Compared are the UK DVD Box by MGM and the German DVD Box by MGM.

The Pink Panther character appeared for the very first time in the opening credits of the "The Pink Panther" (1963) starring the amazing Peter Sellers as goofy Inspector Clouseau. Clouseau is supposed to protect the valuable eponymous diamond. Today the movie is considered a classic, eight sequels followed.

The Pink Panther in the US

In 1969, the Pink Panther got his own TV show. Many of the episodes with an estimated length of 6 min were originally supposed to be supporting films in movie theaters, but they finally aired in the context of "The Pink Panther Show" on NBC in 1969. Besides the Pink Panther cartoons, some of the "The Inspector" episodes aired as well. These cartoons are based on the actual movies and usually show Inspector Clouseau's pathetic attempts to catch the criminals.
Since September 1970, "The Pink Panther Meets The Ant and the Aardvark" aired on NBC. The "Inspector" segments were replaced by "The Ant and the Aardvark". In course of years, further shows with partially new charcters / segments or new cutscenes followed: The New Pink Panther Show, The Pink Panther and Friends , The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show, Think Pink Panther.

The German Episodes

In 1973, the episodes aired in a show called "Zu Gast bei Paulchens Trickverwandten" (Being guest of Pink Panther's cartoon relatives) in Germany. One episode of "The Pink Panther", "The Inspector" and "The Ant and the Aardvark" were combined to a 30 min-episode. The series got new opening and final credits (consisting of scenes from the actual series) and the well-known title song "Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht?". Furthermore the Pink Panther got a name: Paulchen. Another characteristic in the German Version are Gert Günter Hoffmann's voice overs, which enhance the series a little bit.

The DVD releases

The Pink Panther has been completely released on DVD, both in the US and in Germany and England. The US DVD Box wasn't available for the comparisons but the episodes are supposed to be in full screen. Moreover the US Box contains some bonus material missing on the German and the UK Box.
The UK DVD Box: the aspect ratio of the episodes is 1.78:1 and the quality of the DVDs is quite good.
The German DVD Box is similar to the US Box: the episodes are in full screen and the qualitly is usually worse (sometimes much worse, sometimes just a little - depending on the episode) than their equivalents in the UK Box. I figure MGM used the TV master for the releases. Another flaw is the fact that some of the episodes are cut.

Comparison between the German and the UK Box

• Quality

Especially the first episode (The Pink Phink) has a really dreadful quality in the German Box. Real bummer because the episode got an Oscar for the best short movie in 1964.





Bei späteren Episoden ist die Qualität durchaus besser.

Episode 7 - Shocking Pink:



Episode 9 - Pink Ice:



• Aspect ratio

As already mentioned, the aspect ration of the German episodes is 1.33:1 (full screen) while the episodes in the UK Box are available in 1.78:1. Even though some of the episodes were originally produced for movie theaters, some episodes were obviously modified to fit the screen (parts of heads and logos were cut off).

Both examples taken from the episode "We give Pink Stamps".




• Final credits

It's conspicuous that the parts of the text of the last title got colored in pink.

