SWAT Kats was popular because it was a well-produced show with an "adult" feel and mostly slick animation on a network without a lot of those around. That and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest stood out simply for lack of peers and for having the balls to not treat children with COMPLETE contempt. It may not have been the best show ever shown on TV, but there really wasn't another like it at the time, not that I had access to anyway. The show also did feel like it had stakes. A lot of old cartoons from the 80s typically showed the heroes blast through opponents with difficulty but without danger. SWAT Kats - especially the Season 2 opening - really did make the titular SWAT Kats feel vulnerable. In a sea of toy commercials, a show with real stakes stood out.
The fascinating thing about the media we gravitate towards throughout our lifetime is that when we are kids we try to be "grownup" and "mature," but when we finally become adults we try to recapture our childhoods.
I love Swat Kats, it's was one of my favorite shows on Cartoon Network when I was a kid, the guitar intro alone is awesome. A show that really deserved better and got canceled too soon was Pirates of the Dark Water.
Yes the intros alone are worth watching the show and the show itself was definitely good like I said definitely worth a watch because there were few episodes were you could see they definitely tried and deserve respect for trying
Yeah pissed me off that Pirates of Dark Water got cancelled leaving us without an actual finale IIRC. Especially since other shows at the time actually got their finale (with the option for another season, as was common at the time). Heck The adventures of Conan actually got a finale.
luketfer almost forgot about Pirates of Dark Water and even though I'm mad that both Swat Kats and podw got cancelled I think we should all just be a little bit more mad that pirates got cancelled because it was an honest good Adventure where the characters were fully fleshed-out and they occasionally killed a main character
Yes, but the reason they designed the females like that was simply b/c the creators realized that if the characters are supposed to be analogs for humans then it would have a greater impact to design the characters w/ traits that WE as humans find attractive. EDIT: Imagine if Callie looked exactly like Tank only with longer eyelashes and a bow. Watching Tank fawn over her wouldn't make sense or at best make Tank look like a narcissist. However, making Callie Briggs look like THAT and the audience understands why Tank thinks she's attractive b/c I-WE see her as attractive too.
"We gotta make her look human so the boys don't start getting attracted to anthropomorphic animal people. Phew, glad we nipped that problem in the bud!"
So... you wonder why people liked this show, but you completely skipped over the first episode which had several gruesome, on screen deaths, and ended with the heroes killing the big monster, who was himself a mutated character that wasn't changed back to normal like in most cartoons? And you don't know how or why it stood out from the rest of the pack of similar cartoons?
Same, others might not like it and it does seem jumping the shark, but come on, you have a descendant of Bug Bunny with laser beam eyes, that alone is enough to get attention.
Thank you. I notice when someone says they like something the internet generally disapproves of that it must be done ironically but when it's sincerely then a heaping of distaste comes forth.
Hey, life is short and feeling ashamed of something that you genuinely enjoy is no way to spend it. For example, Sonic Adventure is one of my favorite games to this day. Something can be poor quality and still subjectively enjoyed.
Yes, the SWAT Katz action is a bit out there and mind-boggling. But that's why the rest of us love it so much. The stuff SWAT Katz had is something modern CN is sorely missing. Action shows that are either really deep, action packed, ridonkulously epic or a mixture of all three. Instead...we're stuck with Toddler Titans and Thundercats Roar
"either really deep, action packed, ridonkulously epic or a mixture of all three." To my knowledge, I dont think CN even has an action show at all. Considering that Steven Universe hardly has fights anymore, I dont think that one really counts, and other than that, its almost all comedy at this point. Of course its also almost all TTG, but still...
That's what I'm sayin', Moe; we need some action to balance out the comedy. If you put too much of one flavor in a dish. It either tastes too sweet, sour, zesty or whatever else. There has to...there MUST be a balance. Sadly, Christina "Miss Millenial" Miller doesn't seem to care
The second and the third seasons were animated by Japanese studio, hence the anime feel. And a lot of characters died in the show which could explain the fandom since kids shows rarely permakills even c lister characters.
So I haven't watched Anime Abandon for years... coming back and seeing Bennett thin and bearded is breaking my mind. He went through his own anime style time skip. Bennett Shippuden
Bennett TheSage I wanted to become a F14 combat pilot because of the two animated series called SWAT KATS and Robotech. However some time during the late 90's the F14 were no longer in service.
SAME. I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I grew up. Army-vet Dad couldn't decide whether he was proud or horrified at the prospect of me joining the air force.
Honestly? I feel like this was a big inspiration for Megas XLR. The two heroes are a comparable big guy and skinny guy, they're gearheads, and they always have a button to push for every scenario. It wouldn't shock me if the Megas creators were fans. Also, real talk, furry or not that chick definitely goes into my "I would hit that but she's a cartoon and I'm not sure if that makes me a freak" file...Everyone has one of those files, right?
AkuTenshiiZero See, there's a point where you move beyond those considerations and just accept that the character in question is Your Type and that that is OK. Whether or not that makes you a furry is completely irrelevant.
But season 1 had the better riff... which I can't believe Sage didn't give more than a passing mention. The theme song was one of the most memorable and iconic elements of the show.
Now that I think about it all the different generations are cool names for missiles. Gen X missiles, The Silent missiles, The greatest missiles, Igen missiles...
That's kind of how things are with animation. Not to say this statement covers every cartoon from the US and Japan, but usually US animation has more actual "animation" spread throughout an episode than Anime, which tend to focus a bit more on detail at the cost of animation outside of choice scenes.
u.s animation is kinda weird, it either has very fluid animation throughout every minute, or it has wonky animation throughout every minute. While anime focuses most of it's animation budget on specific scenes per episode, or it has no animation budget
@ Kaylee Gregory But Hannah Barbara is the symbol of animation ghetto, so I'm not sure about your point here? Like Rippah said cartoon style was always all about super-fluid animation (simplified design directly relate to that) with Disney and Werner being real masters of that art. Anime on the other hand exceed in highly detailed backgrounds and models, but animation fluidity never was its strongest point.
geardog24 Let's face it, people still are. Like Felicia, Lola Bunny, Krystal, and freaking Judy Hopps. Once you get a good look at them, they never really go away.
6:34 - aaaactually, this show was famous for actually KILLING off innocent civilians and soldiers and policemen. Often off-screen, of course, but just watch the episode where that crystal-golem guy crystallizes people everywhere who then crumble to dust. Yikes... Or Dr Viper's plants that ate a LOT of people.
Well. Generally the advantage of having robots and animal people is that you don't need to be PC that much. That was one of the reasons alongside cheap shortcut to stand out, why there was so many animal shows at the time. Even MLP use that with quite gruesome (for kids standard) deaths of golem's.
@Daniel Adamczyk Sage did said that. Owner of CN announced in public that chis channel is violence free, and they remove quietly all shows what could be used against them. Considering that it really did happen quietly those "hundred cases of hysteria" probably weren't that significant. After all I wounder how many people "boycott" Steven Universe due to promotion of homosexual love between asexual alien drones, or "satanist" MLP? Tumbler drama did exist before Tumbler was invented.
That's just silly, sorry... robots, yes, you can do what you want to robots - Optimus Prime was taken apart and his head mounted in a cabinet - but animal people are still organic and censors treated them as such.
@Swift Nimblefoot I didn't said on same level as robots. But generally in animal society some stuff questionable in human society may get pass. For example you do know that Zootopia is about the racism?
“Could you tell this show had a toyline” Ah yes; the well-known and large SWATKats toyline. The one that consisted of 4 figures that looked drastically different from the show models. Yeah, totally because of toys. Not just a creative decision.
