Counterfeit Cat

Counterfeit Cat is a British-Canadian animated television series produced by Wildseed Kids for Teletoon and Disney XD. The series first aired on Disney XD in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2016.^[4] In the United States, the first episode aired on Disney XD as a sneak preview on May 31, 2016^[5] and officially on June 20, 2016.^[6] In Canada, it premiered on November 1, 2016.^[7] On Disney XD, the show is rated TV-Y7 in the United States.

As of May 2017, Sonar Entertainment has acquired the rights to distribute the series, regardlessly replacing its former owner, Tricon Films & Television.

Premise

The series revolves around the adventures and friendship of Max (Marc Wootton), a lazy housecat and Gark (Alex Kelly) an alien who disgiused himself as a purple knitted cat. Gark crashed his spaceship on Earth, landing in the laundry room of Betty (Kayvan Novak), a klutzy yet kind old woman who is Max's owner. Gark believes that Max is a tiger, the bravest species on Earth, despite Max's cowardice. The two often find themselves in surreal and dangerous situations due to Gark's unstable, bizarre powers, which Max often uses to his own advantage without thinking of the consequences.

Characters

Main Characters

• Max (voiced by Marc Wootton) is a yellow, lazy, selfish house-cat that is pampered by Betty. Max often gets dragged along into dangerous and frightening adventures with Gark—adventures that he hates getting involved in. Despite taking advantage of Gark's powers it is shown several times throughout the series that he still cares for his best friend. His full name is Maximillian Fluffybottom III.
• Gark (voiced by Alex Kelly) is an naive 9 year old physical alien who disguised as a purple knitted cat. He wanted to be in adventure to be involved with Max. His dangerous nature gets him and Max into misadventures because he actually mistakes that Max is a tiger.
• Betty (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a kindhearted but klutzy elderly old woman who owns Max and Gark. In "Jackson 5", She is revealed that she had Jackson and Max (before Gark came to earth) when she was younger. She has a daughter named Jeanette and several deceased husbands.

Recurring Characters

• Staring Dog is a dog with big eyes and greyish brown fur, he constantly stares at Max which makes him uncomfortable and frightened. He made his debut in "Bin Juice" in the form of a cameo.
• Throckmorton (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is the artificial intelligence of Gark's ship, he is overprotective of Gark and acts like a father-figure to him, though when it comes to Max their attitudes clash.
• Ranceford (voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a white, odd-eyed cat. Max harbors a crush on her, but like the other animals, she prefers Gark over Max. She is the leader of The Sunshine Circle of Cats and denies Max membership.
• The Kid (voiced by Kyle Soller) is a squirrel that lives in the park next to Betty's apartment and who is Nelson's best friend.
• The Squirrels (voiced by Kyle Soller) are the three squirrels that also live next to Betty's apartment.
• Nelson (voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a dumb and overweight green pigeon who is The Kid's best friend.
• Cutter (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green-blue cat with a yellow eyes and purple hair. His voice is freakishly campy. His name is revealed in "Cat Box of Fear".
• Anton (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a green dog with black hair. In his first appearance he is a bully to Max, but in later episodes isn't a threat.
• Trash Can Hat Cat (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a cat with scruffy fur, he believes in wild conspiracy theories and is homeless.
• Chico (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a bounty hunter disguised as a puppy. She wants to kidnap Gark because there is a bounty on his head for driving his ship too fast.
• Zaxos (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a Wartian bounty hunter set out to capture Gark along with Chico. She later appeared in "Zaxos Returns" and claims to have changed her ways, but is actually out to steal Betty's cheeks.
• The Cat Toy God (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is Max's nemesis and the ruler of an alternate dimension found underneath Betty's sofa.
• Jackson (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green, street, ear-torn, one legged cat. He keeps dying and coming back from the dead, he blames Max for his deaths and tries to kill him but, like Anton, isn't a threat in later episodes.
• Wilma (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an old woman who owns Staring Dog and one of Betty's friends.
• Jeanette (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is Betty's cat-obsessed daughter, she occasionally looks after Max and always brings costumes, something Max hates.

Minor Characters

• Flargle (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a purple three-eyed alien who posts on a blog about how bad of a planet Earth is, which causes Gark to be mad. He partners with Chico and Zaxos in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent". He made his debut in "Mere Mortals".
• Chameleon (voiced by Kerry Shale) is a chameleon who turned into a super villain by Gark in "The Gark Night Rises". He paired with Anton and Staring Dog in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent".
• Jibbo (voiced by Alexa Kahn) is an green and yellow alien who one of the saviors of Baa-Boo-Raa. She was introduced in the second part of "Gone Gark".
• Baa-Boo-Raa (voiced by Reginald D. Hunter) is a Sensei who chose Gark to save the universe by joining the saviors for training. He was introduced in "Gone Gark" .
• Meathead (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an alien who is made of meat and from Planet Meathead. He is also one of the saviors. He made his debut in the second part of "Gone Gark".

Production

Development

On December 3, 2010, Aardman Animations originally started the development for the show for Disney. The series is Aardman's first series to use traditional animation.

The development was in co-production with Wildseed Studios to complete the development for the project together while Atomic Cartoons was hired to serve animation production and Tricon Films & Television committed to distribute the series until Sonar Entertainment had taken over its distribution.

The designs for the show were provided by Antoine Birot and Raphael Chabassol based on original designs by Nick Edwards. The series is directed by Ben Marsaud and produced by Sarah Mattingley. The first season consisted of 52 episodes at ten minutes each and coincided with 11 two-minute shorts.^[8]

Ben Marsaud (who is the director of the series) was a former storyboard artist of seasons 1-3 of Cartoon Network's original British-American children's animated series, The Amazing World of Gumball and is the current director of Netflix's original animated sitcom, F is for Family.

Miles Bullough (who is the executive producer of the series) is also an executive producer on the animated shows, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time, Chop Socky Chooks & the Wallace & Gromit direct-to-video movie, A Matter of Loaf and Death for Aardman.

Animation

The animation services for the series is handled by Atomic Cartoons. The animation company also been known for Atomic Betty, Captain Flamingo and as well currently as the sixth season of Max & Ruby and Angry Birds Toons. The animation is being made on Adobe Flash.

Episodes

Series Overview

Short Overview

Home Media

In Canada the first season was released on iTunes under two volumes, the first on November 1, 2016 (the same day that the series premiered on Teletoon) and the second on November 23, 2016.

On March 17, the show began streaming on U.S. based streaming site Hulu.^[9]

Shorts

Counterfeit Cat also premiered with the shorts were originally shown on Disney XD's UK YouTube channel on May 12, 2016 and on Teletoon's YouTube on November 30, 2016 respectively to help keep the show going, But it concluded with 11 two-minute shorts and ended on March 22, 2017 on Disney XD France's YouTube.

2-Part Special

A 2-part episode, "Gone Gark", is released on January 30, 2017 on Disney XD in the United States.^[10] It also served as the 26th segment and the 52nd episode, making it the season finale of season 1. It aired on Teletoon on Feburaury 9, 2017. In the UK, It was released on January 22, 2017. And it was the last episode to be in distribution with Tricon Films and Television before Sonar Entertainment took over distribution.

Reception

Critical response

Since the show's debut in the middle of 2016, The series reached its rating of 8/10 on IMDb. Emily Ashby (of Common Sense Media) stated that her TV review is that Counterfeit Cat is a "Funny buddy comedy has mischief, feline-flavored humor".

References

External links

• Official website
• Counterfeit Cat on IMDb