The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat | |
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![]() Series title card | |
Genre |
Animation Comedy |
Created by |
Pat Sullivan Otto Messmer Joe Oriolo (characters) |
Directed by |
Lynne Naylor Milton Knight Doug Lawrence Timothy Björklund |
Creative director(s) | Timothy Björklund |
Voices of |
Thom Adcox-Hernandez Charlie Adler Cree Summer |
Theme music composer |
Don Oriolo Nathan Wang |
Opening theme | "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat" |
Composer(s) | Club Foot Orchestra |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 21 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Don Oriolo Phil Roman |
Producer(s) | Timothy Björklund |
Running time | 22 min. |
Production company(s) |
Felix the Cat Productions Film Roman Wang Film Productions (uncredited) |
Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution (current) |
Release | |
Original network | CBS (U.S.) |
Picture format | 4:3 |
Audio format |
CBS Stereosound (season 1) Dolby Surround (season 2) |
First shown in | 1995-1997 |
Original release | September 16, 1995 – November 25, 1997 |
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat is an animated series starring the character Felix the Cat, produced for television by Film Roman. The series first aired on September 16, 1995[1] on CBS. The first season consists of 13 episodes and the second season consists of 8 episodes.
History
The show was a modern continuation of the original 1958-62 series produced by Otto Messmer's former assistant, Joe Oriolo. His son, Don Oriolo, was involved in the creation of this series as well. In many ways, the show reverts to the silent era of shorts with surreal settings and offbeat character depictions. Felix is also more like his original mischievous adult form, rather than the young and innocent depiction from the 1930s, 1950s and the 1988 film Felix the Cat: The Movie. It does, however, contain some elements from the 1950s series such as Felix's Magic Bag of Tricks and the characters Poindexter, the Master Cylinder, the Professor and Rock Bottom (though the latter two are actually parodies of the original characters, with their names being the Mad Doctor and Lead Fanny, respectively). The series used Fleischer Studios' style.
The series starred Thom Adcox-Hernandez as the voice of Felix the Cat, but since Adcox-Hernandez's voice was apparently a temporary role while the producers kept looking for a more suitable actor by the first season's run, he was replaced by Charlie Adler in Season 2. It was produced by Phil Roman and Timothy Berglund and is reputed to have been one of the most expensive cartoons ever made by Film Roman. Martin Olson and Jeremy Kramer, two comedy writers known for pushing the envelope into the bizarre, wrote both outlines and scripts for the series. The main theme was composed by Don Oriolo, while the musical score and closing theme were composed and performed by the Club Foot Orchestra.
Characters
- Felix the Cat: The main character and star of the show. He has many adventures with his secret bag of tricks that often helps in dangerous situations. Two different patterns were used for the magic bag, one is the earlier version pattern that is a dot and cross pattern. The latter series bag was a houndstooth pattern that replaced the dot and cross. All the episodes having the houndstooth pattern are missing from the marketplace. (voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez and Charlie Adler)
Allies
- Rosco: (voiced by Phil Hayes) - Felix's dim-witted best friend.
- Candy Kitty: (voiced by Jennifer Hale) - Rosco’s sister and Felix's love interest.
- Sheba Beboporeba: (voiced by Cree Summer) - A friend of Felix the Cat.
- Shamus T. Goldcrow: (voiced by Tony Pope) - An anthropomorphic crow.
- Skiddoo the Mouse: (voiced by Susan Silo) - One of Felix the Cat's friends.
- Bermuda Triangle: (voiced by Frank Welker) - He is an anthropomorphic version of the location of the same name. He wrecks havoc because of his stupidity. He caused all sorts of chaos in New York City until he fell in love with Times Square. The two ended up getting married.
- Nastasshia Slinky: (voiced by Jane Singer) - An actress who Felix is obsessed with.
