Catscratch

Catscratch
Genre	Sitcom, slapstick
Created by	Doug TenNapel
Voices of	Wayne Knight Kevin McDonald Rob Paulsen Maurice LaMarche Liliana Mumy John DiMaggio
Composer(s)	Terry Scott Taylor
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Doug TenNapel Peter Hastings (co-executive)
Producer(s)	Monique Beatty (line) Michael Girard (supervising)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Original release	July 9, 2005 – February 10, 2007

Catscratch is an American animated television series created by Doug TenNapel (also known for creating Earthworm Jim). It was aired on both Nickelodeon and Nicktoons on July 9, 2005. It is an adaptation of TenNapel's graphic novel, Gear, which is also the name of the cats' monster truck. The series features music composed by longtime TenNapel collaborator, Terry Scott Taylor. Catscratch's first DVD appearance was on Nick Picks Vol. 3, which came out February 7, 2006 (though the DVD contained only "Bringin' Down the Mouse").

Description

The series revolves around a trio of anthropomorphic feline brothers, including the arrogant and acerbic Mr. Blik, the impulsive and cheerful Waffle, and Gordon Quid, who possesses stereotypical Scottish mannerisms and recounts apparently fictional experiences back in Scotland. 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, and the program commonly chronicles their wealthy lifestyles and action-packed, sometimes paranormal, experiences. Other characters include the kind, sweet young neighboring girl Kimberly, with whom Gordon is obsessed with, and the cats' competitive rivals the Chumpy Chump Brothers, among others.

Characters

• Mr. Blik (voiced by Wayne Knight): Mr. Blik is the self-appointed leader of the group who's confident, pampered and vain. He is a bombay cat. It is told that a black cat means bad luck, and this is true for Mr. Blik (because he is a black cat), who 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. Mr. Blik's catch phrases are, "Yeah!" and "Suckers!" He is the oldest of the three.
• Waffle (voiced by Kevin McDonald): Waffle is an extremely enthusiastic, naïve and childish cat. He has an affinity for newts, and can speak Newtuguese (a language supposedly spoken by newts) as if he were a newt himself. Waffle is a lover of life who is overly optimistic. His catch phrases are "Spleee!" or "Yahoo!" when he's happy and gets super-excited about all things silly. Waffle has been wowed by revolving doors, fingers, bubble wrap and newts. He also wishes roller coasters were public transportation, would eat donuts straight from "donut trees", loves zero gravity basketball and smelling the pictures of flowers on shirts. Waffle also likes doing flatulent sounds with his underarms. He is a gray Tortie with long, floppy ears and a long tail with dark periwinkle stripes like his right ear. He is the tallest and the youngest of the three.
• Gordon Quid (voiced by Rob Paulsen): Gordon is an outspoken member of the Highland Quid clan and acts like he's from Scotland despite the fact that he is not. However, he speaks with a thick stereotypical Scottish accent. He is kind-hearted, has a soft spot for "Human" Kimberly and loves to sing, which quite regularly angers his older brother, Mr. Blik. He is also an excellent cook, usually cooking Scottish recipes, which a lot of people don't find edible. He has an orange patch on his right eye. The episode "Lovesick" shows he is allergic to both broccoli and chocolate, which cause disastrous effects upon contact. At first, the reaction seems to consist of typical allergic symptoms, such as sneezing, but eventually, all of the lights appear to go out and he turns into a Mr. Hyde-like monster, similar to a cat-like monster they were watching in a movie. Somewhat fortunately (particularly for Mr. Blik and Waffle), no future episode involves or mentions Gordon and his allergies. In some episodes, Gordon is shown with green-colored eyes, but in others he has blue. Judging from his short tail, he is a Manx. Gordon also has a mission set before him: to get Mr. Blik to do the right thing. Gordon's catch phrases are, "In the name of the Highland Quid Clan", "Feel my sting.", "Great gopher", "Cheer", and sometimes "Pop a Wheelie!". He is the shortest of the three, younger than Mr. Blik and older than Waffle.
• Hovis (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) Hovis is Mrs. Cramdilly's butler and has stayed on to look after the cats and collect his measly paychecks (which Mr. Blik signs). He's not exactly thrilled about his new situation, but he hails from a long line of butlers who have served in the house and he honestly believes he has nowhere else to go. Therefore, Hovis puts up with the fact that the former pets have become his masters. Blik barks out orders constantly, Gordon treats him as an equal and Waffle hasn't quite figured out that he's not a pet anymore (he still asks Hovis to be let out and scratched behind his ears). His birthday is April 14, 1982, as seen in "Love Jackal." (Hovis' voice sounds similar to that of Shackelford, the butler to the Sherman family on The Critic, which LaMarche also portrayed.)
• Kimberly (voiced by Liliana Mumy): Kimberly is a 8-year-old girl with a good-natured personality, a gap in her teeth, and an obsession with unicorns. She is one of the few human friends the cats have. She doesn't think they are greedy, and just accepts her feline neighbors for who they are and sees the good in their hearts. She is also completely unaware of the fact that Gordon has a complete infatuation with her. She has three human friends named Kaitlin, Kaitlyn and Charlotte.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			Season premiere	Season finale
	1	20	July 9, 2005	February 10, 2007

