SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron is an animated series for television created by Christian and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services. Every episode of the series was directed by Robert Alvarez. The bulk of the series was written by either Glenn Leopold (13 episodes) or Lance Falk (6 episodes). Jim Stenstrum contributed two episodes, while David Ehrman, Von Williams, Eric Clark (with Lance Falk), Mark Saraceni and Jim Katz all contributed one episode.

The show ran on TBS and the syndication block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera from 1993 to 1995. There were a total of twenty-five finished episodes and a special episode, that features a report on the SWAT Kats and of all their missions and gadgets as well as three unfinished episodes and two episodes still in the concept stage.^[1] The show was based in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City, which is populated entirely by anthropomorphic felines who are just like people, known as "kats". The show is rerun from time to time on Cartoon Network classic channel Boomerang.

Background

Chance "T-Bone" Furlong and Jake "Razor" Clawson were members of Megakat City's paramilitary law enforcement agency, known as the Enforcers. Unfortunately, the Enforcers were commanded by Feral, an incompetent, overbearing and inflexible Enforcer who was believed to have owed his position entirely to political machinations. While in pursuit of Dark Kat, one of the main arch-villains of the series, the two rebelled against Enforcer Commander Feral's orders to fall back and leave Dark Kat to him. When they objected, citing their already-acquired target lock, Commander Feral used his jet to slap their wing, sending Chance and Jake's jet crashing into Enforcer headquarters and allowing Dark Kat to get away. In his anger, Feral discharged Chance and Jake from the Enforcers and reassigned them to work at the city's military salvage yard to pay for the damage to the Enforcer Headquarters.

Using discarded military parts and weapons from the salvage yard, Chance and Jake built themselves a three-engine jet fighter called the Turbokat, which resembled several different jet fighters, most notably the Grumman F-14 and the Saab Draken, along with a handful of such other vehicles as the Cyclotron, a motorcycle built into the jet; the Turbo Mole, a subterranean vehicle used to drill underground; the Hoverkat, a militarized hovercraft, the Thunder Truck, a militarized Jeep modified from their tow truck, and they also built two jet skis which they used in Mutation City. All these vehicles were stored, along with a training area and other equipment, in a secret hangar below the yard.

They commenced to patrol Megakat City as the SWAT Kats, defending it against any kind of menace that threatened the city. Their enemies included the criminal mastermind Dark Kat; the undead sorcerer The Pastmaster; the mutant evil genius Doctor Viper; and the robotic gangsters the Metallikats. The SWAT Kats also faced many villains-of-the-week, such as Madkat and Volcanus.

T-Bone and Razor kept their identities secret from everyone, and their closest ally became Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs, a character more important than the mayor himself. Their methods did not endear them to Commander Feral, and in the series the three often clashed. The Metallikats were the only characters in the series to learn their true identities, when they invade the secret hangar. In the second season, Lieutenant Felina Feral, who disagreed with her uncle's view about the SWAT Kats' activities, became another ally.

Select episodes of the show were released on VHS in NTSC format.

Remco produced a line of action figures in 1994 which included T-Bone, Razor, Dr. Viper and Dark Kat.^[2] They can be seen here.^[3] Other products were produced including a Super Nintendo game, a handheld game, posters and fast food tie-ins at Carls Jr. and White Castle.

Characters

Heroes

• Chance Furlong (alias: T-Bone, Mister Kat) (voiced by Charlie Adler) - The larger member of the SWAT Kats and pilot of the Turbokat jet. T-Bone is one of the best pilots in the SWAT Kat universe, as seen in "Cry Turmoil." He loves aerial warfare history, as seen in "The Ghost Pilot," and Scaredy Kat cartoons. It was revealed in "The Ci-Kat-A" that he had a strong dislike of bugs that he eventually overcame. In "Mutation City," it was revealed that he was unable to swim, though later in the episode, he learned, and rescued an unconscious Razor from drowning. He is very protective of his partner and the Turbokat and gets extremely upset if anything happens to either. Chance is also the more daring of the two—in his willingness to take chances (especially when in the TurboKat). Chance commonly flew the Turbokat out of tough situations, refusing to eject, and coaxing his "baby"--the TurboKat—to perform. He soon started to like Felina.

