Heathcliff (1984 TV series)
Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, known as Les Entrechats in French) is a French-Canadian-American animated television series that debuted on September 5, 1984.[1] It was the second series based on the Heathcliff comic strip and was produced by DIC Audiovisuel.[2] It ran in syndication until 1988 with a total of 86 episodes.[3] The first show based on the comic strip was Heathcliff and Dingbat/Heathcliff and Marmaduke, which debuted in 1980 and was produced by Ruby-Spears. The Catillac Cats characters were created by Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi. Animation was outsourced to many Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean studios including TMS, Studio Korumi, Wang Film, Cuckoo's Nest, Mushi and others for the first season before DIC utilized their own, private Japanese studio to avoid paying other companies.
| Heathcliff | |
|---|---|
 Title screen | |
| Also known as |
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| Genre | Comedy Slapstick |
| Created by |
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| Based on | Heathcliff, by George Gately |
| Developed by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of | Mel Blanc |
| Theme music composer | Shuki Levy Haim Saban |
| Opening theme | "Heathcliff" (long version), performed by Noam Kaniel |
| Ending theme | "Heathcliff" (short version), performed by Noam Kaniel |
| Composers | Shuki Levy Haim Saban |
| Country of origin | France Canada United States (Season 2) |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 86 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Distributor | LBS Communications, Inc. |
| Release | |
| Original network |
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| Audio format |
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| Original release | September 5, 1984 – August 13, 1988 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Heathcliff (1980) |
Mel Blanc, who provided the voice of Heathcliff in the 1980 series, reprised his role as the titular cat.[2]
Premise
The first season ran for 65 episodes while the second season ran for 21. Each episode featured two segments, one being about Heathcliff and his friends, while the other featured The Catillac Cats.
While the series was on the air, the film Heathcliff: The Movie was released, which consisted of a compilation of segments.[4]
Voices
- Mel Blanc - Heathcliff
- Donna Christie - Cleo, Iggy, Additional Voices
- Jeannie Elias - Marcy, Willie
- Stanley Jones - Riff-Raff, Wordsworth, Milkman, Additional Voices
- Marilyn Lightstone - Sonja, Grandma, Additional Voices
- Danny Mann - Hector, Mr. Schultz
- Derek McGrath - Spike, Muggsy, Knuckles, Lefty, Additional Voices
- Danny Wells - Bush, Raul
- Ted Zeigler - Leroy, Mungo, Grandpa, Additional Voices
- Peter Cullen - Additional Voices
- Marilyn Schreffler - Additional Voices
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 65 | September 17, 1984 | December 14, 1984 | ||
| 2 | 21 | September 9, 1985 | October 7, 1985 | ||
Season 1 (1984)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Great Pussini / Kitty Kat Kennels" | September 17, 1984 | |
| 2 | 2 | "Chauncey's Great Escape / Carnival Capers" | September 18, 1984 | |
| 3 | 3 | "Mad Dog Catcher / Circus Beserkus" | September 19, 1984 | |
| 4 | 4 | "Rebel Without a Claws / The Farming Life Ain't For Me" | September 20, 1984 | |
| 5 | 5 | "Heathcliff's Middle Name / Wishful Thinking" | September 21, 1984 | |
| 6 | 6 | "King of the Beasts / Cat Can Do" | September 24, 1984 | |
