by Lennon George
Hey Go Figure! I’m stepping away from the 80’s cartoons this week and jumping into the 90’s. There are a lot of toons that I enjoyed watching back then, heck I still find myself watching them when I can to this day. One of my favorite shows was Swat Kats, a short-lived series produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services. Christian and Yvon Tremblay were the creative minds behind the animated series. The show takes place in Megakat City a fictional metropolis populated entirely by human like felines known as “Kats”. Originally the show aired on TBS during “The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera” cartoon block from 1993-1995.
The Swat Kats team consists of Chance “T-Bone” Furlong and Jake “Razor” Clawson. Both are former members of the “The Enforcers’ but were demoted after disobeying the order of Commander Ulysses Feral, head of the Enforcers, to stop pursuit of the main villain of the series Dark Kat. Due to their disobedience they were re-assigned to work at the military junkyard. T-Bone and Razor decide to act as vigilantes, they use scrap parts from the junkyard to build a super cool fighter jet called the Turbokat, tricked out with all kinds of kick a@s weapons. They also had an array of other various vehicles such as the motorcycle Cyclotron, which is built into the seats of the Turbocat and deploys out of the bomb bay like a missile. They also had a hovercraft known as the HoverKat, a drilling vehicle called the TurboMole, and the Thunder Truck (a jeep modified from their tow-truck). All of their vehicles, weapons, and training materials were housed in a secret hanger under the junkyard, which they used as their base.
The Swat Kats protect Megakat City from all sorts of villains including Dark Kat and “The Enforcers”. There was the sorcerer Pastmaster, the mutated evil genius Doctor Viper, the electric controlling Hard Drive, and the robotic husband and wife duo the Metallikats. They also faced off against weekly villains such as the insane Madkat and hotheaded Volcanus. Chance and Jake keep their Swat Kat identities secret from everyone including their closet allies Deputy Mayor Calico “Callie” Briggs, Mayor Manx and Lt. Felina Feral (Commander Feral’s niece).
According to the NTI (Nielsen Television Index) and the NSS (Nielsen Syndication Service) Swat Kats became the number 1 animated show in 1994. Unfortunately the show was cancelled with three unfinished episodes in the fall of '94. Hanna-Barbera wanted to focus on more content for Cartoon Network. There was a line of toys created in 1994 by Remco and both White Castle and Carl’s Jr. released Swat Kats toys in their kids’ meals.
I remember the Swat Kats video game, which was one of my favorite SNES games back in '95; I could never beat that darn Dark Kat. Hanna-Barbera released three video collections with two episodes on each with “Secret File” clips from the original airing of the episodes. The show re-aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang and also got a video re-release by Warner Archive as a part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection series in 2010. You can find the toys and video collection on Amazon and eBay as well as other secondary market outlets. I wouldn’t mind finding a set of the Remco Toys I used to own the Razor and T-Bone figures when I was a kid. I always felt like they needed a playset and a TurboKat vehicle, but it never happened.
Well I’m about to get some grub and go out and do some hunting. Take a minute to show us some love on our social networks. Leave some comments, show us your collection(s), or just tell us what you would like us to cover here at Go Figure! Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Until next time Go Hard, Go Fast, Go Figure!
Sources:
Swat Kats - Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons (Archive)
"Swat Kats: The Complete Series : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
Animation Magazine (October/November). 1994.
Swanigan, Michael (1994). "Hanna-Barbera's SWAT Kats: The Best New Action- Adventure Series To Come From Hanna-Barbera In Years!". Toon Magazine 1 (5).
"Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron - 'The Complete Series Collection' DVDs are Available Once More! ***UPDATED***". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
"SWAT Kats Toys at Virtual Toychest". Virtualtoychest.com. Retrieved 2008-06-18