Heathcliff (1984 TV series)

Heathcliff
Also known as	Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats Heathcliff Cats & Co (UK)Cats & Co
Genre	Cartoon series
Created by	George Gately (Heathcliff) Jean Chalopin, Bruno Bianchi (The Catillac Cats)
Developed by	Jean Chalopin Alan Swayze Chuck Lorre
Directed by	Bruno Bianchi Michael Maliani
Voices of	Mel Blanc Donna Christie Peter Cullen Stanley Jones Jeannie Elias Danny Wells
Composer(s)	Haim Saban Shuki Levy
Country of origin	United States Canada France Japan
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	86
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward Tetsuo Katayama (season 1)
Producer(s)	Jean Chalopin Denys Heroux (season 1) Lori Crawford (season 1) Andy Heyward (season 2) Tetsuo Katayama (season 2)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	DIC Entertainment LBS Communications, Inc. McNaught Syndication Co. ICC TV Productions (season 1) FR3 (season 1) Chris-Craft Television (season 2) United Entertainment Group (season 2)
Distributor	Cookie Jar Entertainment (current)
Broadcast
Original channel	first-run syndication
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	September 5, 1984 – 1988
Chronology
Related shows	Heathcliff (1980)

Heathcliff (also known as Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats) is an animated television series that debuted on September 5, 1984. It was the second series based on the Heathcliff comic strip and was produced by DIC Entertainment. It ran in syndication until 1988 with a total of 86 episodes. The first show based on the comic strip was Heathcliff and Dingbat, which debuted in 1980 and was produced by Ruby-Spears. Mel Blanc provided the voice of Heathcliff in both series.

Premise

The first season ran for 65 episodes and the second season for 21 more. Each episode included a backup segment featuring The Catillac Cats, which is why this show is sometimes referred to as Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats (the second segment is referred to in the closing credits as "Cats & Co".). While the series was on the air, a movie, aptly titled Heathcliff: The Movie, was released which was a compilation of segments from this show.

Characters

• Heathcliff: Title character, he is an orange street smart cat, who spends most of his time trying to turn a dustbin over onto people's heads. Heathcliff is a real street cat who loves to fight anyone and everyone and will lie, cheat and steal to get himself some food, but beneath it all, he's a good guy. Heathcliff is voiced by Mel Blanc.
• Sonja: Heathcliff's love, a fluffy white Persian cat, who wears a pink collar. Heathcliff is always trying to win Sonja over, although generally she is not usually too impressed with Heathcliff's antics as she is a far classier type of cat. Sonja would often date other male cats that Heathcliff would have to fight. Sonja is voiced by Marilyn Lightstone.
• Knuckles: Dressed in a pink hat and a red-and-black striped shirt, Knuckles and his henchman are not really Heathcliff's enemies—more like a group of cats that he constantly annoyed and/or bullied. More often than not they were after him, because he had tried to trick them in some way. Knuckles is voiced by Derek McGrath.
• Spike: Probably the closest thing to a nemesis that Heathcliff has, Spike, a bulldog, is no-where near as clever as Heathcliff—all brawn and no brains. Spike is owned by a neighborhood bully called Muggsy. Heathcliff is quite able to handle both of them when necessary. Spike is voiced by Derek McGrath.
• Iggy Nutmeg: Heathcliff's owner who lived with his grandparents. Iggy sometimes takes Heathcliff to strange places and new locations for adventures. Iggy is voiced by Donna Christie.
• Marcy: A small girl who lived in the same neighborhood as Iggy's family. Marcy always saw the best in Heathcliff and thought he was a little angel. She also loves to have Heathcliff ride in her baby doll carriage, which for the most part Heathcliff is more than happy to oblige. Marcy is voiced by Jeannie Elias.
• Pop: Heathcliff's father, he is an orange cat, who is normally in and out of prison, as evident on the episode Pop On Parole. Pop is voiced by Peter Cullen.
• Grandpa Nutmeg: Iggy's grandpa. Grandpa often shows dislike to Heathcliff, but Iggy and Grandma usually come to Heathcliff's defense
• Grandma Nutmeg: Grandma cooks a lot and Heathcliff steals her food. Grandma, like Iggy and Marcy, think Heathcliff is an angel.

