Jump to content

The Comic Strip (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the animated series. For other uses, see Comic strip (disambiguation).

The Comic Strip
Official logo
Developed byJules Bass
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Voices ofDonald Acree
Josh Blake
Camille Bonora
Gary V. Brown
Jim Brownold
Eddie Castrodad
Danielle DuClos
Seth Green
Earl Hammond
Maggie Jakobson
Larry Kenney
Carmen de Lavallade
Bob McFadden
Jim Meskimen
Peter Newman
Gordy Owens
Gerrianne Raphael
Ron Taylor
Tanya Willoughby
Daniel Wooten
Music byBernard Hoffer
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes65
Production
Executive producersJules Bass
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Running time20 minutes
Production companiesRankin/Bass Animated Entertainment
Pacific Animation Corporation
Original release
NetworkSyndication
ReleaseSeptember 7 (1987-09-07) –
December 4, 1987 (1987-12-04)

The Comic Strip is an American animated series that features four rotating cartoon segments: The Mini-Monsters, Street Frogs, Karate Kat and TigerSharks. The 90-minute series ran in first-run syndication during the 1987 season.[1]

This was the last TV series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, before Rankin/Bass Partners dissolved in 2001.

Segments

[edit]
Characters from the television series.

Two segments were shown on each broadcast where they each ran for about 10 minutes. The four rotating segments offered were:[2]

The Mini-Monsters

[edit]

A segment where normal human twin siblings Sherman (voiced by Seth Green) and Melissa Baxter find themselves in for a surprise when they are sent to summer camp for one year by their overwhelmed parents. Camp Mini-Mon turns out to be run by an organ-playing shadowy camp director (voiced by Peter Newman) with his pet vulture, and attended by monster kids who are offspring of usually famous monsters, mad scientists, mutants, a witch, and Merlin (voiced by Earl Hammond). They are Count Dracula's son Dracky, Frankenstein's son Franky, The Wolf Man's comedic son Wolfie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon's son Lagoon (voiced by Bob McFadden) who is a certified lifeguard, The Mummy's boxing son Mummo, the Invisible Man's son Blanka, Klutz (voiced by Bob McFadden) the clumsy giant lizard monster who may or may not be related to Godzilla, Jynx the Witch (voiced by Maggie Wheeler), and Merlin's son Melvin accompanied by Cawfield the talking crow (voiced by Earl Hammond). In addition, the camp director is assisted by the camp counselor Garrison and the grandson of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (voiced by Bob McFadden) who works as the camp's physician.

Street Frogs

[edit]

A segment depicting the typical teen-aged hijinks of a gang of street-smart frogs named Dr. Slick, Big Max (voiced by Bob McFadden), Spider, Moose The Loose, and "Honey Love" Loretta (voiced by Tanya Willoughby) in an 80s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. They are also on good terms with a turtle named Snappy Sam (voiced by Ron Taylor) who is the chef and proprietor of the diner that Loretta works at and the town's DJ Typhoon Toad. Apart from Rankin-Bass regular Bob McFadden, this segment featured an African-American cast. Ron Taylor also provides the theme song vocals for this segment. Each episode contains a musical number.

Karate Kat

[edit]

In a late 50s/early 60s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic cats, Karate Kat (voiced by Bob McFadden) is a private investigator who uses his karate to fight crime in his town which is usually in the form of crime boss Big Papa (voiced by Earl Hammond) and his two lackeys named Boom-Boom Burmese (voiced by Larry Kenney) and Sumo Sai (voiced by Earl Hammond). When working at for McClaws's Detective Agency run by his short-tempered boss Katie "Big Mama" McClaw (voiced by Gerrianne Raphael) who is Big Papa's ex-wife, Karate Kat is assisted by his friends/co-workers like his best friend/sparring partner Katgut (voiced by Earl Hammond), inventor Dr. Katmandu (voiced by Larry Kenney), Ciao-Baby and her sister Meow-Baby (both voiced by Maggie Jacobsen), and the aptly-named Katatonic (voiced by Bob McFadden). Karate Kat's catchphrase is "I'm lean, I'm mean, I'm a karate machine" as he spin-changes from his private investigator attire into his karate attire in order to fight crime.

