Remembering Top Cat AKA Boss Cat AKA Don Gato

I remembered back as a child when Top Cat was shown at 4:30 PM on ABC-5 (before it became TV-5). Since we weren't allowed to watch TV during the weekdays - the only time I was able to watch Top Cat was during Christmas break and the summer break. Christmas break was spent studying for incoming exams after December 25 and a short break was given from December 31 to January 1 and it's back to studies again. Though, I was pretty much of an escapist from my "normie" folks. Top Cat proved to be that escapism though somebody had called the character, Top Cat, rightfully, as an idiot. Though I was addicted to it for a reason. Maybe, it was just like how I was addicted to Conan the Adventurer and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - I was a child and didn't know better.

What's the real deal with Top Cat? The show calls its main lead Top Cat (TC) though we never got to know his real name for a reason. TC's friends were Fancy-Fancy, Benny (his right-hand man), Choo Choo, Spook, and Brain. They've basically reimagined alley cats so you don't see any real cats here - just anthropomorphic talking cats like TC and his gang. TC's friends are as said, poor cats, living in the alley of Manhattan. They always try to come up with getting rich quick schemes - something I didn't notice as I used the show as a form of escapism. 

Perhaps, my favorite guilty (and stupid) pleasure to do was to really have a high view of TC while viewing Officer Dibble as the "main antagonist" which the latter isn't. My first earlier episodes were "Top Cat Falls in Love" and "King for a Day". Oh boy, I can't forget how I hated Dibble (not TC) became "King for a Day" and how I didn't get the whole glimpse that TC is a SWINDLER. Yes, TC is a swindler who would rather get rich quick than GET A JOB. Yet, it seems to be the norm in the Philippines were people wanted to get rich quick, right? Granted, Top Cat was a very old show in the 1960s (and I'm a 90s kid) so looks like it was meant to reflect on their times. Dibble is basically who Ranger Smith is as a policeman and Top Cat is Yogi Bear. What I also remembered was that episode where I (shortly) rejoiced that Officer Dibble would leave but was replaced by a real mean man named Prowler. A lot of episodes do get rather funny (even if TC is an idiot) such as when Dibble finally gets even (such as in "The Late TC" which I temporarily hated him for it) or when real antagonists show up. Dibble is quite an enigma as to how TC outsmarts him 90% of the time while he catches real threats without a problem. Dibble became more of a fun character when you consider his flaws - TC fools him yet he still manages to keep the city safe. In short, Dibble is TC's frenemy. Dibble is needed to keep the city safe and somehow is that "necessary evil" that keeps TC in check. 

So what's the relationship between TC and Dibble? Dibble is a law-abiding cop and cares about the citizens. Deep down, Dibble as an "antagonist" only wants to see TC and his gang get a job and earn money the hard way. Many times, TC is caught using the police phone for personal calls. The running gag always has TC playing friendly with Dibble while the latter can get rightfully antagonistic. Rewatching a few episodes - it can be considered funny to a certain extent. 

However, Top Cat lasted for only 30 episodes. I once wondered why Cartoon Network Philippines didn't run any more new episodes of the show. No wonder, it ended in 30 episodes. From what I heard - Top Cat just ended in one season and not a second season was produced. It didn't crack the top 30 either. Plans were done to resurrect it but one of the voice actors, Maurice Gosfield, died. Gosfield turns out he was part of the British sitcom The Phil Silvers' Show which Top Cat was based from. The Phil Silvers' Show had Sgt. Bilko the titular "protagonist" comes up with half-brained plans to get rich. Officer Dibble is partly based on Bilko's "nemesis" Lt. John T. Hall. Bilko and Hall are frenemies at best - which is also ported into TC and Dibble.

TC managed to resurface in Yogi's Treasure Hunt here he assigns tasks to the group. Though, these days, I'd view these as "crossover series" since a lot of these toons seem to operate in their own continuity or many of the episodes are standalone to each other - the same way Looney Tunes operates. So, how in the world did TC an alley cat and a swindler end up getting this task to assign the treasure hunt of the week to Yogi Bear and his gang? It's not explained and apparently - TC got a job in this continuity though one has to wonder where his friends are. You can think of how he makes cameos and I wonder why he wasn't given a bigger role. Officer Dibble also made a cameo but never interacted with TC either. I watched Yogi's Treasure Hunt the same way that any child would watch it.

Later, there was this Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats movie - a movie that came decades after the show Top Cat was canceled. So, Benny the Ball got voiced by Avery Schreiber since the original voice actor died. Arnold Stang the voice of TC was once again there. Stang died of a ripe old age last 2009 at the age of 91 years old. So, 2008-2009 was pretty much a loss of two childhoods - my paternal grandmother and Stang who both died of old age. Though the movie was just watched as a form of escapism as I was really nearing the teens' zone. The movie was pretty much a rehash of a plot from the episode "The Missing Heir". What's amazing is that the episode from the 60s was NEVER mentioned again. Dibble once again plays a part in getting rid of the film's main antagonist Snerdly. Snerdly was after his superior Gertrude Vandergelt's wealth. As always, TC ends up becoming POOR AGAIN (which is the running gag of the series) but ends up discovering something better than wealth. But what's making Top Cat more boring is the inability of the main cast of characters to improve for the sake of laughs.

Eventually, a movie called Top Cat The Movie was shown with a whole new cast. Yes, it's because the movie took place in 2011. The whole scenario is reimagined and modernized. This time, the movie had a lot of new elements such as the use of robots or how Strickland (the main antagonist) brought in stuff not found in the original series. It was also later followed by the 3D graphics movie Top Cat Begins. Granted, Hanna-Barbera was already absorbed by Warner Bros. Animation - was there a planned Top Cat reboot? It seems to be since Top Cat Begins creates a new origin story that doesn't match the 1960s cartoon and the movie felt like we're about to see a new Top Cat. 

Though, thankfully, there's no new Top Cat series. I think the story of Top Cat just needs to end where it belongs - in the 1960s. For me, the franchise is still one of my long list of old shames considering that TC is a swindler who wants to get rich quick fast. However, it can still be good for laughs since TC never succeeds anyway.