| 7 | 7 | "Smoke Gets in my Eyes / Much Ado about Bedding" | September 25, 1984 | |
| 8 | 8 | "City Slicker Cat / House of the Future" | September 26, 1984 | |
| 9 | 9 | "Spike's Cousin / For the Birds" | September 27, 1984 | |
| 10 | 10 | "Heathcliff's Pet / Swamp Fever" | September 28, 1984 | |
| 11 | 11 | "Teed Off / Monstro vs. the Wolf Hound" | October 1, 1984 | |
| 12 | 12 | "Say Cheese / Cat's Angels" | October 2, 1984 | |
| 13 | 13 | "Meow Meow Island / Iron Cats" | October 3, 1984 | |
| 14 | 14 | "Family Tree / Who's Got the Chocolate?" | October 4, 1984 | |
| 15 | 15 | "Be Prepared / Cruisin' for a Bruisin'" | October 5, 1984 | |
| 16 | 16 | "Heathcliff Gets Canned / Whackoed Out" | October 8, 1984 | |
| 17 | 17 | "Brain Sprain / Cat Balloon" | October 9, 1984 | |
| 18 | 18 | "May the Best Cat Win / Comedy Cats" | October 10, 1984 | |
| Note: The DVD lists the episode May the Best Cat Win as first, and titles the episode Pilot. | ||||
| 19 | 19 | "Revenge of the Kitty / Jungle Vacation" | October 11, 1984 | |
| 20 | 20 | "Hospital Heathcliff / Hector's Takeover" | October 12, 1984 | |
| 21 | 21 | "Going Shopping / Cat in the Fat" | October 15, 1984 | |
| 22 | 22 | "Wild Cat Heathcliff / Kitten Around" | October 16, 1984 | |
| 23 | 23 | "Cat Burglar Heathcliff / Lucky's Unlucky Day" | October 17, 1984 | |
| 24 | 24 | "The Blizzard Bandit / Harem Cat" | October 18, 1984 | |
| 25 | 25 | "Kitten Smitten / Young Cat with a Horn" | October 19, 1984 | |
| 26 | 26 | "The Gang's All Here / The Meowsic Goes Round & Round" | October 22, 1984 | |
| 27 | 27 | "Snow Job / Condo Fever" | October 23, 1984 | |
| 28 | 28 | "Heathcliff Pumps Iron / Mungo's Dilemma" | October 24, 1984 | |
| 29 | 29 | "Heathcliff's Double / Big Foot" | October 25, 1984 | |
| 30 | 30 | "Terrible Tammy / The Games of Love" | October 26, 1984 | |
| 31 | 31 | "Big Top Bungling / Space Cats" | October 29, 1984 | |
| 32 | 32 | "Lard Times / The Merry Pranksters" | October 30, 1984 | |
| 33 | 33 | "Spike's Slave / Scaredy Cats" | October 31, 1984 | |
| 34 | 34 | "Gopher Broke / A Camping We Will Go" | November 1, 1984 | |
| 35 | 35 | "Where There's an Ill, There's a Way / Yes Sewer That's my Baby" | November 2, 1984 | |
| 36 | 36 | "Soap Box Derby / A Better Mousetrap" | November 5, 1984 | |
| 37 | 37 | "Bamboo Island / Superhero Mungo" | November 6, 1984 | |
| 38 | 38 | "Butter Up! / Mungo Gets No Respect" | November 7, 1984 | |
| 39 | 39 | "Sonja's Nephew / Dr. Mousetus" | November 8, 1984 | |
| 40 | 40 | "Cat Food for Thought / Going South" | November 9, 1984 | |
| 41 | 41 | "Phantom of the Garbage / Junkyard Flood" | November 12, 1984 | |
| 42 | 42 | "Trombone Terror / The Other Woman" | November 13, 1984 | |
| 43 | 43 | "Pop on Parole / The Babysitters" | November 14, 1984 | |
| 44 | 44 | "The Siamese Twins / The Mungo Mash" | November 15, 1984 | |
| 45 | 45 | "Copa-ca-Heathcliff / Leroy's in Love" | November 16, 1984 | |
| 46 | 46 | "Used Pets / Search for a Star" | November 19, 1984 | |
| 47 | 47 | "An Officer and an Alley-Cat / Hector Spector" | November 20, 1984 | |
| 48 | 48 | "Service with a Smile / Junk Food" | November 21, 1984 | |
| 49 | 49 | "Boom Boom Pussini / Beach Blanket Mungo" | November 22, 1984 | |
| 50 | 50 | "Sealand Mania / Riff Raff the Gourmet" | November 23, 1984 | |
| 51 | 51 | "The Super M.A.C. Menace / Journey to the Center of the Earth" | November 26, 1984 | |
| 52 | 52 | "Heathcliff Reforms / Prehysteric Riff Raff" | November 27, 1984 | |
| 53 | 53 | "A Piece of the Rock / Divide and Clobber" | November 28, 1984 | |
| 54 | 54 | "Flying High / Debutante Ball" | November 29, 1984 | |
