(fwd) Re: SWAT Kats fluff episode, or, May a Small Asteroid Hit Atlanta

From: Andy Hill <chance_at_unix.infoserve.net>
Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 19:39:53 -0700

Path: news.infoserve.net!unix.infoserve.net!chance
From: chance_at_unix.infoserve.net (Andy Hill)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: SWAT Kats fluff episode, or, May a Small Asteroid Hit Atlanta
Date: 24 May 1995 13:46:54 GMT
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Dana Uehara (duehara_at_atmos.ucla.edu) wrote:
: In article <RMENKE.95May21073730_at_netcom6.netcom.com> Rob Menke,
: rmenke_at_netcom6.netcom.com writes:
: >"SWAT Kats Special Report." Oh, man. That was painful. Well, now we
: >know how H-B is going to fluff out the season to thirteen episodes.

: This is probably the type of episode Ted Turner likes -- something that
: has no real redeeming value, but only gives him more of an excuse to
: cancel the series.
: :-P''''''''''''

     According to sources, the episode was created about halfway through
the second season's production run, and was at one time intended to
launch the second season in broadcast. As far as "an excuse to cancel
the series" goes, I think the search still continues in Atlanta as we speak.

: I think the ending actually did come from the ending of "Metal Urgency"
: (no overdubbing, in other words) though I could be wrong.

   Yep, it did, and there was a problem with it's inclusion in this ep.
Originally, the writer of "Metal Urgency", Lance Falk, was asked to have
that scene take place in front of Ann Gora and the news cameras, but he
vetoed the idea because it was supposed to be a very revealing scene on
the nature of the Feral character without him having to be motivated by
"being watched" by the media. The scene played _very_ well like this,
and remains one of Lance's favourite sequences. When they re-used the
footage from the "Metal Urgency" ep, they spliced in an unrelated shot of
Callie Briggs "reacting", which corrupted the actual intent of the scene.

: >In the words of Berkeley Breathed: "MASH was retired with more
: >dignity than this..."

: Unfortunately, if Hanna-Barbera (or Turner) wanted to retire the Kats,
: they did so much less than gracefully. I thought the episode wasn't bad
: *per se*, but it sure could have used a lot of improvement.

An opinion shared by people on both sides of the TV screen. An outside
producer/writer was brought in to do this "episode"; very strange
behaviour on the part of the Turner org when they already had more than
enough talent working on the program. The more you hear about the whole
Turner/H-B/'KATS thing, the stranger it becomes - still, we've got the
outsides of the puzzle completed, now we have to find someone who knows
about the middle bits.


*****Forwarded to the list becuz I know some guys and gals don't get the
newsgroups******
 --
 _________________________________________________________________________
     "His biography said he bumped his butt 'cuz he ate too much sugar...
        ....it's SAD (really)..." - Slappy Squirrel, "Bumbie's Mom" ANIMX
 _________________________________________________________________________
     "We have a mission Ann, down these mean skies, a 'KAT must fly...
                 ...we wanna be the good guys..."



--
 _________________________________________________________________________
     "His biography said he bumped his butt 'cuz he ate too much sugar...
        ....it's SAD (really)..." - Slappy Squirrel, "Bumbie's Mom" ANIMX
 _________________________________________________________________________
     "We have a mission Ann, down these mean skies, a 'KAT must fly...
                 ...we wanna be the good guys..."



Received on Wed May 24 1995 - 22:59:38 PDT