You underestimate the power of Fighter jets. There is a reason why people still ask for UN Squadron/Area88 to get remade, and hwo Top Gun 2 is getting made. I mean in Anime and Cartoons they get overshadowed by mechs, or Valks from Macross, but Airplane people will swear by anything with wings that is cool enough.
Also a special note from the great actor Brock Peters- aside from Dark Kat he's also Bloth from Pirates of DarkWater and Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mocking Bird!
I grew up with 'Swat Kats' when it had a brief syndicated run on my local Fox affiliate, and when I finally got Cartoon Network. Looking back, 'Swat Kats' had a look, and feel that really stood out from nearly everything else that Hanna-Barbera was producing at the time. Season one was dumb, cheesy fun, but in a good way. Season two was when they REALLY got dark, and edgy, but still had a laid back sense of fun. Though, they fact that the did push the envelope in season 2 didn't do the show any favors. Like Pan Pizza once said, if 'Swat Kats' were produced much later, it could've been a cornerstone show on the up, and coming Toonami block when're it can stand along side 'Outlaw Star', 'Gundam Wing', or 'Big O'. Also, since Callie Briggs is considered the starting point for the 'furry' movement, I think that honor should go to Riff Raff's girlfriend Celo since she predated Callie by a full decade, and I starting having my own sexual feelings toward her.
The LATER season episode with the giant machine that enslaved its creator and assimilated other machines into it was the most anime episode in the series.
Eh, it's not so much anime/manga as it is "graphic novel" or comic books. Seriously, it's far more recognizable if it's inspired by Batman the Animated Series (depite coming out first) than it is a Android 009, Sailor Moon, Gundam, or Inuyasha Fun fact. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was originally planned to be a Swat Kats episode.
I gave it a shot and I reeeally don't see what the big hubbub is all about or why people are so obnoxious about calling it better than The Battle Begins. It looks more like crude Adult Swim-style comedy than anything resembling Star Fox. It doesn't even have a dogfight in it
I was born in 99, but saw Swat Kats reruns all the time. It was my favorite freaking show as a kid! It was just a great, dark, kid friendly, gritty tone with a buddy cop almost feel to it. Honestly I am speaking from nostalgia, I havent seen it in years, but have extremely fond memories of it. This show defined my childhood lol.
I have MAJOR nostalgia factor for this show. Only nowadays I realize just how goddamn VIOLENT it was, civilian life in MegaCat City was taking your fate into your own hands. People routinely got eaten, blown up, mutated or worse in this show but I still loved it at the time, hell I even sent a damn missile idea design to Cartoon Network saying Razor was my favorite of the two SWAT KATS(even though I meant T-Bone) and I got a response back! Albeit it like, 4 months later but still I was stoked.
Oh god C.O.P.S you can virtually encapsulate the gist of that show just by the names of the characters: Miss Dimeanor, Longarm, McBoomboom, Bulletproof...etc
So excited for this one as I grew up on the show and loved its various villains and giant monsters... As well as being the series I blame for my other love of attractive, intelligent, older, glasses wearing cat women - DAMN YOU, SWAT KATS! DAAAAAMMMMNNNN YOOOOOUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!
Ripping guitar music, likable heroes, a jet with so many weapons even kids know they use hammerspace, memorable villains, and fun action. It was as fun as it was ridiculous.
There's implied death in the first season. the very first episode with the Giant Bacteria, you see the Giant Bacteria eat a whole cow live and you see the shadow of the act. later in that episode that same monster swallowed a train fill with civilians whole and Razor was horrified and when he managed to killed it. the Bacterial turn to nothing with no signs of the civilians he eaten.
This show is the 90's personified and I loved it back in the day. Mostly for the cool jet and neat animation style. It was just so over the top for a kids cartoon with its time wizards, jet pilot vigilantes, and robot gangsters. In that vein, I think it has a lot in common with Outlaw Star. Magic space wizards, a gun that shoot spells, and spaceships that fight with robot arms. They both take a bunch of ideas, mash them together, and then crank them up to 11.
I loved swat kats as a kid, and still love it now. I used to park myself infront my VCR ready to tape each and every episode that was aired on Swedish tv. Oh the nostalgia.
I have fond memories of this series. Things going fast, mad science, and explosions what more could a kid want? Also Razor's Edge came out about half a decade before 9/11 so any similarities between persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
Well, the Looney Tunes managed to give us something excellent out of the cancerous "kid main characters" fad, but the '90 superhero one was too removed from the original spirit of the IP to work. LT has been always about mischievous and quirky characters interacting with each others through more or less violent hijinks... Introducing in serious themes in relation with justice enforcement is way off track. It'd be like, taking the three Stooge and feature them in a bleak animated series about vigilante justice, where the humor is anything but slapstick comedy.
I don´t find this show that silly or that plot you mentioned that ridicules. Batman TAS had plenty of similar episodes and people praise it. If nostalgia is the major reason people like Swat Katz then I am dissapoint. I liked it becuse it was a good action cartoon willing to go over the top with things like Godzilla villians and destroy the world plots. I don´t understand why that´s bad when we love evil villians being evil. Not just comedic, evil! I love the style and the music. A great show. Hope that kickstarter go somewhere. One problem people seem to point at is that the show was before it´s time. I disagre, any show that dose´t get support from it´s own network is domed no matter time.
The big difference is that BTAS stuck to it's guns when it came to the serious stuff. Having overly goofy episodes along with dark serious episodes are great. But if you are going to do serious episodes actually fallow through on them. Don't chicken out half-way through.
For some reason the Mario sound effect he put over Razor's seadoo jumping made me laugh a little more than I should have...🤣 And I am so glad you covered Razor's Edge, that was my favorite episode too and a huge reason why he became my favorite character♡
Honestly, I absolutely loved the Swat Kats, and still love the show to this day. I revisit it every now and then. I'm not entirely sure what I like about it so much really. Nostalgia is some of it I'm sure, because at the time the animation was superb. The main reason I think it interests me so much is how much is left completely unexplained. Throughout the show we constantly get characters, villains in particular, that simply show up out of nowhere. Each time it's clearly said they have met before, usually numerous times before, but we never once get to actually see that first meeting. It's as if they wanted the show to be one whole storyline, but dropped the ball and it became episodic. Now and then a mild reference to a previous episode, but more often referencing past things we never actually get to see happen. I always think there's something I missed somehow. I would love to see this remade, with an actual continual storyline, from the beginning. One a side note, I always thought they basically took the villains (and many other characters) from the Tick... They often seem incredibly similar.
Wait, Swat Kats actually got a release?! Gonna have to look into finding it, so many good memories of that show from when I'd visit my grandparents who had Cartoon Network.
JustAName it’s on the Warner Archives website. WB, unlike Disney, have published most of their shows on DVD/Blu-ray through their order on demand website. Just be prepared to pay over $30 bucks because they’re print on demand and resellers on eBay and Amazon love to overcharge it claiming it’s rare/out of print.
Well, Bennett... You got me excited for the next review, I can say that much. I didn't grow up with SWAT Kats either... but I DID grow up seeing that show.
I REALLY hope that someone picks up the revamped show, I'd love to see what the brothers Tremblay do with it in today's society. Aw Man, Big Guy & Rusty, Godzilla, MIB... these animators were were all over kids shows in the day.
Reasons for why the show was popular? Well, that intro theme song with those guitars for one. Second, the animation was pretty top notch for its time and still looks cool to this day. Third, the level of violence was basically unheard of for cartoons at the time. You had people getting mutated, killed, and more, which gave it more of an edge over the likes of TMNT and others. I in particular remember an episode where one of the villains mutated into a giant monster to terrorize the city and then later getting killed by the protagonists. Finally, the scale of the action was epic. You said it yourself, giant kaiju battles against two guys in a jet. What's not to love?
