Penelope Pitstop in The Princess and the Pauper

Penelope Pitstop in The Princess and the Pauper is an animated short originally featured in episode #13 of Hanna-Barbera's Works. It was later featured in Penelope Pitstop's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the Superstars Show and the Hanna-Barbera's Superstars Show episode "Meet Princess Penelope". As the title suggests, it is an adaptation of The Princess and the Pauper, but it also finds its roots in the animated television series Yogi's Treasure Hunt episode "Snow White and the Seven Treasure Hunters" in 1987.

Synopsis
In 16th century England, an offscreen narrator (voiced by John Cleese) the good Queen is very ill and becomes bedridden. His Captain of the Guard (Dick Dastardly and Muttley), uses this to his advantage of robbing and being cruel to the people in the King's name. On a cold winter's day, Erika (Penelope Pitstop), Joe (Yogi Bear) and Charlie (Scooby-Doo) try selling what they have for food, Erika selling firewood and Joe selling snow cones. They dream of being warm and someday living in the palace. Meanwhile in the palace, the Princess (who looks exactly like Penelope Pitstop) is doing his studies with his adviser (Quick Draw McGraw) and his Valet (Snagglepuss). He is bored and looks longingly out of his window seeing all the people and wishing he was with them. A while before, the King's guards came in their stagecoach, while hauling off the food they stole from the townspeople. Then a string of sausages drooped out of the stagecoach and Charlie ran after them. Erika tried to stop him, but the palace gates had already closed. He asked the guard if he could come in to look for his dog, and the guard let him do so, thinking he was the Princess. Then Captain of the Guard caught him and tried to poke him with his sword, but the Princess saw this and wanted Erika brought to him at once because "even the lowliest subjects of this Kingdom deserve respect" as he had quoted.

Inside the palace, Erika is amazed at its splendour, but he accidentally slips on the shiny floor and crashes into some suits of armour. Just then, the Princess arrives and gets caught in the falling armour. Both remove their helmets and are amazed at the sight of each other. The Princess tells Erika that his life is so boring with his constant lessons and banquets and envies the Pauper for his freedom. He then decides to switch places with him to see what life is like outside the palace. Erika is hesitant to do so, but the Princess explains to him that everything would be fine. As the Princess reaches the palace gates, he is handled roughly by Captain of the Guard, who doesn't believe that he's the Princess and then catapulted out. Charlie and Joe find him afterwards, but Pluto turns his back on him, knowing he is not Erika. Joe, however, is convinced and doesn't understand why the Princess is avoiding him or acting like he doesn't know him. In the palace, Erika is shown a long list of his royal duties.

Both the Princess and the Pauper are not having much success with their lives and cause disaster everywhere they go. As the Princess is walking through the town, he sees the Weasel Guards stealing a chicken from Cindy Bear, so he commands them to stop, but they just laugh and continue robbing the people. From this he finds out how the people are being treated in the Queen's name. Suddenly, the Princess sees a cart being pulled full of food and after showing the royal ring, demands the driver to hand over what's inside. The Weasels then come to arrest the Princess, but he's saved by Joe and they ride away into the distance. Later in Captain of the Guard's tower, one of the Weasel guards tells his captain about what has happened and Captain of the Guard realises that it was the Princess he threw out of the castle and therefore knows how the people are being treated, so he begins making plans to get rid of him.

In the palace, adviser appears to Erika saying that "his mother" wishes to see him in his last few hours. He then takes him to the king, who's gravely ill. Erika enters the room of the dying king, and adviser closes the door, then the dying queen tells Erika that he must become king and rule the land justly and wisely, he sadly promises. Shortly afterwards the King dies. Mickey leaves the room and decides to go and find the Princess, but Pete sneaks up behind him and threatens him to be crowned Queen at his orders, or he would kill Charlie whom he had taken earlier as a hostage. In the town the bells ring out that the Queen has died, the Princess is deeply sad and knows that he must now be the new Queen and put right what Captain of the Guard has done. Joe sees his ring and offers his full-most support. As they are about to leave, Captain of the Guard and some guards burst in and capture the Princess and lock him in the dungeon along with Valet, while the coronation begins. Erika tries his hardest not to be crowned, but Captain of the Guard is behind the curtain strangling Charlie. Meanwhile, the Princess and Valet are rescued by Joe who is disguised as an executioner and together they take out most of the guards and rush to the Coronation chamber.

Erika finally plucks up his courage and orders the guards to arrest Captain of the Guard, but the villain defends himself by revealing the Pauper to be an impostor. The real Princess arrives just in time and challenges the vicious Captain to a sword battle. Joe and Valet take out more of the Weasel guards, and thanks to Joe's clumsiness, end up entangling some of them in a falling chandelier. An errant arrow rips through the rope choking Charlie, freeing him and allowing him to join the battle as well. Captain of the Guard is given a humiliating defeat by Charlie biting him, his trousers being sliced down, being tripped by both Erika and the Princess, before finally becoming caught with the guards in the now rolling chandelier. The chandelier rolls down the red carpet and crashes through the glass window into the street below. Both the Princess and the Pauper laugh and hug each other, but the archbishop doesn't know who the real Princess is until Charlie recognizes his master by licking Erika affectionately. The archbishop then crowns the Princess as the new Queen of England, and with Erika, Valet, Joe, Charlie and Adviser by his side, he rules the country as he swore he would with justice and compassion for all.

Characters

 * Penelope Pitstop
 * Yogi Bear
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Dick Dastardly and Muttley
 * Quick Draw McGraw
 * Snagglepuss
 * Cindy Bear
 * Narrator (John Cleese)