Fraidy Cat (1975)

Note: Not to be confused with the 1942 Tom and Jerry short of the same name.

Fraidy Cat (1975)
"Every kitty has nine lives. But eight of mine went fast. Now there's only one life left, and I want to make it last!"
Genre: Comedy Running Time: 6 Minutes Country: United States Release Date: September 6, 1975 – November 22, 1975 6 scrapped episodes range from November 29, 1975 - January 3, 1976 Network(s): ABC Starring: Alan Oppenheimer Lennie Weinrib Seasons: 1 Episodes: 12 (+6 extra scrapped episodes)

Fraidy Cat is an American animated series that was released from September 6, 1975 until November 22, 1975. 6 extra episodes ranging from November 29, 1975 to January 3, 1976 were in production but they were scrapped due to the show getting cut. It originally appeared as one of the segments from a short-lived Filmation's series named "Uncle Croc's Block".

Plot

The show stars Fraidy "Nine" Cat (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), an unlucky and miserable cat who, like all cats, has nine lives, but has used up eight of them and is on his ninth and last life, where he wants to make it last the longest. Every time Fraidy tries to say any single-digit number (from one to eight), or any word or any part of a word that rhymes with or sounds the same as the number's name in any language, a ghost from one of his former lives will appear and mistakenly tend to make things even worse for Fraidy Cat.

His lives are:

• Tinker “One” Elephunt: A caveman who always keeps his pet dinosaur, Ant, with him.
• Kitty “Two” Wizard: A wizard who always has his wand on the wrong setting.
• Captain “Three” Kitt: A pirate who is destined to find any form of loot he finds.
• Sir “Four” Walter: An English noblesman with a stereotypical accent.
• Billy “Five” The Kitt: A cowboy who lassoes anything that tries to hunt or injure Fraidy.
• Jasper “Six” Catdaver: An undertaker who is always trying to get Fraidy to pass on to the “Other Side” or the afterlife.
• Captain “Seven” Eddie: An incompetent flier who always flies in the wrong position.
• Hep “Eight” Cat: A jive-talking street cat who has a zoot-suit.
• Cloud Nine: As if to fill the gap for his ninth life, this life is personified as a storm cloud shaped like the number nine, who is bent on striking Fraidy with his bolts.