The episode you are talking about is "The Giant Bacteria," which is the first episode to be produced but the second to air. Dr. Viper (the mutant kat-snake hybrid) mutates terrorist Morbulus into the titular monster against his will. The Giant Bacteria rampages on the streets of MegaKat City to distract the Swat Kats and the Enforcers while Viper steals Katalyst 99 from MegaKat Biochemical Laboratories. Thank me later 😉
Sage, I just watched episode 4 from Season 1 - yes, first season - where the Metallikats waste their whole old mob. That includes shooting the new boss which shows the smoking arm of his dead body, and then blowing up all the others -and the building - with an exploding cigar. Not sure why you think only S2 got darker.
Looking back at it, Callie Briggs design kind of reminds me of young Integra Hellsing's design from the early chapters of the Hellsing manga. It's probably the glasses... As for the next episode...Eagleland Gigantor and the All-American Astro Boy... Yeah, I could see this as Animesque.
SWAT Kats is such a big part of my childhood. I know looking back there’s some cheese. But it’s so much fun and I’m so excited for when the show comes back. Peters is such a multifaceted actor. He also played Mr. Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. People like this is why we need to support more artists.
When cyborg criminals Mac and Molly Mange (I think those were their names) wanted to reveal the identity of the Swat Kats to Feral in one episode, Feral listened to their offer, tazered them so they shut off and commented "I don't cut deals with scum like you.". In Garry Owen's voice, it sounded awesome, and is still my favourite scene that humanizes commander Feral. Stuck up and stubborn as he often was, I liked that they tried to keep him a reasonable and honest character.
From an outsider's perspective, I think Bennett's points are mostly valid. Stilted line delivery and the formulaity of the show early on can certainly turn one off. For a person who was at the right age to catch the show on TV, though, I think the appeal was the darker tone that ironically got it cancelled, as well as a good escalation of tension in later episodes. Specifically episodes like the time jump to a dystopian future, the male half of the Metallikats getting Tetsuo'd into a living metal monstrosity, and the invasion by Mutilor really set us up for great subsequent episodes that never came.
1) Dark Cat allowed the swat kats to get close to him, having fought them before and thus knows some of theirusual strategies 2) he ensures that when they fire upon him, he can dodge 3) plus since they're chasing HIM, he could elad theme whever he wants them to, hence leading them to a shack which he has rigged to detonate at his choose, along with an actor to pretend to be injured, or at least willing to be injured enough to eb hospitalised 4) whiy he didn't jsut kill them? again, he's fought them before, he's learned from past experienced to try different tactics there plot holes filled
Loved that show, the premise of having to shoulder huge responsibility and receive little to no credit. It kinda reminds me of the 90s Spider-Man cartoon and the motifs represented there as well.
Man this really was one of those anthropomorphic animal action cartoons of the 90s. Had all of the hallmarks. But it also had some great voice actors attached to it. I also didn't have cable growing up but I'm sure i caught a few episodes.
Have you ever thought about doing Cybersix? They just released a DVD of the whole series and it was a joint effort between Canadian and Japanese studios, but only lasted 13 episode. It definitely a unique story arc and has a great animation style. It would fit in perfect with this month subject.
oh god, big guy and rusty. the concept of making bobby hill as astro boy and have him hanging out with gigantor who is actually just big-o but astro boy doesn't know that.
The kickstarter you mentioned was a success but they couldnt get CN or any tv network to do the show again. They said theyd keep trying but that update was way back in Feb 2016. Im hoping that maybe theyre just doing a Samurai Jack, where theyre trying to earn enough money to do the show themselves independently...;;;.... I definitely loved this show back then and was sad it got cancelled over the supposed violence. Swat Kats is an action show but the violence they do is downright impossible as opposed to Tom and Jerry 8I. Kids cant fire ridiculous missiles while flying super jets but they can hit others with household items 8I. This show was definitely very 90s but I think given the time it was showing, it wasnt cringey edgelord 90s. The characters were also quite fun despite them following the usual tropes. I think it is partly due to the voice actors hamming it up and jsut having as much fun with things.
When looking at this show, people have to keep in mind that this came out around the time Lord Zedd was a thing. Parents, thankfully not mine, were really getting their panties in a bunch over heavy violence in kids shows. Also I am glad you mentioned Tom and Jerry because I find the older crowd's view of violence in today's cartoons to be hypocritical regardless if the older stuff was comedic.
In a way CN back then was barely a year old. Any sizable controversy wouldve killed such a young network so they had to bow down to said parents whose panties are in a bunch 8
Great vid all in all, love your work as always! Something to consider for the whole why it got popular angle is... you had shows with explosions and fights and whatnot sure, but most of them were either gi joe style, relatively realistic shows or super hero ones, Swat Kats does hit a certain niche of having heroes who arent super because of powers they have, but because of the skills and courage they possess to do the right thing. They also have the cool gadgets and even the curious mix of being a show gritty enough to have people die (implied death nothing, there's a bundle of episodes that all but show some poor unlucky extra getting eaten or vaporized or otherwise murdered by the monster of the episode) yet at the same time the Heroes do not kill, making pretty extensive use of (not very realistic but still neat) non-lethal armaments like the cement blasters, assorted restraint-missiles and so on. Sure a lot of the ordinance they have Could be quite lethal if used irresponsibly... But by and large they dont go that route. Also, while its true nearly all of the villains wanted to take over, destroy or more typically Remake mega Cat/Kat city in their own image, their methods were usually fairly distinct. Dark kat would use subterfuge, overly elaborate plots or schemes to get his way, Time master would conjure monsters from the past, future or do something else related to time-wizardry to have his way. The Metallicats in particular had a fairly elaborate arc throughout the show's run with goals that usually changed in goal, methods or both from each episode to the next that they featured in. Finally while Batman the Animated series was comming out at the same time as this show, there are some nice parallells to be drawn and while Swat Kats certainly takes the more "extreme!" route on most of the themes they share in common, sometimes that's not such a bad thing, I mean heck untill batman had its superman crossover and lois lane got introduced to the show it had about 0 to Swat Kats no less than 2 cool supporting female characters, the actual mayor of the city (corrupt clump of a fat cat in the chair not withstanding) being one, Feral's daughter being the other and a third potentially worthy of an honorable mention in the reporter lady, Ann Gora (yes the one talking about the swat kats blowing up that building in that episode of dumbness). Plus you have to admire a show that can show those characters being heroic and helpful in their own ways despite not having the heroes training and ability to handle the heavy duty aspects of being super heroes. (Heck I think even the police managed to do something right Once in a season :P )
Barry Bend Eh, kinda agreed, but yeah the second season really hit it's stride when it came to action, animation, and some really dark tones! Some of my favorite episodes of SWAT KATZ usually centered around the Metallikatz! A literal Bonnie and Clyde couple that caused alot of havoc. I'm especially fond of the episode where a scientist invents an Absorbing Nanobot that Fuses to All Metal and Computers it interacts with and even made the scientist reconsider his goodguy status as he goes insane in the most Bonkers way! And sides with his Creation on Destroying MegaK(C?)at City!
The thing with Hanna-Barbera in the 1990s is that shows like _Yo Yogi!_ are the last gasps of the Taft/Great American Broadcasting era, i.e., H-B's Saturday-morning years. It took a few years after GAB sold H-B to Turner for H-B to fully retool itself around Turner's channels, Cartoon Network in particular. _Swat Kats_ is in that weird transition period where the overall quality of H-B cartoons improve, but the studio hasn't launched _What a Cartoon!_ for CN, and _Space Ghost Coast to Coast_ hasn't laid the foundation for [adult swim].