• Jake Clawson (alias: Razor) (voiced by Barry Gordon) - The smaller member of the SWAT Kats, who is a mechanical genius. He designed the various gadgets and advanced weaponry used in the Turbokat, and he serves as the radar interceptor and weapons control officer, or RIO, in the Turbokat. He is a martial arts master. He is the more measured, and restrained, of the two kats. In "Razor's Edge" he lost his self-confidence in his fighting because he had "hurt" two pedestrians, but recovered from this upon discovering it was a set-up by Dark Kat. He loved the late night show with David Litterbin (a pun on David Letterman). His catchphrase is "Bingo!"

• Calico^[4] "Callie" Briggs (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Deputy Mayor of Megakat City and the one who did the real work of City Hall. The SWAT Kats' biggest supporter, she had a radio communicator which enabled her to call them directly when danger threatened the city. Although she did not know who they were, Callie usually trusted her life to the SWAT Kats if required. In "The Dark Side of the SWAT Kats," her equivalent in a parallel universe was an evil ally of Dark Kat. In "Bride of the Pastmaster," her ancestor Queen Callista was leader of the medieval kingdom of "Megalith City." Though T-Bone had a crush on her, she had a crush on Razor (more evident in the fact that even her ancestor seemed to favor Razor over T-Bone), likewise, she also seemed to favor Jake and only saw Chance as a friend. Her name was a pun on Calico cat breed.

• Commander Ulysses^[5] Feral (voiced by Gary Owens) - Head of the Enforcers, Feral had a strong and obvious dislike for the SWAT Kats, whom he considered "reckless vigilantes." He had worked with the SWAT Kats when the situation called for it, such as in "Katastrophe" and "A Bright and Shiny Future," but he more often called on his men, saying, "The Enforcers will handle this" and "Get me chopper back-up!" He is solely responsible for the birth of the SWAT Kats; when Chance and Jake were once Enforcers, they were kicked out of the force for their disobedience during an aerial assault against Dark Kat, and forced to work at the city junk yard to paid off a hefty debt from the damage of Enforcer HQ; all of which Feral himself was also responsible for. He sees them as nothing more than "ruthless vigilantes", but is likely jealous because they made him and the Enforcers look incompetent. He would go as far as to issue an "arrest on sight" if the duo would go too far. Despite his ego, he has a strict sense of justice. It is uncertain if he has any respects for SWAT Kats; When the Metallikats offered to reveal the identities of the SWAT Kats in exchange for their freedom. He rejected the offer, vowing never to make deals with scum.

• Lieutenant Felina Feral (voiced by Lori Alan) - Commander Ulysses Feral's niece (she was the daughter of Feral's brother) first appeared in season 2's "Mutation City" as a new female heroine.^[6] Being something of a reckless hothead herself, she appreciated the help of the SWAT Kats, unlike her uncle, and would work openly with them. Feral himself faced something of a dilemma over her: trying to keep her out of danger but not show any favorable treatment. Furthermore, he has stated that Felina was too good an officer to eject off the force, and his brother would never speak to him again. She was also a very skilled pilot, as seen in "When Strikes Mutilor" and "Cry Turmoil." She wouldn't take "No" for an answer, a fact to which T-Bone once remarked, "You are one stubborn she-kat!"

Villains

• Dark Kat (voiced by Brock Peters) - Dark Kat was the main arch-enemy of the SWAT Kats. He is very large, intelligent and evil with a black and red hooded coat and purple skin; Dark Kat wanted to destroy Megakat City to create a new lawless town called "Dark Kat City". Being highly intelligent and calculating, Dark Kat often anticipated his foes' actions with great accuracy, and it was a recurring theme throughout the series that all of his hideouts are rigged with explosives. He first appeared in "The Wrath of Dark Kat." His attempt to bomb the Enforcer headquarters indirectly led to Chance and Jake's fallout with the Enforcers and the birth of the SWAT Kats. He was the only main villain who never got an origin story of his own in the series.
  • Creeplings (vocal effects provided by Charlie Adler) - Small pink bat-like creatures that were extremely vicious and appeared to be protected from radiation. They served as Dark Kat's primary henchmen.

