Catscratch is an American animated television series created by Doug TenNapel (also known for creating the Earthworm Jim franchise). It aired on Nickelodeon from July 9, 2005 to February 10, 2007. It was a loose adaptation of TenNapel's comic book series, Gear, which in the series is also the name of the cats' monster truck. The series features music composed by longtime TenNapel collaborator, Terry Scott Taylor. Catscratch is notable as the first Nicktoon series co-produced by DreamWorks Animation Television.
After the series ended, a direct-to-video film and series finale, Catscratch: The Movie was released on TBD, 2012 to mixed reviews.
Description[]
The series revolves around a trio of anthropomorphic feline brothers. After their wealthy owner Edna Cramdilly died, she left her riches to them, along with a menacing, oversized monster truck named Gear and a dignified butler named Hovis. The program commonly chronicles their wealthy lifestyles and action-packed, sometimes paranormal experiences. Other characters include the sweet young neighbor girl, Kimberly, with whom Gordon is obsessed, and the cats' competitive rivals the Chumpy Chump Brothers.
Characters[]
Main characters[]
- Mr. Blik (voiced by Wayne Knight) - the self-appointed male Bombay cat leader of the group who is confident, pampered, surly, and vain. Mr. Blik often gets himself into major trouble and is prone to near-death injuries. Mr. Blik is proud of his newly inherited riches and spends his money on anything and everything that spells respect and power. Mr. Blik always insults his two brothers. His catchphrases are "Yeah!" and "Suckers!". Mr. Blik is the oldest of the three.
- Gordon Quid (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - a cat who speaks with a Scottish accent, even though Gordon is not from Scotland, and claims to be a member of the Highland Quid Clan. Gordon has a crush on "Human" Kimberly and loves to sing, which quite regularly angers Mr. Blik. He enjoys cooking Scottish recipes, which many people find disgusting. Gordon is likely a Manx cat due to his small tail, and has an orange patch on his right eye. Gordon is the middle of the three, younger than Mr. Blik and older than Waffle.
- Waffle (voiced by Kevin McDonald) - a male dimwitted and happy-go-lucky cat with an affinity for his many pet newts. His catchphrases are "Spleee!" or "Woohoo!", and is easily fascinated by many simplistic, everyday items. Waffle also likes doing flatulent sounds with his underarms. Waffle is a gray American Curl with long, floppy ears and a long tail with dark periwinkle stripes like his right ear. Waffle is the tallest and youngest of the three.
Supporting characters[]
- Hovis (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - Mrs. Cramdilly's butler who looks after the cats and collects her measly paychecks (which Mr. Blik signs). Hovis is not exactly thrilled about his new situation but hails from a long line of butlers who have served in the house and honestly believes that he has nowhere else to go. Therefore, Hovis puts up with the fact that the former pets have become his masters. Mr. Blik barks out orders to him constantly, Gordon treats him as an equal, and Waffle hasn't quite figured out that he is not a pet anymore (though he still asks Hovis to be let out and scratched behind his ears). His birthday is April 14, 1982, as seen in the episode "Love Jackal".
- Human Kimberly (voiced by Liliana Mumy) - an 8-year-old girl who has a good-natured personality, a gap in her teeth, and an obsession with unicorns. Kimberly is one of the few human friends the cats have. Kimberly doesn't think they are greedy and just accepts her feline neighbors for who they are and sees the good in their hearts. Kimberly is also completely unaware of the fact that Gordon has a complete infatuation with her. Kimberly has three human friends named Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, and Charlotte.
- Randall the Bear (voiced by Frank Welker) - an antagonistic male brown grizzly bear who is on the hunt for the three cat brothers. Randall knows where the cats live and will sometimes be at their door to eat them up as soon as it is opened.
Production[]
Catscratch went into production in early 2005. Production continued on Catscratch until the final episode, "Spindango Fundulation/Duck and Cover" aired on February 10, 2007. After the initial run concluded, Nicktoons continued to show reruns of the series until January 2, 2009. It was briefly reran again on December 19, 2015 as a part of their "Nicktoons Holladays" marathon.