Swat Kats was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but after rewatching them as an adult, I remember thinking "Did I really think this was good?" That said, the visual design is quite amazing for its time, and it did more or less inspire shows like Megas XLR (Which even these days I can appreciate), so it definitely deserves its place in history.
You don't think it's that good anymore? but it's better than crap like Teen Titans Go and Thundercats roarz. What about other 90s cartoons anyone holds up? and which is better 90s or today's cartoons?
Johnlindsey289 Regarding 90s shows, the Batman Animated Series and Animaniacs still hold up amazingly well. There's something to be said about sharp writing and setting an appropriate mood that withstands the test of time. Oddly enough, I saw some old episodes of Transformers and the short lived Silver Surfer series that, while not made in the 90s, still hold that same appeal for me. _Honorable mention goes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from 2003. It may not be from the 90s, but I am not exaggerating when I say it's the most underrated animated series in a long time. It had beautifully choreographed fight scenes, really legitimately intereresting plots, great impactful imagery and emotionally expressive characters (Like, I actually felt something for Leonardo even though his character is generally annoying), and last but not least, it was VIOLENT; like, not implied punches and crap, no they get kicked around 'a lot' and there is the first decapitation scene I think I've ever seen in a Saturday Morning cartoon, and it's the Turtles who do it. And the biggest tragedy is it got upstaged by that joke of a CG TMNT 2012 show since no one had heard of the 03' series. I apologize for the ramble, but I guess I have to get that out there. Bottom line: TMNT 03 is the best animated adaptation that no one's ever heard of, and is definitely among my favorite animated. series._ /endrant These shows are so good that as an adult, I can appreciate the sheer creativity and talent the animators, writers, and directors have on display. Frankly, some are just fun to watch even today. Sadly, shows like Swat Cats just aren't in the same category to me.
Well Sage I don't blame you for not having Cable to me & my family Cable TV was looked at as a luxury and during the 1990's cartoons were beginning to slowly disappear from local TV due what people have been pointing out Parents, the FCC and many other things that cost Local TV their cartoon shows mostly the Saturday Morning Cartoons which was a sad lost for everyone when in 2014 the CW decided to pull the plug on their Cartoons like all the other TV stations did.
Quite a lot of characters actually died in this show. Not graphically, but there's one of the early episodes where they're fighting a giant bacterium, which proceeds to digest a part of a train, that was shown to have people inside it. So yea, a bunch of people basically got phagocyted and no doubt painfully digested by a giant germ.
Me when you revealed the next video subject "HEEEEYYYY Big guy and Little Rusty!!! That show was hilariously dumb". I am going to enjoy the next review
SWAT Kats was popular because it was a well-produced show with an "adult" feel and mostly slick animation on a network without a lot of those around. That and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest stood out simply for lack of peers and for having the balls to not treat children with COMPLETE contempt. It may not have been the best show ever shown on TV, but there really wasn't another like it at the time, not that I had access to anyway.
The show also did feel like it had stakes. A lot of old cartoons from the 80s typically showed the heroes blast through opponents with difficulty but without danger. SWAT Kats - especially the Season 2 opening - really did make the titular SWAT Kats feel vulnerable. In a sea of toy commercials, a show with real stakes stood out.
The fascinating thing about the media we gravitate towards throughout our lifetime is that when we are kids we try to be "grownup" and "mature," but when we finally become adults we try to recapture our childhoods.
@@ShadowPa1adin That is a strange thing isn't it.
It also had a jet fighter with THREE ENGINES
If you wanna live to
105, here is the best part, being young at heart
Also that there's so much potential despite them not being able to take it in certain directions due to being on a kids network.
I love Swat Kats, it's was one of my favorite shows on Cartoon Network when I was a kid, the guitar intro alone is awesome.
A show that really deserved better and got canceled too soon was Pirates of the Dark Water.
TheLadySilverMoon agreed.
The second opening for Swat Kats was the best, and the whole show is really a great action cartoon.
So true there, be great to see them both come back again. Besides, Pirates of the Dark Water could put Zak Storm to shame.
Yes the intros alone are worth watching the show and the show itself was definitely good like I said definitely worth a watch because there were few episodes were you could see they definitely tried and deserve respect for trying
Yeah pissed me off that Pirates of Dark Water got cancelled leaving us without an actual finale IIRC. Especially since other shows at the time actually got their finale (with the option for another season, as was common at the time).
Heck The adventures of Conan actually got a finale.
luketfer almost forgot about Pirates of Dark Water and even though I'm mad that both Swat Kats and podw got cancelled I think we should all just be a little bit more mad that pirates got cancelled because it was an honest good Adventure where the characters were fully fleshed-out and they occasionally killed a main character
"Characters got a bit flatter" voice over while showing the deputy mayor's AMAZING RACK.
I'm not the only one who noticed this, right?
Eh. I didn't notice much of a change. I think the shading just emphasized her breasts more than the first season.
I guess he’s seen bigger ones in certain anime’s.
i think he is reffering to shadding
Ah, Callie Briggs. You gotta love how they made the females look as human as possible.
The old days when chicks were hot and tough
Too bad today time only see them as "items"
Yes, but the reason they designed the females like that was simply b/c the creators realized that if the characters are supposed to be analogs for humans then it would have a greater impact to design the characters w/ traits that WE as humans find attractive.
EDIT:
Imagine if Callie looked exactly like Tank only with longer eyelashes and a bow. Watching Tank fawn over her wouldn't make sense or at best make Tank look like a narcissist. However, making Callie Briggs look like THAT and the audience understands why Tank thinks she's attractive b/c I-WE see her as attractive too.
Same for Minerva Mink
"We gotta make her look human so the boys don't start getting attracted to anthropomorphic animal people. Phew, glad we nipped that problem in the bud!"
f****** furries.😠
So... you wonder why people liked this show, but you completely skipped over the first episode which had several gruesome, on screen deaths, and ended with the heroes killing the big monster, who was himself a mutated character that wasn't changed back to normal like in most cartoons? And you don't know how or why it stood out from the rest of the pack of similar cartoons?
Thats the second episode. Episode 1 was enter the past master. You are thinking of the giant bacteria
RDMacQ he’s a fucking idiot.
I guess he just randomly picked episodes to watch from each season for this video.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964 He’s not very good at being analytical either.
It actually was intended as the first episode apparently though.
I feel a little guilty to admit that _Loonatics Unleashed_ is a guilty pleasure of mine that I unironically like.
That's okay
Same, others might not like it and it does seem jumping the shark, but come on, you have a descendant of Bug Bunny with laser beam eyes, that alone is enough to get attention.
Thank you. I notice when someone says they like something the internet generally disapproves of that it must be done ironically but when it's sincerely then a heaping of distaste comes forth.
wdcain1 Same, i dont know why but i really like that show
Hey, life is short and feeling ashamed of something that you genuinely enjoy is no way to spend it. For example, Sonic Adventure is one of my favorite games to this day. Something can be poor quality and still subjectively enjoyed.
Yes, the SWAT Katz action is a bit out there and mind-boggling.
But that's why the rest of us love it so much. The stuff SWAT Katz had is something modern CN is sorely missing. Action shows that are either really deep, action packed, ridonkulously epic or a mixture of all three.
Instead...we're stuck with Toddler Titans and Thundercats Roar
i`m still dumbfounded that cn turn this show down
"either really deep, action packed, ridonkulously epic or a mixture of all three." To my knowledge, I dont think CN even has an action show at all. Considering that Steven Universe hardly has fights anymore, I dont think that one really counts, and other than that, its almost all comedy at this point. Of course its also almost all TTG, but still...
That's what I'm sayin', Moe; we need some action to balance out the comedy.
If you put too much of one flavor in a dish. It either tastes too sweet, sour, zesty or whatever else.
