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'{{refimprove|date=August 2010}} {{Infobox television | show_name = Disney's Fluppy Dogs | image = [[File:Fluppy Dogs.png|250px]] | director= [[Fred Wolf (animator)|Fred Wolf]] | producer= Fred Wolf | writer= Haskell Barkin<br/>Bruce Talkington | narrator= | starring= [[Marshall Efron]]<br/>[[Lorenzo Music]]<br/>[[Susan Blu]]<br/>[[Hal Smith (actor)|Hal Smith]]<br/>[[Michael Rye]] | music= [[Shirley Walker]] | cinematography = | editing= | company= [[Walt Disney Television Animation]] | distributor = [[Buena Vista Television]] | network= [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] | first_aired= November 27, 1986 | runtime= 44 minutes | country= United States | language= English | budget= | gross= | preceded by= | followed by= }} '''''Disney's Fluppy Dogs''''' is a one-hour [[animation|animated]] [[television special]] which aired on November 27 ([[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]]), 1986 on ABC,<ref>{{cite book|last=Grant|first=John|title=Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: From Mickey Mouse to Aladdin |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=nG42Vd6zE8ifsAW4kYHwCg&id=T7ozAQAAIAAJ&dq=Encyclopedia+of+Walt+Disney%27s+Animated+Characters%3A+From+Mickey+Mouse+to+Aladdin&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Fluppy+Dogs |page=139|isbn=1-56282-904-1|year=1992|accessdate=2010-08-30|publisher=[[Hyperion Books]]}}</ref> and was intended to be a [[television pilot|pilot]] for the third [[Walt Disney Television]] animated series. The special suffered low ratings and it was cancelled. It featured five pastel-colored talking (fluppy) dogs that came through a fluppy [[parallel universe (fiction)|interdimensional doorway]] and into the lives of 10-year-old Jamie and his teenage neighbor Claire. The dogs were the intended prey of the evil miser Wagstaff. ==Premise== {{plot|section|date=September 2015}} The basic premise for the series, akin to the live-action sci-fi show ''[[Sliders]]'', was the story of a band of adventurous, cuddly, dog-like creatures called Fluppies who use a crystal key to open inter-dimensional doorways. They become lost between worlds while trying to find their way home and end up on Earth. Mistaken for regular dogs, they are captured and placed in a pound. As their only means of escape, Stanley, the leader of the Fluppies, manages to get a woman to pick him as a pet for her son, Jamie, with plans of returning to the pound to free the others. Jamie is disappointed at this new dog, which is smaller than he hoped, but takes him for a walk. Taking the opportunity, Stanley escapes his leash and makes a break for it, but Jamie pursues him so as to not anger his mother for losing the new pet so soon. Unfortunately, the chase leads to a construction site and Jamie finds himself in danger, forcing Stanley to reveal his intelligence and humanoid nature to save him. Unfortunately, Wagstaff, a rich collector of exotic animals, recognizes the animals and vows to capture them. Now with a secret, Stanley explains the situation and Jamie offers to help. Unfortunately, the boy only has enough money to purchase one of Stanley's compatriots, Tippi, and his mother won't let him keep her. Fortunately, Jaimie's neighbor Claire eagerly agrees to take her in. That night, as Jamie and Stanley sleep, the boy reflexively scratches the Fluppy's head, which causes their bed to fly. Once they awaken and learn how to control the flying effect, Stanley resolves to break his compatriots out that night and pick up Tippi to do so, inadvertently revealing their nature to Claire in the process. At the pound, Stanley and Tippi manage to free their company and barely avoid Wagstaff, who had the pound opened to seize them. The next day, the Fluppies depart to find another dimensional portal, but are forced to ask Jamie to cut school to help them access it. This portal turns out to be a water world and the company are flooded out and have to return to Jamie's home to dry out. Hiding in the basement, the Fluppies discover another portal in that very room, but opening it releases a large rambunctious creature that runs about, throwing Jamie's home into a shambles before they can bring it under control. Although the gang manages to put the house in order before Jamie's mother returns, she's upset at Jamie playing hooky and asks questions. Jamie struggles to answer without betraying his friends. Hoping to avoid ruining Jamie's life any more, some of the Fluppies continue their search on their own while Stanley and Tippi keep the alien creature hidden in the basement. The venturing Fluppies come to a library and finally locate their home world. Unfortunately, while they are returning to tell the other Fluppies the great news, Wagstaff captures Ozzie, forcing Stanley and Tippi to ask for Claire's help. Jamie sees them depart in Claire's car as he and the youngest Fluppies ride on the creature in pursuit. Unfortunately, Wagstaff was expecting this and manages to capture Stanley and Tippi in his home and threatens to call the police on the children