Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds


Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds is a 1981-82 anime series which adapts the classic 1844 Alexandre Dumas story of d'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers. Most of the characters are anthropomorphizations of dogs, hence the title of the cartoon; although there are a few exceptions, most notably Dogtanian's two sidekicks Pip the mouse and Planchet the bear, among several others.

Plot

The story, set in 17th-century France, follows a young Dogtanian in the original Japanese version and voiced by Satomi Majima who travels from Béarn to Paris in order to become one of King Louis XIII of France's musketeers. He quickly befriends three musketeers saving Juliette, a maid-in-waiting for Queen Anne of Austria. A key difference between the Dogtanian adaptions and Dumas' novel is that the character traits of Athos and Porthos were interchanged, making Athos the extrovert and Porthos the secretive noble of the group.

Production

The series was produced in 1981 by Nippon Animation and MBS in Japan, where it began airing on October 9, 1981. One year after its premiere, it was exported to Spain and other countries by BRB International, broadcasting for the first time on TVE in October 1982, and is currently still being broadcast on different platforms such as YouTube and Netflix.
The series was dubbed into English by Intersound USA in 1985. As well as dubbing the TV series, BRB also produced a TV movie, which was again dubbed by Intersound USA.
The partnership between BRB and Nippon Animation worked so well, that they collaborated in another successful animated series two years after Dogtanian called Around the World with Willy Fog in 1983.

Crew

Original Japanese version

Japanese opening:

There was an Afrikaans adaptation broadcast on SABC during 1985 and the early 1990s. The title was changed to "Brakanjan", which has become a popular name for dogs in South Africa. The voice for Brakanjan in his earliest years, was done by Gerben Kamper during his time of working for SABC.
An Albanian dub of this show also exists. Its name is "Dagtaniani dhe musketieret" and premiered on the Albanian channel Bang Bang on 2 July 2006.

Awards

In 1989 The Return of Dogtanian was produced by BRB Internacional, Televisión Española and Thames Television with animation of Wang Film Productions and Morning Sun Animation. It picks up ten years after the original story ends, with Dogtanian and Juliette now married and living together on the outskirts of Paris with their two children, Philippe and Fleur. The Muskehounds are reunited by queen Anne when her husband starts acting suspiciously. Cardinal Richelieu is still featured, along with Milady and Widimer still loyal to him.
The story is loosely based on the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne also by Alexandre Dumas, itself building on the myth of The Man in the Iron Mask.
Dave Mallow and Doug Stone, who co-adapted the original scripts to English and co-directed, took over as the voices of Dogtanian, and Porthos, respectively. As it was produced in Taiwan by Wang Film Productions and Morning Sun Animation, Nippon Animation, the Japanese studio which produced the first series, was not involved in the sequel.
Like the first series, 26 episodes were produced. Later in 1995, a TV movie was made of the second series entitled One For All and All For One, with completely different voice actors and a few name changes from the original series.

Cast

Season 1: ''Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds''

  1. "Dogtanian's Journey"
  2. "Dogtanian meets the Black Moustache"
  3. "Paris, the City of Dreams"
  4. "The Three Invincible Musketeers"
  5. "Monsieur Treville, Captain of the Musketeers"
  6. "Dogtanian Meets His Match"
  7. "Dogtanian Meets the King"
  8. "Juliette's Secret"
  9. "Juliette Kidnapped"
  10. "The Great Getaway"
  11. "Dogtanian's Trance"
  12. "Dogtanian to the Rescue"
  13. "Dogtanian Meets Monsieur Pip"
  14. "In Search of Juliette"
  15. "Dogtanian Saves the Day"
  16. "Daggers and Diamonds"
  17. "The Journey to England"
  18. "The Chase"
  19. "Dogtanian Is Put to the Test"
  20. "Dogtanian and the Blue Falcon"
  21. "The Shipwreck"
  22. "The Jungle Adventure"
  23. "Marco's Mission"
  24. "The Impostor"
  25. "Milady's Revenge"
  26. "Dogtanian's Dream Comes True"

    Season 2: ''The Return of Dogtanian''

  27. "At France's Service"
  28. "Again in Paris"
  29. "Bad News"
  30. "The Gold Muzzle"
  31. "The Rescue"
  32. "A Secret Forever"
  33. "In the Wizard's Cave"
  34. "The King, Poisoned"
  35. "A Special Visit"
  36. "Change of Plans"
  37. "The Impostor"
  38. "One More in the Group"
  39. "Trapped by Blanbec"
  40. "A Surprise for Richelieu"
  41. "Pedrigreen hood"
  42. "Widimer Complicates Things"
  43. "The Best Archer"
  44. "Rescuing Dogtanian"
  45. "The King's Cousin"
  46. "A Robbery in the Dance"
  47. "The Black Rose"
  48. "A Terrific Surprise"
  49. "Fleur's Kidnapping"
  50. "Where is Fleur?"
  51. "Fleur's Rescue"
  52. "Treville's Successor"

    Home media

UK VHS Releases

In the UK during the late-1980s, Video Collection International Ltd released numerous video releases of Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds after its broadcast on BBC from 1985 to 1987 and its latest reruns on ITV from 1988 to 1990.
TitleRelease DateEpisodes
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds 3 October 1988Dogtanian's Journey
Dogtanian Meets the Black Moustache
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds:
Episodes 3 & 4 		3 October 1988Paris, the City of Dreams
The Three Invincible Musketeers
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds:
Episode 5 		7 November 1988Monsieur Treville, Captain of the Musketeers
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds:
Episodes 6 & 7 		6 February 1989Dogtanian Meets his Match
Dogtanian Meets the King
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds:
Episodes 8 & 9 		1 May 1989Juliet's Secret, Juliet Kidnapped
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds:
Episodes 10 & 11 		1 May 1989The Great Getaway, Dogtanian's Trance
The Complete Adventures of Dogtanian 10 September 1990
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds 22 July 1991Dogtanian's Journey
Dogtanian Meets the Black Moustache

DVD releases

The series has now been released on DVD in the UK by Revelation Films in Region 0 format:
In November 2010, a version was released that contains series 1, 2 and the movie. This was put together exclusively for HMV. Now the complete boxset has since been made available at other retailers.
The complete first series was released on DVD in the U.S. in 2012 by Oasis DVDs.

Soundtrack

The original version of the soundtrack to Dogtanian, can be downloaded from Amazon's UK website in MP3 format. It includes an English version of the theme song that uses the second series opening lyrics, but the music is similar to the original opening, in this version Dogtanian however is referred to as Dartacan, his Spanish name, and the theme is sung with very high voices, similar to the original opening, and rendered in a style reminiscent of the French dub. An insert song in Spanish which has been replicated twice and a few instrumental tracks that are heard in the show itself and one unused instrumental track.

Planned revival

According to their main website, BRB Internacional was planning a new CGI movie to be released in 2016, but it has been delayed for unknown reasons. In April 2019, it was announced that Apolo Films has since taken over production of the film. On February 11, 2020, the first image of the film was revealed. It was announced that the film will be written by Doug Langdale and directed by Toni Garcia. It will also be released on SVOD.