There has to...there MUST be a balance. Sadly, Christina "Miss Millenial" Miller doesn't seem to care
sadlobster1 ikr
Personally, I have always loved this show because of the Turbokat. Who doesn't want a F-14/Harrier hybrid fighter jet?
Anarchy in Black a jet that also has so many missiles that they must have figured out hammerspace. ;D
So basically a larger version of F-35B?
Well, considering F-35s weren't a thing yet, but yeah, basically.
@@riversan90 I LOVED when they used Speed of Heat and they used the extra thrusters and the sound effects they used. It was glorious!
The second and the third seasons were animated by Japanese studio, hence the anime feel. And a lot of characters died in the show which could explain the fandom since kids shows rarely permakills even c lister characters.
Third season?
@@PeterSwinkels I WISH.
2:10 Ah, back when tentacle monsters were safe for kids.
Bruh, those guitar solos tho...
So I haven't watched Anime Abandon for years... coming back and seeing Bennett thin and bearded is breaking my mind. He went through his own anime style time skip.
Bennett Shippuden
Everyone is getting fit! im so much healthier now!
Bennett TheSage
I wanted to become a F14 combat pilot because of the two animated series called SWAT KATS and Robotech. However some time during the late 90's the F14 were no longer in service.
Jesse Guajardo Same here but there is is real news footage showing F-14s still in frontline service up to 2005 .
Christian Blanchard
In 2005 I was 6th grade.
SAME. I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I grew up. Army-vet Dad couldn't decide whether he was proud or horrified at the prospect of me joining the air force.
Honestly? I feel like this was a big inspiration for Megas XLR. The two heroes are a comparable big guy and skinny guy, they're gearheads, and they always have a button to push for every scenario. It wouldn't shock me if the Megas creators were fans.
Also, real talk, furry or not that chick definitely goes into my "I would hit that but she's a cartoon and I'm not sure if that makes me a freak" file...Everyone has one of those files, right?
Sadly. I have to answer yes to this question.
AkuTenshiiZero See, there's a point where you move beyond those considerations and just accept that the character in question is Your Type and that that is OK. Whether or not that makes you a furry is completely irrelevant.
You could word it the same way Berleezy did on Ms Proud on the Proud Family. Say "Gonna put it in her animated Boody, 'f she a cartoon I'm a cartoon'.
I'm not a furry but i agree with ya
Yooooooo Megas XLR is sooooooooo sick!
Season 2 definitely has a huge anime look to it .😁👌
And that old cat looks like the old man from Jetlags Beauty and the Beast.
Nathaniel Foga bubble gum crisis looking
Itsuki Imazaki animated the intro www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?ann-edition=uk&id=18002
Season 2 had the better intro, in my opinion. ^_^
But season 1 had the better riff... which I can't believe Sage didn't give more than a passing mention. The theme song was one of the most memorable and iconic elements of the show.
Plague of gripes stares silently from the corner
YES
@@Kushrada someone saved and reuploaded it so thank god someone preserved it
Hey, Swat Kats was awesome, had very grim consequences( characters did die!!!) and was one of the few shows with NO bad episodes!!
The show did have bad episodes. A lot.
@@jaredballoonboy7944Name a series that didn't.
6:32 "Look I can see their parachutes they're ok!"
Now that I think about it all the different generations are cool names for missiles. Gen X missiles, The Silent missiles, The greatest missiles, Igen missiles...
Millenial Missiles, the Lost Missiles...I...I can't find a flaw in the logic of this post. 10/10, perfection.
The government needs to name missiles after generations now.
How come this 90s ass cartoon has more fluid animation than most anime reviewed on this channel
That's kind of how things are with animation. Not to say this statement covers every cartoon from the US and Japan, but usually US animation has more actual "animation" spread throughout an episode than Anime, which tend to focus a bit more on detail at the cost of animation outside of choice scenes.
To be fair, this channel IS about shitty anime so it's not really a high standard to beat.
Two words. Hannah Barbara
u.s animation is kinda weird, it either has very fluid animation throughout every minute, or it has wonky animation throughout every minute.
While anime focuses most of it's animation budget on specific scenes per episode, or it has no animation budget
@
Kaylee Gregory
But Hannah Barbara is the symbol of animation ghetto, so I'm not sure about your point here? Like Rippah said cartoon style was always all about super-fluid animation (simplified design directly relate to that) with Disney and Werner being real masters of that art. Anime on the other hand exceed in highly detailed backgrounds and models, but animation fluidity never was its strongest point.
Let's be honest, everyone was furry for Callie Briggs.
Felina, and only Felina.
geardog24 yes
geardog24
Let's face it, people still are. Like Felicia, Lola Bunny, Krystal, and freaking Judy Hopps. Once you get a good look at them, they never really go away.
C'mon guy's, no love for Ann Gora? To be fair I'm a Callie guy myself, but still lol
@@Y2JLionTamer
Let's just say the Secretary look is Abit more desirable. Especially for a competent, no nonsense kinda girl like Callie.
6:34 - aaaactually, this show was famous for actually KILLING off innocent civilians and soldiers and policemen. Often off-screen, of course, but just watch the episode where that crystal-golem guy crystallizes people everywhere who then crumble to dust. Yikes... Or Dr Viper's plants that ate a LOT of people.
Well. Generally the advantage of having robots and animal people is that you don't need to be PC that much. That was one of the reasons alongside cheap shortcut to stand out, why there was so many animal shows at the time. Even MLP use that with quite gruesome (for kids standard) deaths of golem's.
Swift Nimblefoot
Show have almost 100 comfirm bodycount. I wonder why was cancel.
@Daniel Adamczyk
Sage did said that. Owner of CN announced in public that chis channel is violence free, and they remove quietly all shows what could be used against them. Considering that it really did happen quietly those "hundred cases of hysteria" probably weren't that significant. After all I wounder how many people "boycott" Steven Universe due to promotion of homosexual love between asexual alien drones, or "satanist" MLP? Tumbler drama did exist before Tumbler was invented.
That's just silly, sorry... robots, yes, you can do what you want to robots - Optimus Prime was taken apart and his head mounted in a cabinet - but animal people are still organic and censors treated them as such.
@Swift Nimblefoot
I didn't said on same level as robots. But generally in animal society some stuff questionable in human society may get pass. For example you do know that Zootopia is about the racism?
“Could you tell this show had a toyline”
Ah yes; the well-known and large SWATKats toyline. The one that consisted of 4 figures that looked drastically different from the show models.
Yeah, totally because of toys. Not just a creative decision.
You underestimate the power of Fighter jets. There is a reason why people still ask for UN Squadron/Area88 to get remade, and hwo Top Gun 2 is getting made. I mean in Anime and Cartoons they get overshadowed by mechs, or Valks from Macross, but Airplane people will swear by anything with wings that is cool enough.
Also a special note from the great actor Brock Peters- aside from Dark Kat he's also Bloth from Pirates of DarkWater and Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mocking Bird!
I grew up with 'Swat Kats' when it had a brief syndicated run on my local Fox affiliate, and when I finally got Cartoon Network. Looking back, 'Swat Kats' had a look, and feel that really stood out from nearly everything else that Hanna-Barbera was producing at the time. Season one was dumb, cheesy fun, but in a good way. Season two was when they REALLY got dark, and edgy, but still had a laid back sense of fun. Though, they fact that the did push the envelope in season 2 didn't do the show any favors. Like Pan Pizza once said, if 'Swat Kats' were produced much later, it could've been a cornerstone show on the up, and coming Toonami block when're it can stand along side 'Outlaw Star', 'Gundam Wing', or 'Big O'. Also, since Callie Briggs is considered the starting point for the 'furry' movement, I think that honor should go to Riff Raff's girlfriend Celo since she predated Callie by a full decade, and I starting having my own sexual feelings toward her.
