Top Cat Live! (partially found episodes of "Top Cat" reboot animated series; 1995)
Screenshot from the show, featuring Top Cat interviewing Joseph Barbera.
Status: Partially Found
Top Cat is an animated series produced by the Hanna-Barbera animation studio that aired from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962. The series featured Arnold Stang as the voice of the titular character Top Cat, a smooth-talking cat with a quick wit who led a group of alley cats.
During late 1995, Turner Broadcasting System announced plans for a series which featured the character interviewing various real-life guest stars. However, information on this reboot has been scarce.
Details
Produced by Swedish production company Trash TV (a subsidiary of Modern Times Group) for Turner, the series, which consisted of 20 episodes, featured Top Cat (played by Tom Kenny) interviewing live-action guest stars such as the musician Slash and Joseph Barbera, one of the character's creators, similar to the concept of Space Ghost Coast to Coast (another Turner series that involved a Hanna-Barbera character interviewing real people). Like fellow H-B/Turner creation Moxy, Top Cat was a CGI character that would be animated in real-time using motion capture via an off-screen actor, who would wear electronic nodes that would be picked up by SGI Onyx computers, which would animate Top Cat's movements.
The series was first announced on the December 1995 issue of the "Television Business International" magazine, which had also stated that all 20 episodes had finished the filming phase. It also states that the series would air on international Cartoon Network feeds. However, the only network that is known to have aired is TMC in Italy, with no evidence on any Cartoon Network feeds having aired it.
Interviews
The only known people to have been interviewed by T.C. were the original series' co-creator Joseph Barbera, and British-American musician Slash. However, only the Slash interview has surfaced in the form of an Italian dub.
Gallery
A snippet of the December 1995 issue of Television Business International, which documents the series.
Screenshot of Top Cat interviewing Slash.
See Also
- 2 Stupid Dogs (partially found skits/bumpers of TBS animated series; 1993-1995)
- Boss Cat (found British opening and ending titles of "Top Cat" animated series; 1962-1989)
- CBS Storybreak "What Happened in Hamelin" (lost episode from animated series; 1987)
- Dastardly & Muttley - Operation: Pigeon Pursuit (lost build of unreleased PlayStation 2 video game; 2007-2008)
- Fender Bender 500 (partially found episodes of "Wacky Races" reboot animated series; 1990s)
- Jetsons: The Movie "Gotcha" (partially found full version of song from Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1990)
- Jetsons: The Movie - Janet Waldo performance (lost audio of animated film; 1988-1989)
- Jokebook (partially found Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1982)
- Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone (partially lost English audio of British-American syndicated animated TV series; 1990)
- Return of the Bunjee (lost ABC Weekend special; 1985)
- Rock Odyssey (partially lost Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1987)
- Showbiz Pizza's Yogi Bear and Boo Boo Showtape (found animatronic audio showtape; 1987)
- The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (partially found Hanna Barbera live action-animated TV series; 1968-1969)
- The Flintstones (cancelled Seth MacFarlane reboot of animated series; 2013)
- The Flintstones Movie (partially found Sega Channel exclusive build of 2D movie tie-in platformer; 1995)
- The Funny World of Fred and Bunni (partially found live-action/animated variety show pilot; 1978)
- The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour (partially found NBC comedy variety show; 1978)
- The Moxy Show (partially found episodes of CGI anthology series; 1993-2000)
- The New Teen Titans "Just Say No!" (partially lost Hanna-Barbera anti-drug animated PSA; 1983)
- The Ruff and Reddy Show (found episodes of NBC Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1957-1960)
- The Snorks (partially found unaired pilot of Hanna-Barbera animated TV series; 1982)