Left to right: Rhubarb, Puttypuss and Stutz sit in Sparkplug while Musselmutt and Ding Dog effect repairs.
A Saturday-Morning Cartoon, created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and made by De Patie Freleng Enterprises, that aired on NBC during the 1972-73 season.
The Houndcats is a loose, light-hearted take on Mission: Impossible, The Wild Wild West and (especially) the short-lived Bearcats!, in which three canines and two felines traverse the southwestern United States to deal with all manner of high-level national offenders, circa 1914.
The Houndcats are Stutz (Michael Bell), The Leader and The Strategist; Ding Dog (Stu Gilliam), the second-in-command; Puttypuss (Joe Besser), the Master of Disguise; Rhubarb (either Arte Johnson or Daws Butler, depending on the episode), the inventor; and Musselmutt (Aldo Ray), the strongman — er, dog.
"The New Hope for Houndcats Tropes Mission"!
- Bald of Evil/Goatee Of Evil: Diamond Head.
- Beard of Evil: Captain Blight has one.
- Canines Primary, Felines Secondary: Inverted. While the dogs do slightly outnumber the cats, the leader is one of the cats rather than one of the dogs.
- Cool Car: Sparkplug, the team's semi-sentient Stutz Bearcat.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Dingdog and Musselmutt play this one straight; Rhubarb averts this one, for the most part.
- Dumb Muscle: As dumb as he is, Musselmutt can throw down.
- Episode Title Card
- Evil Laugh: In Captain Blight's first episode, it's a Running Gag that he gets stuck in evil laugh mode, and his Sidekick has to bring him out of it by hitting him on the back.
- Expository Theme Tune
- Funny Animal: The Houndcats.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Rhubarb's role on the team was to invent devices that would get them out of trouble...
- Bungling Inventor: ...and occasionally into trouble when they malfunctioned.
- Gentle Giant: Musselmutt,, a huge, muscular Old English sheepdog, is also the quietest, most affable of the otherwise frenetic and explosive crime-fighting team. And able to bend steel with his bare paws.
- Half Dressed Cartoon Animals: Except for Musselmutt, who's a Barefoot Cartoon Animal. Incredibly, Rhubarb manages to be both!
- Hammerspace: Rhubarb’s sombrero holds an assortment of equipment. How it manages to stay in that scrawny space with all their running around is another matter.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is titled "The ___ Mission".
- Laugh Track: The series used one.
- Legion of Doom: In "The Call Me Madam X Mission", three villains from previous episodes hire the titular villainess to get rid of the Houndcats.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to its live-action inspirations. The show was made when the networks were cutting back on televised violence, especially in childrens' programming, so the Houndcats used Zany Schemes to trick the villains into defeat.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: As far as the series shows, the Houndcats are the only Funny Animals in an otherwise human world. No one ever mentions this.
- Sliding Scale of Animal Cast: Level 4.
- Mad Scientist/Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Two of the villains, Dr. Greenhouse and Dr. Strangeless.
- Master of Disguise: Puttypuss, The (so-called) Cat of a Thousand Faces.
- Mission Briefing: Once an Episode, and always as an Affectionate Parody of Mission: Impossible. One episode has the Chief singing the info to the tune of "Clementine".
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Considering their fur and their builds – especially pint-sized Puttypuss – they don't work very long.
- Rogues Gallery: An extensive one, since none of the villains appeared more than twice.
- The Smurfette Principle: Madam X was practically the only female character in the entire series.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: "Puttypuss, Musselmutt, Dingdog, Rhubarb, Sparkplug, and Stutz..."
- This Page Will Self-Destruct: Goes with the Mission Briefing.
- The Voice: The Chief, who gives the Houndcats their assignments.
