Heathcliff is an animated television series

Cartoon series

A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...

 that debuted on September 5, 1984. It was the second series based on the Heathcliff

Heathcliff (comic strip)

Heathcliff is a comic strip created by George Gately in 1973 featuring the title character, a wisecracking cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, who took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988.The...

comic strip and was produced by DIC Entertainment

DiC Entertainment

DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...

. It ran in syndication until 1988 with a total of 86 episodes. The first show based on the comic strip was Heathcliff and Dingbat

Heathcliff (1980 TV series)

Heathcliff is an animated TV series that debuted on October 4, 1980. It was the first series based on the Heathcliff comic strip and was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions...

, which debuted in 1980 and was produced by Ruby-Spears. Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

 provided the voice of Heathcliff in both series.

Premise

The first season ran for 65 episodes and the second season for 21 more. Each episode included a backup segment featuring The Catillac Cats

The Catillac Cats

The Catillac Cats is the name of an animated series made in 1984 by DiC. The Catillac Cats formed the second half of each episode of the animated series Heathcliff.-The Gang:...

, which is why this show is sometimes referred to as Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats (the second segment is referred to in the closing credits as "Cats & Co".). While the series was on the air, a movie, aptly titled Heathcliff: The Movie

Heathcliff: The Movie

Heathcliff: The Movie is a 1986 low budget animated film from DiC Entertainment, released by Atlantic Releasing under their Clubhouse Pictures label. Paramount Home Video released Heathcliff: The Movie on VHS in 1988...

, was released which was a compilation of segments from this show.

Characters

• Heathcliff: Title character, he is a street-smart cat, who spends most of his time trying to turn a dustbin over onto people's heads. Heathcliff is a real street cat who loves to fight anyone and everyone and will lie, cheat and steal to get himself some food, but beneath it all, he's a good guy. Heathcliff is voiced by Mel Blanc
  Mel Blanc
  Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
  
  .
• Sonja: Heathcliff's love, a fluffy white Persian cat, who wears a pink collar. Heathcliff is always trying to win Sonja over, although generally she is not usually too impressed with Heathcliff's antics as she is a far classier type of cat. Sonja is voiced by Marilyn Lightstone.
• Knuckles: Dress in a pink hat and a red-and-black striped shirt, Knuckles and his henchman are not really Heathcliff's enemies—more like a group of cats that he constantly annoyed and/or bullied. More often than not they were after him, because he had tried to trick them in some way. Knuckles is voiced by Derek McGrath
  Derek McGrath
  Derek McGrath is a Canadian actor.He is known for his roles in Cheers as "Andy-Andy" Schroeder , Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoate in My Secret Identity, Crewman Chell in Star Trek: Voyager, and as Dr. Derek Hebert in Doc...
  
  .
• Spike: Probably the closest thing to a nemesis that Heathcliff had, Spike was no-where near as clever as Heathcliff—all brawn and no brains. Spike is owned by a neighborhood bully called Muggsy. Heathcliff was quite able to handle both of them when necessary. Spike is voiced by Derek McGrath
  Derek McGrath
  Derek McGrath is a Canadian actor.He is known for his roles in Cheers as "Andy-Andy" Schroeder , Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoate in My Secret Identity, Crewman Chell in Star Trek: Voyager, and as Dr. Derek Hebert in Doc...
  
  .
• Iggy Nutmeg: Heathcliff's owner who lived with his grandparents. Iggy sometimes takes Heathcliff to strange places and new locations for adventures. Iggy is voiced by Donna Christie.
• Marcy: A small girl who lived in the same neighborhood as Iggy's family. Marcy always saw the best in Heathcliff and thought he was a little angel. Marcy is voiced by Jeannie Elias
  Jeannie Elias
  Jeannie Elias is a Canadian American film and voice actress.-Anime Roles:* Blood+ - Young Haji, Nahabi, Additional Voices* Ergo Proxy - Kitty* Naruto - Kaori-Non-anime Roles:...
  
  .

The Catillac Cats

A gang of cats that played alongside Heathcliff. When Riff-Raff is not around, the Catillac Cats are sometimes helping Heathcliff in some adventures or sometimes tease him only to be pounded to the pavement. They drive a very cool Cadillac which could transform into an airplane and a boat and lived in a junkyard.

• Riff-Raff: The boss. Riff-Raff is voiced by Stanley Jones
  Stan Jones (actor)
  Gordon Stan Jones , sometimes credited as G. Stanley Jones, Staley Jones or Stanley Jones, was a Canadian film and television actor.-Career:...
  