Bad Qualities

1. This show is overall very mean-spirited to the main protagonist to the point that it is nothing more than a sadist cartoon show, as it has a lot of cruel moments such as:
   • When Fraidy Cat says a single-digit number from 1 to 8, then the corresponding life will show up.
   • There is also Fraidy's ninth life (which is personified as a nine-shaped cloud) that tries to kill Fraidy every time he says the number 9.
   • Even one of Fraidy's former lives, Jasper Catdaver, wants him dead for no reason at all.
   • Everybody else always wants to give Fraidy misfortune, for no apparent reason. Examples include:
     • A mouse mafia forces Fraidy to give him his number to him, and when Fraidy tried escaping from a thunder stuck from Cloud Nine, who wants Fraidy dead just because he ran into their town.
     • A cat girl’s friend named Chuck who gets into a fight with Fraidy just because Fraidy is in love with her.
     • A dog mob who threatens to kill Fraidy if they don’t break them out of the animal shelter.
     • A trio of cat burglars who manage to do unspeakable things to Fraidy offscreen just because Fraidy stole their loot.
     • Pirate birds who mistake that Fraidy stole some of the food that they want to eat.
     • A police horse who hunts down Fraidy just because he tasted an oat-flavored lollipop inside a horse stable.
     • Two dogs who threaten to decapitate Fraidy if they don’t fill in for them, one is a junkyard guard dog, and a freight trainyard guard dog.
     • Cockatoo birds who are smitten for Fraidy and stalk him, and can't escape as there is a dog blocking the way out.
     • Dog show contestants who chase Fraidy when he mistakenly eats their food.
     • Fraidy gets thristy, and lost, in the desert, he encounters wild animals such as cougar who considered eating Fraidy.
     • Two alley cats named Fatty Catty and Long Tail, who trick Fraidy into saying “nine”.
     • Famous animal TV stars who chase Fraidy and Boris just because they looks the same cat.
2. The animation is also cheap, lazy, stiff, and limited, considering that the fact that it was made by Filmation.
   • Recycled animation and frames are present in every. single. episode.
   • Also, there is a pink cat character named “Lulu” that never changes a single pose.
   • There also that part where Fraidy Cat's model has been shrunk after he tried to fight another cat, which makes no sense at all (unless if you actually look back at the episode).
   • Animations errors are frequent too, such as hands or mouth scruffs being miscolored white. For example, Fraidy's mouth scruff would be colored white multiple times in the episode “Meaner Than The Junkyard Cat”.
3. The annoying laugh track is also used here just like in most American animated cartoons from the 1970s, which makes the show more irritating to watch.
4. The show is also short-lived and obscure, due to the fact only had 12 6-minute-long episodes and lasted for less than four months, not to mention it didn’t even last it’s full season, with 6 extra episodes being scrapped in production. The reason for this is that Uncle Croc's Block was shortened to a half-hour in 1975, cutting the show, and taking it’s 6 unproduced episodes with it.
   • On that note, this show also caused ABC to end their relationship with Filmation.
5. Fraidy Cat's previous lives/ancestors look nothing like him, which can create some confusion to viewers.
6. Another example of a show having a good premise ruined by its poor execution.
7. Most characters in an episode (minus Fraidy and his lives) are either one-shot, barely get any screen-time at all, or are just made solely for the purpose of filler (for example, a Wile E. Coyote parody, a crow who’s a poet, a circus lion in a stranded circus truck, etc.).
8. There’s some very slow pacing in some episodes with “Over the Wall and Having a Ball” being the worst offender, as the characters barely do anything for over four. minutes. straight.
9. Some character's voices are the exact same voice, which can be pretty confusing. Examples include Boss Mouse, Chuck, and Captain Squeak.

Good Qualities

1. It had an interesting concept especially for its time to begin with. Plus, it was one of the few Filmation shows to be original and not taken or adapted from another franchise.
2. Fraidy Cat himself is a likable and sympathetic character.
3. There are some good moments in the series such as:
   • Kojackie the police horse giving Fraidy his oat-flavored lollipops with Fraidy happy at the end.
   • The dog who antagonize Fraidy getting his pushiment by being smitten by Cockatoos, with Fraidy now able to leave the bird shop.
   • Fraidy winning a trophy at a dog contest.
   • Fraidy managing to escape Cloud Nine.
4. Funny moments in the series, for one example as Fraidy eating a fish book, when he thought it was actual fish.
5. Fraidy's previous lives do have their moments of being useful and assisting Fraidy, also there voice, accent and designs are very unique from one another.
6. Passable voice acting, despite BQ #9.
7. Decent theme song.
8. It has since gained a cult following in later years, which is interesting considering how short-lived and obscure the series was.

Trivia

• The show was remarked one of the most original shows of the 70’s, because everything else was either a rehash or a spin-off.
• The show lapsed into the public domain due to Filmation forgetting to put a copyright license on the show.
• Despite having 18 episodes, 6 of those episodes were scrapped entirely due to Fraidy Cat getting cut from Uncle Croc’s Block. Storyboards of “Double Trouble” and “Fraidy Gone Fishin” exist on the internet to confirm their existence.
• The fifth episode, “Puss N’ Boats”, commonly has its title confused for “This Cat for Hire”, one of the scrapped episodes.

Reception

Fraidy Cat has a 6.4/10 rating on IMDb.

Episodes with Their Own Pages

• Magic Numbers (Fraidy Cat)
• Cupid and the Cat (Fraidy Cat)

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