The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty |
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Title card
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| Genre | Animation Live action |
| Created by | Lorna Smith |
| Directed by | Don Christensen Rudy Larriva |
| Voices of | Howard Morris Jane Webb Allan Melvin |
| Theme music composer | Yvette Blais Jeff Michael |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lou Scheimer Norm Prescott |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Filmation |
| Distributor | United American Video \NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 6 – November 29, 1975 |
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty (later called The New Adventures of Waldo Kitty) is an American animated and partially live-action television series, produced by Filmation, which originally aired for one season on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) from September 6 to November 29, 1975. Howard Morris, Jane Webb, and Allan Melvin provided voices for the three main characters on the series. The show follows a cat named Waldo who daydreams of being a superhero and defeating the villainous bulldog Tyrone. It was inspired by James Thurber's 1939 short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", and his wife Helen Thurber sued Filmation in 1975 for creating the series without the permission of her late husband's estate. The outcome of the decision resulted in the series being retitled in future broadcasts as The New Adventures of Waldo Kitty.
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty was produced by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott and directed by Don Christensen and Rudy Larriva. Critically, positive response was aimed at the show's imaginative story lines and its ability to parody pop culture events well. However, producer Scheimer was extremely upset by the series' final result, listing the issues that arose during production and the minimal number of episodes produced as reasons why among others. The series has a total of just 13 episodes. In 1989, three episodes from The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty were featured on a VHS tape released by United American Video.
Premise and description
The series was inspired by Walter Mitty, the main character in James Thurber's 1939 short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Each episode began with live action footage of Waldo and Felicia, who were usually being bullied by Tyrone. Waldo would then daydream about being a superhero and coming to the rescue of others. The series contained a lot of satire per the request of Filmation and cited television series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and magazine Mad as the reason why.
Characters
The series features the following three main characters throughout its run:
- Howard Morris as Waldo, a "fraidy cat" who enjoys imagining and dreaming that he is a superhero; he pictures himself in a variety of personas, including Robin Cat, Catman, and Catzan.
- Jane Webb as Felicia, a cat who is Waldo's girlfriend and trusty companion. During the animation portions of the show, she is usually held captive or kidnapped by Tyrone and eventually rescued by Waldo.
- Allan Melvin as Tyrone, an evil English bulldog. He generally bullies Waldo and Felicia in each episode, during both the animated and live action segments. Scheimer selected Melvin to voice Tyrone as he had "a hoarse [and] very deep voice".
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
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| 1 | "Cat Man" | September 6, 1975 | |
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Daydreaming as Catman, Waldo learns that Tyrone is holding Felicia captive in a cage in an abandoned barn. Despite being under the watch of Tyrone's friends, Catman tries different methods to come to Felicia's rescue and save her.
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| 2 | "Catzan of the Apes" | September 13, 1975 | |
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Catzan, a protector of the jungle he resides in, learns that Tyrone plans to reutilize space in the jungle to make way for construction. So Tyrone chases Catzan down in hopes that his plan will go through as planned without any interference.
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| 3 | "The Lone Kitty" | September 20, 1975 | |
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A cowboy-version of Tyrone and his crew begin terrorizing the inhabitants of a small rural, desert town with their horses, so the Lone Kitty promises to save the town and lock up Tyrone and his friends for good.
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| 4 | "Robin Cat" | September 27, 1975 | |
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A hungry pig king, who is the ruler of a kingdom, sends Tyrone on a mission to catch the infamous Robin Cat, who has been stealing food and wealth from the queen and distributing it to the poor. Tyrone and his gang vows to track down him and return the food and her goods to her.
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| 5 | "Cat Trek" | October 4, 1975 | |
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In a parody of Star Trek, Waldo and his friends aboard a spaceship which is actively being watched and followed by a spaceship named Tyronious. Tyrone, the leader of this spaceship, threatens Waldo to give up his own ship or face the consequences, but all of Tyrone's attempts to gain his hovercraft are unsuccessful.
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| 6 | "Cat Man Meets the Poochquin" | October 11, 1975 | |
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Tyrone a.k.a. the Poochquin locks Felicia up in a prison, hoping to gain the attention of her uncle, their town's mayor. Catman and his friend Sparrow, a yellow sparrow bird, travel around the city in search of Felicia; the major, impatiently waiting for his niece's return, also becomes locked up in a trap set by Tyrone.
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| 7 | "Catzan or Not Catzan" | October 18, 1975 | |
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While adventuring in the jungle with Sparrow, Catzan comes across Tyrone who has returned to hunt the various species of animals that live there; in order to save the other animals, Catzan cleverly leads Tyrone's gang out of the jungle without them even knowing it.
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| 8 | "The Lone Kitty Rides Again" | October 25, 1975 | |
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The Lone Kitty returns to save Felicia, who was recently captured by Tyrone while wandering in the desert. With his trusty horse Sterling and a rabbit named Pronto, he visits an old jailhouse to save Felicia and lock up Tyrone for good.
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| 9 | "Sheriff of Sherwood" | November 1, 1975 | |
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Awarded as "Sheriff of the Day", Robin Cat patrols Sherwood and finds out that Tyrone is scheming a way to mess with his special award; he decides to stop his plans before anything serious occurs.
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| 10 | "Cat Man Meets the Puzzler" | November 8, 1975 | |
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Tyrone, who has become the super-villain known as the Puzzler, kidnaps Felicia and holds her in his underground lair, so Catman must step in and save the day.
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| 11 | "Dr. Livingstone, I Perfume?" | November 15, 1975 | |
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Tyrone, who overheard about the powerful Dr. Livingstone, is wanting to track him down so he can obtain his secret oil, which is capable of producing large quantities of an expensive perfume. Catzan, on the other hand, vows to stop Tyrone before any harm is done.
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| 12 | "Ping or Pongo" | November 22, 1975 | |
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While traveling throughout the Solar System, Waldo learns that Tyrone is, once again, searching for his spaceship. Tyrone hopes to scare Waldo away by using a hologram to produce an artificial version of him, so Waldo (as Captain Herc) similarly creates an android version of himself which is used to frighten Tyrone and his crew.
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| 13 | "Chaw the Bullet" | November 29, 1975 | |
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The Lone Kitty and his rabbit companion Pronto must work together to stop Tombstone Tyrone and his henchdogs from taking over a settlement of land in the Old West.
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