  .
• Cleo: Riff-Raff's love interest, most episodes focused around Riff-Raff trying to woo her. She lives in a musical instrument shop with Bush. She had a 1980s-hairstyle and leg warmers. Cleo is voiced by Donna Christie.
• Hector: Second-in-command, sometimes wanted to be leader. Wore a headband and a long neck-tie. Hector is voiced by Danny Mann
  Danny Mann
  Daniel "Danny" Mann is an American voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager. He is best known for his voice of Hector from Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Freeway, Cloudraker and Lightspeed in Transformers, Backwoods Beagle in DuckTales, Kaltag in Balto, Ferdinand from Babe,...
  
  .
• Wordsworth: Rode on roller-skates, spoke in rhyme and always wore a Walkman. Wordsworth is voiced by Stanley Jones
  Stan Jones (actor)
  Gordon Stan Jones , sometimes credited as G. Stanley Jones, Staley Jones or Stanley Jones, was a Canadian film and television actor.-Career:...
  
  .
• Mungo: Big, clumsy and not the sharpest tool in the box. The name was used to show similarity between him and the character with a similar name from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles
  Blazing Saddles
  Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
  
  . Mungo is voiced by Ted Zeigler.
• Leroy: Guard dog who lives in the junkyard with the Catillac Cats. Leroy is voiced by Ted Zeigler
• Bush: A loyal sheepdog who lived with Cleo in the music shop. Unfortunately due to his bushy hair-do, most of the time when Riff-Raff would break in to take Cleo out, Bush would end up running into various musical instruments trying to stop him. Bush is voiced by Danny Wells
  Danny Wells
  Danny Wells is a Canadian movie and television actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for his occasional role as Charlie the bartender on The Jeffersons as well as playing the role of the video game character Luigi, brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, in the live-action segments of The...
  
  .

Season 1

1. The Great Pussini / Kitty Kat Kennels
2. Chauncey's Great Escape / Carnival Capers
3. Mad Dog Catcher / Circus Beserkus
4. Rebel Without a Claws / The Farming Life Ain't Me
5. Heathcliff's Middle Name / Wishful Thinking
6. King of the Beasts / Cat Can Do
7. Smoke Gets in my Eyes / Much Ado about Bedding
8. City Slicker Cat / House of the Future
9. Spike's Cousin / For the Birds
10. Heathcliff's Pet / Swamp Fever
11. Teed Off / Monstro vs. the Wolfhound
12. Say Cheese / Cat's Angels
13. Meow Meow Island / Iron Cats
14. Family Tree / Who's Got the Chocolate?
15. Be Prepared / Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
16. Heathcliff Gets Canned / Whackoed Out
17. Brain Sprain / Cat Balloon
18. May the Best Cat Win / Comedy Cats
19. Revenge of the Kitty / Jungle Vacation
20. Hospital Heathcliff / Hector's Takeover
21. Going Shopping / Cat in the Fat
22. Wild Cat Heathcliff / Kitten Around
23. Muppet Burger Babies / Lucky's Unlucky Day
24. The Blizzard Bandit / Harem Cat
25. Kitten Smitten / Young Cat with a Horn
26. The Muppet Gang's All Here / The Meowsic Goes Round & Round
27. Snow Job / Condo Fever
28. Heathcliff Pumps Iron / Mungo's Dilemma
29. Heathcliff's Double / Big Foot
30. Terrible Tammy / The Games of Love
31. Big Top Bungling / Space Cats
32. Lard Times / The Merry Pranksters
33. Spike's Slave / Scaredy Cats
34. Gopher Broke / A Camping We Will Go
35. Where There's an Ill, There's a Way / Yes Sewer That's my Baby
36. Soap Box Derby / A Better Mousetrap
37. Bamboo Island / Superhero Mungo
38. Butter Up! / Mungo Gets No Respect
39. Sonya's Nephew / Dr. Mousetus
40. Cat Food for Thought / Going South
41. Phantom of the Garbage / Junkyard Flood
42. Trombone Terror / The Other Woman
43. Pop on Parole / The Babysitters
44. The Siamese Twins / The Mungo Mash
45. Copa-ca-Heathcliff / Leroy's in Love
46. Used Pets / Search for a Star
47. An Officer and an Alley-Cat / Hector Spector
48. Service with a Smile / Junk Food
49. Boom Boom Pussini / Beach Blanket Mungo
50. Sealand Mania / Riff Raff the Gourmet
51. The Super M.A.C. Menace / Journey to the Center of the Earth
52. Heathcliff Reforms / Prehysteric Riff Raff
53. A Piece of the Rock / Divide and Clobber
54. Flying High / Debutante Ball
55. Heathcliff's Surprise / The Big Break In
56. The Catfather / The Big Swipe
57. Tally-Ho Heathcliff / Cleo Moves In
58. Granpda vs. Grandpa / The Big Game Hunter
59. The Great Tuna Caper / Peco's Treasure
60. The Baby Buggy Bad Guys / Riff Raff's Mom
61. Momma's Back in Town / Trash Dance
62. Claws / Hector the Detector
63. Raiders of the Lost Cat / Mungo Lays an Egg
64. The Home Wrecker / In Search of Catlantis
65. Star or Tomeow-meow / Soccer Anyone?