Episodes[]
Note: All episodes were directed by Michael Girard, with only two episodes being co-directed by:
- Doug TenNapel in "A Line in the Litterbox"
- Christine Kolosov-Pitt in "King of Clubs"
| No. | Title | Written by | Storyboard by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | "To the Moon" | Peter Hastings | Luther McLaurin | July 9, 2005 | |
| Mr. Blik tries to win a barbecue contest by flying to the moon to hunt for moon rocks after Gordon tells him a story about Duke Eark Splee. | |||||
| 1b | "Bringin' Down the Mouse" | Peter Hastings | Luther McLaurin and Guy Vasilovich | July 9, 2005 | |
| Mr. Blik won't let Waffle join him and Gordon on the Mouse Hunters' Ball because he never caught mouse's, an evil blue mouse named Squeakus tricks Waffle by thinking that his brothers are actually mice. | |||||
| 2a | "Unicorn Club" | Peter Hastings | John Nevarez and Andy Schuhler | July 9, 2005 | |
| Gordon tells a lie to Human Kimberly by telling her that he possesses a unicorn, which is actually his brother's in a suit, and they try to keep Kimberly from discovering the truth. | |||||
| 2b | "Go Gomez! Go!" | Peter Hastings | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | July 9, 2005 | |
| The cats and the Chumpy Chump Brothers engage in a car race and bet the deeds to their respective homes.
The problem is Waffle is the only one who's tall enough to drive. | |||||
| 3a | "Lovesick" | Peter Hastings
Story by: Josh Hamilton and Peter Hastings |
Michael Girard, Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | July 15, 2005 | |
| Gordon Quid has an allergic reaction, to a piece of broccoli that Human Kimberly gives him. Mr. Blik and Waffle state that he is a monster of this. | |||||
| 3b | "King of All Root Beer" | Peter Hastings | Lane Lueras, Michael Girard and Doug TenNapel | July 15, 2005 | |
| Mr. Blik cheats to become the king of root beer, during a game show, making Waffle angry. | |||||
| 4a | "Tale of the Tail" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Tom Owens | July 22, 2005 | |
| Gordon Quid must defeat the kraken in order to wish for a long normal tail. | |||||
| 4b | "Mr. Pickles" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | July 22, 2005 | |
| After being dumped in Gordon's pickle juice, Mr. Blik turns green and no one listens to him anymore. When he subsequently leaves and becomes a hobo, his brothers realize they need him. | |||||
| 5a | "Off the Leash" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras, Luther McLaurin and Tom Owens | July 29, 2005 | |
| Waffle is given a personality test by Gordon that indicates that Waffle might actually be a dog. But when his attempts to embrace his dog personality don't go very well, he runs away from home of this. He becomes friends with the dog Barkmeat, but they get caught by a dogcatcher. | |||||
| 5b | "Slumber Party" | Doug TenNapel | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | July 29, 2005 | |
| Human Kimberly buys all of the root beer in the store for a girls-only sleepover party. However, the cats have a plan to get root beer for themselves at any cost. The result is by disguising themselves as girls in order to attend the party. | |||||
| 6a | "The Ghost of Cramdilly" | Peter Hastings | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | September 23, 2005 | |
| When Hovis becomes fed up with the cats' treatment of him, he disguises as Mrs. Cramdilly's ghost and says that the fortune will be given to Hovis, and the cats will be the servants. Before long, the cats try to defeat the "ghost" so that they can defend their fortune. | |||||
| 6b | "A Line in the Litterbox" | Mitch Watson | Sean Charmatz and Luther McLaurin | September 23, 2005 | |
| The cats divide the house in three parts. They later engage in a war using various items from their "kingdoms". | |||||
| 7a | "Love Cats" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | September 30, 2005 | |
| Mr. Blik falls in love with Kimberly when she insults him. He and Gordon fight for the love of Kimberly then. When Mr. Blik gets hurt, Gordon thinks Kimberly has chosen Blik, and subsequently becomes depressed and wants to escape to the stars. | |||||
| 7b | "Zombie Party a Go-Go!" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | September 30, 2005 | |
| When zombies arise from the graveyard thanks to a "dip" that Waffle made, Mr. Blik mistakes the undead for a group of fancy people he invited for dinner. | |||||
| 8a | "Gordon's Lucky Claw" | Mitch Watson | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | October 14, 2005 | |
| Gordon gets a lucky claw when he says that he's going on a trip to China. When determined to win the trip to China, Mr. Blik steals it. After having a fight with Waffle, Mr. Blik flushes the claw away when he says that the claw does not work for anyone. Then, however, bad luck happens to them. | |||||
| 8b | "Big-Eyed Bunny" | Mitch Watson | Michael Girard and Octavio Rodriguez | October 14, 2005 | |
| When Kimberly gets a new friend, Gordon becomes jealous and Mr. Blik accidentally torments Kimberly's pet rabbit, or at least thinks that he does. | |||||
| 9a | "Requiem for a Cat" | Scott Kreamer | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | October 28, 2005 | |
