Slacker Cats

Slacker Cats
Created by Andy Riley
Kevin Cecil
Starring Harland Williams
Sinbad
Nicole Sullivan
Allen Covert
Kiersten Warren
Emo Philips
Opening theme Jason Frederick
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2 (first season has aired)
No. of episodes 12 (6 have aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Kevin Cecil
Andy Riley
Seth Kearsley
Running time 30 mins.
Production company(s) Film Roman
WIll Vinton Productions
ABC Family Original Productions
Release
Original network ABC Family
Original release August 13, 2007 – January 23, 2009

Slacker Cats was an animated ABC Family series that premiered on August 13, 2007. It was created using Adobe Flash.

The show was initially marketed as a children's show, but in later advertising and in press kits issued to the media, it was clearly indicated that the show included a more adult tone and themes.[1] The show's 10PM broadcast time further illustrated that its target was an adult audience. The program was rated TV-14.

Slacker Cats was animated by Film Roman, the same company that animates The Simpsons and King of the Hill and produced by Laika. It features the voice talents of comedians Harland Williams and Sinbad in the lead roles. It was created by Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, who also served as executive producers along with animation director Seth Kearsley, who designed the characters.

Slacker Cats was canceled on September 17, 2007 after 6 episodes. A second season premiered on the ABC Family website on January 19, 2009, and was released on iTunes and Xbox Live Marketplace.[2] The second season was numbered as a continuation of the first season, episodes 7 through 12.

Plot

Slacker Cats is about two funny animal cats and their quotidian, strange and outrageous adventures. The animation style is similar to contemporary cartoons such as Family Guy. Main plots of the show revolve around Buckley and Eddie's schemes to escape the everyday monotony of being house cats by taking advantage of humans (as well as other cats) to freewheel themselves in the fictional city of Wendell, California.

Cast and characters

Buckley and Eddie.

Buckley

One of the two main protagonists of Slacker Cats, along with Eddie. He is a cat owned by Louise, living in her apartment. He is clever by cat standards, but he thinks he is much more clever than he really is, which causes he and Eddie to encounter a lot of trouble. He secretly wants to be human, feeling life is limited as a cat. His best friend is Eddie, who is often the cause of his mishaps. Buckley is also the constant nemesis of Mrs. Boots for reasons that remain unknown. He is in love with his owner Louise and plans on marrying her, but she doesn’t return his feelings. Despite his unreturned feelings he still addresses her as if she were his girlfriend. Buckley's personality fluctuates from laziness and uncaring to being remotely active and feeling guilty. He is notably more ethical than Eddie. Buckley also shows an aggressive side, attacking his friend Tabitha and removing her remaining ear, though it was later reattached. Voiced by Harland Williams.

Eddie

One of the two main protagonists of Slacker Cats, along with Buckley. He, like most other characters, is a cat. His owner is Dan, who looks surprisingly like him. Eddie is Buckley's best friend, though he rarely acts like it. He's extremely egotistical about himself, even to the point of kissing a dummy replica of himself (seen in episode 6.) Eddie often speaks of his way with lady cats and past events that involve numerous lady cats at one time, although there is no evidence of this. However, he's stated by other characters to be more of a "tough alley cat" than a normal Californian house cat, hinting Eddie could actually be somewhat of a ladies man. Yet at the same time is also shown to be very desperate, including going far out of his way and hurting himself/friends to get attention from female cats. He knows Buckley is in love with his owner, Louise, and often makes fun of him for it, calling him a "sicko" or an "Ownerphile" whenever he looks at something human related. However, he will still stand up for Buckley, normally against Mrs. Boots asking "Where is Mr. Boots?" which causes her run off angrily every time. Voiced by Sinbad.

Tabitha

She is cat whose owner is unknown and may be a stray because of her neglected appearance. However, in episode 5 she admits to have once have had an owner but since then had forgotten who it was. She has one ear, which has a bow on it and the other seems to have been mostly bitten off. She is also often shown carrying a small green purse. She is not too bright, but she is cheery and believes she is everyone's friend. Of all the people in Wendell, she enjoys spending time with Buckley and Eddie, much to their annoyance. Whenever she sees them and tries to talk she is given an excuse by Eddie why they are too busy or tells her to wait somewhere for them, often somewhere dangerous. She is willing to forgive anything, including being left in the middle of a highway or having her ear ripped off by Buckley. She often shows characteristics of bipolar disorder, going from cheery to standing over Louise (whom she duck-taped to her bed) with a scalpel and directions on how to perform a "reverse conjoined twin separation" on her. Voiced by Kiersten Warren.