Season 2

1. The Whitecliff of Dover / Life Saver
2. Nightmare in Beverly Hills / The Iron Mask Cat
3. The Shrink / Brushing Up
4. Dr. Heathcliff and Mr. Spike / Time Warped
5. Spike's New Home / Mungo's Big Romance
6. The Cat and the Pauper / Mungo of the Jungle
7. In the Beginning / Catlympic Cats
8. Rear Cat Window / Cat Days, Ninja Nights
9. Something Fishy / Christmas Memories
10. Heathcliff's Mom / Hockey Pucks
11. Cat Day Afternoon / Hector the Protector
12. Feline Good / Off-Road Racer
13. Spike's Coach / The Trojan Catillac
14. Heathcliff Gets Framed / Repo Cat
15. Missing in Action / Bag Cat Sings the Blues
16. It's a Terrible Life / Leroy Gets Canned
17. Hair of the Cat / Tenting Tonight
18. The Fortune Teller / Cottentails, Chickens, and Colored Eggs
19. Break an Egg / A Letter to Granny
20. The New York City Sewer System / High Goon
21. North Pole Cat / He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Theme song

Two versions of the Heathcliff (DiC series) theme song were made. In its original broadcast run, the theme song began with the lines, "Cats and company have fun / Playing pranks on everyone," and returned to the "Cats and company" phrase often throughout the song. Perhaps in order to clarify any possible confusion about the name of the show, it was later replaced with a version that removed all references to "Cats and company." The second version began, "Heathcliff, Heathcliff, no one should / Terrify the neighborhood." The phrase "Heathcliff just won't be undone, playing pranks on everyone" replaces the original phrase. The original theme song is featured in VHS releases, as well as in cable reruns. The UK broadcast, despite including the name "Cats & Co." in the title, used the "No one should" version of the theme song.

The lyrics that can be seen in the Closed Captioning,offer three different versions of one line about the "Cadillac Cats". Version 1 is "They'll make "some" history". Version 2 says,"They'll make (garbage)dump history". the third version is "They'll make "junk" history. The correct version is "some" history.

Movie

Heathcliff: The Movie

Heathcliff: The Movie

Heathcliff: The Movie is a 1986 low budget animated film from DiC Entertainment, released by Atlantic Releasing under their Clubhouse Pictures label. Paramount Home Video released Heathcliff: The Movie on VHS in 1988...

was released to theaters on January 17, 1986, and subsequently on VHS in 1988 by Paramount Video. It includes seven segments from the original show:

• Cat Food for Thought
• Heathcliff's Double
• The Siamese Twins
• An Officer and an Alley Cat
• The Catfather
• Boom Boom Pussini
• Pop on Parole

Broadcast History

In the United States, the series was aired in national first-run syndication from September 5, 1984 until 1988, and reruns of the series were then aired on Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 from 1989 until 1993. Then it premiered on Family Channel

Family Channel

Family is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service marketed to children and teenagers aged 2-15. It is owned by Astral Media...

 from 1993-1999. From September 27, 2010 until September 23, 2011, rerun of the series have been airing in the United States on the This Is for Kids

Cookie Jar Toons

Cookie Jar Toons is a daily children's programming block on the This TV digital broadcast network. The block is programmed by Toronto based Cookie Jar Entertainment...

 block on This TV

This TV

This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....

. It is also airing on Boomerang

Boomerang

A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...

 every morning at 8:00am in place of Wacky Races

Wacky Races

Wacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." Wacky Races ran on CBS from September...

. In the U.K. the series aired on CBBC

CBBC

CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

 during the late 1980s and early 1990s, then in the early 2000s it was aired on Toon Disney U.K. in 2000, and was usually billed under the title Heathcliff Cats & Co. The series was also aired in Japan. The Reruns of the show will be airing on NBC Kids in November 2012.

DVD releases

On February 24, 2004, UAV Entertainment released two best-of collections with each set featuring nine select episodes from the series.

On September 20, 2005, Shout! Factory

Shout! Factory

Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 released Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats in a 4-disc boxset featuring the first 24 episodes of the series. Shout! Factory has since lost the rights to the series.

Since 2007, NCircle Entertainment

NCircle Entertainment

NCircle Entertainment is an entertainment content distributor that specializes in children's programming.NCircle Entertainment is a division of Alliance Entertainment Corporation , which is the largest single source of home entertainment....

 has released seven Heathcliff DVDs.

In France, two more 4-disc sets were released under the French title of the series, Les Entrechats.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats	24	September 20, 2005	Original promos A click-thru gallery of panels from the syndicated newspaper cartoon "Heathcliff" from its 1973 inception to present day An interview with current "Heathcliff" comic panel illustrator Peter Gallagher

External links

• Heathcliff at Cookie Jar Entertainment