| The fact that nobody likes Mr. Blik comes to light when his health test at the vet indicates he only has 24 hours left. He promptly tries to make amends, but his efforts only lead Gordon and Waffle to believe he's trying to murder them. | |||||
| 9b | "Scaredy Cat" | Ken Segall
Story by: Mitch Watson |
Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | October 28, 2005 | |
| Gordon refuses to celebrate Halloween, claiming it turns everything "evil". His paranoia comes to life when a pair of aliens mistake the cats' redecorated house for a mothership. | |||||
| 10a | "Hi Ho Kraken" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | February 3, 2006 | |
| The cats and the Kraken head to the Kraken Planet to regain Kraken's honor at any cost. | |||||
| 10b | "King of Clubs" | Peter Hastings | Heiko Drengenberg and Tron Mai | February 3, 2006 | |
| Mr. Blik tries to join a high society club but is dismayed when Gordon and Waffle are accepted instead. | |||||
| 11a | "Livesavers" | Scott Kreamer | Garrett Ho, Michael Mullen and Jim Schumann | February 17, 2006 | |
| During a Polynesian vacation, Mr. Blik saves Gordon's life. As a result, Gordon is obligated to serve him, which gets on Blik’s nerves very quickly. | |||||
| 11b | "Mecha-Kitties" | Peter Begler, Pennel Bird and Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | February 17, 2006 | |
| Mr. Blik, Waffle, and Gordon make robots of themselves but things go very wrong. | |||||
| 12a | "My Bodyguards" | Ving Pingerly | Wayne Carlisi, Sean Charmatz, Luther McLaurin and Michael Mullen | March 3, 2006 | |
| In order to not get into a fight with the alley cat, Mr. Blik gets the Chumpy Chumps' help. However, they end up being too helpful. | |||||
| 12b | "Charge!" | John McCann | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | March 3, 2006 | |
| When sliding down from the slide, Mr. Blik becomes charged with static electricity, though he doesn't know that the static electricity attracts to anything metal and so he gets stuck to it. | |||||
| 13a | "A Wooly Adventure" | Mitch Watson | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | March 24, 2006 | |
| After a heatwave, an iceberg thaws, and a wooly mammoth springs forth and starts hanging out with Mr. Blik, thinking that he is actually his father. | |||||
| 13b | "EVIL!" | Scott Kreamer | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | March 24, 2006 | |
| Waffle becomes convinced that he's actually an evil genius and makes plans, to take over the world. | |||||
| 14a | "Clan Destiny" | Peter Hastings | Michael Mullen and John Nevarez | April 7, 2006 | |
| Mr. Blik and Waffle are dragged to Scotland in Gear by Gordon Quid to prove that he is from The Highland Quid Clan. However, they find no evidence that he was once one of them, so Gordon is left in sadness. However, Waffle and Mr. Blik learn a Banshee haunts the Highland Quid Clan. Unless Gordon can somehow get rid of the Banshee, this might be the end for him, the cats, and the Highland Quid Clan. | |||||
| 14b | "Mall Adjusted" | Thomas Krajewski | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | April 7, 2006 | |
| Waffle bankrupts the cats, after purchasing his favorite new toy, which is all of the bubble wrap in the world. The cats are kicked out of the mansion while Hovis and the newts are repossessed. With no money, the cats are forced to endure degradation in its worst of forms, which is working at the mall. To make things even worse, every time they go to work at many of the stores in the mall, they always get fired. When they finally find another job that involves making their own root beer, the brothers take their energy into making this. A string of gigs leads to a series of destruction, chaos, and, of course, firings. The cats may have no skills, but maybe it's time for them to learn the true meaning of a hard day's work in order to get out of debt. | |||||
| 15a | "Two of A Kind" | Scott Kreamer | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | May 5, 2006 | |
| As their families prepare for battle, Waffle befriends the Chumpy Chump brother known as Lunk. The two have a blast together, but when their kin find out, Waffle and Lunk's friendship is banned. The two buddies decide they must run away, but when a disaster strikes their beloved brothers, these two like-minded pals must attempt to set things right. | |||||
| 15b | "Core-uption" | Jeff Lewis | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | May 5, 2006 | |
| Kimberly's teacher fails her on her project, which is a model of the earth's core, made of glitter, cotton candy, rainbows, and other feminine stuff. Seeing Kimberly saddened, Gordon travels to the center of the earth, and tosses her project into the core, which causes the earth to transform. Clouds turn into cotton candy, unicorns roam freely, and it rains in glitter, among other unusual changes. It may seem like Kimberly's dream has come true, but as the cats soon learn, too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. | |||||
| 16a | "Katilda" | Mitch Watson | Heiko Drengenberg and Tron Mai | June 2, 2006 | |
| Katilda (voiced by Hynden Walch) is the new cat in the series, and Blik finds her fascinating, although he doesn't want to admit it. With her charismatic leadership skills, Katilda soon has the cats following her into the woods to fight a terrifying monster. However, when it appears that Katilda's imagination may be a bit too active, it probably won't be easy for any of the cats to fight by her side. | |||||