Episodes

Note: All episodes were directed by Michael Girard with the only co-directions of:

• Doug TenNapel in "A Line in the Litterbox"
• Christine Kolosov-Pitt in "King of Clubs"

Total #	Title	Written by	Storyboard by	Original Air date
1	"To the Moon / Bringin' Down the Mouse"	Peter Hastings	Luther McLaurin Luther McLaurin & Guy Vasilovich	July 9, 2005[1]
1a. Mr. Blik tries to win a barbecue contest by going to the moon for moon rocks after Gordon tells him a story about Duke Eark Splee. 1b. Mr. Blik won't let Waffle join him and Gordon on the Mouse Hunters' Ball, simply because he never caught a mouse. Then an evil blue mouse named Squeakus tricks Waffle into thinking that his brothers are mice.
2	"Unicorn Club / Go Gomez! Go!"	Peter Hastings	John Nevarez & Andy Schuhler Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	July 9, 2005[1]
2a. Gordon tells a lie to Human Kimberly by telling her that he possesses a unicorn. The unicorn, however, is really his brothers in a suit, and they try to keep Kimberly from discovering the truth. 2b. The cats and the Chumpy Chump Brothers engage in a car race. The problem is that Waffle is the only one tall enough to drive.
3	"Lovesick / King of All Root Beer"	Peter Hastings	Michael Girard, Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin Lane Lueras, Michael Girard & Doug TenNapel	July 15, 2005[1]
3a. Gordon has an allergic reaction to a piece of broccoli that Human Kimberly gives him, making Mr. Blik and Waffle to believe he is a monster. 3b. During a game show, Mr. Blik cheats to become the king of root beer, making Waffle angry.
4	"Tale of a Tail / Mr. Pickles"	Mitch Watson	Lane Lueras & Tom Owens Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	July 22, 2005[1]
4a. Gordon must defeat the kraken in order to wish for a long normal tail. 4b. After being dumped in Gordon's pickle juice, Mr. Blik turns green and no one listens to him anymore. As a result, he becomes a hobo.
5	"Off the Leash / Slumber Party"	Mitch Watson Doug TenNapel	Lane Lueras, Luther McLaurin & Tom Owens Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	July 29, 2005[1]
5a. Waffle runs away from home when no one cares that he has a dog personality. He becomes friends with the dog Barkmeat and gets caught by the dogcatcher. 5b. 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: by disguising themselves as girls in order to attend the party.
6	"The Ghost of Mrs. Cramdilly / A Line in the Litterbox"	Peter Hastings Mitch Watson	Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin Sean Charmatz & Luther McLaurin	September 23, 2005[1]
6a. When Hovis disguises as Mrs. Cramdilly, and says that the fortune will be given to Hovis and the cats will be the servants, the cats try to defeat the "ghost" so that they can defend their fortune. 6b. The cats divide the house in three parts; later, they engage in a war using various items from their 'kingdoms'.
7	"Love Cats / Zombie Party a Go-Go!"	Mitch Watson	Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	September 30, 2005[1]
7a. Mr. Blik falls in love with Kimberly when she insults him. Then he and Gordon fight for the love of Kimberly. When Blik gets hurt, Gordon thinks Kimberly has chosen Blik, and subsequently becomes depressed and wants to escape to the stars. 7b. When zombies arise from the graveyard of the dip that Waffle made, Mr. Blik mistakes the undead for a group of fancy people he invited for dinner.
8	"Gordon's Lucky Claw / Big-Eyed Bunny"	Mitch Watson	Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann Michael Girard & Octavio Rodriguez	October 14, 2005[1]
8a. Gordon gets a lucky claw when he says that he's going on a trip to China. 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. When Kimberly gets a new best friend, Gordon becomes jealous and Mr. Blik accidentally kills Kimberly's pet rabbit, or at least thinks that he does.
9	"Requiem for a Cat / Scaredy Cat"	Scott Kreamer Ken Segall	Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	October 28, 2005[1]
9a. Mr. Blik gets 24 hours to live and Gordon and Waffle try to run away from Mr. Blik, but they find out the truth. 9b. Gordon refuses to celebrate Halloween as the aliens mistake the cats' redecorated house as a mothership. (Halloween Special)
10	"Hi Ho Kraken / King of Clubs"	Mitch Watson Peter Hastings	Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin Heiko Drengenberg & Tron Mai	February 3, 2006[1]
10a. The cats and the Kraken head to the Kraken Planet to regain Kraken's honor at any cost. 10b. Mr. Blik tries to join a high society club, but is dismayed when Gordon and Waffle are accepted instead.
11	"Livesavers / Mecha-Kitties"	Scott Kreamer Peter Begler, Pennel Bird & Mitch Watson	Garrett Ho, Michael Mullen & Jim Schumann Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	February 17, 2006[1]
11a. Mr. Blik saves Gordon's life, making him (Gordon) serve him. 11b. Mr. Blik, Waffle, and Gordon make robots of themselves but things go (un)expectedly wrong.
12	"My Bodyguards / Charge!"	Ving Pingerly John McCann	Wayne Carlisi, Sean Charmatz, Luther McLaurin & Michael Mullen Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann	March 3, 2006[1]
12a. In order to not get into a fight with the alley cat, Blik gets the Chumpy Chumps's help. They end up being too helpful, however. 12b. When sliding down from the slide, Blik becomes charged with static electricity. He doesn't know that the static electricity attracts to anything metal, however, and so he gets stuck to it.
13	"A Wooly Adventure / EVIL!"	Mitch Watson Scott Kreamer	Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann	March 24, 2006[1]
13a. After a heatwave, an iceberg thaws, and a wooly mammoth springs forth and starts hanging out with Mr. Blik, thinking that he (Blik) is his father. 13b. Waffle becomes convinced that he's an evil genius and makes plans to take over the world.
14	"Clan Destiny / Mall Adjusted"	Peter Hastings Thomas Krajewski	Michael Mullen & John Nevarez Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann	April 7, 2006[1]
14a. Mr. Blik and Waffle are dragged to Scotland in Gear by Gordon 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. 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 work at many of the stores in the mall, they always get fired. When they finally find another job that involves making root beer, the brothers take their energy into making root beer. 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.
15	"Two of A Kind / Core-uption"	Scott Kreamer Jeff Lewis	Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann	May 5, 2006[1]
15a. 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. Kimberly’s teacher fails her on her project: a model of the earth’s core, made of glitter, cotton candy, rainbows, and other feminine stuff. Seeing Kimberly upset, 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 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.
16	"Katilda / The Secret Door"	Mitch Watson Scott Kreamer	Heiko Drengenberg & Tron Mai Kurt Anderson, Sean Charmatz & Michael Mullen	June 2, 2006[1]
16a. Katilda (Voiced by Hynden Walch) is the new cat in town, 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. Blik and Gordon can’t figure out why Waffle keeps disappearing, until they find out that Waffle has discovered a secret world hidden inside the mansion, and in this world, he’s become 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.
17	"Major Pepperidge / Magic Staff"	Mitch Watson	Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann Heiko Drengenberg & Tron Mai	September 22, 2006[1]
17a. 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’ll have to rid himself of the pest - known as Major Pepperidge growing out of his neck. 17b. 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.
18	"Free Hovis / Three Against Nature"	Reid Harrison Thomas Krajewski	Heiko Drengenberg & Tron Mai Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	September 29, 2006[1]
18a. 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. 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.
19	"Blikmail / Love Jackal"	Nicole Dubuc Scott Kreamer	Garrett Ho & Jim Schumann Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	October 13, 2006[1]
19a. After Katilda teases Blik about his doll, he tries to get it back, but his brothers think it's a Scottish mind-controlling figure. 19b. 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.
20	"Spindango Fundulation / Duck and Cover"	Scott Kreamer Nicole Dubuc	Sean Charmatz, Heiko Drengenberg & Luther McLaurin Lane Lueras & Luther McLaurin	February 10, 2007[1]
20a. 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. The only problem, however, is that the conniving feline has rigged the game so he would win. Even though the stakes are high, Mr. Blik is determined to stop the aliens (TV Special) 20b. Gordon is afraid of ducks, so Mr. Blik and Waffle set up a wrestling match for him to help him conquer his fear.

