The Starlight Barking (101 Dalmatians)

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Ascended Extra: Cruella's white cat and the Staffordshire Terrier are minor (if important) characters in the original novel, but are major characters in the sequel, and quite a bit of the novel is dedicated to the Odd Friendship that springs up between them when they realize they aren't that different. Beyond Redemption: Any dog which bites a human, at least in Missis's view. She is perfectly willing to bite Cruella or the Badduns, but she justifies that on the grounds that they aren't really human (and in Cruella's case, at least, she may be right). Pongo and Missis are a pair of married Dalmatians who have just become the parents of a litter of fifteen. They belong to a newlywed couple, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly, who live in a tiny place near Regent's Park. Their domestic happiness comes under siege, however, when Cruella de Vil, a Rich Bitch and distant acquaintance of Mrs. Dearly (with an inordinate love of fur), attempts to buy the puppies. When she's told that they're not for sale, she hires thieves to kidnap them. When Scotland Yard is unable to find them, Pongo and Missis set out to rescue their puppies themselves, following a tip gained through the "Twilight Barking" network of dogs.

In both the live-action and animated adaptations, there is only one nanny, Missis and Perdita were combined into one character, and other characters, such as many of the other dogs, Prince, Tommy, Cruella's cat, and Cruella's husband, were omitted. In the animated film, Pongo and Missis' owners' last names were changed to "Radcliffe" from "Dearly", and in the live-action film, Cruella (portrayed by Glenn Close) appears as the spoiled magnate of an haute couture fashion house, " House of DeVil". Disney kept the book's characters Horace and Jasper Baddun in both versions, but represented them as the thieves hired by Cruella to steal Pongo and Missis' puppies. In the novel, Horace is named Saul, and they are merely caretakers, the puppies having been stolen by hired professional thieves some days before. Flipping further I found a visit to a sleeping Cruella de Vil, and a pseudo-religious Voice (Sirius Lord of the the Dog Star) entering the storyline, to warn the ‘caninecade’ that he can save them from the destructive nuclear forces about to be unleashed by humans. It would appear that the book then rapidly descends into farce as a number of ownerless dogs instead opt to seek a life at Battersea Dogs Home (a highly reputable establishment in real life). Hmm.

The 1956 children's book and its 1967 sequel contains examples of:

Better the Devil You Know: Upon learning Cruella isn't the sequel antagonist, Pongo "almost wished she were" since she's "the devil he knew" and he felt someone unknown and more powerful was in charge. No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Foreign Secretary and the Minister of Transport in Cadpig's Cabinet in The Starlight Barking are gentle parodies of the actual Cabinet ministers at the time. The Three Strays - a deputation sent to Pongo on behalf of all the lost, stray, abused, and homeless dogs in England. It is their undying hope and desire to one day find loving owners which convinces Pongo and the other dogs to stay with their own masters. Dalmatians Pongo and Missis live with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and their two nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler. Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" who has been granted lifelong tax exemption and lent a house on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park in return for wiping out the government debt. The dogs consider the humans their pets but allow them to think that they are the owners.

Mr. de Vil - A small, worried, but equally evil man, from the first novel. He snores louder than anyone the dogs have ever heard. Villain Ball: There was no reason at all for Cruella to kidnap the Dearly puppies. She already owned 82 dalmatian puppies, which should have been plenty to start her fur farm. The only thing that taking the Dearly puppies accomplished was 1) wasting money (she paid more to the dog thieves than she had for any litter), 2) bringing unwanted police attention (nothing she'd done before was illegal), 3) causing her husband's business to be destroyed by 99 extremely irate Dalmatians. All because she couldn't take "no" for an answer.Perdita and Prince - a married couple of liver-spotted Dalmatians, and the parents of eight of the stolen puppies from the first novel. They are left in charge of the Dearlys' household while Pongo and Missis go to London.

Noodle Incident: The Dearlys can afford a nice house near Regent Park because Mr Dearly, a financial wizard, had "done a very great service for the government". Later they can afford to move to the country (and buy Hill Hall) because he had done yet another "very great service" (something to do with "getting rid of the National Debt"). The story behind that must have been nearly as interesting as what his dogs got up to. The Prime Minister - Cadpig's beloved owner. She idolized him when he was on TV, and he in turn was so touched by her affection (something he hadn't had for a long time) when they met that he broke down in tears and adopted her. In her pursuit of warmth, Cruella travels everywhere in what Smith describes every time as “an absolutely simple white mink cloak,” and at one point appears wearing a brown mink coat underneath her existing cloak, along with a fur hat, fur gloves, and fur boots. Every night she sleeps between ermine sheets. Moreover, she flavors all her food — including ice cream — with nothing but pepper, and when the Dalmatians bite her, they discover that she too tastes of pepper.

Genre Shift: The Starlight Barking, the sequel to the original book, is a fairly bizarre departure from the mundane (except for the sentient animals) setting of the first book featuring Sirius, Lord of the Dog Star, a Sufficiently Advanced Alien who, concerned about the possibility of nuclear war destroying dogkind, causes all humans and other animals to fall into an unnaturally deep sleep. This is likely a significant part of the reason why the sequel never saw a film adaptation and has subsequently been almost forgotten. The original animated feature appeared while Disney was shifting away from fairy-tale adaptations and toward more contemporary children’s stories. 101 Dalmatians was released in early 1961, amid the likes of Swiss Family Robinson and The Parent Trap, and just a few years before Mary Poppins. The Starlight Barking was published in 1967, well after the success of the animated adaptation of the original novel, and with a considerable pop-culture cache in its corner. However, the sequel novel took the story in what can only be described as unexpected directions. Regardless, by the end of The Hundred and One Dalmatians, the Dearlys and their dogs do defeat Cruella, leading her to flee England in disgrace. But Cruella makes a triumphant return in the sequel, 1967’s The Starlight Barking.

Right from the outset the reader is presented with a mystery as to why all humans, birds, insects, horses, mice, pigs, cows, cats … etc have fallen into a deep sleep. But not, of course, dogs, and oddly one child and one cat.The General - formerly "The Colonel" in the first novel, before his promotion, the Old English Sheepdog who lives at Tompkins farm next door to Pongo and Missis. He is able to communicate with his owner's son, Tommy Tompkins, in a half-dog half-human babble. Like Brother and Sister: At one point, Pongo reflects that he does think of Perdita as a second mother to his and Missis' puppies, but that he loves her like a younger sister rather than a second wife. The Dearlys' home isn't described much but presumably also qualifies, as it's in the Outer Circle which was (and is) one of the most prestigious locations in London.