History Franchise / ThePinkPanther

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'' (1964-1978) - The original run of cartoon shorts animated by Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheInspector'' (1965-1969) - A series of animated shorts starring Inspector Clouseau.
* ''A Pink Christmas'' (1978)
* ''Olym-pinks'' (1980)
* ''Pink at First Sight'' (1981)
* ''The Pink Panther and Sons'' (1984-1986)

** Clouseau's assistant In the reboot duology, Gilbert Ponton, is a CloudcuckoolandersMinder with some good fighting and observational skills, while Clouseau is a GeniusDitz who normally puts an emphasis on the Ditz and Dreyfus and his staff vaingloriously pursue the wrong leads.** In the original continuity, Inspector Cloueseau is an accident-prone CluelessDetective, his boss Dreyfus is a hammy, AxCrazy ButtMonkey, and most of the SpearCarrier uniformed cops provide some bumbling slapstick, but BeleagueredAssistant Francois is competent enough in his MrExposition role. Clouseau's assistant from ''Film/AShotInTheDark'' is very practical and conscientious, but, as revealed in a later film, he takes early retirement rather than keep working with Clouseau.

* ''Pink Panther'' (1988) Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MSX

* ''Pink Panther: Pinkadelic Pursuit'' (2002) UsefulNotes/PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PC

Beyond the films, there are also a plethora of animated cartoons starring the animated Pink Panther present from the opening and ending credits.

''The Pink Panther'' is an American comedy film franchise that spun off [[WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther two animated]] [[WesternAnimation/TheInspector ones]]. In its original form, it totaled nine films over 30 years. The first of them were directed and co-written by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starred Creator/PeterSellers. Music/HenryMancini composed the soundtracks, including an [[https://youtu.be/lp6z3s1Gig0 iconic main theme]].

'''The Films:'''[[index]]

After Peter Sellers' untimely death, Blake Edwards decided to continue the series with new lead characters. [[index]]

* ''Film/SonOfThePinkPanther'' (1993): Ten years after the previous film's events, a {{Revision}} of what happened in ''A Shot in the Dark'' reveals Clouseau sired a son, Jacques Gambrelli (Creator/RobertoBenigni). One day on his beat in the south of France, his path accidentally crosses with those of the kidnapped Princess Yasmin of Lugash ''and'' Dreyfus all at once. Then Dreyfus realizes, given the [[LikeFatherLikeSon father's track record,]] that it might not be such a bad idea to have this junior Clouseau track her down. This had the misfortune of being the final film of both Music/HenryMancini ''and'' Creator/BlakeEdwards.[[/index]]

In 2006, the franchise was [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] under the original title ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|2006}}'', with Creator/SteveMartin as Clouseau and Creator/JeanReno as a new sidekick, Ponton. Aside from Clouseau, Dreyfus was the only character carried over from the original films (played by Creator/KevinKline in the first, and Creator/JohnCleese in the second). This managed to yield [[Film/ThePinkPanther2 one sequel in 2009]]. Despite the almost completely negative critical reception, the 2006 film was a sleeper hit, with over $80 million domestic. However, the sequel was less fortunate, ending the Steve Martin run.

'''The Animated Characters:'''
* The first film had animated credits, produced by Creator/DePatieFrelengEnterprises, that featured a "literal" representation of the flaw in the eponymous diamond. [[EnsembleDarkhorse This proved so popular with audiences]] that not only would all the subsequent films (including the reboot) have animated credits, the character -- an anthropomorphic [[TheVoiceless mute]] -- was spun off into a series of animated shorts the following year, and warrants [[WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther its own page]].
* Because ''A Shot in the Dark'' did not involve the diamond itself, the Panther didn't feature in the credits (from ''Strikes Again'' onwards, he does even if the diamond isn't involved) but a caricature of Clouseau did. This went over well enough that a shorter-lived series of shorts focusing on "WesternAnimation/TheInspector" (voiced by Pat Harrington) and his sidekick Deux-Deux (a gendarme) was made in the mid-1960s. The Clouseau animated character, re-designed to more closely resemble Peter Sellers, appeared in the credits for all the subsequent films from ''Return'' through ''Trail'', always futilely pursuing the Panther. The ReplacementScrappy characters got their own animated equivalents for ''Curse'' and ''Son'', and a Martin-styled Clouseau figure appears in the reboot.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-pink-panther.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:Think Pink!]]

* DaChief: Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus is a comedic example. From ''Strikes Again'' onward, Clouseau himself takes over this position (though he is more gentle to his subordinates and fellow policemen in comparison to Dreyfus), and Dreyfus resents this when he finds out.

* DaChief: Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus is a comedic example. From ''Strikes Again'' onward, Clouseau himself takes over this position (though being DaChief, he is more gentle to his fellow policemen) and Dreyfus resents this when he finds out.

An American comedy film franchise that spun off [[WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther two animated]] [[WesternAnimation/TheInspector ones]]. In its original form, it totaled nine films over 30 years. The first of them were directed and co-written by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starred Creator/PeterSellers. Music/HenryMancini composed the soundtracks, including an [[https://youtu.be/lp6z3s1Gig0 iconic main theme]].

A comedy film franchise that spun off [[WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther two animated]] [[WesternAnimation/TheInspector ones]]. In its original form, it totaled nine films over 30 years. The first of them were directed and co-written by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starred Creator/PeterSellers. Music/HenryMancini composed the soundtracks, including an [[https://youtu.be/lp6z3s1Gig0 iconic main theme]].

* ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|1963}}'' (1963): Sir Charles Lytton (Creator/DavidNiven) is a GentlemanThief who operates under the identity of "The Phantom". Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Sellers) is a French detective who is trying to track him down in Switzerland before he can steal the prized treasure of the kingdom of Lugash, the Pink Panther diamond (a large gem so named because of a pink, panther-shaped flaw), from a visiting princess. Alas, Clouseau is such a fool that he is easily outsmarted by way of the combined forces of the Phantom, his nephew, the princess herself, and the Phantom's key accomplice...Clouseau's own wife. While the thieves were the focus of this film, Clouseau, as played by Creator/PeterSellers, was the character the subsequent films were based around, starting with...

* ''Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther'' (1975): The Pink Panther is stolen from a Lugash museum, and Clouseau is called upon to seek it out once more. The evidence suggests the Phantom is responsible, but in fact Sir Charles Lytton has been framed. The film follows the parallel plots of Clouseau trailing Sir Charles' wife to Switzerland, and Sir Charles's journey to Lugash to try and find out who actually did it. Dreyfus' attempts to kill Clouseau lands him in an institution at the end, leading directly into...

* ''Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther'' (1975): The Pink Panther is stolen from a Lugash museum, and Clouseau is called upon to seek it out once more. The evidence suggests the Phantom is responsible, but in fact Sir Charles Lytton has been framed. The film follows the parallel plots of Clouseau trailing Lytton's wife to Switzerland and Lytton's journey to Lugash to try and find out who actually did it. Dreyfus' attempts to kill Clouseau lands him in an institution at the end, leading directly into...

* ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|1963}}'' (1963): Sir Charles Lytton (Creator/DavidNiven) is a GentlemanThief who operates under the identity of "The Phantom". Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a French detective who is trying to track him down in Switzerland before he can steal the prized treasure of the kingdom of Lugash, the Pink Panther diamond (a large gem so named because of a pink, panther-shaped flaw), from a visiting princess. Alas, Clouseau is such a fool that he is easily outsmarted by way of the combined forces of the Phantom, his nephew, the princess herself, and the Phantom's key accomplice...Clouseau's own wife. While the thieves were the focus of this film, Clouseau, as played by Creator/PeterSellers, was the character the subsequent films were based around, starting with...

In 2006, the franchise was [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] under the original title ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|2006}}'', with Creator/SteveMartin as Clouseau and Creator/JeanReno as a new sidekick, Ponton. Aside from Clouseau, Dreyfus was the only character carried over from the original films (played by Creator/KevinKline in the first, and Creator/JohnCleese in the second). This managed to yield one sequel in 2009. Despite their almost completely negative critical reception, the 2006 film was a sleeper hit, with over $80 million domestic, but the sequel was less fortunate, ending the Steve Martin run.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: In ''Inspector Clouseau'', Alan Arkin played not only Clouseau, but every member of the gang while they were disguised as the title character with the actors for each character dubbing their lines in over Arkin's dialogue later.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Deconstructed and played for laughs in the 2006 film when Clouseau goes to a dialect coach to acquire a flawless American accent, and she asks him to pronounce the phrase "I would like to buy a hamburger". After some extra effort, he can easily pronounce the "I would like to buy" part, but when he tries to properly pronounce the whole sentence, "hamburger" is the only word that gives him trouble. This becomes a shibboleth moment when airport security detains him, and asks him what he has in his pockets. At first, he doesn't want to show them the hamburgers in his coats, but he keeps mumbling "hamburger", because it would be a personal humiliation for him to be seen eating and liking hamburgers. When they find the weapons in his luggage that Dreyfus' mysterious subordinate planted in his baggage, Clouseau bungles it up when he goes to all that effort to keep the hamburgers in his pocket.

The series also inspired a fan-made feature film known as ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZGsa3SLvNw Shadow of the Pink Panther]]''.

Now has a [[Characters/ThePinkPanther character sheet]]; there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters loads and loads of them]], so feel free to help it grow.

* AhborrentAdmirer: ''Inspector Clouseau'' has the title character drawing the attraction of the middle-aged extremely Scottish wife of Superintendent Weaver, much to Arkin's dismay. In the plane ride home, she reveals herself to Clouseau as the widow of Weaver (due to Mr. Weaver being clubbed to death) and at first Clouseau thinks she wants revenge... only to pull out some lingerie and say it for their first night alone in Paris. Cue Clouseau bailing out of the plane with a parachute!

** In ''Revenge'', Dreyfus and Cato are never seen again after the fireworks factory explodes.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** ''Strikes Again'', based around a plot more akin to the ''Film/JamesBond'' films, could qualify as this.
** In 1968, Peter Sellers did a film for the Mirisch Corporation (which was responsible for the first three films) that was directed by Creator/BlakeEdwards and had music by Henry Mancini, but it wasn't in the series. Its title is ''The Party''.
** ''Inspector Clouseau'', also released in 1968, counts too as it stars Alan Arkin as Clouseau instead of Peter Sellers and was directed by Bud Yorkin instead of Creator/BlakeEdwards.

* {{Qurac}}: Lugash. Also SimSimSalabim, as Lugash seems to use Indian titles like Maharajah.

In 2020, [[https://deadline.com/2020/11/mgm-pink-panther-sonic-the-hedgehogs-jeff-fowler-directing-1234618767/ another reboot]] was announced to be in production by MGM, this time being a live action/CGI hybrid focused on the Pink Panther character. The film is currently poised to be directed by Jeff Fowler of ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' fame.

* [[AnimationBump Animation Bump]]: Creator/RichardWilliams' ''Return'' and ''Strikes Again'' title sequences are a spectacular example of this trope.