Top Cat week!

O.k., as promised to Ruth, we're doin' Top Cat this week. A lil' before my time, I'm only familiar with Top Cat as being one of the Hanna-Barbera pantheon from the sixties. Ruth insists there's more to this alley cat than mere entertaining toons, so I'm gonna do me some research. Here's the skinny from Wikipedia:

"The central character, Top Cat — called T.C. by close friends — is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats: Fancy Fancy, Spook, Benny the Ball, The Brain, and Choo Choo. Top Cat and his gang were inspired by characters from the popular US situation comedy The Phil Silvers Show. It has also been said that the Bowery Boys influenced the show. Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman on The Phil Silvers Show, also provided the voice for Benny the Ball in Top Cat (Benny's rotund appearance was based on Gosfield too). Arnold Stang's voicing of Top Cat strongly resembled Phil Silvers' voice as well.

A frequent plotline revolved around the local policeman, Officer Charlie Dibble, and his ineffective attempts to evict the gang from the city. The only reason that he wanted to be rid of them was that Top Cat and his gang were constantly attempting to earn a quick dollar—usually through an illegal scam. Dibble's appearance was modelled on Allen Jenkins who did his voice. The name Dibble has passed into the vernacular as slang for police officers.

In 1985 Top Cat appeared on Yogi's Treasure Hunt with all the other Hanna-Barbera characters and then in 1991 he became a teenage cat (but he still lived in a trash can) on NBC's Yo Yogi!. Also, in 1987, Top Cat was part of a full-length telefilm titled Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats (part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 film series), in which the gang helps a young girl claim her inheritance.

Top Cat appears in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Mindless" where Harvey takes Top Cat home with him. The main cast also makes a cameo appearance in an episode of The Powerpuff Girls. He also appeared in a non-speaking role in Duck Dodgers, where he was frozen solid aboard an alien spaceship."

Hmm...O.k., well any character that manages to earn an episode of Harvey Birdman AND Powerpuff / Duck Dodgers cameos deserves our attention, neh? One helluva swingin' intro theme, without a doubt! We're gonna do a three parter, 'The 1,000,000 Derby', for starters...here's ep. 1. Great writing and voice acting here...lookin' forward to the rest of the eps. Stay tooned.