Broadcast

US

• Nickelodeon (2005–07)
• Nicktoons Network (2007–09; December 19, 2015)

UK

• Nickelodeon (2006–08)
• Nicktoons (2006–08)

Canada

• YTV (2006–09)

Australia and New Zealand

• Nickelodeon (2006–12)
• Network Ten (2006–11)
• Eleven (2011–present)

Latin America and Brazil

• Nickelodeon (2006–08)
• Nick at Nite (2009–10)

Philippines

• TV5 (2008–10)

Middle East

• Nickelodeon (2008–2011)

Comics

Confirmed by an e-mail from Doug TenNapel, there were a few 2-page Catscratch comics in the works for Nick 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.

Production

Catscratch went into production in early 2005. Production continued on Catscratch until the final episode, "Spindango Fundulation/Duck and Cover" aired in early 2007. After the final episode of Catscratch was aired, Nicktoons continued to show re-runs of the cartoon until January 2, 2009.

Awards and nominations

Year	Nomination	Result
2006	Annie Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production Luther McLaurin Casting Society of America	Nominated
2006	Nominated Artios Best Animated Voice-Over Television Casting Sarah Noonan Meredith Layne Motion Picture Sound Editors	Nominated
2006	Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television Animated	Nominated
2008	Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - SFX, Foley, Dialogue, ADR & Music	Nominated

DVD releases

There are 2 Catscratch episodes on DVD:

• "Bringin' Down the Mouse" on Nick Picks Vol. 3
• "Love Cats" on Nick Picks Vol. 5″

See also

• Earthworm Jim
• Doug TenNapel
• Nickelodeon

References

1. "Catscratch – Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved June 21, 2013.

External links

• Catscratch at the Internet Movie Database
• Catscratch at TV.com