SpaceCats combined live-action puppetry with animation to tell the tale of a group of planet-saving felines and their human leader. This Saturday morning series was the creation of Paul Fusco, the co-creator of another puppet-to-animation alien, TV’s Alf (whom the multi-talented Fusco also voiced).
Every episode of SpaceCats began on the all-cat planet Triglyceride 7, where Captain Catgut, Scratch, Sniff and Tom worked under the direction of the human D.O.R.C. (Disembodied Omnipotent Ruler of Cats). The puppet cats were dispatched to Earth, where their adventures were told in traditional cel animation. Their mission: To protect the humans while mounting a quest to find a cat food “without that fishy aftertaste.”
The puppetry/animation hybrid ran only 13 episodes before the mission was aborted, and since NBC cancelled its entire cartoon schedule after the 1991-92 season, no new SpaceCats episodes were ordered. |
