Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats (also known as Les Entrechats in French) is a French-Canadian-American children's animated television series and is the third animated Heathcliff series that was produced by DiC Audiovisuel and distributed by LBS Communications, Inc. from 1984 to 1986. This series was split into two segments. The first segment stars Heathcliff and the second segment stars the Catillac Cats. [1]
Overview[]
The official logo for the French version of this series known as Les Entrechats.[2]
The Heathcliff segments focus on the everyday adventures of Heathcliff and the cast from the comic strip, as well as some regular appearances by Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo (although they don't appear in the second season).
The Catillac Cats segments (also known as Cats & Co. in the end credits) focus on the adventures of Riff-Raff, Cleo, Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo.
At the end of the show, there is a short segment called Pet Tips where Heathcliff (or some other characters including Spike or Riff-Raff) would teach the audience certain safety tips when it comes to raising pets.
Hector, Wordsworth and Mungo are the only characters to be in both segments more than once. Riff-Raff and Cleo (although she has pink hair) appear briefly in the episode Spike's Cousin, Mr. Schultz from the Heathcliff segments makes a brief appearance in Riff-Raff the Gourmet and the milkman and the cop from the Heathcliff half both have a small cameo in Kitten Around. In Hector the Detector, a cat similar to Heathcliff appears in a fantasy sequence in the crowd, which could possibly be Henry from the episode Heathcliff's Double. Other than that, some characters pretty much stayed exclusive to just one of the segments.
Characters[]
Main Cast (Heathcliff)[]
- Heathcliff (voiced by Mel Blanc)
- Iggy Nutmeg (voiced by Donna Christie)
- Mr. Nutmeg (voiced by Ted Zeigler)
- Mrs. Nutmeg (voiced by Marilyn Lightstone)
- Sonja (voiced by Marilyn Lightstone)
Main Cast (The Catillac Cats)[]
- Riff-Raff (voiced by Stanley Jones)
- Cleo (voiced by Donna Christie)
- Hector (voiced by Danny Mann)
- Wordsworth (voiced by Stanley Jones)
- Mungo (voiced by Ted Zeigler)
Bold: Appears in both segments.
Recurring Cast (Heathcliff)[]
- Spike (voiced by Derek McGrath)
- Muggsy Faber (voiced by Derek McGrath)
- Marcy (voiced by Jeannie Elias)
- Mr. Schultz (voiced by (Danny Mann)
- Milkman (voiced by Stanley Jones)
- Lefty (voiced by Derek McGrath)
- Knuckles (voiced by Derek McGrath)
- Raul (voiced by Danny Wells)
Recurring Cast (The Catillac Cats)[]
- Leroy (voiced by Ted Zeigler)
- Bush (voiced by Danny Wells)
Episode List[]
Each episode contains one segment of a Heathcliff episode and one segment of a Catillac Cats episode.
Season 1 (1984)[]
Season 2 (1986)[]
NOTE: These episodes are listed in production order. This season was aired out of order.
Starring[]
- Mel Blanc - Heathcliff
Also Starring[]
- Donna Christie - Cleo, Iggy Nutmeg
- Jeannie Elias - Marcy, Willy
- Stanley Jones - Riff-Raff, Wordsworth, Milkman
- Marilyn Lightstone - Sonja, Mrs. Nutmeg
- Danny Mann - Hector, Mr. Schultz
- Derek McGrath - Lefty, Knuckles, Muggsy, Spike
- Danny Wells - Bush, Raul
- Ted Zeigler - Leroy, Mungo, Mr. Nutmeg
Additional Voices[]
- Mel Blanc - Turtle, Beatcliff
- Donna Christie
- Peter Cullen - Pop
- Jeannie Elias
- Stanley Jones
- Marilyn Lightstone
- Danny Mann
- Derek McGrath - Mr. Woodley
- Marilyn Schreffler - Mr. Woodley's Secretary
- Danny Wells - General, Announcer
- Ted Zeigler
Broadcast history[]
Television[]
In the United States, the series was aired in national first-run syndication from 1984 until 1986. Reruns of the series started airing on Nickelodeon from 1988 until 1993. Reruns aired on The Family Channel from 1993-1996 and FOX Family Channel in 1998. From 2010 until 2011, reruns of the series were aired in the United States on the This Is for Kids block on This TV.
