we'll see one of them bite the heel on the leg?! We do get a funny moment: The dogs are doing the "dig out of prison" spot, which is the most sensical thing on this show. I discover that one of the red dogs with the candle on his nose is Fritz because Duke wants a status report. Fritz blows him off because he does this every five seconds. Hey Duke, how about lowering that voice of yours?! Fritz of course yells so loud that somehow Katuska wakes up. I also love the dog bowl that somehow is bottomless. SUZY SHEEP~?!
Duke tells Petey to get rid of the dirt. Why would he do that?! So, that Petey would do the deed, turn around and notice Katuska just BUSTED them! IDIOTS! Petey is such a geek! Suddenly, Katuska can speak perfect English now. Duke panics and bails to cover up the hole, acting like nothing is happening. Katuska asks Petey what is going open. I betcha he tells the truth like the geek idiot that he is. I check the video...Petey puts it down, calls it puppy chow and Katuska accepts and runs away stage left. The dumbest cat I have ever seen. And somehow Petey is dumber because he ate dirt literally and has to spit it out. GEEK~! But wait, Katuska decides to climb the boxes to the ceiling and discovers a tiny hole in the ceiling. Guess where the hole leads....wait for it...the cell the babyfaces are in. Ooops! This is not "the babyfaces are total geeks", this is the heel getting it's heel heat back. That's a good thing, thank you because Katuska is otherwise buried deep within the earth. See what I did there?! Somehow, the three other dogs (Zoot, Dash and one other unnamed dog) guard the front while Fritz finishes the hole with Duke and Petey watching from him. I know what you are thinking: What is Katuska's plan?! My booking: Katsuka wakes up the monster heel human, the human gets a weapon, he goes to the other side of the wall outside, the dogs try to come up and the human bashes them or shoots them. Or at least tries to; but they all escape anyway. Even if no one gets hurt, it creates enough danger that I can take seriously and makes Katuska look like a threat in it's own right. Let's see what Ruby-Spears does here: They do everything I say here basically; except with no weapon and the dogs already made it through the hole completely before the man could attack them. Everyone gets through the small hole in the conveniently placed wooden fence, including the largest shaggy dog they could find. The only one who fails to escape is Petey as the monster heel human grabs him by the collar. Of course, we all know where this is going now: Duke does the infamous Ruby-Spears motif of a dog biting someone on the leg, the most botched bite spot I have ever seen. The teeth missing by about four inches at least and Duke had to chomp down in a later shot to make it look like he bit him. It's so stupid.
Speaking of pointless, stupid spots: Petey then runs in, bites the man in the left leg and they look like they are ankle biting the dood. Seriously! Duke orders Petey to leave, and Petey sells and leaves through the wooden fence. Why bother with the biting from Petey then?! Duke then lets go, the man takes a backwards bump, Katuska dodges (because the cat is corwardly, but smart) and the man falls in the muddy waters in a decent back bump. Duke goes through the wooden fence as the men gets up and he is SO PISSED OFF that he decides to climb the wooden fence to chase the babyfaces. Not go around it and chase them, climb over the fence. This fence is tall enough to cock block him. Okay, this is hilariously stupid; but Katuska claws the man, runs backwards, and the man falls into the muddy waters right in front of the fence that was not there in every other sequence. SUZY SHEEP~?! Speaking of stupid; why didn't Katuska go through the hole of the wooden fence and chase after the babyfaces?! Stupid and a coward to boot! Somehow, the man is in the middle of his own lot and threatens to behead Katuska while either speaking a language I don't understand or gibberish. The thorat slashing gesture clearly give away his intentions as Katuska gulps on his belly. By the way, his accent is so thick that the crack captions thought he said "Over the pants", even though he said "Over the fence." Create a manual AI script for the transcripts, or don't allow Closed Captions on your video at all. Scene change back to the city on the sky shot with Duke and Petey 15 minutes in! Duke decides to take his leave, Petey wants to come with him because he decided that he's better off with a boy. Duke states that he doesn't want to be miserable like him, and encourage him to continue finding a boy and stand up to your convictions. That sounds like sociopathic behaviour to me. Petey decides that he is going to try to find a boy even if it's hard. I mean, the only alternative is to go back to his mother, and that would probably shame him even more, so finding a boy and hoping for the best is all Petey has right now. Petey leaves as Duke proclaims that he'll miss Petey. Scene change to the sidewalk as the animation is getting better as Petey is walking and hears a woman's voice address a kid named Richie, and he is deciding on a puppy.