for breaking and entering. With a desperate plan, the Fluppies convince Wagstaff to let the children bid them goodbye and signals them to scratch on all their heads. The combined strength of this magic tears the entire section of Wagstaff's house into the air. As the occupants struggle to keep their footing with the violent jostling, the Fluppies reach the portal at the front of a library and they crash land the building in front of it. As they struggle to open this portal, which happens to enter into the Fluppies' home dimension, Wagstaff and his butler find themselves knocked inside by the creature while Stanley's company bolts to safety. Before Wagstaff and his butler can exit, the door closes permanently, leaving Jamie and Claire alone in their own reality. Months later in winter, Jamie and Claire have grown to be close friends with this extraordinary adventure, but they miss the Fluppies dearly. However, Stanley and his companions return to Jaimie's dimension and reveal that not only have they reopened the portal, but now hundreds of other Fluppies are using it as well to cross over, inspired by the travelers' example to explore the human world themselves. ==Cast== Some of the characters in the Fluppy Dogs and the [[voice actors]] that played them were: *Jamie Bingham - [[Carl Steven]] *Claire the Neighbor - Jessica Pennington *Stanley the Blue Loyal Fluppy (a Wire Fox Terrier) - [[Marshall Efron]] *Tippi the Pink Lovely Fluppy (a Shetland Sheepdog) and Bink the Yellow Shy Fluppy (a Kuvasz) - [[Susan Blu]] *Ozzie the Green Cool Fluppy (a Bernese Mountain Dog) - [[Lorenzo Music]] *Dink the Red Playful Fluppy (an Irish Wolfhound) and Mr. Hamish - [[Hal Smith (actor)|Hal Smith]] *Mrs. Bingham - Cloyce Morrow *J.J. Wagstaff - [[Michael Rye]] ==Differences between the pilot and the book== While she may have been intended for the series, Fanci, an additional pink Fluppy Dog, was not featured in the pilot. Images, dolls, coloring books and puzzles supplied in the 1980s are from a children's book which included Fanci, and were apparently based on preliminary designs for the Fluppies. These are slightly different from the designs that appeared in the actual pilot film. Based on these designs it would appear that the Fluppy Dogs were originally targeted to young girls, and by the time it reached post-production, the focus was changed dramatically, but it was not enough to form a concrete target audience, which might explain its failure to become a regular series. In the book, the Fluppy Dogs are as follows: Fanci Flup (pink/white with a pink hairbow), Cuddle Flup (purple/white with two purple hairbows), Brave Flup (blue/white with a plaid bandana), Cool Flup (green/white with sunglasses), Shy Flup (peach/white with a flowered hat), and Silly Flup (yellow/white with two yellow hairbows).<ref>[http://lh6.ggpht.com/_42yeqsky4rA/Sluw5SmpMZI/AAAAAAAAADM/Xa2Ab2CqIUI/s512/Assorted%20065.jpg]</ref> ==Reception== The ''Fluppy Dogs'' special aired on the U.S. television network [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on November 27, 1986,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ebcSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x_kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5528,1130763&dq=fluppy+dogs&hl=en |last=Buck|first=Jerry|agency=[[Associated Press]] (AP)|title=His voice is famous, but face still secret|date=1986-11-21|accessdate=2010-08-30|work=[[Spokane Chronicle]]|page=12}}</ref> pre-empting ''[[Our World (TV series)|Our World]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36D3729F899EA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |last=Feder|first=Robert|title=NBC leads ratings race for 10th week in a row|date=1986-12-03|accessdate=2010-08-30|registration=yes|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]]|page=58|quote=The lowest-rated program of the week was 'Disney's Fluppy Dogs,' an animated special on Thanksgiving that pre-empted ABC's 'Our World'.}}</ref> It scored a [[Nielsen rating]] of 5.3/10; placing 70th among network programming,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3CED3E36E6D23&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|last=Bark|first=Ed|title=The ratings|date=1986-12-04|accessdate=2010-08-30|registration=yes|work=[[Dallas Morning News]]|quote=70. Special, Disney's Fluppy Dogs/ABC 5.3/10.}}</ref> it was the week's lowest-ranked program.<ref>{{cite journal|title=NBC narrowly wins week 10|date=1986-12-08|accessdate=2010-08-30|work=Broadcasting|publisher=[[Reed Business Information]]|number=111|page=102}}</ref> ==See also== *[[List of Thanksgiving television specials]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0090432}} *[http://www.toonopedia.com/fluppy.htm Fluppy Dogs on Don Markstein's Toonopedia] {{Disney Channel Movies}} [[Category:1986 television specials]] [[Category:1980s American television specials]] [[Category:Fictional dogs]] [[Category:American Broadcasting Company television specials]] [[Category:Animated television specials]] [[Category:Disney television specials]] [[Category:Television pilots not picked up as a series]]'