• Dr. Viper (voiced by Frank Welker) - Dr. Elrod Purvis worked at Megakat Biochemical Labs. He tried to steal an experimental regenerative formula he and Dr. N. Zyme were developing. He became covered in the formula when he fell down the stairs and the shock ultimately killed him. The chemicals revived him from death, mutating Purvis into a half-kat, half-serpent creature. With expertise in the fields of biology, genetics and robotics, he sought to turn Megakat City into "Mutation City" and transform the residents into mutants like himself. He first appeared in "The Giant Bacteria." He was able to turn people like Morbulus into monsters and was by far the deadliest enemy of the SWAT Kats, and he and his creatures murdered a number of innocent people (including his former colleague Dr. N. Zyme) in the series. The only weapon he has on hand is his tail, which he uses to smack his enemies away. He made a final appearance in "Mutation City", where he floods Megakat City with a slimy orange ooze with mutated monsters created from the experimental formula Katalyst X-63. He even douses himself with the formula and turns into a giant Godzilla-like monster and rampages through the city. In this state, he attempted to stop Razor from using the anti-mutagen but ultimately failed and was caught by the anti-mutagen's explosion which turned the creatures and the city to its normal state. Since then, he disappeared without a trace. He was similar to the Spider-Man villain The Lizard.

• Mac and Molly Mange (voiced by Neil Ross and April Winchell) - The husband-and-wife criminal team rather like Bonnie and Clyde, the Metallikats whom both used to head the most notorious mob syndicate in Megakat City. They drowned when the boat they were in was hit by a larger boat while attempting to escape from Alkatraz prison. Their bodies were found by Professor Hackle's robot servants and their minds were placed in the brains of robots. Mac was supposed to be a robot-chauffeur (though ironically, he was a poor driver) and Molly was to be a robot-maid, but instead remained criminals. They first appeared in "The Metallikats" where they kill Katscratch, a rival mob boss who took over their territory, and injure the rest of his gang. They had a vendetta against Mayor Manx for denying their parole request, though it turned out that Callie had done it as the mayor was too busy to handle it. Mac and Molly often bickered with each other, but would come to each other's aid when one was in trouble. Mac was considered the "muscle" of the team, while Molly was considered the "brains." In "Metal Urgency," they both discovered the secret identities of the SWAT Kats. However, this knowledge was erased when Commander Feral deactivated them in the same episode as Commander Feral quotes "I don't deal with scum" when they offered to reveal the SWAT Kats' identities to him. In "Katastrophe," their remains were salvaged by the Creeplings when Dark Kat collaborated with Dr. Viper in a plot to eliminate the SWAT Kats. Dark Kat had special collars placed on the Metallikats' necks which give them a shock when they don't do what Dark Kat says. They were sent to capture Mayor Manx and Callie Briggs which was a success. This ended up drawing the SWAT Kats and Commander Feral to the villains' hideout at an abandoned offshore cannery. When the Metallikats turned against Dark Kat, he discovered that Dr. Viper deactivated the collars. In a battle between the villains, Commander Feral, and the SWAT Kats, the villains were defeated and were thought to have been destroyed. In "A Bright and Shiny Future," the SWAT Kats follow Pastmaster into a future where Pastmaster had reassembled the Metallikats and have taken over the robots. The Metallikats turn on Pastmaster and steal his watch. With help from Commander Feral, Felina Feral, Professor Hackle, and the Pastmaster, the SWAT Kats defeated the Metallikats as Pastmaster reclaims his watch. In same ways they are quite similar to the Superman villain Metallo.