| 55 | 55 | "Heathcliff's Surprise / The Big Break In" | November 30, 1984 | |
| 56 | 56 | "The Catfather / The Big Swipe" | December 3, 1984 | |
| 57 | 57 | "Tally-Ho Heathcliff / Cleo Moves In" | December 4, 1984 | |
| 58 | 58 | "Granpda vs. Grandpa / The Big Game Hunter" | December 5, 1984 | |
| 59 | 59 | "The Great Tuna Caper / Peco's Treasure" | December 6, 1984 | |
| 60 | 60 | "The Baby Buggy Bad Guys / Riff Raff's Mom" | December 7, 1984 | |
| 61 | 61 | "Momma's Back in Town / Trash Dance" | December 10, 1984 | |
| 62 | 62 | "Claws / Hector the Detector" | December 11, 1984 | |
| 63 | 63 | "Raiders of the Lost Cat / Mungo Lays an Egg" | December 12, 1984 | |
| 64 | 64 | "The Home Wrecker / In Search of Catlantis" | December 13, 1984 | |
| 65 | 65 | "Star of Tomeow-meow / Soccer Anyone?" | December 14, 1984 | |
Season 2 (1985)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 1 | "The Whitecliffs of Dover / Life Saver" | September 9, 1985 |
| 67 | 2 | "Nightmare in Beverly Hills / The Cat in the Iron Mask" | September 10, 1985 |
| 68 | 3 | "The Shrink / Brushing Up" | September 11, 1985 |
| 69 | 4 | "Dr. Heathcliff and Mr. Spike / Time Warped" | September 12, 1985 |
| 70 | 5 | "Spike's New Home / Mungo's Big Romance" | September 13, 1985 |
| 71 | 6 | "The Cat and the Pauper / Mungo of the Jungle" | September 16, 1985 |
| 72 | 7 | "In the Beginning / Catlympic Cats" | September 17, 1985 |
| 73 | 8 | "Rear Cat Window / Cat Days, Ninja Nights" | September 18, 1985 |
| 74 | 9 | "Something Fishy / Christmas Memories" | September 19, 1985 |
| 75 | 10 | "Heathcliff's Mom / Hockey Pucks" | September 20, 1985 |
| 76 | 11 | "Cat Day Afternoon / Hector Protector" | September 23, 1985 |
| 77 | 12 | "Feline Good / Off-Road Racer" | September 24, 1985 |
| 78 | 13 | "Spike's Coach / The Trojan Catillac" | September 25, 1985 |
| 79 | 14 | "Heathcliff Gets Framed / Repo Cat" | September 26, 1985 |
| 80 | 15 | "Missing in Action / Bag Cat Sings the Blues" | September 27, 1985 |
| 81 | 16 | "It's a Terrible Life / Leroy Gets Canned" | September 30, 1985 |
| 82 | 17 | "Hair of the Cat / Tenting Tonight" | October 1, 1985 |
| 83 | 18 | "The Fortune Teller / Cottontails, Chickens, & Colored Eggs" | October 2, 1985 |
| 84 | 19 | "Break an Egg / A Letter to Granny" | October 3, 1985 |
| 85 | 20 | "The New York City Sewer System / High Goon" | October 4, 1985 |
| 86 | 21 | "North Pole Cat / He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" | October 7, 1985 |
Theme song
The theme was composed and written by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban and sung by Noam Kaniel.
Broadcast history
In the United States, the series was aired in national first-run syndication from September 5, 1984 until 1988, and reruns of the series were then aired on Nickelodeon from 1988 until 1993. It was rerun on Family Channel from 1993-1998 and Fox Family Channel from 1998 until 1999. From September 27, 2010 until September 23, 2011, reruns of the series were aired in the United States on the This Is for Kids block on This TV.[1][6]
In the United Kingdom, the series aired on CBBC during the late 1980s and early 1990s, then it was repeated on Channel 4 until 1997, then in the early 2000s it was aired on Toon Disney. In the early 2000s, the show was aired in syndication on North American local stations in 2000, and was usually billed under the title Heathcliff Cats & Co.[7] The series also aired in Japan. The series was aired weekdays on Starz Encore Family (as of 2016) and Light TV (as of October 6, 2018). It was also broadcast in Colombia through the digital channel Tacho Pistacho until the channel's shutdown in 2019.
