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The Comic Strip (TV series)

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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
NetworkSyndicated
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.

Segments

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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

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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

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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

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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), Caioaby 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 mean, I'm lean, I'm a karate machine" as he spin-changes from his private investigator attire into his karate attire in order to fight crime.

TigerSharks

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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.

Episodes

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The Mini-Monsters episodes

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  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

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  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

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  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

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Main article: TigerSharks § Episodes

Foreign syndication

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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

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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."

References

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  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.
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