• The Pastmaster (voiced by Keene Curtis) - An undead sorcerer from the Dark Ages who tried to conquer his home city. He traveled through time using his magical mechanical pocket watch, and with his magical spell book "The Tome of Time", he was able to summon extinct or mythical creatures such as dinosaurs and dragons. He despised all forms of modern technology and was constantly trying to rid the world of it and return things to the former "glory" of his beloved Dark Ages. He first appeared in "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice." In "A Bright and Shiny Future" the SWAT Kats were drawn into a future where the Metallikats together with the Pastmaster had created a Terminator-inspired future where machines ruled over katkind. All the Pastmaster really wanted was to go back home to his own time. He was occasionally shown to lust after Callie Briggs (the "spitting," or spirit-and-, image of her ancestor Queen Callista (As seen in "Bride of the Pastmaster" when the SWAT Kats travel back into the Dark Ages),who is the Pastmaster's ancient crush). He repeatedly captured her and "asked" her to marry him, but Callie would have none of it. He apparently met his demise in "The Deadly Pyramid" where during the collapse of the pyramid, he was seen falling towards a pit of molten lava.

• Hard Drive (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - Hard Drive is a technological thief who generally dons his "Surge Coat" when working. This coat gives him a number of abilities focused around electricity and electronics, as the name suggests. Primarily seen is his ability to transform himself into electrical energy, thus allowing him to travel through power, telephone, and computer lines. Besides this, he appears to be able to manipulate electronic devices with a simple jolt of electricity from his fingertip and download and delete data quickly with a "plug" on his coat. He works for whoever pays him the most. His first appearance was in "Night of the Dark Kat" where he breaks into a top secret military research center and stolen defense secrets. The SWAT Kats track his surge signal and subdue him in a special insulated missile. After being taken to a jail cell, Hard Drive is broken out by Dark Kat (who frees Hard Drive from his insulated missile trap) and his Creeplings. Dark Kat forces Hard Drive to team up with him to help capture, discredit and destroy the SWAT Kats using the Turbokat to hold the city hostage. In "Metal Urgency," Hard Drive had hijacked a heavily-armed tank from Pumadyne and its forcefield prevented the Enforcers' attacks from getting through. The SWAT Kats managed to disable Hard Drive with a Scrambler Missile. In "SWAT Kats Unplugged," Hard Drive steals an anti-weapons scrambler from Pumadyne scientist Dr. Ohm in a plot to steal the gold being transferred to Megakat Mint. Hard Drive was similar to the Spider-Man villain Electro.

• Morbulus (voiced by Jim Cummings) - An evil pilot who literally has eyes in the back of his head, appearing in "The Giant Bacteria." He bombs oil refineries with his fighter jet until defeated by the SWAT Kats. After giving the SWAT Kats the slip, he is found by Dr. Viper and mutated into a grotesque purple bacteria monster which divides into more of itself (in the style of amoeba) when hit. All of the bacteria monsters (there were three) were killed by the SWAT Kats using electricity with Burke and Murray cleaning up the bacteria monsters' remains. Morbulus' name was originally going to be "Occulus," but it was changed at the last minute due to possible legal problems with Marvel Comics.

• Katscratch (voiced by Jim Cummings) - A gangster who used to work for Mac and Molly Mange. He was known for smuggling catnip, which is seen as a narcotic in the SWAT Kats universe, in a trade with Fango. His name appears to be a reference to the song "Cat Scratch Fever." When Mac and Molly Mange returned as the Metallikats, they killed Katscratch for his betrayal.
  • Katscratch's Gang (voiced by Jim Cummings, Charlie Adler, and Ed Gilbert) - Four identical looking mobsters who worked for Katscratch up until his death. Katscratch's henchmen swore their loyalty to the Metallikats only for them to dismiss them as the Metallikats make up their own gang. Not much is known about them other than they alongside Fango were badly injured in the fire from Mac Mange's exploding cigar.