TigerSharks

[edit]
Main article: TigerSharks

A group of powered-up human/sea animal hybrids consisting of Mako (voiced by Peter Newman), Walro (voiced by Earl Hammond), Dolph (voiced by Larry Kenney), Octavia (voiced by Camille Bonora), Lorca, Bronc, Angel, and Gupp become involved in underwater adventures on the planet Water-O that has them facing off against villains like T-Ray and Captain Bizzarly (voiced by Earl Hammond). Each episode consisted of two parts.

Foreign syndication

[edit]

The show was also seen on ABC Television in Australia, on RPN-9 in the Philippines, on RTM 1 in Malaysia (where it was shown after the American children's educational series Sesame Street), on Fun Channel in the Middle East, on TV 4 in Trinidad and Tobago, on ATV in Hong Kong (as part of their children's television strand called Tube Time), on TVJ in Jamaica and on Rai 2 in Italy.

Video releases

[edit]

VHS releases of certain episodes of The Comic Strip were made available in 1987. These VHS tapes each featured three installments of one particular cartoon. For example, the video "Adventures at Camp Mini-Mon" contained three episodes: "Camp Mini-Mon The First Day", "The Belly Ache" and "Alien."

Episodes

[edit]

The Mini-Monsters episodes

[edit]
  1. Camp Mini-Mon - The First Day
  2. The Bellyache
  3. Alien
  4. Practical Joke Day
  5. Parent's Day
  6. Melissa's Magic Painting
  7. They're Not Monsters
  8. The Big Fight
  9. The Swim Meet
  10. Cawfield Blows His Cool
  11. The Magic Feather
  12. The Switch
  13. Wolfie's Bet
  14. Lagoon in Love
  15. Mini-Mon's Horse
  16. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Claws
  17. Ghosts in the Night
  18. House for Sale
  19. Campy Goody Twoshoe
  20. Franklyn Builds a Friend
  21. Mummo's Birthday
  22. Home Movies
  23. The Inspection
  24. A Visit from Ooze
  25. Phantom of the Mess Hall
  26. Dracky's Bat

Street Frogs episodes

[edit]
  1. The Hopline
  2. The Crate
  3. Typhoon Takes Off
  4. The Drop Out
  5. Loretta Goes to Hollywood
  6. Rapperman
  7. Fiddling Around
  8. The Super
  9. The Babysitters
  10. Frog TV
  11. Surprise Fights
  12. Take Out
  13. Moose's Ride
  14. The Car Show
  15. Bye Bye Toad
  16. High Fashion Frogs
  17. Fleet Frogs
  18. The Derby
  19. The Night Job
  20. The Hairdo
  21. Misty Marvelous
  22. The Street Fair
  23. Wilfred Returns
  24. When I Grow Up
  25. The Phone Call

Karate Kat episodes

[edit]
  1. The Katzenheimer Kaper
  2. The Sardine Turnover Kaper
  3. The Mousemobile Kaper
  4. The Crow Key Kaper
  5. The Kata Hari Kaper
  6. The Picat-So Kaper
  7. Ticktocking Along
  8. The Koffee Kup Kaper
  9. Kat Tracks
  10. The Bank Heist
  11. The Tabby Tire Tracker
  12. The Pink Sphinx
  13. Cat's Ahoy
  14. The Cousin Kaper
  15. The Bathtub Bandits
  16. Pretty Kitty Kaper
  17. The Kattensniffer Kaper
  18. The Cats 'N Bats Kaper
  19. The Tabby Telemann Kaper
  20. Cat Goes Ape
  21. The Ghost of Legs Larue
  22. Kat's Paws
  23. The Twin Brother Kaper
  24. The Amnesia Kaper
  25. The Lonely Hearts Kaper

TigerSharks episodes

[edit]
Main article: TigerSharks § Episodes

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 208–210. ISBN 978-1476665993.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Comic_Strip_(TV_series)&oldid=1293945255"