''Wild C.A.T.S'' is a half-hour animated television series based on the comics series
of the same name and developed for television by
David Wise. It aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
for one season from October 1, 1994, to January 21, 1995. The series was produced by
WildStorm Productions
Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wildst ...
in association with
Nelvana
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
.
Overview
When the evil Daemonites emerge from the shadows, multi-billionaire Jacob Marlowe assembles the Wild C.A.T.s, a team of warriors who are descendants of the heroic Kherubim race.
Production
''Wild C.A.T.S'', along with ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
'' and ''
Skeleton Warriors
''Skeleton Warriors'' is a 13-episode cartoon series created by Landmark Entertainment Group, which originally aired in 1994 on CBS. The show was created by producer Gary Goddard.
Summary
The story takes place on the fictional distant planet of ...
'', was grouped into the "Action Zone" showcase that used a wraparound animated fly-though pre-credit sequence to bookend the three very different programs. The series was canceled around the same time that the "Action Zone" concept was officially retired (although ''TMNT'' retained the "Action Zone" credit sequence until the end of its run two years later). Following its cancellation, ''Wild C.A.T.s'' was picked up by
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
and was aired as part of the ''
USA Action Extreme Team
''USA Action Extreme Team'' was a children's television programming block on USA Network from 1995 to 1998. The block aired on Sunday mornings, but it later expanded to weekday mornings beginning in 1996 and took over the USA Cartoon Express block ...
'' block from 1995 to 1996.
The Wild C.A.T.s were composed of the original roster from the comic series. The major villain was Helspont, and the Troika and the Coda were featured as supporting characters. Mr. Majestic also made appearances, though not as a member of the group.
The series featured a
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
soundtrack, with the
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
performed by
Sheree Jeacocke and Gerry Mosby.
Cast
* Rod Wilson as Hadrian-7/Spartan and
Majestyk
* Roscoe Handford as
Lady Zannah/Zealot
*
Colin O'Meara as
Cole Cash/Grifter
*
Ruth Marshall
Ruth Marshall (born June 7, 1965) is a Canadian actress from Toronto, Ontario. She is known for her role in the hit television series '' Flashpoint''. She graduated with a degree in English from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and then ret ...
as
Priscilla Kitaen/Voodoo
*
Dean McDermott
Dean McDermott (born November 16, 1966) is a Canadian actor best known as a reality television personality with his wife, actress Tori Spelling, and as the host of the cooking competition ''Chopped Canada''. He played the role of Constable Renfi ...
as
Reno Bryce/Warblade
* Paul Mota as Jeremy Stone/Maul
*
Sean McCann as Jacob Marlowe
*
Janet-Laine Green
Janet-Laine Green (born December 31, 1951) is a Canadian actress, film director, director, film producer, producer and teacher, active for over 25 years. Best known for her roles in ''She's the Mayor'', ''Seeing Things (TV series), Seeing Things'' ...
as Void
*
Maurice Dean Wint
Maurice Dean Wint is a British-born Canadian actor who has starred in several films and television shows.
Life and career
Wint was born in Leicestershire, England, and moved to Canada in 1967 with his family. He began to act in Toronto on stag ...
as
Helspont
Helspont is a fictional character, a former supervillain in Wildstorm's comics who was transplanted to the DC Comics Universe. In addition to the WildC.A.T.s, he has also fought Team One, Gen¹³, Backlash, and when folded into the DC Universe, S ...
*
Colin Fox as Pike
* Dave Nichols as Attica
* Addison Bell as Slag
*
Dan Hennessey
Dan Hennessey (born August 25)https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Dan-Hennessey/ is a Canadian voice director and voice actor who, early on in his career, performed with a children's comedy troupe The Zoo Factory (with John Stocker, Bruce Gord ...
as H.A.R.M.
*
Denis Akiyama as Dockwell
* Kristina Nicholl as Artemis
* Lorne Kennedy as Karillion
* Jim Millington as Zachary Forbes
* Bob Zidel as Professor Stone
*
David Hemblen
David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...
as Commander
Episodes
Marketing tie-ins
CBS published a one-shot comic book to promote the Action Zone time slot, featuring characters from ''Wild C.A.T.s'', ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', and ''Skeleton Warriors''. The cover art was illustrated by Jim Lee.
Playmates Toys
Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing their own line of pre-school toys, ...
released a ''Wild C.A.T.s'' toy line of six-inch action figures from 1994 to 1995. The characters featured in the toy line were Spartan, Grifter, Zealot (Kherubim Warrior and Coda Uniform versions), Warblade, Maul (standard and Flexon Combat Suit versions), Voodoo, Void, Helspont, Pike, and a generic Daemonite. Mr. Majestic, Max Cash (as Black Razor), Slag, and a color variant of Pike were released as part of the comics-oriented "Image Universe" sub-line. The Bullet Bike was the sole vehicle in the toy line. In addition, Playmates released giant 10-inch figures of Spartan, Grifter, and Maul.
A video game based on the TV series was published by
Playmates Interactive
Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing their own line of pre-school toys, ...
in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
for the
Super NES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...
, with Spartan, Warblade, and Maul as the only playable characters.
Reception
TechnicallyIDoComics of The Top Tens ranked ''Wild C.A.T.s'' at No. 5 on his list of the Top Ten Worst Comic Book Animated TV Shows, commenting that "Choppy animation, sloppy voice-directing, and -- most importantly -- the most careless writing of any superhero cartoon I've ever witnessed as far as plot progression, character development, and dialogue are all concerned. Add an embarrassingly obnoxious theme song (lyrics and all), and you've got a recipe for disaster."
Home media
''Wild C.A.T.s'' was released on
VHS by
Sony Wonder
Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not direct ...
from 1994 to 1996.
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
released the complete series on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on July 19, 2005. The series is also available on
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
and
Tubi
Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...
.
In 2019, the entire series was uploaded on Retro Rerun's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:WildC.A.T.S (Tv Series)
1990s American animated television series
1990s American science fiction television series
1994 American television series debuts
1995 American television series endings
1990s Canadian animated television series
1990s Canadian science fiction television series
1994 Canadian television series debuts
1995 Canadian television series endings
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated science fantasy television series
American children's animated superhero television series
Canadian children's animated action television series
Canadian children's animated adventure television series
Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series
Canadian children's animated superhero television series
Animated television shows based on DC Comics
English-language television shows
CBS original programming
Funimation
Playmates Toys
Television series by Nelvana
Television series based on Image Comics
USA Action Extreme Team
WildStorm