The Catillac Cats

Main article: The Catillac Cats

A gang of cats that played alongside Heathcliff. When Riff-Raff is not around, the Catillac Cats are sometimes helping Heathcliff in some adventures or sometimes tease him only to be pounded to the pavement. They drive a very cool Cadillac which could transform into an airplane and a boat and lived in a junkyard.

• Riff-Raff: The boss, lived in a trashed airplane on top of a junk-pile while using a trapdoor for an exit. He is a small orange cat with a large white cap. Riff-Raff is voiced by Stanley Jones.
• Cleo: Riff-Raff's love interest, most episodes focused around Riff-Raff trying to woo her. She lives in a musical instrument shop with Bush. She had a 1980s-hairstyle and leg warmers. Cleo is voiced by Donna Christie.
• Hector: Second-in-command, sometimes wanted to be leader. His colors are a mix between brown and dark brown. Hector wore a headband and a long neck-tie and drove around a convertible Catillac/Van along with the gang. Hector is voiced by Danny Mann.
• Wordsworth: is a white cat on roller-skates, speaks in rhyme and always wore a yellow Walkman. Wordsworth is voiced by Stanley Jones.
• Mungo: Big, clumsy and not the sharpest tool in the box. He is a large cat with unique purple/blue/grey fur that wears a red sweater and a matching red cap. The name was used to show similarity between him and the character with a similar name from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. Mungo is voiced by Ted Zeigler.
• Leroy: Guard dog who lives in the junkyard with the Catillac Cats. Leroy is voiced by Ted Zeigler
• Bush: A loyal sheepdog who lived with Cleo in the music shop. Unfortunately due to his bushy hair-do, most of the time when Riff-Raff would break in to take Cleo out, Bush would end up running into various musical instruments trying to stop him. Bush is voiced by Danny Wells.

Episode list

Season 1

1. The Great Pussini / Kitty Kat Kennels
2. Chauncey's Great Escape / Carnival Capers
3. Mad Dog Catcher / Circus Beserkus
4. Rebel Without a Claws / The Farming Life Ain't For Me
5. Heathcliff's Middle Name / Wishful Thinking
6. King of the Beasts / Cat Can Do
7. Smoke Gets in my Eyes / Much Ado about Bedding
8. City Slicker Cat / House of the Future
9. Spike's Cousin / For the Birds
10. Heathcliff's Pet / Swamp Fever
11. Teed Off / Monstro vs. the Wolfhound
12. Say Cheese / Cat's Angels
13. Meow Meow Island / Iron Cats
14. Family Tree / Who's Got the Chocolate?
15. Be Prepared / Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
16. Heathcliff Gets Canned / Whackoed Out
17. Brain Sprain / Cat Balloon
18. May the Best Cat Win / Comedy Cats
19. Revenge of the Kitty / Jungle Vacation
20. Hospital Heathcliff / Hector's Takeover
21. Going Shopping / Cat in the Fat
22. Wild Cat Heathcliff / Kitten Around
23. Cat Burglar Heathcliff / Lucky's Unlucky Day
24. The Blizzard Bandit / Harem Cat
25. Kitten Smitten / Young Cat with a Horn
26. The Gang's All Here / The Meowsic Goes Round & Round
27. Snow Job / Condo Fever
28. Heathcliff Pumps Iron / Mungo's Dilemma
29. Heathcliff's Double / Big Foot
30. Terrible Tammy / The Games of Love
31. Big Top Bungling / Space Cats
32. Lard Times / The Merry Pranksters
33. Spike's Slave / Scaredy Cats
34. Gopher Broke / A Camping We Will Go
35. Where There's an Ill, There's a Way / Yes Sewer That's my Baby
36. Soap Box Derby / A Better Mousetrap
37. Bamboo Island / Superhero Mungo
38. Butter Up! / Mungo Gets No Respect
39. Sonya's Nephew / Dr. Mousetus
40. Cat Food for Thought / Going South
41. Phantom of the Garbage / Junkyard Flood
42. Trombone Terror / The Other Woman
43. Pop on Parole / The Babysitters
44. The Siamese Twins / The Mungo Mash
45. Copa-ca-Heathcliff / Leroy's in Love
46. Used Pets / Search for a Star
47. An Officer and an Alley-Cat / Hector Spector
48. Service with a Smile / Junk Food
49. Boom Boom Pussini / Beach Blanket Mungo
50. Sealand Mania / Riff Raff the Gourmet
51. The Super M.A.C. Menace / Journey to the Center of the Earth
52. Heathcliff Reforms / Prehysteric Riff Raff
53. A Piece of the Rock / Divide and Clobber
54. Flying High / Debutante Ball
55. Heathcliff's Surprise / The Big Break In
56. The Catfather / The Big Swipe
57. Tally-Ho Heathcliff / Cleo Moves In
58. Granpda vs. Grandpa / The Big Game Hunter
59. The Great Tuna Caper / Peco's Treasure
60. The Baby Buggy Bad Guys / Riff Raff's Mom
61. Momma's Back in Town / Trash Dance
62. Claws / Hector the Detector
63. Raiders of the Lost Cat / Mungo Lays an Egg
64. The Home Wrecker / In Search of Catlantis
65. Star or Tomeow-meow / Soccer Anyone?

