The Pink Blueprint is a 1966 cartoon directed by Hawley Pratt and produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. It was the 18th cartoon in The Pink Panther series.
In this one the Little Man is a construction worker. He is working off a blueprint that calls for the construction of a rather ordinary clapboard house. The Panther, who is lounging in a waste barrel on the construction site, takes one look at the boring blueprint and, appalled, substitutes his own design for a futuristic curved house—naturally, on a pink blueprint. The Panther then starts working at cross-purposes to the Little Man, injuring and mangling him in the process.
Tropes:
- Awesome, but Impractical: The Panther is carrying a ladder. He sees a free-standing door frame. Does he go around the door frame? No. Does he turn the ladder so it will fit through the door frame? No. What does he do? He cuts gaps into both sides of the door frame and walks through.
- Butt-Monkey: The Little Man as usual, getting continually victimized by the Panther, although there's a surprise ending.
- Cartoon Physics: Door frames hovering in midair, a ladder not moving as a saw slides up it, etc.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: After the Panther cuts gaps out of both sides of the door frame, it hovers in the air. He walks through. The Little Man walks through. Only after the Little Man does a Double Take does the top of the frame fall on to the bottom.
- Leit Motif: There's the standard theme of the Panther, of course, but the Little Man also gets his own separate theme for when just he is on screen, a much more practical-sounding jazz piece with less mystique to it than the main theme.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: As is true of most of the Pink Panther series.
- Twist Ending: Finally, rather than trying to build his own cool house while battling the Little Man in his construction of the boring house, the Panther gets a different idea. He takes his pink blueprint, colors it blue to make it look like a traditional blueprint, and switches out the plans. The Little Man doesn't notice, and sets to work with enthusiasm, building the Panther's house. At the end the Panther runs joyfully into his modernistic curvy pink house—but finds that it's a wooden façade. It falls down to reveal the Little Man's boring traditional house behind it.
- Wet Cement Gag: At one point the Panther's antics result in the Little Man going sliding down a ladder and into a trench filled with wet concrete. Just as the Little Man is jumping out, the concrete sets, leaving him frozen like a statue.
- White Void Room: Much of the cartoon is drawn against a blue void room, befitting the blueprint.