• Rex Shard (voiced by John Vernon) - A convict sentenced to life in prison, who was accidentally exposed to the radiation of an experimental diamond mining machine created by Dr. Greenbox. He turned into a crystal colossus and had the ability to turn anything he touched into crystal. He was stopped by the SWAT Kats, reverted back to normal and was sent back to prison. He appeared only in "Chaos in Crystal," but was supposed to appear in the proposed 3rd season episode "Cold War" as a weather-controlling mutant warrior with plans to freeze Megakat City after diving into an experiment energy source.^[7]

• Dr. Harley Street (voiced by Robert Ridgely) - Dr. Street is a brilliant astronomer who was bitten by an alien insect creature, and later mutated into one himself. Dr. Harley Street tried to help the alien queen to achieve its full power by letting her eat the radioactive material from Megakat Nuclear Power Plant. He was supposedly killed when he was thrown out of the Megakat Tower by Razor. He only appeared in "The Ci-Kat-A," but was supposed to appear in the unfinished episode "Doctors of Doom" where Dr. Harley Street resurfaces and teams up with Dr. Viper to create havoc in Megakat City.^[8]

• Madkat (voiced by Roddy McDowall) – Ages ago, Madkat was an insane and powerful court jester who was replaced. He sought revenge on the jester who replaced him and the knight, queen and king who imprisoned him in a jack-in-a-box. Centuries later, once brilliant comedian turned asylum patient Lenny Ringtail escapes and fuses with the jester's spirit after finding the jack-in-a-box and gains the ability to warp reality at a whim, this makes him virtually unstoppable and his only weakness is the small balls at the end of his fools cap. Together they take revenge upon those who symbolized the ones' who imprisoned Madkat. He captured David Litterbin {Jester}, Mayor Manx {King}, Callie Briggs {Queen}, and Commander Feral {Knight} (This supports the possibility that Queen Callista may be an ancestor of Callie, and Tabor the Knight may be an ancestor of Commander Feral). After T-Bone destroys Madkat by hitting his weak spot, Ringtail's sanity and career were restored after he is knocked out by Commander Feral and Razor. Lenny was guest-starred on the David Litterbin show to promote his bestselling book Madkat and Me. He appeared only in "Enter the Madkat". This character is loosely based on television comedian Jay Leno and comedian Lenny Bruce, as a rival to David Litterbin (Letterman), and even has a catchphrase ("Here's Ringtail") spoken just like "Jay Leno" on The Tonight Show.

• Red Lynx (voiced by Mark Hamill) – The ghost of a Mega War II flying ace who pilots a red biplane (he is a parody of the Red Baron). T-Bone says he learned a lot about dogfighting from studying the Red Lynx's maneuvers. The Red Lynx stole a prototype plane from the Enforcers and tried to kill Mayor Manx, who was the great-grandson of his greatest opponent, the Blue Manx, but in the end, the SWAT Kats, along with Mayor Manx sent him to his doom by destroying the plane. His skill in flying in such is that even in his old museum biplane he was able to cause serious damage to the Turbokat. He only appeared in "The Ghost Pilot".

• Mutilor (voiced by Michael Dorn) – Mutilor is a giant lobster-like alien warlord who attacked Earth using a stolen Aquian spaceship to steal all of its water so he could sell it to a desert world. In the end, the SWAT Kats were able to destroy him by blasting his spaceship and saving Captain Grimalken and his crew from harm. His name comes from a goldfish that Lance Falk's friend once owned.^[9] He appears only in "When Mutilor Strikes".
  • Lt. Traag (voiced by Christopher Corey Smith) - Mutilor's henchman who heads up his army.

• Turmoil (voiced by Kath Soucie) – A villainous she-kat that wants to conquer Megakat City by controlling the airspace, with the help of her flying fortress and her squadron of female pilots, if the citizens of Megakat City don't pay her due first. She tried to seduce T-Bone, by showing him some of the modified airplanes that supposedly never went as far as the drawing board. But in the end, T-Bone fooled her, and with the help of Razor, put Turmoil in prison. Writer Lance Falk created Turmoil because besides Molly Mange, there were no other female villains.^[10] Her name is an anagram of "Mutilor" from When Strikes Mutilor.^[10] She appears only in "Cry Turmoil", though she was scheduled to appear in the unfinished episode "Turmoil II: The Revenge" where she alongside some female inmates escape from prison and use a laser from her flying fortress to threaten Megakat City.^[8]
  • Turmoil's Lieutenant (voiced by Jennifer Hale) - An unnamed lieutenant who serves as Turmoil's second-in-command.

