Fraidy Cat (TV series)

"Fraidy Cat" is a 1975 comical children's cartoon show that originally appeared as a segment on the short-lived series "Uncle Croc's Block". It stars Fraidy Cat, an unlucky and miserable cat who, like all cats, has nine lives, but has used up eight of them, and is on his ninth and last life. The main joke of the series is that as if Fraidy's life wasn't miserable enough, every time Fraidy inadvertenly or accidentally says any single-digit number (from one to eight) or any word that sounds like one, a ghost from one of his former lives will appear and tend to make things even worse for the hapless cat.

The ghosts are:
# Cave Cat: Prehistoric sabertooth with his huge pet dinosaur, Ann.
# Kitty Wizard: Befuddled magician: wand often on wrong setting.
# Captain Kitt: Pirate, self-styled "buccaneer's buccaneer".
# Sir Walter Cat: Foppish Elizabethian swordsman/nobleman.
# Billy the Kit: Western cowboy, small guy with big ("Yee-haw!") voice.
# Jasper Catdaver: Undertaker, actually prefers to expedite Fraidy's passing to "The Other Side", though not out of spite.
# Captain Eddie Cattenbakker: Pilot, very erratic flier.
# Hep Cat: Zoot-suited, jive-talking street cat.
# Cloud Nine: As saying a number from one to eight gets Fraidy a ghost, as if to fill the void towards his last life, saying "nine" calls forth an ominous, malevolent storm cloud (shaped like a number nine) which immediately gives chase after Fraidy, attempting to blast him with bolts of lightning until Fraidy manages to either outrun the cloud, or its (supposedly) limited time it can stay expires.

The cartoon is presented like this. All 8 ghosts appear around Fraidy. "We kitties has nine lives. But eight of mine went fast. Now there's only one life left." The nine cloud appears and he starts running. "And I want to make it last!" Then the nine cloud makes the word Fraidy Cat. And at the same time you hear "Fraidy Cat!"

One of the few original series (outside of an adaptation) to be produced by Filmation; Fraidy was later sydicated as part of the "Groovie Goolies and Friends" series. Fraidy was voiced by Alan Oppenheimer while Lennie Weinrib did the voices of ghosts #2-#7.

A DVD has been planned by BCI as part of a double bill with Waldo Kitty, however it currently does not have a release date.

External links

* [http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Filmation_Associates/A-G/The_Groovie_Goolies_and_Friends/Fraidy_Cat/index.html Fraidy Cat at the Big Cartoon Database]