Dooper

Dooper is a stray cat that lives in a cardboard box in an alley near Louise's apartment. He is afraid of almost everything and is quite nervous. As a result of this he is constantly coming up with outlandish conspiracy theories and rushes to warn everyone. The closest things to friends he has are Buckley and Eddie, whom he normally tells his theories to first. They usually ignore him, but sometimes use his conspiracy theories to trick him into doing their dirty work. He will often find small, everyday things like a crack in the pavement and use it as proof of his theories. Also it is said that Dooper doesn't have any testicles, suggesting that he once had an owner who had him neutered. Voiced by Emo Philips.

Mrs. Boots

She is a cat whose owner is unknown but her owner's family is shown to be wealthy as she lives in a mansion. She is Buckley's nemesis and tries to thwart his plans in any way she can. The reason why she hates Buckley remains unknown. Her name derives from the difference in color of her body and her paws. She is all light grey except for her paws which are dark brown. She is very self-conscious about them, calling them "deformities" and hiding them in her fur when she sits. She is also self-conscious about her name, always becoming aggravated when Eddie asks "Where's Mr. Boots?". She shows herself as a classy cat, but has a short temper and when angry starts to yell and her voice becomes a little bit hoarse. Voiced by Niecy Nash.

Louise

She is one of the only main human characters and is Buckley's owner. Technically their relationship can be viewed as somewhat closer as humans can understand cats and vice versa on the show, but she still treats him as her pet for the most part. Buckley has a romantic infatuation with Louise and hopes to one day consummate their relationship, although she is oblivious to the fact. Buckley even said that he once proposed to her. Voiced by Nicole Sullivan.

Ingrid and Latoyah

Best friends who Eddie thinks are hot. Ingrid and Latoyah are voiced by Masasa Moyo and Alex Borstein.

Episodes

Season 1 (2007)

# Title Original airdate
1"Mexico"August 13, 2007 (2007-08-13)
In the first episode of Slacker Cats, Buckley and Eddie want to take a vacation in Mexico, but when they are unsuccessful in boarding the airplane, they decide to simply pretend that they are in Mexico. Meanwhile, ignored and in search of a friend, Tabitha brings home the corpse of a cat that died on the freeway.
2"The Wood"August 20, 2007 (2007-08-20)
Buckley tries to organize the neighborhood against a developer who is going to despoil the natural beauty of the woods. The main problem is that Trevor, the developer, is Louise's new boyfriend. Buckley also tries to find a way to re-attach Tabitha's ear, which he accidentally ripped off in a fight.
3"Big Guy"August 27, 2007 (2007-08-27)
Louise asks Buckley to clear the basement of rats. Buckley is too chicken to do so until he meets 'The Big Guy' (who turns out to be a tiger) and tries to copy everything the tiger does.
4"Ozymandias"September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03)
Buckley assumes an alias and opts to relocate after finding a man in Louise's bed.
5"Casino Miaow"September 10, 2007 (2007-09-10)
Buckley needs money to get Louise a birthday present, so he decides to sell Tabitha to a lab and tries to win big in Mrs. Boots's poker game.
6"Buckley and Eddie Deceased"September 17, 2007 (2007-09-17)
In the first season finale, Buckley may regret his hasty course of action when he incorrectly believes that he killed Eddie.

Season 2 (2009, online)

# Title Original airdate
7"Dolenz"January 19, 2009 (2009-01-19)
Dolenz gets out of prison and forces Buckley, Eddie, and Tabitha into a crime spree.
8"Sex and the Kitties"January 19, 2009 (2009-01-19)
Dooper becomes possessed by the ghosts of his severed testicles and Eddie is sent to the Vet to be neutered.
9"Buckley on the Run"January 20, 2009 (2009-01-20)
Trevor comes back into Louise's life and frames Buckley the cat for killing a rabbit named Buckley. This episode guest stars Stephen Root, Dave Foley, Bobcat Goldthwait, Vanessa Ruiz and Tom Kenny.
10"Garage A Trois"January 21, 2009 (2009-01-21)
Buckley, Eddie, and Tabitha get trapped in a garage and go insane.
11"Work Work Work"January 22, 2009 (2009-01-22)
Louise loses her job, and when Buckley goes to get her job back, he actually gets her job.
12"Buckley Versus the Future"January 23, 2009 (2009-01-23)
Buckley turns off the internet to make the world a better place.

Production

The original 2001 pilot was animated in claymation by Laika's predecessor Will Vinton Studios. The series was pitched to The WB who turned it down. The pilot has a different artstyle from the final version. It also had a different voice cast except for Tabitha.[3]

International broadcasts

Country Network(s) Premiere
 Turkey ComedyMax 3 January 2008
 Poland MTV Poland 22 March 2008
 Russia 2x2 25 May 2009

References

  1. ↑ Keating, Gina (August 8, 2007). ""Slacker Cats" shake up Disney image". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  2. ↑ Slacker Cats Myspace Blog post announcing the second season
  3. ↑ https://vimeo.com/98621656
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