The LATER season episode with the giant machine that enslaved its creator and assimilated other machines into it was the most anime episode in the series.
Eh, it's not so much anime/manga as it is "graphic novel" or comic books. Seriously, it's far more recognizable if it's inspired by Batman the Animated Series (depite coming out first) than it is a Android 009, Sailor Moon, Gundam, or Inuyasha
Fun fact. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was originally planned to be a Swat Kats episode.
I can kind of see how an early draft of that might have been SWAT Kats, honestly. I mean, in some ways it'd be VERY different, but I can still see it.
The closes thing I ever had to a Star Fox animated series
Kaihedgie look up a fox in space the dude does awesome work to make it feel retro
No thanks. I've long grown tired of retro saturation. Plus I have Star Fox: The Battle Begins, anyway
A fox in space is retro in a way few people does retro that I've seen. Honestly, it's worth a shot, and it's a different thing from The Battle Begins.
I gave it a shot and I reeeally don't see what the big hubbub is all about or why people are so obnoxious about calling it better than The Battle Begins. It looks more like crude Adult Swim-style comedy than anything resembling Star Fox. It doesn't even have a dogfight in it
@Kaihedgie:
What about that one show with the green rabbit in space?
I love Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs
Johnny Fountains who doesnt
My penis loves her.
If there were ever an episode that required at least a cameo from PlagueofGripes, this should've been it.
Review Gargoyles!
Matthias Joseph Thomas van Trigt Best show of all time
He is literally reviewing Swat Kats in this video?
Matthias Joseph Thomas van Trigt Gargoyles isn’t really inspired by anime, or feels like anime . It’s more inspired by Batman the animated series
PhantomDragon3 C'mon, we're just discussing arbitrary distinctions at this point. Swat Kats isn't japanese animation, so Gargoyles is fair game too.
Or BraveStarr!!!
12:26 he says "flatter" when Briggs is shown in full C Cup profile.
I was born in 99, but saw Swat Kats reruns all the time. It was my favorite freaking show as a kid! It was just a great, dark, kid friendly, gritty tone with a buddy cop almost feel to it. Honestly I am speaking from nostalgia, I havent seen it in years, but have extremely fond memories of it. This show defined my childhood lol.
I have MAJOR nostalgia factor for this show. Only nowadays I realize just how goddamn VIOLENT it was, civilian life in MegaCat City was taking your fate into your own hands. People routinely got eaten, blown up, mutated or worse in this show but I still loved it at the time, hell I even sent a damn missile idea design to Cartoon Network saying Razor was my favorite of the two SWAT KATS(even though I meant T-Bone) and I got a response back! Albeit it like, 4 months later but still I was stoked.
the Swat Katz and C.O.P.S. intros were a hellava gateway drug to the show : D
A good intro IS a gateway into the show.
C.O.P.S, there's a trip down memory lane 👍
lmao C.O.P.S. was so ridiculous. Great intro where the police are at least as destructive to private property as the villains!
Oh god C.O.P.S you can virtually encapsulate the gist of that show just by the names of the characters: Miss Dimeanor, Longarm, McBoomboom, Bulletproof...etc
It's crimefighting time!
The various missiles used in the show was a running gag. At one point Razor presses a button that says "Regular Old Missile."
Thank you for reminding me how much I love this show.
Bennett reviewing my favorite cartoon of my childhood?
It must be my second birthday of the year.
So excited for this one as I grew up on the show and loved its various villains and giant monsters... As well as being the series I blame for my other love of attractive, intelligent, older, glasses wearing cat women - DAMN YOU, SWAT KATS! DAAAAAMMMMNNNN YOOOOOUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd love to see you review Men In Black cartoon
Dat not something as Man In Black blitz
Ripping guitar music, likable heroes, a jet with so many weapons even kids know they use hammerspace, memorable villains, and fun action.
It was as fun as it was ridiculous.
There's implied death in the first season. the very first episode with the Giant Bacteria, you see the Giant Bacteria eat a whole cow live and you see the shadow of the act. later in that episode that same monster swallowed a train fill with civilians whole and Razor was horrified and when he managed to killed it. the Bacterial turn to nothing with no signs of the civilians he eaten.
Next "Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot" back before Frank Miller completely lost it!
Its Miller Time.
This show is the 90's personified and I loved it back in the day. Mostly for the cool jet and neat animation style. It was just so over the top for a kids cartoon with its time wizards, jet pilot vigilantes, and robot gangsters. In that vein, I think it has a lot in common with Outlaw Star. Magic space wizards, a gun that shoot spells, and spaceships that fight with robot arms. They both take a bunch of ideas, mash them together, and then crank them up to 11.
13:34 Voiced by Lori Alan also the voice of The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3.
I'd have to say my favorite Jim Cummings roles were Robotnick and The Terror Mask from Splatter House.
I would pay him to swear again XD
I loved swat kats as a kid, and still love it now. I used to park myself infront my VCR ready to tape each and every episode that was aired on Swedish tv. Oh the nostalgia.
I hope you review megas xlr one of these days
That'd be perfect for a review!
we dig giant robots
I have fond memories of this series. Things going fast, mad science, and explosions what more could a kid want?
Also Razor's Edge came out about half a decade before 9/11 so any similarities between persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
They made Loonatics Unleashed?
Brandon Roberts I remember seeing the Loonatics when it aired, but I had no idea that it came from the creators of Swat Kats
Yup. They also gave us 'Mega Babies'.
It all makes sense now, Loonatics Unleashed was a 90's action cartoon masquerading as an Avatar The Last Airbender trend chaser.
Well, the Looney Tunes managed to give us something excellent out of the cancerous "kid main characters" fad, but the '90 superhero one was too removed from the original spirit of the IP to work. LT has been always about mischievous and quirky characters interacting with each others through more or less violent hijinks... Introducing in serious themes in relation with justice enforcement is way off track.
It'd be like, taking the three Stooge and feature them in a bleak animated series about vigilante justice, where the humor is anything but slapstick comedy.
AnonJl1 yes.
"OCTOPUS MISSILES CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS!"
Oh god my sides.
I don´t find this show that silly or that plot you mentioned that ridicules. Batman TAS had plenty of similar episodes and people praise it. If nostalgia is the major reason people like Swat Katz then I am dissapoint. I liked it becuse it was a good action cartoon willing to go over the top with things like Godzilla villians and destroy the world plots. I don´t understand why that´s bad when we love evil villians being evil. Not just comedic, evil! I love the style and the music. A great show. Hope that kickstarter go somewhere. One problem people seem to point at is that the show was before it´s time. I disagre, any show that dose´t get support from it´s own network is domed no matter time.
Its bennet being bennet. as in. up his own ass for someone that made his name making fun of cheap slock.
Eh, I thought SWAT Kats was trying too hard
The big difference is that BTAS stuck to it's guns when it came to the serious stuff.
Having overly goofy episodes along with dark serious episodes are great. But if you are going to do serious episodes actually fallow through on them. Don't chicken out half-way through.
Not to mention that Mad Hatter was voiced by the same guy who did Madkat
For some reason the Mario sound effect he put over Razor's seadoo jumping made me laugh a little more than I should have...🤣
And I am so glad you covered Razor's Edge, that was my favorite episode too and a huge reason why he became my favorite character♡
Honestly, I absolutely loved the Swat Kats, and still love the show to this day. I revisit it every now and then. I'm not entirely sure what I like about it so much really. Nostalgia is some of it I'm sure, because at the time the animation was superb. The main reason I think it interests me so much is how much is left completely unexplained. Throughout the show we constantly get characters, villains in particular, that simply show up out of nowhere. Each time it's clearly said they have met before, usually numerous times before, but we never once get to actually see that first meeting. It's as if they wanted the show to be one whole storyline, but dropped the ball and it became episodic. Now and then a mild reference to a previous episode, but more often referencing past things we never actually get to see happen. I always think there's something I missed somehow.