According to an interview with Donna Christie, the voice for Iggy Nutmeg and Cleo, the series did not continue because of Mel Blanc's failing health.[8]
Home media
In the 1980s, the series was released on VHS from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and Golden Book Video.
In February 2004, Sterling Entertainment released two VHS/DVD released titled Terror of the Neighborhood and Fish Tales, each featuring six Heathcliff segments and a Catillac Cats segment. The DVD versions featured two additional Catillac Cats segments. On May 25, 2004, Sterling released Heathcliff: The Movie on DVD.
In 2004, General Mills offered free DVDs in select cereals with assorted cartoons, some of which had Heathcliff episodes on them.[9][10]
In the UK, Maximum Entertainment released two volumes of the series in 2004. The first DVD/VHS contained 5 episodes, while the other DVD contained 3. A third one, released in 2008, contained 5 more episodes.
On September 20, 2005, Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment released Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats in a 4-disc boxset featuring the first 24 episodes of the series in its original, complete and uncut television broadcast form. Shout! Factory has lost the rights to the series.[11]
Throughout 2007–2009, NCircle Entertainment released eight Heathcliff DVDs.[12]
On February 21, 2012, Mill Creek Entertainment released Heathcliff- Season One, Volume 1 on DVD. This 3-disc set features the first 32 episodes from the Season 1.[13] They also released a 10 episode best-of collection on that same day. Heathcliff- Season 1, Volume 2 was released on October 1, 2013, which contains the remaining 33 episodes from Season 1.[14]
On August 2, 2016, Mill Creek released Heathcliff - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[15] The 9-disc set contains all 86 episodes of the series, including the final 21 episodes which were previously unreleased.
The episode "Going Shopping / Cat in the Fat" was included as a bonus in the DVD release of the first half of the Beverly Hills Teens series.[16]
In France, two more 4-disc sets were released under the French title of the series, Les Entrechats.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Heathcliff / Super Mario Bros. | 2 | 2004 |
| Heathcliff: Fish Tales | 9 | February 24, 2004 |
| Heathcliff: Terror of the Neighborhood | 9 | February 24, 2004 |
| Heathcliff: The Movie | 1 | May 25, 2004 |
| Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats | 24 | September 20, 2005 |
| Heathcliff - Season One, Volume One | 32 | February 21, 2012 |
| Heathcliff - Season One, Volume Two | 33 | October 1, 2013 |
| Heathcliff - The Complete Series | 86 | August 2, 2016 |
Streaming
In August 2019, CBS announced that it had signed a deal to add Heathcliff along with other DHX Media programming to its CBS All Access streaming service.[17]
Movie
Heathcliff: The Movie was released to theaters on January 17, 1986, and subsequently on VHS in 1988 by Paramount Video. It includes seven segments from the original show:
- Cat Food for Thought
- Heathcliff's Double
- The Siamese Twins
- An Officer and an Alley Cat
- The Catfather
- Boom Boom Pussini
- Pop on Parole
References
- "Heathcliff". This TV. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 398–400. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 131. ISBN 9781476672939.
- "Heathcliff and the catillac cats". Pop Matters. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats Episode Guide -DiC Ent". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- "Mon 25 Mon 27 Sep 2010-Sun 3 Oct 2010". This TV. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- TVArk – CBBC clip with Andi Peters referring to the show as 'Heathcliff Cats & Co'
- "36: Donna Christie interview (Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Dennis the Menace, Popples, Real Ghostbusters)".
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtblESoDjt0
- https://www.amazon.com/Heathcliff-Super-Mario-Bros-Show/dp/B0016FQTYY
- Shout! Factory - Forum Thread with Brian Ward announcing the current ownership of 'Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats' Archived January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- "Heathcliff DVDs". NCircle Entertainment. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
- "Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats) DVD news: Announcement for Season 1, Volume 1 and King of the Beasts - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2012-01-08.
- "Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats) DVD news: Announcement for Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats - Season 1, Volume 2 - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2013-09-13.
- "Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats) DVD news: Announcement for The Complete Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2016-06-03.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2013-11-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (August 8, 2019). "CBS All Access Adding Children's Programming; 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs', 'Danger Mouse', 'Inspector Gadget' Among Content". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 3, 2019.