• Dark SWAT Kats (voiced by Charlie Adler and Barry Gordon) – Villainous variations of the SWAT Kats from a parallel dimension accessed by the real SWAT Kats by accident. They serve the alternate dimension's Dark Kat, and plot with the alternate Callie Briggs to overthrow Megakat City's government. They exhibit alternate characteristics to the real SWAT Kats, such as T-bone being a clumsy pilot, Razor being a lousy shot, and the two of them hating each other. They were presumably killed when a bomb they were carrying exploded, though they were rumored to appear in a proposed third-season episode. They appeared only in "The Dark Side of the SWAT Kats". They're the only characters shown in the alternate dimension who don't look like their counterparts but only the viewers seemed to be able to tell the difference.

• Zed (voiced by Charlie Adler) - A Micro-Brain Repair Unit created by Dr. Leiter Greenbox, the robot later to be known as Zed was designed to analyze mechanical objects and reassemble them. However, after he was stolen by the Metallikats so they could repair themselves, Zed's programming was 'contaminated' by their criminal personalities, causing its artificial intelligence to evolve. As Zed evolved, it built a robot body out of metal parts it scrounged from machines all over the city (including the Metallikats), building his body bigger and bigger as he went along. Zed eventually headed towards Puma-Dyne in order to absorb a weapons satellite they had built called the Mega-Beam, intending to destroy the city with it. Zed even managed to merge its mind with that of its creator, and was about to fire the Mega-Beam when T-Bone used a torn piece of cable to whip Zed's brain, destroying it.

Other characters

• Mayor Manx (voiced by Jim Cummings) - The Mayor of Megakat City for 10 terms. He spent nearly all of his time working on his golf game; as Callie once stated, "he hasn't done an ounce of paperwork in years!"^[4] He also tried to rent out Megakat Towers to investors; a first-season running gag had the building constantly being ruined in "Destructive Nature" and "The Ci-Kat-A." He was descended from a famous and brave fighter pilot named the Blue Manx who was the sworn enemy of the Red Lynx, as revealed in "The Ghost Pilot." But in contrast to his ancestor, Mayor Manx was a coward who usually ran and hid whenever danger arose, but he did act bravely and shoot down the ghost of the Red Lynx in the same episode–-doing so only after Razor goaded him into action on the grounds that he would not be re-elected if he did not fight back. His name was derived from the Manx cat breed.

• Lt. Commander Steele (voiced by Hal Rayle) - A high-ranking Enforcer who constantly seeks to replace Commander Feral as leader of the Enforcers. He is actually a bit of a coward and shows no real leadership skills. He is also prone to getting airsick. During one mission which involved fighting Dark Kat, Feral forces Steele to ride co-pilot in a battle. Steele gets airsick and ends up vomiting in the cockpit. Feral notices this and responses with heavy disdain "And you want my job."

• Ann Gora (voiced by Candi Milo) - The star reporter for Kats Eye News. She was usually on the scene whenever the SWAT Kats were in action, and had been rescued by the SWAT Kats in "The Ci-Kat-A" and "Caverns of Horror." Besides Deputy Mayor Briggs, Ann had also warned the SWAT Kats a few times of dangerous situations. Her name was a pun on the cat breed angora, or Turkish Angora.

• Jonny K. (voiced by Mark Hamill) - Ann Gora's cameraman, who often cared about Ann's safety, whenever she got herself in danger. He spoke very little, and was seen always wearing sunglasses and a red baseball cap. His largest role was in "The Ci-Kat-A" and "Caverns of Horror," where he helped the SWAT Kats, along with his partner, Ann Gora.

• Al (voiced by Frank Welker in "The Wrath of Dark Kat," Rob Paulsen in "Night of the Dark Kat") - Al is the pilot of the Kat's Eye News helicopter. Although he is a professional at his job, he often shows contempt for Ann Gora's reckless nature. Several times he refused to fly the helicopter near dangerous areas despite Ann's nagging, such as when Hard Drive stole the Turbokat.