Petey is happy to hear this and he runs into a toy store as Richie (a boy wearing red clothing) is selecting a plush toy dog to buy. He has no desire to by nor adopt a real one. Sad Petey. Petey is still undetered though as he practice the fine art of not being seen in a toy store as Richie is picking out plushies of dogs and Petey does the funniest thing I have seen in this special: Petey becomes a dog Teddy Ruxpin. Seriously! He's barking and acting like a toy doll who can move. Like I said before: Teddy Ruxpin's idealogy is what makes horror films, not the doll itself. Richie wants the dog, the mom wants the dog and offers to pay top dollar for it. The clerk (wearing a green suit and purple bowtie with glasses and white hair grabs the dog and realizes that it's a real dog, and the clerk kicks the dog out for no good reason. If Richie had an allergy to dog hair, this would make sense and this would be a perfect tragedy. Instead, it's a tragedy to only Petey, and maybe Richie at most. Kind of hurts the story here in my view since there's no evidence Richie and the mother were against having a real dog. The only one who didn't want the dog was the clerk. Stupid! Petey is sad and walks off. Scene change to Petey walking in the snow as another kids is calling for two dogs, which is obvious it is not Petey, but Petey is so desperation for companionship, he'll fall for it anyway. Sure enough, two dogs appear, go into the apartment complex, the boy shuts the door on Petey. Sad Petey again! Maybe you should have gone with Duke for awhile until you found that boy through osmosis. Petey is looking dumber by the second, and the more they do this, the less sympathy he's going to get in hindsight. Another scene changer of Petey walking through the city on the sidewalk as a newspaper flies in front of him to reveal a dogshow being released on Feb 25th, on a Saturday. I don't think Petey can conceptulize dates yet, so I suspect this goes nowhere. It does make him sadder though since it shows a picture of a boy loving a dog, so there's that. Scene change to Petey walking on a sidewalk, and is clearly out of the city now. I'm guessing that he's looking for his mother now, which is rock bottom for him at this point. Petey finds a conveniently placed trashcan and knocks it down.
He finds food and is eating a bone. Guess who shows up?! Take a guess, it's too shocking! SURPRISE~! It's OKAY, BOOMER~! CHOMP! OUCH! Ummmm...Yup, it's the two evil dogs that were robbing Ruby's BBQ earlier in the episode. Ecomony of characters syndrome?! Yup. Effective? Of course, because they are seeking revenge on Petey for screwing their plans. This makes sense. Now, they should have taken it all the way, and have Petey's mom kidnapped, hurt and or killed. BS&P won't allow that, so screwing up their plans only will have to do. The two dogs look like the road has owned them, making the scene even more scary. Petey is screwed and then the Child Balloon of Corrupting Doom shows up and it's Duke basically telling Petey to stand his ground. I betcha he tries and then escapes and we move on. I check the video...Damn, I'm good. Although he did do the slingshot watermelon shot to the head. Good thing that dog wasn't black, that would have been racist! Petey defeats the second dog with the clothesline and turns the grey dog into a costume that Jay Leno would have said "Your dog is not going to wear that." Let's see if the other dog beats him up...after he stops being concussed when he went through the plank of the wooden fence. Oh wait, Petey does it himself by dumping oil on the ground and the grey dog slips, spins and concussed himself. A complete and utter burial of these two dogs. The grey dog is total Headlines material on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. And the dog cannot sell the concussion properly either. That's on Ruby-Spears, not on the dog. Petey is happy to defeat two big, mean dogs; then he sulks and walks off. That was funny. Scene change to a sky shot of Petey walking in the neighbourhood. Please do not let Petey go home to his mom because that would completely defeat the entire purpose of the special right there. Thankfully, he doesn't as he finds a hole in the snowbank to bury himself in sorrow. Then Petey hears a blond hair boy with a red hat, grey pants, beige coat and brown shoes whimpering on the steps to a house that is clearly an orphange, but was BS&P'ed. It's called Glen Oaks Public Home For Boys, because everything has to be segregated. There is a Glen Oaks neighbourhood in Queens, New York.
