The Comic Strip (TV series)

This article is about the animated series. For other uses, see Comic strip (disambiguation).

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1987 American TV series or program

The Comic Strip

Official logo

Developed by| Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Voices of| Donald Acree
Josh Blake
Camille Bonora
Gary V. Brown
Jim Brownold
Eddie Castrodad
Danielle DuClos
Seth Green
Earl Hammond
Maggie Jakobson
Larry Kenney
Carmen de Lavallade
Bob McFadden
Jim Meskimen
Peter Newman
Gordy Owens
Gerrianne Raphael
Ron Taylor
Tanya Willoughby
Daniel Wooten
Music by| Bernard Hoffer
Country of origin| United States
No. of seasons| 1
No. of episodes| 65
Production
Executive producers| Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Running time| 20 minutes
Production companies| Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment
Pacific Animation Corporation
Original release
Network| Syndication
Release| September 7 (1987-09-07) –
December 4, 1987 (1987-12-04)

The Comic Strip is an American animated series that features four rotating cartoon segments: The Mini-Monsters, Street Frogs, Karate Kat and TigerSharks. The 90-minute series ran in first-run syndication during the 1987 season.[1]

This was the last TV series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, before Rankin/Bass Partners dissolved in 2001.

## Segments

[edit]

Characters from the television series.

Two segments were shown on each broadcast where they each ran for about 10 minutes. The four rotating segments offered were:[2]

### The Mini-Monsters

[edit]

A segment where normal human twin siblings Sherman (voiced by Seth Green) and Melissa Baxter find themselves in for a surprise when they are sent to summer camp for one year by their overwhelmed parents. Camp Mini-Mon turns out to be run by an organ-playing shadowy camp director (voiced by Peter Newman) with his pet vulture, and attended by monster kids who are offspring of usually famous monsters, mad scientists, mutants, a witch, and Merlin (voiced by Earl Hammond). They are Count Dracula's son Dracky, Frankenstein's son Franky, The Wolf Man's comedic son Wolfie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon's son Lagoon (voiced by Bob McFadden) who is a certified lifeguard, The Mummy's boxing son Mummo, the Invisible Man's son Blanka, Klutz (voiced by Bob McFadden) the clumsy giant lizard monster who may or may not be related to Godzilla, Jynx the Witch (voiced by Maggie Wheeler), and Merlin's son Melvin accompanied by Cawfield the talking crow (voiced by Earl Hammond). In addition, the camp director is assisted by the camp counselor Garrison and the grandson of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (voiced by Bob McFadden) who works as the camp's physician.

### Street Frogs

[edit]

A segment depicting the typical teen-aged hijinks of a gang of street-smart frogs named Dr. Slick, Big Max (voiced by Bob McFadden), Spider, Moose The Loose, and "Honey Love" Loretta (voiced by Tanya Willoughby) in an 80s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. They are also on good terms with a turtle named Snappy Sam (voiced by Ron Taylor) who is the chef and proprietor of the diner that Loretta works at and the town's DJ Typhoon Toad. Apart from Rankin-Bass regular Bob McFadden, this segment featured an African-American cast. Ron Taylor also provides the theme song vocals for this segment. Each episode contains a musical number.

### Karate Kat

[edit]

In a late 50s/early 60s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic cats, Karate Kat (voiced by Bob McFadden) is a private investigator who uses his karate to fight crime in his town which is usually in the form of crime boss Big Papa (voiced by Earl Hammond) and his two lackeys named Boom-Boom Burmese (voiced by Larry Kenney) and Sumo Sai (voiced by Earl Hammond). When working at for McClaws's Detective Agency run by his short-tempered boss Katie "Big Mama" McClaw (voiced by Gerrianne Raphael) who is Big Papa's ex-wife, Karate Kat is assisted by his friends/co-workers like his best friend/sparring partner Katgut (voiced by Earl Hammond), inventor Dr. Katmandu (voiced by Larry Kenney), Ciao-Baby and her sister Meow-Baby (both voiced by Maggie Jacobsen), and the aptly-named Katatonic (voiced by Bob McFadden). Karate Kat's catchphrase is "I'm lean, I'm mean, I'm a karate machine" as he spin-changes from his private investigator attire into his karate attire in order to fight crime.

### TigerSharks

[edit]

Main article: TigerSharks

A group of powered-up human/sea animal hybrids consisting of Mako (voiced by Peter Newman), Walro (voiced by Earl Hammond), Dolph (voiced by Larry Kenney), Octavia (voiced by Camille Bonora), Lorca, Bronc, Angel, and Gupp become involved in underwater adventures on the planet Water-O that has them facing off against villains like T-Ray and Captain Bizzarly (voiced by Earl Hammond). Each episode consisted of two parts.

## Foreign syndication

[edit]

The show was also seen on ABC Television in Australia, on RPN-9 in the Philippines, on RTM 1 in Malaysia (where it was shown after the American children's educational series Sesame Street), on Fun Channel in the Middle East, on TV 4 in Trinidad and Tobago, on ATV in Hong Kong (as part of their children's television strand called Tube Time), on TVJ in Jamaica and on Rai 2 in Italy.

## Video releases

[edit]

VHS releases of certain episodes of The Comic Strip were made available in 1987. These VHS tapes each featured three installments of one particular cartoon. For example, the video "Adventures at Camp Mini-Mon" contained three episodes: "Camp Mini-Mon The First Day", "The Belly Ache" and "Alien."