The DVD lists episode, May the Best Cat Win as first, and titles the episode Pilot.

Season 2

1. The Whitecliff of Dover / Life Saver
2. Nightmare in Beverly Hills / The Iron Mask Cat
3. The Shrink / Brushing Up
4. Dr. Heathcliff and Mr. Spike / Time Warped
5. Spike's New Home / Mungo's Big Romance
6. The Cat and the Pauper / Mungo of the Jungle
7. In the Beginning / Catlympic Cats
8. Rear Cat Window / Cat Days, Ninja Nights
9. Something Fishy / Christmas Memories
10. Heathcliff's Mom / Hockey Pucks
11. Cat Day Afternoon / Hector the Protector
12. Feline Good / Off-Road Racer
13. Spike's Coach / The Trojan Catillac
14. Heathcliff Gets Framed / Repo Cat
15. Missing in Action / Bag Cat Sings the Blues
16. It's a Terrible Life / Leroy Gets Canned
17. Hair of the Cat / Tenting Tonight
18. The Fortune Teller / Cottentails, Chickens, and Colored Eggs
19. Break an Egg / A Letter to Granny
20. The New York City Sewer System / High Goon
21. North Pole Cat / He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Theme song

The theme was recorded by Noam Kaniel and written by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban.

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

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. Then it premiered on Family Channel from 1993-1999. From September 27, 2010 until September 23, 2011, rerun of the series have been airing in the United States on the This Is for Kids block on This TV. It is also airing on Boomerang every morning at 8:00am in place of Wacky Races. In the U.K. the series aired on CBBC during the late 1980s and early 1990s, It was repeated on Channel 4 until 1996, then in the early 2000s it was aired on Toon Disney U.K. in 2000, and was usually billed under the title Heathcliff Cats & Co. The series was also aired in Japan.

DVD releases

On February 24, 2004, UAV Entertainment released two best-of collections with each set featuring nine select episodes from the series.

On September 20, 2005, Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment released Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats in a 4-disc boxset featuring the first 24 episodes of the series. This release has been discontinued and is now out of print as Shout! Factory has lost the rights to the series.

Since 2007, NCircle Entertainment has released seven Heathcliff DVDs.

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. They also released a 10 episode best-of collection on that same day.

In France, two more 4-disc sets were released under the French title of the series, Les Entrechats.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release date
Heathcliff- Season One, Volume One	32	February 21, 2012

External links

• Heathcliff at Cookie Jar Entertainment
• Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats at the Internet Movie Database
• Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats at TV.com