In France, Les Entrechats aired on FR3 from 1984 until 1987.
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. Reruns of the series aired weekdays on Starz Encore Family from 2016 until 2020. From 2018 to 2019, reruns of the show aired on Light TV.
Streaming[]
The series was available on the Starz website from 2016 until 2020 during its run on Starz Encore Family. In 2019, CBS All Access (now called Paramount+) acquired the streaming rights to the series (along with other series distributed by WildBrain), and is still currently available as of 2023. The series is also available for free (with ads) on the internet television service Pluto TV (which is also owned by Paramount Global).
Trivia[]
- Mel Blanc reprises his role as Heathcliff in this series after he did Heathcliff and Dingbat and Heathcliff and Marmaduke.
- Inspector Gadget (from the DiC series of the same name) makes multiple cameo appearances throughout the series. He can be seen in episodes such as Harem Cat, The Siamese Twins, Search for a Star and Life Saver. Brain, another character from the series, also makes an appearance in the episode Who's Got the Chocolate?.
- Production of the first season was handled by DiC Audiovisuel in France and Canada, while the second season was produced by DiC Enterprises in the US.
- The animation in the first season was outsourced to a few animation studios including Tokyo Movie Shindou (now called TMS Entertainment) and Cuckoo's Nest Studio, while the second season had its animation produced by K.K. DiC Asia, a Japanese animation facility that DiC opened to save money on outsourcing their animation to other studios.
- Unlike the first season where all the episodes were aired in order, most of the second season was aired out of order.
- According to Donna Christie (the voice of Iggy and Cleo) in an interview with Saturday Morning Rewind in 2015[3], this series was cancelled because of Mel Blanc's declining health at the time. Mel Blanc would eventually pass away on July 10th, 1989.
- In the same interview, Donna stated that back when the series first aired back in 1984, the Cadillac car company disliked the show's original title, which was Heathcliff & the Cadillac Cats, and because the segments took place in a junkyard. They felt that if they put Cadillac in the name, it could've potentially ruined their reputation. So the name of the show was temporarily changed to Heathcliff & Cats and Company (or just simply Heathcliff) to avoid legal issues.
- In the second season, Hector, Wordsworth and Mungo do not appear in the Heathcliff segments. They only appeared in the Catillac Cats segments.
- On the cover of some DVD releases, Heathcliff is often seen wearing a black leather jacket, but he never wears one in the actual show.
Home media[]
In the 1980s, the series was released on VHS from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and Golden Book Video, with releases from the latter being released through the DIC Video label.
In February 2004, Sterling Entertainment released two VHS/DVD releases 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, Sterling released Heathcliff: The Movie on DVD.
In 2004, General Mills offered free DVDs of DiC series with assorted episodes in cereal boxes, including Heathcliff.[4][5]
In the United Kingdom, 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.
In September 2005, Shout! Factory 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.[6]
Throughout 2007–2009, NCircle Entertainment released eight Heathcliff DVDs.[7]
In February 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 which includes a bonus episode of The Get Along Gang (originally The Busy World of Richard Scarry was meant to be the bonus episode). 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.[8]
In August 2016, Mill Creek released Heathcliff – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[9] 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.
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 |
References[]
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285371/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5
- ↑ https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Entrechats.gif
- ↑ http://www.saturdaymorningrewind.com/donna-christie-podcast-interview.html
- ↑ Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: DiC & UAV Home Video ads (2004) - Super Mario Bros., Heathcliff, Inspector Gadget, Gadget Boy.Template:Cbignore
- ↑ Heathcliff & Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
- ↑ Shout! Factory – Forum Thread with Brian Ward announcing the current ownership of 'Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats' Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Heathcliff DVDs. NCircle Entertainment.
- ↑ Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats) DVD news: Announcement for Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats - Season 1, Volume 2 - TVShowsOnDVD.com.
- ↑ Heathcliff (a.k.a. Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats) DVD news: Announcement for The Complete Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com.