The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat

The Grinch wakes up in a good mood one morning until his reflection in the mirror speaks to him prompts him to repeat the "Grinch's Oath" reminding him of his evil side, and he then leaves to prove himself. Meanwhile, the Cat in the Hat goes on a picnic. Their paths cross when the Grinch can't get his car around the Cat's, and things quickly escalate into a fierce car chase after the Cat unintentionally insults the Grinch by calling him "Mr. Greenface."

The Cat returns to the safety of his house, but the Grinch follows him there to demonstrate a device he has invented, a "Vacusound Sweeper" that scrambles all sounds within a 50-mile radius, including the Cat's voice. Back home, the Grinch decides to upgrade the sweeper into a "darkhouse", an anti-lighthouse that spreads beams of darkness.

The Cat becomes upset with the Grinch's hijinks and has a psychiatric session with him in a thought bubble to find out what makes him so mean-spirited. He gets nowhere with the imaginary Grinch (though he is briefly triggered by the memory of his deceased mother), so the Cat then decides to go over and have a talk with him. The Grinch makes it so dark that the Cat can't see where he's going, and he crashes his car when he passes a "Dead End" sign. The Grinch decides to liven things up by changing the beam of darkness to persimmon pink.

The Cat takes refuge in a nearby restaurant, while the Grinch sends beams that make things change colors, and literally and crazily come to life; his hijinks result in confusion all over the restaurant. The Cat is now furious with the Grinch and ponders to himself how he can change the Grinch, eventually finding an idea and rallies up everybody in the restaurant to follow him to the Grinch's house. There, he leads everyone in a song to remind the Grinch of all of the love he received from his mother and implore him to change his ways and be a better person. Before the Grinch can get to the darkhouse to scramble it, he collapses in grief over the memory of his mother (whose spirit comforts him) and dismantles the darkhouse.

The next morning, the Grinch is again happy. When the reflection tries to turn him evil again, Max reveals he left the Vacusound Sweeper intact and scrambles the reflection's words.

• Mason Adams as The Cat in the Hat / Narrator[3]
• Bob Holt as The Grinch / Waiter / The Grinch's Mother
• Frank Welker as Max / Waiter / Additional voices
• Joe Eich as Chef

1. "A Beelzeberry Day" – The Cat
2. "Relax-ification" – The Cat
3. "Master of Everyone's Ears" – The Grinch
4. "Most Horrible Things" – The Grinch
5. "Psychiatry Song" – The Cat
6. "Remember Your Mother" – The Cat / Chef / String Quintet / Waiters/ Male Quartet Singers

1982 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.[4]

Both the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat were recast with different voice actors than the ones used in previous specials, all of whom had died. Bob Holt voiced the Grinch (Hans Conried, who voiced the Grinch in Halloween Is Grinch Night, died a few months before this special had aired. Boris Karloff, the original voice of the Grinch, had died in 1969), while Mason Adams took over voicing the Cat in the Hat from the late Allan Sherman, who died in 1973.

Since Friz Freleng was absent from production on The Pink Panther special Pink at First Sight due to his departure from DePatie–Freleng Enterprises to return to Warner Bros. Animation, this was the only other fully animated DFE production to be made by Marvel Productions and one of the last DFE cartoons Freleng was involved in.

The special was first released on VHS in the mid-80s via CBS/Fox Video's Playhouse Video division, and reissued later in the decade. This release used its working title The Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched. The special retained its normal name on VHS re-releases (including Dr. Seuss Sing-Along Classics by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with CBS Video and Fox Kids Video). It was also re-released on VHS in 2000 by Paramount Home Entertainment.

It was later released on DVD by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/Universal Studios Family Productions. The special was released again on DVD by Warner Home Video on October 18, 2011 as part of the Dr. Seuss's Holidays on the Loose! DVD set, along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Halloween Is Grinch Night. On October 23, 2018, it was released on blu-ray by Warner Brothers as an extra on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Ultimate Edition, along with Halloween Is Grinch Night. Both extras were remastered for this release.[5]

• The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat at IMDb