• Dr. Abby Sinian (voiced by Linda Gary) - Archaeologist and curator of the Megakat City Museum of History. Smart, beautiful and brave as well as tops in her field, Dr. Sinian doesn't hesitate to get down and dirty when working an archeological site or panic when in danger (encounters with a prehistoric cat, Pastmaster, mummies, etc.). Unlike most scientists in her field, Dr. Sinian does not limit herself to the factual and tangible; she is an expert on the supernatural and the occult and often proves useful in situations involving villains like the Pastmaster. As Curator of the Megakat Museum of History, Dr. Sinian often proves to be an excellent informational resource for when creatures and villains from the past manage to make a comeback in the modern realm. Her name was a pun on the cat breed Abyssinian cat.

• Professor Hackle (voiced by George Hearn) - Professor Hackle was the scientist who built the robot bodies of Mac and Molly Mange, and transplanted their brains into them. He spent his life as a military weapons researcher for Pumadyne, creating the Metallikats' hovercraft as well as two giant "Macrobots," the centerpieces of "Metal Urgency," but renounced his profession and turned to the civilian sector. In "The Deadly Pyramid," he created Cybertron, a friendly and very brave little robot to help the SWAT Kats. In "Bright & Shiny Future," he restored the damaged Turbokat to its flying condition and subsequently reprogrammed the Machines who had taken over the city after T-Bone and Razor destroyed the Robotics HQ.

• David Litterbin (voiced by John Byner) - An obvious parody of David Letterman, Litterbin was the undisputed "King of Late Night" and host of The David Litterbin Show. Razor was his biggest fan and he was seen on television numerous times. He actually appeared in "Enter the Madkat," where he was believed to have descended from the jester responsible for making Madkat insane, as years later, he won the title for "King of Late Night," making Lenny Ringtail insane.

• Burke and Murray (voiced by Mark Hamill and Charlie Adler) - Two brothers employed to dump junk in the salvage yard that Chance and Jake work in. Their mocking attitudes constantly irritated Chance and Jake, but they were absent from the second season.

• Little Old Lady (voiced by Candi Milo) - A cranky old lady whose car always seemed to be breaking down. She consistently threatened to report Chance and Jake to her auto club, but never actually did. On one occasion, she received a free pizza and three free tune-ups as an apology from Jake and Chance for when their vigilantism took priority over a towing job.

• Dr. N. Zyme (voiced by Paul Eiding) - A slightly absentminded biochemist who worked for Megakat Biochemical Labs. His intentions were to create anti-mutagens that would preserve and benefit catkind, but his biggest hope, Viper Mutagen 368, proved to be worthless after Dr. Elrod Purvis, having died from attempting to rob Zyme of the formula, was revived as Dr. Viper. Zyme presumably died in "The Giant Bacteria," when he tried to combat Viper's bacteria monsters with antibiotics.

• Captain Grimalken (voiced by Michael Bell) - Leader of the Aquians, a race of blue-furred alien cats who are naturally nonviolent and peaceful; they would rather be taken prisoner than fight back. Grimalken was captain of the water freighter that Mutilor stole for his space-pirating purposes. Initially he told the SWAT Kats he would not help them fight, but at a crucial moment, and unseen by anyone else, he did kick a henchman in the face as the henchman was going for a blaster. In gratitude for the SWAT Kats and Lt. Feral's actions, he used some of his "high speed space technology" to repair the Turbokat, which Mutilor had damaged during a battle.

• Fango (voiced by Neil Ross) - Katscratch's business partner who was badly injured in the explosion caused by Mac Mange's exploding cigar. As the paramedics prepared to take him to the hospital, he informed Commander Feral that the Metallikats were advancing to their next target: Mayor Manx.

