Top Cat: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review
By Paul Rudoff on Oct. 16, 2024 at 2:00 PM in Home Video
Warner Brothers recently released the Top Cat: The Complete Series Blu-ray. Read on to find out more about it...
[ SYNOPSIS ]
Smooth-talking New York City feline Top Cat (Arnold Stang) and his gang of cohorts Benny the Ball (Maurice Gosfield), Choo Choo (Marvin Kaplan), Spook (Leo DeLyon), The Brain (also Leo DeLyon), and Fancy Fancy (John Stephenson) are always on the make toward a big score or swindle. The bothersome and ever-exasperated Officer Dibble (Allen Jenkins) is relentlessly on Top Cat's case, although always one step behind.
[ EPISODES ]
The four-disc set includes all 30 episodes of the single season that aired on ABC from September 27, 1961 to April 17, 1962. Do note that "All that Jazz" (on Disc 1) has one brief missing scene, likely due to the syndicated version being used as a reference guide. No other missing scenes are known at this time, but the end credits don't include the show's sponsor on the billboard. Kellogg's is only shown on the taxi's window shade at the end of the show opening of each episode. No inserts are included, but episode names are printed on each of the discs.
DISC 1 01. "Hawaii, Here We Come" (25:52) 02. "The Maharajah of Pookajee" (25:51) 03. "All That Jazz" (25:39) 04. "The $1,000,000 Derby" (25:54) 05. "The Violin Player" (25:51) 06. "The Missing Heir" (25:50) 07. "Top Cat Falls in Love" (25:55) DISC 2 08. "A Visit From Mother" (25:52) 09. "Naked Town" (25:56) 10. "Sgt. Top Cat" (25:49) 11. "Choo Choo's Romance" (25:52) 12. "The Unscratchables" (25:55) 13. "Rafeefleas" (25:55) 14. "The Tycoon" (25:51) 15. "The Long Hot Winter" (25:50) |
DISC 3 16. "The Case of the Absent Ant Eater" (25:55) 17. "T.C. Minds the Baby" (25:57) 18. "Farewell Mr. Dibble" (25:50) 19. "The Grand Tour" (25:55) 20. "The Golden Fleecing" (25:53) 21. "Space Monkey" (25:52) 22. "The Late T.C." (25:51) 23. "Dibble's Birthday" (25:54) DISC 4 24. "Choo Choo Goes Ga Ga" (25:53) 25. "King for a Day" (25:51) 26. "The Con Men" (25:55) 27. "Dibble Breaks the Record" (25:53) 28. "Dibble Sings Again" (25:54) 29. "Griswald" (25:52) 30. "Dibble's Double" (26:37) (includes extra credits at end) |
[ SPECIFICATIONS ]
The show is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The show is Not Rated. Audio languages include English. Subtitle languages include English SDH.
[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]
All of the content listed below can be found on Disc 4, except for the commentaries. They are found on one of the first three discs; the same disc that has the episode on it. Each commentary is led by animation writer Earl Kress, with voice actor Leo De Lyon (Brain and Spook), animation historian Jerry Beck, and animation writer Mark Evanier. These audio commentaries play during standard definition versions of each episode since they were recorded for the DVDs, which had a different frame rate; thus the audio would not easily sync up with the new high definition versions.
- Audio Commentary on "Hawaii, Here We Come" (25:37)
- Audio Commentary on "A Visit From Mother" (25:36)
- Audio Commentary on "The Late T.C." (25:37)
- Back to Hogan's Alley: The Making of Top Cat (16:41) - Hosted by Leo De Lyon, this retrospective featurette from 2006 includes older comments from William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, and more. It appears that the then-new live-action interview footage was squeezed horizontally to match the 1.33:1 show clips instead of being properly shown in 16x9. This makes me think that the "new" interviews were filmed in HD. If it was, and it still exists, it would have been great if the team at Warner Archive used it and the new HD episodes to re-create/re-edit this featurette in true HD.
- Storyboard / Finished Cartoon Sequence for "The Missing Heir" (20:44) - A side-by-side comparison.
- Cool Cats in Interview Alley (20:54) - In this 2006 feature, Earl Kress interviews voice actors Arnold Stang (Top Cat), Leo De Lyon (Brain, Spook), and Marvin Kaplan (Choo-Choo), as well as writer Barry Blitzer.
- Top Cat Sing-Along (0:51) - A karaoke version of the theme song.
- Collection of Art, Stills, Sketches, and Backgrounds (6:44) - A slideshow gallery with music.
- Vintage Commercials (3:05) - Various Kellogg's Corn Flakes commercials.
No digital copy code voucher is included in the standard four-disc blue Blu-ray case. Each disc is on its own page with no overlapped or stacked discs. YAY!
[ NOTES ]
Top Cat: The Complete Series is available on Blu-ray, DVD (alt url), and Repackaged DVD. Despite a brief edit and no end credits sponsor tag, the set is well done and is RECOMMENDED.
Much like how Hanna-Barbera's previous primetime series, The Flintstones, was based on The Honeymooners, Top Cat is an animated recreation of The Phil Silvers Show (aka Sgt. Bilko). The series was also followed by a 1987 made-for-TV film, Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats, which is available on Blu-ray by itself and in the Superstars 10 box set (reviewed here), and on DVD. Finally, given that the series is hugely popular in Mexico, Anima Estudios created two more recent films that are only available on DVD: Top Cat (2011) and Top Cat Begins (2015).
This item has been provided by Warner Brothers for review on this site.
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