“Pink Panthers are real….”
So, somehow, the Pink Panther’s life of vagrancy has him stranded on a rainy night, looking for a port in the storm:
Frankly, I’m left wondering what circumstances put him in this position. Thrown out of a house by a jilted lover? Broken down car? On the run from the Inspector? What has brought Pink so low?
Anyway, as Pink approaches the castle, we see the castle’s two occupants…an apparently mad scientist and his hulking assistant:
Why does he need a generator? Well, one panel and one change of shirt later, we see why…he needs it, and a brain, for his manmade…tennis instructor? Gym teacher? What is that monster wearing?
By this time, Pink has entered the building and, of course, makes a beeline to the kitchen to help himself to some food, but not without making a crack about health food nuts. Boy, those health food nuts sure eat some crazy stuff, am I right, gang:
Finally, the mad scientist catches on that there’s an uninvited guest rummaging through the kitchen, and he and Bruno easily capture the freeloading panther:
Apparently the standards for a perfect brain slack a bit according to need and availability:
Pink, finally catching on that he’s not in a bread-and-breakfast, makes a run for it, but is quickly captured by Bruno again. Pink then makes a startling discovery:
So did that hatch just pop open by itself, or did Pink somehow accidentally open it up while he was, I don’t know, feeling Bruno’s manly chest or something? Seems like bit of a design flaw, either way. Anyway, Pink takes the opportunity to fiddle with Bruno’s delicate instrumentation. In the process, Pink succeeds only in 1) apparently making things worse, and 2) giving the story its pink-themed and wholly inappropriate title:
Somehow Pink slips Bruno’s grip, but instead of running for his life, follows Bruno back to the lab. The sounds of violence and some dismembered limbs come from the lab’s entrance:
Curiosity and a taste for violence drives Pink to peek in on what’s on, and makes yet another startling discovery:
So not only is the assistant a robot, but the mad scientist is a robot as well…so what we have is an old castle occupied by two robots whose apparent purpose is to build more robots for…well, who knows why, really, beyond perhaps simple self-replication.
Pink finally wises up and splits the scene, comforted only by repeating his mantra of self-affirmation:
And it’s probably too much to hope that he went directly to the local authorities to report dangerous robots on the outskirts of town, who have been attempting to kill living people in order to obtain their brains.
So, um, “BOO! OOOOH, SPOOKY!” I guess. Happy Halloween.