I would love to see this remade, with an actual continual storyline, from the beginning.
One a side note, I always thought they basically took the villains (and many other characters) from the Tick... They often seem incredibly similar.
Nice avatar, i love Hattonslayden's artworks
Swat Kats was the ABSOLUTE BEST SHIT back in my childhood!!!!
I’d love for this series to get a revival. A good one.
I actually didn't watch SWAT Kats until I was 17. I don't even remember how I learned about it, but god, I love it.
Wait, Swat Kats actually got a release?! Gonna have to look into finding it, so many good memories of that show from when I'd visit my grandparents who had Cartoon Network.
JustAName it’s on the Warner Archives website. WB, unlike Disney, have published most of their shows on DVD/Blu-ray through their order on demand website. Just be prepared to pay over $30 bucks because they’re print on demand and resellers on eBay and Amazon love to overcharge it claiming it’s rare/out of print.
Thanks for the heads up.
So did the Pirates of Dark Water
Pirates of Dark Water, now there's a show I haven't heard about in years.
Well, Bennett... You got me excited for the next review, I can say that much.
I didn't grow up with SWAT Kats either... but I DID grow up seeing that show.
Swat kats was my childhood
oh man, i just re-watched all of Big Guy and Rusty, still fun as ever.
I REALLY hope that someone picks up the revamped show, I'd love to see what the brothers Tremblay do with it in today's society.
Aw Man, Big Guy & Rusty, Godzilla, MIB... these animators were were all over kids shows in the day.
Ok who else loved Extreme Dinosaurs as a kid?
Darth Sombra
I know I did.
Darth Sombra Somethings pretty rockin' on planet number 3...
Yup. Good show.
When you realize 9/11 conspiracy theorists, stole the plotline from Swat Kats for their theory on the terrorist attack...
I know right?
I laughed out loud when the review hit that point. I remember that episode, but I'd forgotten the exact description over time.
Holy shit this. Lazy, unimaginative fucks... just like their dear leader.
Not surprising, Alex Jones obviously also rips off his theories from the Matrix and They Live lol
Squeaky Nova without a doubt.
Reasons for why the show was popular? Well, that intro theme song with those guitars for one. Second, the animation was pretty top notch for its time and still looks cool to this day. Third, the level of violence was basically unheard of for cartoons at the time. You had people getting mutated, killed, and more, which gave it more of an edge over the likes of TMNT and others. I in particular remember an episode where one of the villains mutated into a giant monster to terrorize the city and then later getting killed by the protagonists. Finally, the scale of the action was epic. You said it yourself, giant kaiju battles against two guys in a jet. What's not to love?
The episode you are talking about is "The Giant Bacteria," which is the first episode to be produced but the second to air. Dr. Viper (the mutant kat-snake hybrid) mutates terrorist Morbulus into the titular monster against his will.
The Giant Bacteria rampages on the streets of MegaKat City to distract the Swat Kats and the Enforcers while Viper steals Katalyst 99 from MegaKat Biochemical Laboratories.
Thank me later 😉
Sage, I just watched episode 4 from Season 1 - yes, first season - where the Metallikats waste their whole old mob. That includes shooting the new boss which shows the smoking arm of his dead body, and then blowing up all the others -and the building - with an exploding cigar. Not sure why you think only S2 got darker.
12:27 "..character's looking pointer and flatter" *shows scene with Briggs' bust being almost as big as her head*
Looking back at it, Callie Briggs design kind of reminds me of young Integra Hellsing's design from the early chapters of the Hellsing manga. It's probably the glasses...
As for the next episode...Eagleland Gigantor and the All-American Astro Boy... Yeah, I could see this as Animesque.
SWAT Kats is such a big part of my childhood. I know looking back there’s some cheese. But it’s so much fun and I’m so excited for when the show comes back.
Peters is such a multifaceted actor. He also played Mr. Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. People like this is why we need to support more artists.
Commander Feral's VA probably just got done with a session of narration for Space Quest 4. Yes that really is the late Garry Owens's voice.
When cyborg criminals Mac and Molly Mange (I think those were their names) wanted to reveal the identity of the Swat Kats to Feral in one episode, Feral listened to their offer, tazered them so they shut off and commented "I don't cut deals with scum like you.". In Garry Owen's voice, it sounded awesome, and is still my favourite scene that humanizes commander Feral. Stuck up and stubborn as he often was, I liked that they tried to keep him a reasonable and honest character.
From an outsider's perspective, I think Bennett's points are mostly valid. Stilted line delivery and the formulaity of the show early on can certainly turn one off. For a person who was at the right age to catch the show on TV, though, I think the appeal was the darker tone that ironically got it cancelled, as well as a good escalation of tension in later episodes. Specifically episodes like the time jump to a dystopian future, the male half of the Metallikats getting Tetsuo'd into a living metal monstrosity, and the invasion by Mutilor really set us up for great subsequent episodes that never came.
Then perhaps Bennet should not be reviewing what he does not understand.
1) Dark Cat allowed the swat kats to get close to him, having fought them before and thus knows some of theirusual strategies 2) he ensures that when they fire upon him, he can dodge 3) plus since they're chasing HIM, he could elad theme whever he wants them to, hence leading them to a shack which he has rigged to detonate at his choose, along with an actor to pretend to be injured, or at least willing to be injured enough to eb hospitalised 4) whiy he didn't jsut kill them? again, he's fought them before, he's learned from past experienced to try different tactics
there plot holes filled
Big Guy and rusty. I must have been 4 or 5 when I saw that one XD
Oh man, I completely forgot about Big Guy and Rusty! I miss that show. It was fun.
I still remember that impossible to understand intro
As soon as I saw the name, the goddamn theme started playing in my head.
Loved that show, the premise of having to shoulder huge responsibility and receive little to no credit. It kinda reminds me of the 90s Spider-Man cartoon and the motifs represented there as well.
American Astro-Boy
I remember when I was at school my brother and I often watched this cartoon, he just had an unreal opening. It was cool!
I'm going to re-watch the dark cat review now
also HOLY SHIT YOU'RE REIVEWING THAT NEXT?!
Gotta respect a show that's this formulaic yet this KAT-SHIT insane!
That show is full of kills.....kid shows of the 90
Man this really was one of those anthropomorphic animal action cartoons of the 90s. Had all of the hallmarks. But it also had some great voice actors attached to it. I also didn't have cable growing up but I'm sure i caught a few episodes.
I choose to believe you posted this video with express knowledge that today is my birthday. Thank you, I WILL watch this immediately.
Happy Birthday!
I don't know if this show could do as well outside of the 90s, but I'll always remember it fondly.
Have you ever thought about doing Cybersix? They just released a DVD of the whole series and it was a joint effort between Canadian and Japanese studios, but only lasted 13 episode. It definitely a unique story arc and has a great animation style. It would fit in perfect with this month subject.
oh god, big guy and rusty. the concept of making bobby hill as astro boy and have him hanging out with gigantor who is actually just big-o but astro boy doesn't know that.
The kickstarter you mentioned was a success but they couldnt get CN or any tv network to do the show again. They said theyd keep trying but that update was way back in Feb 2016. Im hoping that maybe theyre just doing a Samurai Jack, where theyre trying to earn enough money to do the show themselves independently...;;;....
