By Jon Donnis
Forget another adventure with Cruella de Vil. The actual sequel to 101 Dalmatians involves a mysterious sleeping sickness, telepathic dogs, canine politicians, flying Dalmatians and an extraterrestrial being who offers the world's dogs the chance to leave humanity behind.
YES REALLY!
It sounds like somebody took the original story, threw it into a science-fiction film and then added a little British political satire for good measure. Yet The Starlight Barking is not an unofficial sequel or an elaborate fan theory. It was written by Dodie Smith herself, following her 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Published in 1967, The Starlight Barking brings back Pongo, Missis and many of the Dalmatians from the first book. Their lives, however, are about to become considerably stranger.
One morning, the dogs discover that the humans around them have fallen into a mysterious sleep. Most of the other animals are asleep too, although a small number remain awake because of their special status following the events of the first book. The dogs themselves are completely unaffected. They are not hungry or thirsty, and they soon discover that they have acquired abilities they never possessed before.
They can communicate with one another through what the book calls "thought waves", allowing dogs separated by considerable distances to communicate mentally.
They also discover that they can "swoosh", effectively moving through the air at tremendous speed. Pongo and Missis eventually use this ability to travel from Suffolk to London with a group of Dalmatians.
Their destination is 10 Downing Street, where their daughter Cadpig has found herself in an extraordinary position.
Cadpig, one of Pongo and Missis's puppies from the original story, had been given to the Prime Minister. With the Prime Minister now asleep, Cadpig becomes involved in the effort to organise the dogs and understand what has happened. The dogs belonging to members of the human Cabinet form a canine Cabinet of their own, creating one of the strangest political scenarios ever attached to the Dalmatians.
The situation becomes even more bizarre when the dogs begin trying to work out who is responsible for putting humanity to sleep.
Naturally, suspicion falls on Cruella de Vil.
Cruella is present in the story, but her interests have changed dramatically. She is no longer pursuing the Dalmatians and has become fascinated by metallic plastics. The dogs visit her and discover that she and her husband are asleep like the other humans.
Cruella therefore cannot be responsible for the crisis.
With the obvious suspect eliminated, the dogs receive a new and even more mysterious message. A strange Voice instructs them to ensure that dogs gather in open, starlit places at midnight.
The message spreads across the country through the dogs' new abilities and the familiar "Twilight Barking" from the first story.
Thousands of dogs eventually gather in Trafalgar Square.
Then they meet Sirius.
Sirius is the Lord of the Dog Star, a powerful and mysterious being who has been watching over dogs. He explains that humanity's future could bring catastrophic destruction, particularly through nuclear war. His solution is extraordinary. He offers the dogs the opportunity to leave Earth with him and escape the dangers created by humans.
There is an important condition. The dogs must choose to go freely.
Sirius cannot simply take them.
For the dogs, the offer is tempting. They have been given extraordinary abilities, they are not suffering from hunger or thirst and they are being offered an existence among the stars. Yet the decision is not as straightforward as it first appears.
Pongo is ultimately left to help make the decision.
The most persuasive argument comes from three stray dogs. They explain that homeless dogs still hope to find loving human owners. Leaving Earth would mean giving up that possibility permanently.
That changes the decision.
The dogs choose to remain on Earth rather than accept Sirius's offer.
Sirius respects their loyalty, although he is disappointed that they will not accompany him. He allows the dogs to return to their homes before the strange events come to an end.
By the following morning, the humans have awakened and normal life resumes.
The lost dogs are also given the opportunity to find shelter, with Battersea Dogs Home providing somewhere for them to stay while they await new owners.
It is a surprisingly warm conclusion to a story that has involved a mysterious worldwide sleep, supernatural abilities and an extraterrestrial visitor.
And that is precisely what makes the book such an unlikely candidate for a conventional 101 Dalmatians film.
The original story has a premise that translates naturally to cinema. Puppies are stolen by Cruella de Vil, their parents discover what has happened and a rescue mission follows. The conflict is immediate and easy to understand.
The Starlight Barking goes somewhere completely different.
There is no conventional villain driving the story. Cruella is present, but she is not responsible for the crisis. The central mystery involves an unexplained phenomenon affecting humanity, while the eventual explanation introduces Sirius and the possibility of nuclear catastrophe.
The dogs themselves also change dramatically. They can communicate telepathically and "swoosh" through the air, while Cadpig becomes involved in organising Britain's canine population during the crisis.
Then there is the ending, which is less about defeating an enemy and more about deciding whether humanity is worth staying with.
That makes The Starlight Barking a fascinating sequel, but a difficult one to imagine as a straightforward Disney follow-up.
There is also no solid evidence that Disney actually developed the book as a film and then rejected it because it was too strange. In a 2008 interview, Disney archivist Dave Smith was asked whether the studio had considered adapting The Starlight Barking. His answer was that he did not know of such a consideration. He did, however, recall that Walt Disney had encouraged Dodie Smith to write another book so that Disney could potentially make another story from her work.
That distinction is important. We cannot say that Disney tried to make The Starlight Barking and decided it was unfilmable. There is no reliable evidence for that.
What we can say is that the literary sequel never became the cinematic sequel.
Disney instead produced other Dalmatians stories. The animated sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure and the live-action 102 Dalmatians have no connection to Smith's The Starlight Barking.
That leaves the genuine sequel in a rather unusual position. It is the direct literary continuation of Dodie Smith's original story, yet it has never been turned into the obvious follow-up film.
Perhaps the strangest thing about The Starlight Barking is that, beneath all of its eccentric ideas, it actually has a serious question at its centre.
If dogs could leave humanity behind and live safely among the stars, would they?
Smith's answer is no.
The dogs choose to remain on Earth, despite the dangers posed by humanity. The homeless dogs in particular value the possibility of finding loving owners, and Pongo ultimately supports the decision to stay.
That gives the sequel a surprisingly thoughtful connection to the original story.
The first book asks what humans are prepared to do to dogs. The sequel turns the question around and asks what dogs would choose if they were given the opportunity to leave humans entirely.
It is a remarkably ambitious idea for the follow-up to 101 Dalmatians.
It is also what makes a straightforward film adaptation so difficult to imagine. A studio could certainly make The Starlight Barking, but it would have to embrace the book's unusual science-fiction premise rather than trying to turn it into another conventional Dalmatians adventure.
The Starlight Barking is not another story about rescuing puppies from Cruella. It is a strange, surreal and surprisingly thoughtful story about dogs suddenly gaining extraordinary powers and being offered an entirely new future.
For a franchise built around 101 Dalmatians, that is an extraordinary place for the story to go.
So do you think they should try to make an accurate sequel to 101 Dalmatians, based completely on The Starlight Barking? And if so, would you prefer it in the style of a 1961 animated cartoon, or more like the 1996 live action film?