• Dr. Leiter Greenbox (voiced by Robert Patrick in 'Chaos in Crystal', Nick Chinlund in 'Unlikely Alloys') - A scientist whose inventions always seem to go wrong. In his first appearance, he was hired by Warden Cyrus Meece of Megakat Maximum Security Prison to a gem-mining gadget called the Gemkat 6000, designed to separate rare and precious stones from rock without digging. But when Rex Shard, the prisoner testing the device, tried to steal some gems from the device, an explosion erupted which turned his body into crystal. Dr. Greenbox attempted to rewire his prototype in order to reverse the effect, but he was turned into crystals by Shard, and remained so until the SWAT Kats managed to cure Shard themselves. Later, while working at Megakat University, Dr. Greenbox created an artificially-intelligent device called a Micro-Brain Repair Unit, which, after having its programming contaminated by the Metallikats, evolved into a self-aware mechanical entity called Zed, building a robot body around itself using any metal objects it could get its hands on. Though Dr. Greenbox originally attempted to help the SWAT Kats destroy Zed, once inside his head, he was so overwhelmed at how much his creation had evolved that he turned against them and merged with his machine; after Zed's brain was destroyed, Greenbox collapsed and was turned over to the Enforcers, after which his fate is uncertain.

Episodes

Reception and cancellation

SWAT Kats became the number one syndicated animated show of 1994, according to Nielsen Television Index (NTI) and Nielsen Syndication Service (NSS).^[11] Hanna Barbera Productions also stated this in a SWAT Kats Poster ad that they were going to release new episodes, posters, and other works in 1995.^[11] Toon Magazine also published a section about the success of SWAT Kats in Fall 1994 issue.^[12] Modelsheets of characters were also released in the same issue. The show was canceled with three unfinished episodes^[1]. Hanna-Barbera ended their syndication block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera to focus mostly on producing original content for Cartoon Network.

Broadcast history

• USA
  • TBS (1993-1994)
  • Cartoon Network (1993-2002, 2006)
  • Boomerang (2002-2004, 2006-present)
• UK
  • CBBC (1993-1995)
  • Cartoon Network
• India
  • Cartoon Network
• Sweden
  • TV3
  • Cartoon Network
• Pakistan
  • Cartoon Network
  • NTM

Video game

The game SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron developed by AIM was released by Hudson Soft in August 1995 for the SNES. It is a 2-D Action Platformer with RPG elements in which you can play as either T-Bone or Razor. It features a password system and third-person flying sequences in the Turbokat Fighter. It is based on various episodes of the show and features a different boss for each world, with Dark Kat as the final boss. All worlds contain an urgent message from Mayor Manx prior to the start of each world.

DVD release

On December 14, 2010, Warner Bros. released Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron- The Complete Series Collection on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US.^[13] It should be noted though, that the episodes themselves aren't remastered, but are from the best quality master tapes available and contain no extras or bonus features aside from the episodes themselves. Three cut scenes from the show were released on DVD. They are the title card of Episode "The Pastmaster always Rings Twice", Farmer Scene (The Giant Bacteria) and "Guidance System" scene from Episode "Chaos in Crystal." But "Today on SWAT Kats" and "Secret Files of SWAT Kats" are not available on this DVD.

Most episodes of the series were originally preceded by a short prologue in which Razor would say, "Today on Swat Kats...," with a brief action scene from the episode. After most episodes, there was a small clip called "Secret Files of SWAT Kats" which gave information about Heroes and Villains. And Warner Bros didn't release any information about 3 unfinished episodes of the show on DVD. Another problem on DVD is the end credits of the show. Warner Bros put end credits for wrong episodes, meaning voice actors either aren’t credited for episodes they were in, or are credited for ones they weren’t. Only few episodes have their proper end credits.

On March 3, 2011, Warner Bros removed Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron from its DVD page for unknown reasons. A re-release with added content is planned for 2011/12.

See also

• List of anthropomorphic animal superheroes

References

External links

• Swat Kats - Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons (Archive)
• SWAT Kats Schedule
• Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron at the Internet Movie Database
• Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993) at TV.com
• SWAT Kats.us
• The SWAT Kats Encyclopedia
• swatkats.info, (Photo # 4)