List of episodes

Number	Original title	German title	Cut?	Running time
1	The Pink Phink	Der rosarote Schmierfink	no	-
2	Pink Pajamas	Rosarot in fremden Betten	no	-
3	We give Pink Stamps	Der rosarote Kaufhausspuk	no
4	Dial 'P' for Pink	Der rosarote Ganovenschreck	no	-
5	Sink Pink	Rosarot auf Noahs Arche	no
6	Pickled Pink	Rosarot und Blitzeblau	no	-
7	Pinkfinger	Der rosarote Geheimagent	no	-
8	Shocking Pink	Der rosarote Bastler	no	-
9	Pink Ice	Der rosarote Diamant	no	-
10	The Pink Tail Fly	Der rosarote Mückenschreck	no	-
11	Pink Panzer	Rosarot vor Wut	no	-
12	An Ounce Of Pink	Rosarot und gut gewogen	no	-
13	Reel Pink	Rosarotes Anglerlatein	no	-
14	Bully for Pink	Der rosarote Torero	no	-
15	Pink Punch	Rosaroter Punch	no	-
16	Pink Pistons	Rosarot am Steuer	no	-
17	Vitamin Pink	Rosarote Vitamine	no	-
18	The Pink Blueprint	Die rosarote Bauruine	no	-
19	Pink Plunk Plink	Der rosarote Musikus	no	-
20	Smile Pretty Say Pink	Der rosarote Fotoschreck	no	-
21	Pink-a-Boo	Der rosarote Mäusefänger	no	-
22	Genie With The Light Pink Fur	Der rosarote Flaschengeist	no	-
23	Super Pink	Supermann in rosarot	no	-
24	Rock a Bye Pinky	Rosarot und aufgeweckt	no	-
25	Pinknic	Rosarot und eiskalt	no	-
26	Pink Panic	Der rosarote Spuk	no	-
27	Pink Posies	Ein Blütentraum in rosarot	no	-
28	Pink of the Litter	Der rosarote Müllmann	no	-
29	In the Pink	Rosarot im Fitness-Studio	no	-
30	Jet Pink	Der rosarote Himmelsstürmer	no	-
31	Pink Paradise	Das Paradies ist rosarot	no	-
32	Pinto Pink	Rosarot und sattelfest	no	-
33	Congratulations it's Pink	Rosarote Vaterfreuden	no	-
34	Prefabricated Pink	Der rosarote Pfusch am Bau	no	-
35	The Hand is Pinker that the Eye	Rosarot und ausgetrickst	no	-
36	Pink Outs	Die rosarote Revue	no	-
37	Sky Blue Pink	Der rosarote Drachenbauer	no	-
38	Pinkadilly Circus	Die rosarote Plage	no	-
39	Psychedelic Pink	Rosarot und übersinnlich	no	-
40	Come on in the Water's Pink	Der rosarote Badenix	no	-
41	Put-Put, Pink	Rosarot und schrottreif	no	-
42	G.I. Pink	Rosarot in Uniform	no	-
43	Lucky Pink	Rosarot mit Pferdefuß	no	-
44	The Pink Quarterback	Die rosarote Sportskanone	no	-
45	Twinkle Twinkle Little Pink	Sternenblick in rosarot	no	-
46	Pink Valiant	Der rosarote Ritter	no	-
47	The Pink Pill	Rosarot im Krankenbett	no	-
48	Prehistoric Pink	Rosarot durch die Steinzeit	no	-
49	Pink in the Clink	Der rosarote Räuber	no	-
50	Little Beaux Pink	Rosarote Schäferstunden	no	-
51	Tickled Pink	Rosarot und wunschlos glücklich	no	-
52	Pink Sphinx	Rosarot in der Wüste	no	-
53	Pink is a many splintered Thing	Der rosarote Holzfäller	no	-
54	The Pink Package Plot	Der rosarote Bomber	no	-
55	Pinkcome Tax	Der rosarote Robin Hood	no	-
56	Pink-A-Rella	Rosarot ist keine Hexerei	no	-
57	Pink Pest Control	Der rosarote Kammerjäger	no	-
58	Think before you Pink	Rosarote Ampeln gibt es nicht	no	-
59	Slink Pink	Der rosarote Hundeschreck	yes*	16 sec
60	In the Pink of the Night	Rosarote Morgenstunde	no	-
61	Pink on the Cob	Rosarot und krähenschwarz	no	-
62	Extinct Pink	Rosarot in der Steinzeit	no	-
63	A Fly in the Pink	Der rosarote Fliegenfänger	no	-
64	Pink Blue Plate	Rosarot und knusprig durchgebraten	no	-
65	Pink Tuba	Schlummerlied in rosarot	no	-
66	Pink Pranks	Rosarot im ewigen Eis	no	-
67	The Pink Flea	Ein Floh im rosaroten Pelz	no	-
68	Psst Pink	Rosarot und stark gefährdet	no	-
69	Gong With The Pink	Gong With The Pink	no	-
70	Pink-In	Das rosarote Tagebuch	no	-
71	Pink 8 Ball	Rosarot bleibt am Ball	no	-