A woman, whose face we don't see opens the door wearing a lot of green pleads for the boy to eat his dinner as the boy's name is Tommy. Tommy is not hungry as we do see the woman with red hair asks why. Tommy proclaims that he has no friends and the rest of the kids have friends and don't need his friendship. The woman decides to leave him alone in his thoughts and went inside. Wow, that was cold. In comes Petey, Petey licks his hand, Tommy notices and Tommy befriends Petey in three seconds. Just like that! Wow, this is a perfect finish! After all the bullshit Petey went through, Tommy just accepts him on one licked hand. That's a life partner there, sir! Tommy hugs Petey and I wish that was the end of the story right there. However, we still have 90 seconds left and we still have to get the adult and the other kids to accept this puppy. This means this story has to turn into shit. Petey licks Tommy's face as we head inside with the kids in the sitting room reading and playing whatever. The woman is at the fireplace on the far right pan shot knitting on a rocking chair. Despite being all boys, the color of their skins is much more equal than what you would expect from Ruby-Spears actually. Tommy brings in Petey and introduces him to the kids and the woman, whom Tommy addresses as Miss Miller. Tommy wants to keep him and since everyone seems happy, this should be a done deal, right?! The woman is like "I want to, but the cost?" deal and the kids all agree to share their food with him. I hope chocolate isn't involved, that would be bad. Miss Miller hears from the kids, her people if you will, and decides to accept the terms as long as the puppy has a name. Tommy officially removes the Sunny label the mother gave and calls him Petey for real. All the kids give out booking names and all of them are picked including Miller, which amuses Miss Miller. Tommy decides to call him Petey. I betcha this multiple names concept will be shelved in the next special for certain because that would be dumb. Everyone is happy as we cut to outside of the Glen Oaks Orphanage to end the special at 20:55. This one is probably the best one of the animated ABC Weekend Specials, because the premise was 100% different than most of the Ruby-Spears plotlines that would follow in later years and while it was still a mess in places, the storyline worked for the most part. *** 3/4 (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I finally finished my fifth ABC Weekend Special and this was surprisely an underrated classic. It was the very first Ruby-Spears episode under their creative control and it was better than Ruby-Spears productions during the 1980's actually! I loved Bad Cat, but it was a mess. This first special was a mess, but most of it was "wet behind the ears" experience more than anything else. The storyline was also different from most specials because it was the least sheltered Ruby-Spears productions ever: Petey the Puppy was actually put in much more danger than most of of the characters of previous ABC Weekend Specials that I have reviewed and it was also a really depressing story while when someone cracked a joke, I was relieved because it was getting close to a country song. Unlike Gargoyles, Petey found his happy ending and it ended exactly the way it should. Sure, this series will get worse as time goes on in both specials and the two television series that followed because the ending was perfect and no future productions are going to top it; but it shows why Ruby-Spears got over. They made the dark special Hanna Barbera and managed to make it without much violence or scariness, which was a big concern among parents groups at the time, the second biggest behind profit of course. Overall, I enjoyed this special. Now, I know what you are thinking: What happened to Petey's mom?! I don't know. I have only watched one special and I do plan to watch the other three. Maybe they address this, maybe not. If it's in the series' then it won't matter because I'm not watching those. Next up is The Puppy's Great Adventure which is Tommy gets adopted by human parents! YAY! The bad news: They hate dogs. BOO! HISS! So....
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.