SWAT Kats FAQ

From: Dana Uehara <duehara_at_cisk.atmos.Ucla.EDU>
Date: Wed, 3 May 95 20:46:18 PDT

OK, here's the first draft of the FAQ. If you have any corrections
or additions, please *email* (don't post unless you want other people
on your tail for wasting bandwidth ;-).


SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron Frequently Asked Questions
===========================================================

_SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron_ is a cartoon created in 1993 by two
Canadian-French brothers, Christian Tremblay and Yvon Tremblay. Using
their self-taught drawing skills and their own money, they managed to
sell their creation of anthropomorphic felines, otherwise known as
"Kats", to Hanna-Barbera.

H-B produced 23 episodes of the SWAT Kats, 13 for the first season
(1993-94) and 10 for the second season (1994-95). The second season
fell three episodes shy of a full set because, in the middle of
production, Turner Entertainment ordered H-B to cancel production of
the series. The reason that Turner gave at the time was because the
show wasn't moving merchandise -- although the series hardly had any
merchandise to begin with! Therefore, Turner decided to yank the show
even though it had been doing very well in the ratings. Three episodes
have been storyboarded and the voice tracks laid down, but are currently
still in limbo (and may very well become the "lost episodes" of the series).

TBS will be carrying the series through at least July 1995; after that,
it may run independently, but most likely the series will be dropped
completely from the air.

Rumor has it, however, that Turner cancelled the series because of its
violence and not because of the lack of merchandise. In fact, there
should be some merchandise hitting the store shelves this summer; look
for action figures (T-Bone, Razor, Dark Kat and Doctor Viper) produced
by Remco as well as a Super Nintendo game (none for Sega yet), both of
which are due out in July. There's also a poster available at the
K-Mart in Inglewood, CA; other locations may also carry it, but you may
have to hunt for it.

The animation studios involved in _Kats_ production are Hanho Heung-Up
and Mook, both of which are Korean animation studios. Both seasons'
episodes show an anime (Japanimation) influence, especially the second
season's episodes, which were animated entirely by Mook. Christian
Tremblay apparently wanted Mook to do all of the episodes, but found it
uneconomical to do so.

Write your local station that carries the SWAT Kats (and/or TBS)! Tell
them how much you like the series! TBS also has an email address, but
snail mail letters are usually taken much more seriously than email.

While we're on the subject of letter writing, you can also write Hanna-
Barbera at:

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc.
3400 Cahuega Blvd. West
Hollywood, CA 90068-1378

H-B makes 11 copies of every letter it goes and sends a copy to the
creators, Christian and Yvon Tremblay.

Are you interested in joining a _Kats_ fan club? The club is unofficial
at the moment, but you can email either Walt Koziol (wkoziol_at_delphi.com)
or me (duehara_at_atmos.ucla.edu / razor_at_netcom.com) for details. We'll
need your snail mail address if you want to join (no membership fees yet).


--
=================== Dana Uehara (duehara_at_atmos.ucla.edu) ==================
"We are having a *bad* vehicle day, buddy!" -- Razor

Received on Wed May 03 1995 - 23:46:45 PDT