CatDog "Fetch" (lost original theatrical version of Nickelodeon animated series short; 1998)
The title card for the theatrical version of the short.
Status: Lost
CatDog is a Nickelodeon cartoon that aired from 1998 to 2005, telling the story of a pair of twins conjoined at the waist- one being a smart but stuck up cat and the other a goofy but dim-witted dog. Like some other series of the era, an episode of the show was aired as a theatrical short before the series officially premiered. In CatDog's case, this was the Season 2 episode Fetch.
Differences
The theatrical version of Fetch aired during the in-theaters run of The Rugrats Movie, around November of 1998, while the version made for TV aired on February 15th, 1999.
The most notable difference between this version and the version that later aired on television is the animation quality. Due to the theatrical short having a higher budget, it notably had higher quality animation than the television version. Other differences included a more detailed title card and a shortened version of the theme song playing over the beginning and end of the short, as well as allegedly some scenes from the television version not being included.
Availability
The theatrical version of Fetch was never released in any capacity- when The Rugrats Movie was released to VHS, a different CatDog short, Winslow's Home Videos, was included instead for unknown reasons. Multiple recreations of the theatrical version have been created, however they all ended up being copyright claimed and removed from their respective sites.
In June of 2024, a 35MM reel of the short was sold on EBay, going to an unknown buyer after being sold for $1,425.[1] As of July 2024, the short has not been uploaded online.