I definitely loved this show back then and was sad it got cancelled over the supposed violence. Swat Kats is an action show but the violence they do is downright impossible as opposed to Tom and Jerry 8I. Kids cant fire ridiculous missiles while flying super jets but they can hit others with household items 8I.
This show was definitely very 90s but I think given the time it was showing, it wasnt cringey edgelord 90s. The characters were also quite fun despite them following the usual tropes. I think it is partly due to the voice actors hamming it up and jsut having as much fun with things.
When looking at this show, people have to keep in mind that this came out around the time Lord Zedd was a thing. Parents, thankfully not mine, were really getting their panties in a bunch over heavy violence in kids shows. Also I am glad you mentioned Tom and Jerry because I find the older crowd's view of violence in today's cartoons to be hypocritical regardless if the older stuff was comedic.
I wonder if they have tried Netflix.
Seems like something Netflix would go for (Which is..........pretty much anything.).
In a way CN back then was barely a year old. Any sizable controversy wouldve killed such a young network so they had to bow down to said parents whose panties are in a bunch 8
Great vid all in all, love your work as always!
Something to consider for the whole why it got popular angle is... you had shows with explosions and fights and whatnot sure, but most of them were either gi joe style, relatively realistic shows or super hero ones, Swat Kats does hit a certain niche of having heroes who arent super because of powers they have, but because of the skills and courage they possess to do the right thing. They also have the cool gadgets and even the curious mix of being a show gritty enough to have people die (implied death nothing, there's a bundle of episodes that all but show some poor unlucky extra getting eaten or vaporized or otherwise murdered by the monster of the episode) yet at the same time the Heroes do not kill, making pretty extensive use of (not very realistic but still neat) non-lethal armaments like the cement blasters, assorted restraint-missiles and so on. Sure a lot of the ordinance they have Could be quite lethal if used irresponsibly... But by and large they dont go that route.
Also, while its true nearly all of the villains wanted to take over, destroy or more typically Remake mega Cat/Kat city in their own image, their methods were usually fairly distinct. Dark kat would use subterfuge, overly elaborate plots or schemes to get his way, Time master would conjure monsters from the past, future or do something else related to time-wizardry to have his way. The Metallicats in particular had a fairly elaborate arc throughout the show's run with goals that usually changed in goal, methods or both from each episode to the next that they featured in.
Finally while Batman the Animated series was comming out at the same time as this show, there are some nice parallells to be drawn and while Swat Kats certainly takes the more "extreme!" route on most of the themes they share in common, sometimes that's not such a bad thing, I mean heck untill batman had its superman crossover and lois lane got introduced to the show it had about 0 to Swat Kats no less than 2 cool supporting female characters, the actual mayor of the city (corrupt clump of a fat cat in the chair not withstanding) being one, Feral's daughter being the other and a third potentially worthy of an honorable mention in the reporter lady, Ann Gora (yes the one talking about the swat kats blowing up that building in that episode of dumbness). Plus you have to admire a show that can show those characters being heroic and helpful in their own ways despite not having the heroes training and ability to handle the heavy duty aspects of being super heroes. (Heck I think even the police managed to do something right Once in a season :P )
...so...no mention of Donetello being Razor nor Charlie Adler being Tbone?
3:20 Oh, Bennett, you sweet summer child. If only you knew of the horrors of Mega Babyz...
Love this show
Two reasons, Theme Song and TurboKat.
Sage swat Katz had one thing over most other shows of its type. It had better characters and development of those characters.
Barry Bend
Eh, kinda agreed, but yeah the second season really hit it's stride when it came to action, animation, and some really dark tones! Some of my favorite episodes of SWAT KATZ usually centered around the Metallikatz! A literal Bonnie and Clyde couple that caused alot of havoc. I'm especially fond of the episode where a scientist invents an Absorbing Nanobot that Fuses to All Metal and Computers it interacts with and even made the scientist reconsider his goodguy status as he goes insane in the most Bonkers way! And sides with his Creation on Destroying MegaK(C?)at City!
I felt bad for that poor scientist.
You seem to have misspelled Gargoyles
Kaihedgie I know about Gargoyles I was just putting a fact up about swat Katz.
This show had an amazing theme song- electric guitar all the way to heaven and back!
Speaking of "Cat's Eyes," that's an old one I'd love to see Sage review
The thing with Hanna-Barbera in the 1990s is that shows like _Yo Yogi!_ are the last gasps of the Taft/Great American Broadcasting era, i.e., H-B's Saturday-morning years. It took a few years after GAB sold H-B to Turner for H-B to fully retool itself around Turner's channels, Cartoon Network in particular. _Swat Kats_ is in that weird transition period where the overall quality of H-B cartoons improve, but the studio hasn't launched _What a Cartoon!_ for CN, and _Space Ghost Coast to Coast_ hasn't laid the foundation for [adult swim].
"Because poor literacy is kewl!" Wait... Wrong reviewer.
Swat Kats was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but after rewatching them as an adult, I remember thinking "Did I really think this was good?" That said, the visual design is quite amazing for its time, and it did more or less inspire shows like Megas XLR (Which even these days I can appreciate), so it definitely deserves its place in history.
You don't think it's that good anymore? but it's better than crap like Teen Titans Go and Thundercats roarz.
What about other 90s cartoons anyone holds up? and which is better 90s or today's cartoons?
Johnlindsey289 Regarding 90s shows, the Batman Animated Series and Animaniacs still hold up amazingly well. There's something to be said about sharp writing and setting an appropriate mood that withstands the test of time.
Oddly enough, I saw some old episodes of Transformers and the short lived Silver Surfer series that, while not made in the 90s, still hold that same appeal for me.
_Honorable mention goes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from 2003. It may not be from the 90s, but I am not exaggerating when I say it's the most underrated animated series in a long time. It had beautifully choreographed fight scenes,
really legitimately intereresting plots, great impactful imagery and emotionally expressive characters (Like, I actually felt something for Leonardo even though his character is generally annoying),
and last but not least, it was VIOLENT; like, not implied punches and crap, no they get kicked around 'a lot' and there is the first decapitation scene I think I've ever seen in a Saturday Morning cartoon, and it's the Turtles who do it.
And the biggest tragedy is it got upstaged by that joke of a CG TMNT 2012 show since no one had heard of the 03' series. I apologize for the ramble, but I guess I have to get that out there.
Bottom line: TMNT 03 is the best animated adaptation that no one's ever heard of, and is definitely among my favorite animated. series._ /endrant
These shows are so good that as an adult, I can appreciate the sheer creativity and talent the animators, writers, and directors have on display.
Frankly, some are just fun to watch even today.
Sadly, shows like Swat Cats just aren't in the same category to me.
Well Sage I don't blame you for not having Cable to me & my family Cable TV was looked at as a luxury and during the 1990's cartoons were beginning to slowly disappear from local TV due what people have been pointing out Parents, the FCC and many other things that cost Local TV their cartoon shows mostly the Saturday Morning Cartoons which was a sad lost for everyone when in 2014 the CW decided to pull the plug on their Cartoons like all the other TV stations did.
Quite a lot of characters actually died in this show. Not graphically, but there's one of the early episodes where they're fighting a giant bacterium, which proceeds to digest a part of a train, that was shown to have people inside it. So yea, a bunch of people basically got phagocyted and no doubt painfully digested by a giant germ.
Ah the 90's, ultraviolent cartoons where people get offed left and right.
aaaand lots of horrible puns.
Good times....
What about Spawn and Gargoyles and Batman?
What i Remember the most Of this series is THE Intro THAT Cheesetastic Guitar lol
Me when you revealed the next video subject
"HEEEEYYYY Big guy and Little Rusty!!! That show was hilariously dumb".
I am going to enjoy the next review