72	Pink Aye	Rosarot als blinder Passagier	no	-
73	Trail of the Lonesome Pink	Rosarote Jagdfreuden	no	-
74	Pink DaVinci	Ein Meisterwerk in rosarot	no	-
75	Pink Streaker	Rosarote Winterfreuden	no	-
76	Salmon Pink	Der rosarote Fischfreund	no	-
77	Forty Pink Winks	Rosarote Schlafstörungen	no	-
78	Pink Plasma	Spuk in rosarot	no	-
79	Pink Elephant	Der rosarote Tierfreund	no	-
80	Keep our Forests Pink	Der rosarote Waldhüter	no	-
81	Bobolink Pink	Der rosarote Fluglehrer	no	-
82	It's Pink but is it Mink	Rosarot - der letzte Schrei!	no	-
83	Pink Campaign	Rosarot ist die Rache	no	-
84	The Scarlet Pinkernel	Der rosarote Retter	no	-
85	Mystic Pink	Zauberei in rosarot	no	-
86	The Pink of Arabee	Rosarot im Morgenland	no	-
87	The Pink Pro	Der rosarote Sportlehrer	no	-
88	Pink Piper	Der rosarote Rattenfänger	no	-
89	Pinky Doodle	Der rosarote Rebell	no	-
90	Sherlock Pink	Der rosarote Sherlock Holmes	no	-
91	Rocky Pink	Rosarot in Not	no	-
92	Therapeutic Pink	Der rosarote Hungerleider	no	-
93	Pink Pictures	Rosarot und voll im Bild	no	-
94	Pink Arcade	Der rosarote Rummel	no	-
95	Pink Lemonade	Rosarot und auf der Flucht	no	-
96	Pink Trumpet	Der rosarote Störenfried	no	-
97	Sprinkle Me Pink	Der rosarote Regenzauber	no	-
98	Dietetic Pink	Die rosarote Schlankheitskur	no	-
99	Pink UFO	Rosarot auf Schmetterlingsjagd	no	-
100	Pink Lightning	Der rosarote Blitz	no	-
101	Cat and the Pinkstalk	Die rosarote Zauberbohne	no	-
102	Pink Daddy	Rosarote Krokodilstränen	no	-
103	Pink S.W.A.T.	Der rosarote Fliegenschreck	no	-
104	Pink and Shovel	Das rosarote Nervenbündel	no	-
105	Pinkologist	Der rosarote Alptraum	no	-
106	Pink Press	Der rosarote Reporter	no	-
107	Pet Pink Pebbles**	Pet Pink Pebbles	no	-
108	The Pink of Bagdad**	The Pink of Bagdad	no	-
109	Pink in the Drink	Rosarot auf hoher See	no	-
110	Pink Bananas	Tarzan in Rosarot	no	-
111	Pinktails for Two	Rosarot und riesengroß	no	-
112	Pink Z-Z-Z	Rosarot und ruhelos	no	-
113	Star Pink	Rosarot im Weltraum	no	-
114	Pink Breakfast	Rosarote Frühstücksplage	no	-
115	Toro Pink	Der rosarote Matador	no	-
116	Pink Quackers	Der rosarote Entenfreund	no	-
117	String along in Pink	Rosarot am langen Faden	no	-
118	Pink in the Woods	Der rosarote Baumfäller	no	-
119	Pink Pull	Rosarot zieht an!	no	-
120	Spark Plug Pink	Der rosarote Spätzünder	no	-
121	Doctor Pink	Das rosarote Krankenhaus	no	-
122	Pink Suds	Der rosarote Waschtag	no	-
123	Supermarket Pink	Der rosarote Ladenschreck	no	-

* The episode "Slink Pink" contains alternate more harmless footage when the dog is firing off a shot at his master.

** The episodes "Pet Pink Pebbles" and "The Pink of Bagdad" are Extended Versions of the episodes "Rocky Pink" and "The Pink of Arabee".


Sources / Further material

The Pink Panther Show Wikipedia entry
DePatie-Freleng website

[00:05:40]
The shot of the dog shooting at his master contains alternate (censored) footage on the UK DVD.

German DVD:

The dog holds the gun under the blanket and pulls the trigger. His carbonized master, who's also under the blanket, appears. In the next scene, the dog is being routed out of the house.

UK DVD:

Cut to the dog. He positions the gun under the blanket. He pulls the trigger, the camera zooms out and his master appears. But the bullet holes in the blanket are missing and the master doesn't look carbonized either. In the following scene, when the master routs the dog out of the house, he still doesn't look carbonized.

UK	DF

16 sec