| 16b | "The Secret Door" | Scott Kreamer | Kurt Anderson, Sean Charmatz and Michael Mullen | June 2, 2006 | |
| Blik and Gordon don't know why Waffle keeps disappearing, until they find out that Waffle has discovered a secret world hidden inside the mansion, and in this world, he has become the king. Unfortunately, Waffle finds out that being king has its price when the Dragon Rider forces Waffle into battle. Now, it's King Waffle's duty to defeat this evil menace and save his subjects. Near the end, however, they find out that the Dragon Rider is really Hovis. | |||||
| 17a | "Major Pepperidge" | Mitch Watson | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | September 22, 2006 | |
| While preparing for his own "Blik Parade", Blik suddenly grows a second head, and unlike Blik himself, the new head is much nicer. Blik loathes him, but everyone else loves the new head and his sage advice. If Blik doesn't want to be upstaged at his parade, he should to rid himself of the pest known as Major Pepperidge growing out of his neck. | |||||
| 17b | "Magic Staff" | Mitch Watson | Heiko Drengenberg and Tron Mai | September 22, 2006 | |
| After finding a staff that transforms the bearer into a hulking superhero, the cats get selfish. They each want the powers of a hero, even if they don't want to act like one. Later, when the guardian of the staff shows up to reclaim it, the cats must battle him to prove their worth, but they eventually realize that they may not deserve such power. | |||||
| 18a | "Free Hovis" | Reid Harrison | Heiko Drengenberg and Tron Mai | September 29, 2006 | |
| Through Waffle's own ignorance, Hovis is accidentally transformed into a giant, talking fish and washed out to sea. Soon enough, a traveling aquarium captures the poor butler and puts him on display. Blik, Waffle, and Gordon must track down the fishy side show and free their flippered butler. | |||||
| 18b | "Three Against Nature" | Thomas Krajewski | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | September 29, 2006 | |
| Getting lost in the woods, an argument sends the cats down three different paths without one another. Luckily for Waffle, he becomes part of a fun hillbilly family. However, when they capture Blik and plan to cook him for dinner, the cats will have to put their differences aside and work together to escape. | |||||
| 19a | "Blikmail" | Nicole Dubuc | Garrett Ho and Jim Schumann | October 13, 2006 | |
| After Blik is blackmailed by Katilda, who threatens to tell Gordon and Waffle about his doll, he tries to get it back.
His brothers think it's actually a Scottish mind-controlling figure. | |||||
| 19b | "Love Jackal" | Scott Kreamer | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | October 13, 2006 | |
| The cats have forgotten about Hovis' birthday again, but they find out he was part of a band called Love Jackal. Soon, Hovis regroups the band together and he decides that he does not need the cats any longer. | |||||
| 20a | "Spindango Fundulation" | Scott Kreamer | Sean Charmatz, Heiko Drengenberg and Luther McLaurin | February 10, 2007 | |
| When Mr. Blik beats the nearly-impossible videogame Spindango Fundulation, the cats are transported to an alien planet, where Mr. Blik must fight off evil invaders just like he did in the game. The only problem is that the conniving feline rigged the game so he would win of this. Even though the stakes are high, Mr. Blik is determined to stop the aliens. | |||||
| 20b | "Duck and Cover" | Nicole Dubuc | Lane Lueras and Luther McLaurin | February 10, 2007 | |
| Gordon is afraid of a duck that he insists is evil, so Mr. Blik and Waffle set up a wrestling match to help him conquer his fear. | |||||
Home media[]
| DVD name | Release date | Ep# | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Picks Vol. 3 | February 7, 2006 | 1x01b | Bringin' Down the Mouse |
| Nick Picks Vol. 5 | March 13, 2007 | 1x07a | Love Cats |
Reception[]
Critical[]
Sarah Wenk of Common Sense Media gave the series 3 out of 5 stars; saying that, “Catscratch is a generic cartoon show that involves oddly drawn characters who don't really look like anything, very loud voices, very bright colors, and many instances of people and creatures and things being bashed, broken, and bonked. The show is a by-the-book program, but that doesn't mean it's not sometimes funny or even touching. Many kids will get a kick out of it, although you may not be as tolerant. There's nothing terribly wrong with it, but nothing terribly right, either.”
Awards and nominations[]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 33rd Annie Awards | Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production | Luther Mclaurin for Catscratch | Nominated | |
| Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated | "Love Cats/Zombie Party A Go-Go" | Nominated | ||
| 2008 | Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated | "Spindango Fundulation/Duck and Cover" | Nominated |
Comics[]
Confirmed by an e-mail from Doug TenNapel, there were a few 2-page Catscratch comics in the works for Nickelodeon Magazine. The first one came out in the December/January 2005 issue. The second one came out in the March 2006 issue. The third and last one was in the February 2007 issue.