## Episodes

[edit]

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### The Mini-Monsters episodes

[edit]

1. Camp Mini-Mon - The First Day
2. The Bellyache
3. Alien
4. Practical Joke Day
5. Parent's Day
6. Melissa's Magic Painting
7. They're Not Monsters
8. The Big Fight
9. The Swim Meet
10. Cawfield Blows His Cool
11. The Magic Feather
12. The Switch
13. Wolfie's Bet
14. Lagoon in Love
15. Mini-Mon's Horse
16. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Claws
17. Ghosts in the Night
18. House for Sale
19. Campy Goody Twoshoe
20. Franklyn Builds a Friend
21. Mummo's Birthday
22. Home Movies
23. The Inspection
24. A Visit from Ooze
25. Phantom of the Mess Hall
26. Dracky's Bat

### Street Frogs episodes

[edit]

1. The Hopline
2. The Crate
3. Typhoon Takes Off
4. The Drop Out
5. Loretta Goes to Hollywood
6. Rapperman
7. Fiddling Around
8. The Super
9. The Babysitters
10. Frog TV
11. Surprise Fights
12. Take Out
13. Moose's Ride
14. The Car Show
15. Bye Bye Toad
16. High Fashion Frogs
17. Fleet Frogs
18. The Derby
19. The Night Job
20. The Hairdo
21. Misty Marvelous
22. The Street Fair
23. Wilfred Returns
24. When I Grow Up
25. The Phone Call

### Karate Kat episodes

[edit]

1. The Katzenheimer Kaper
2. The Sardine Turnover Kaper
3. The Mousemobile Kaper
4. The Crow Key Kaper
5. The Kata Hari Kaper
6. The Picat-So Kaper
7. Ticktocking Along
8. The Koffee Kup Kaper
9. Kat Tracks
10. The Bank Heist
11. The Tabby Tire Tracker
12. The Pink Sphinx
13. Cat's Ahoy
14. The Cousin Kaper
15. The Bathtub Bandits
16. Pretty Kitty Kaper
17. The Kattensniffer Kaper
18. The Cats 'N Bats Kaper
19. The Tabby Telemann Kaper
20. Cat Goes Ape
21. The Ghost of Legs Larue
22. Kat's Paws
23. The Twin Brother Kaper
24. The Amnesia Kaper
25. The Lonely Hearts Kaper

### TigerSharks episodes

[edit]

Main article: TigerSharks § Episodes

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 132–133\. ISBN 978-1538103739.
2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 208–210\. ISBN 978-1476665993.

## External links

[edit]

* The Comic Strip (TV series) at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Rankin/Bass Productions

* Arthur Rankin Jr.
* Jules Bass

Television specials|

* Return to Oz
* Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
* The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show
* The Ballad of Smokey the Bear
* Cricket on the Hearth
* The Mouse on the Mayflower
* The Little Drummer Boy
* Frosty the Snowman
* The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
* Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
* Here Comes Peter Cottontail
* The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes
* Mad Mad Mad Monsters
* Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid
* The Red Baron
* That Girl in Wonderland
* 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
* The Year Without a Santa Claus
* The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
* The First Easter Rabbit
* Frosty's Winter Wonderland
* Rudolph's Shiny New Year
* The Little Drummer Boy, Book II
* The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town
* The Hobbit
* Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
* The Stingiest Man in Town
* Jack Frost
* The Return of the King
* Pinocchio's Christmas
* The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold
* The Flight of Dragons
* The Coneheads
* The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
* The Wind in the Willows
* Santa, Baby!

Feature films|

* Willy McBean and His Magic Machine
* The Daydreamer
* The Wacky World of Mother Goose
* Mad Monster Party?
* King Kong Escapes
* Marco
* The Last Dinosaur
* The Bermuda Depths
* Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
* The Bushido Blade
* The Ivory Ape
* The Last Unicorn
* The Sins of Dorian Gray
* The King and I

Television series|

* The New Adventures of Pinocchio
* Tales of the Wizard of Oz
* The King Kong Show
* The Smokey Bear Show
* The Tomfoolery Show
* The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show
* The Jackson 5ive Show
* The Osmonds
* Kid Power
* Festival of Family Classics
* ThunderCats
* SilverHawks
* The Comic Strip
* TigerSharks

See also|

* Best Christmas Ever
* 25 Days of Christmas
* Filmography
* Elf

* v
* t
* e

Animated television series created for syndication

Television
blocks|

* Bohbot Kids Network
* Cookie Jar Kids Network
* The Disney Afternoon
* The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
* The Marvel Action Hour
* Marvel Action Universe

| Anthology
series|

* The Comic Strip
* Force Five
* Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 (film series)
* The Marvel Super Heroes
* My Little Pony 'n Friends
* Super Sunday

|

Syndication
distributors|

* 4Kids Entertainment
* Associated Artists Productions
* Claster Television
* CBS Media Ventures
* Coca-Cola Telecommunications
* Disney–ABC Domestic Television
* Harmony Gold USA
* Lexington Broadcast Services Company
* Lorimar-Telepictures
* Orbis Communications
* The Program Exchange
* Saban Entertainment
* Sandy Frank Entertainment
* Screen Gems
* SFM Entertainment
* Sony Pictures Television
* Turner Program Services
* Viacom
* Westinghouse Broadcasting
* World Events Productions
* Worldvision Enterprises

Station
owners|

* Gaylord Entertainment Company
* New World Communications
* Taft Broadcasting

Related
topics|

* Weekday cartoon
* Sunday morning cartoon
* Toyetic (infomercial)
* Animation in the United States in the television era
* Modern animation in the United States

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