One of Disney’s most successful franchises got the small screen treatment in the late 1990s. The original animated film was already a family classic and the studio had successfully remade it into a live-action movie in 1996, starring Glenn Close as the deliciously evil Cruella de Vil. Such a pedigree—dreadfully sorry for the pun!—guaranteed the new cartoon series a ready-made audience.

The series started with Roger and Anita Dearly’s move from the city to a big country farm, accompanied of course by their pack of Dalmatians. In an amazingly horrible coincidence, the puppies’ new playground abutted the mansion of Cruella de Vil, archenemy of all things furry and cute. The threat of being turned into coats no longer hung over the dogs like the sword of Damocles, due to Cruella’s loss of interest in their spotted hides but the arrangement still wasn’t completely rosy. Cruella hated having the Dearlys and their brood sniffing around next door so she hired her old henchmen, Jasper and Horace, to hound them—sorry again!—off the farm. A new character was Cruella’s pet ferret, Scorch, a regular pest and constant source of vexation for the puppies.

Action centered around three of the dogs—Lucky , Rolly and their delicate sister, Cadpig—but other puppies, like Duke, Two-Tone, and Wizzer, took part in the adventures as well.  Another character, Spot the chicken—not to be confused with the barnyard game of the same name—hung around with the Dalmatians, desperately wanting to be a dog. 101 Dalmatians: The Series debuted in 1997 with new episodes being shown in syndication six days a week. It soon moved to ABC’s Saturday morning lineup with original episodes but it only lasted for one season. Still, the world couldn’t get enough polka-dotted goodness and the whole cast returned for the sequel movie, 102 Dalmatians.