Villains
- The Professor: He is Felix's archenemy or foil and, in most appearances, is trying to seize the Magic Bag of Tricks. He has a very amusing speech impediment and is quite eccentric. He is depicted as a mad scientist, very intelligent, yet very obsessed. He attempts many tricks such as the use of his inventions and many disguises to get Felix's magic bag, but always winds up failing in the end. In some episodes where his nephew Poindexter is involved, the Professor becomes a reluctant ally of Felix, particularly when they battle the Master Cylinder. In some of the episodes, when the Professor gives up on his episodic schemes, he intones with the words: "Oh, what's the use!!!!!" (voiced by Billy West)
- Poindexter: He is the nerdy young nephew of the Professor. He is depicted as a stereotypical scientist; he is very intelligent and always wears thick Coke-bottle glasses, a lab coat, and a mortarboard. A button on the chest of his lab coat acts as a control for whatever device the plot calls for. Despite the Professor being his uncle, he is also one of Felix's best friends. Whenever he talks to Felix, he refers to him as "Mr. Felix". (voiced by Cam Clarke)
- Rock Bottom: The Professor's bumbling sidekick (a bulldog who walks and dresses like a human being) who tries to help the Professor steal Felix's Magic Bag. Rock Bottom's full name is Rock Bottom Age. He occasionally works for Master Cylinder. Like the Professor, in some of the episodes, when Rock Bottom's schemes fail, he intones with the words: "Oh, what's the use!!!!!" (voiced by Billy West)
- Peking Duck: (voiced by Tony Jay) - An antagonist.
- Moo Shoo: (voiced by Kevin Schon) - Peking Duck's henchman.
- One-Ton: (voiced by Jim Cummings) - Peking Duck's henchman.
- The Sludge King:
- Fufu Gauche: (voiced by Brad Garrett) - A disgraced fashion designer who tries to get revenge on the city by replacing everyone's clothes with his tacky fish costumes.
- Oscar: (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) - A minor villain whose sole appearance was in the episode "Phoney Phelix", serving as one of the most pathetic foes Felix has ever faced. A wanna-be cartoon star who met failure at every step of the way, Oscar sought to climb his way to stardom by hijacking Felix's own cartoon, despite being a painfully obvious impersonator.
- Fuzzy Bunny: (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - A cutesy toy rabbit who manages to replace Felix's own show and become a nationwide sensation, thanks to how cute he is. In truth however, he is actually a gruesome thug in a rabbit suit.
- Froggy: (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - Fuzzy Bunny's henchman.
- Fuzzyman: (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - Fuzzy Bunny's henchman.
- Bet a Billion Bill: - A smooth-talking and arrogant hot shot playboy gambler.
- Captain Herman: (voiced by Tom Kenny)
Cast
- Thom Adcox-Hernandez - Felix the Cat (season 1)
- Charlie Adler - Felix the Cat (season 2), Additional voices
- Jeff Bennett - Froggy, Fuzzyman, Additional voices
- Cam Clarke - Poindexter, Additional voices
- Jim Cummings - One-Ton, Additional voices
- Brad Garrett - Fufu Gauche, Additional voices
- Jennifer Hale - Candy Kitty, Additional voices
- Phil Hayes - Rosco, Additional voices
- Tony Jay - Peking Duck, Additional voices
- Tom Kenny - Captain Herman, Additional voices
- Rob Paulsen - Fuzzy Bunny, Additional voices
- Tony Pope - Shamus T. Goldcrow, Additional voices
- Kevin Schon - Moo Shoo, Additional voices
- Susan Silo - Skiddoo the Mouse, Additional voices
- Jane Singer - Nastasshia Slinky
- Cree Summer - Sheba Beboporeba, Additional voices
- Jeffrey Tambor - Oscar
- Frank Welker - Bermuda Triangle, Additional voices
- Billy West - The Professor, Rock Bottom, Additional voices
Additional voices
Crew
Home mediaA number of episodes have been released on VHS by BMG Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and several DVD releases of episodes were available in Hong Kong under the title "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat II".[2] A 3-DVD box set of the entire series was released on April 26, 2013[3] containing 21 episodes or 58 individual segments, this release being the first complete collection with an English soundtrack. List of episodes
References
External links |