10. Baby Huey
9. Squiddly Diddly
8. Buzzy the Crow
7. Hippity Hopper
6. Loopy de Loop
5. Go Go Gophers
4. The Blue Racer
3. The Beary Family
2. Sad Cat
1. Klondike Kat
Klondike Kat is a "Klondike Kop" (I don't know why they had this aversion to the letter C), working out of Fort Frazzle under the direction of Major Minor. He is constantly trying to apprehend Savoir Faire, a French Canadian mouse who is terrorizing the Klondike, robbing everyone of their food. Savoir Faire is aided by Malamutt, his sled dog and all-around valet.
Malamutt does not talk, which is a blessing. This cartoon series is saddled with more asinine catch phrases than any cartoon series I've ever seen, and every phrase is used at least twice in every episode. Klondike is fond of saying "Klondike Kat always gets his mouse!" and "I'll make mincemeat out of the mouse!" which is as inane as it is unappetizing. Savoir Faire's calling card is "Savoir faire is everywhere!" in probably the worst French accent since Pepe le Pew. By the end of just one cartoon, you want to rip off your ears as well as your eyes.
To add to all this, the cartoons are (I know I have used this a lot lately) badly animated and unfunny. The characters are badly designed and don't have any characteristics that make you want to root for them, sympathize with them - nothing. You actually end up DISliking the characters intensely after a viewing. This series is a total waste of time from beginning to end.
The Klondike Kat cartoons were created in 1963 as part of the Tennessee Tuxedo show. As Total Television began rerunning and syndicating their old shows, Klondike Kat ended up on the Underdog show and the Go Go Gophers show as well, which provided him with a much longer television life than he deserved. I watched a LOT of cartoons as a kid, and I distinctly remember leaving the room whenever Klondike Kat appeared on the screen. I hated him then, and still do to this day.
Another TV cartoon series, Dudley Do-Right, covered some of the same territory as Klondike Kat, but instead of being a train wreck it was actually a hilarious, well-written and produced parody of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. However, it was said that the actual RCMP protested the series. Evidently they had never heard of Klondike Kat...
OK, I hate to do it, but here is a Klondike Kat cartoon. If you can make it to the end, as a reward you can see a "Sing a Long Family" cartoon, one of the few cartoon series that Total Television did well. Hopefully that will make up for what you are about to watch. Put away any firearms and any sharp utensils as you watch Island in the Sky, a title which makes absolutely no sense...
Okay, I know that many of you are wondering why certan cartoons are missing, and why didn't they make the list. Next week i will post the 'Honorable Mentions," listing the cartoons that maybe should have been on this list but for one reason or another were not included. I promise I will discuss The Great Gazoo, Pepe le Pew, and other suggestions that were made. See you here next week!
"The Sing-A-Long Family" was yet another attempt in the studio's history to create another companion series to go with another show (these were made around 1967), but only three were produced and were simply stuck into syndication airings of Underdog for years to come. Other such one-trick-ponies include "Gene Hattree" and another pilot involving a canine superhero who happens to be a taxi driver as an alias.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q80LP1THXe0
Aside from "Underdog", the only other Total TV Production to make its way to Saturday morning was "The Beagles", about a duo rock group. I'm sure Klondike Cat was probably stuck on that show as well. The last project the studio tried to get off the ground involved a family set in ancient Rome called "The Colossal Show", the only remnant of that was a single comic book issue published by Gold Key in '69.
http://transylvaniagentlemen.blogspot.com/2011/03/colossal-no.html
Thanks for all the great info! I actually own a copy of the comic book!
ReplyDeleteGlad to help!
DeleteI loved this cartoon!!!!
ReplyDeleteGo Go Gophers on this list!?! They are the BEST and we need to bring them back in the 2020s
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