From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eek! The Cat Eek! And The Terrible Thunderlizards Eek! Stravaganza
Eek! Stravaganza logo
Genre	Animated series
Created by	Savage Steve Holland Bill Kopp
Written by	Savage Steve Holland Bill Kopp
Directed by	John Halfpenny (1992-1994) Jamie Whitney (1995-1997)
Starring	Bill Kopp E.G. Daily Charlie Adler Cam Clarke Elinor Donahue Dan Castellaneta John Kassir Tawny Kitaen Jaid Barrymore Brad Garrett Savage Steve Holland Gary Owens Karen Haber
Theme music composer	Nathan Wang
Composer(s)	Nathan Wang
Country of origin	United States  Canada
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	63 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Savage Steve Holland
Producer(s)	Patrick Loubert Michael Hirsh Clive A. Smith
Running time	30 minutes (including commercials)
Production company(s)	Savage Studios Ltd. Nelvana Film Roman (season 4) Fox Children's Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX (Fox Kids) YTV
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	September 12, 1992 – August 8, 1997

Eek! The Cat (retitled Eek! Stravaganza in 1994) is a Canadian animated series, created by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp, that ran from September 12, 1992, to August 8, 1997.

Premise

Eek! the Cat is about a purple cat named Eek! whose motto is "it never hurts to help". This attitude generally gets him into trouble, from which much of the humor of the show is derived. Other characters include Eek!'s human family, with whom he cannot communicate via spoken language; Sharky the Sharkdog (his worst nightmare), and Eek's girlfriend, Annabelle.

The show featured slapstick humor and pop culture references. Shows vary from standard cartoon fare to movie spoofs (Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange) and musical episodes; the first Christmas special was written entirely in rhyme. The show featured many cameos by celebrities, some of whom came back for several episodes.

Episodes

Characters

Eek! is normally very optimistic.

• Eek! the Cat (voiced by Bill Kopp) – Eek! always puts others' safety, needs, and comfort before his own. Eek! can talk with all animals and most humans, but oddly enough cannot converse with his owners—Mom, Wendy Elizabeth and J.B. He commonly exclaims "Kumbaya!" His motto is that "It never hurts to help!", although, with Eek!, this is frequently not the case. The major running gag within the show is that Eek!'s selfless nature usually gets him caught up in painful situations such as getting caught in mail and baggage sorters (both of which appear designed to intentionally damage their contents) and screaming "Oh Gosh It Hurts!" while the show's guitar riff theme played.
• Sharky the Sharkdog – Annabelle's pet guard dog who defends Annabelle's house with the viciousness (and also the overall appearance) of a shark. Sharky does not speak, but more than makes up for it in growls. Sharky typically terrorizes Eek! for fun, although occasionally as a reaction to Eek!'s incessant trouble-causing helpfulness. There are moments where the two get along and partner in the plot line, but they happen to be rare. Sharky loves to bite things, Mailmen mostly. Sharky also has quite a bit of skill as a craftsman, he is constantly rebuilding his doghouse after Eek accidentally destroys it. Like Snoopy's doghouse, the interior of Sharky's doghouse resembles a cavernous mansion with several floors and a garage. Sharky has a curious affiliation with firearms and explosives, which often backfire on himself. In many cases Sharky and Eek's relationship follows a subtly satisfying pattern of karma.
• Elmo the Elk (also known as Elmo: The Brown Nosed Reindeer, Incredible Elmo and voiced by Savage Steve Holland) – Eek!'s extremely inept but loyal friend. Elmo typically maintains a courageous façade but is actually quite cowardly. He typically works as a stunt man or in some form of action career. He also believes that there are 31 days in the month of June.
• Mom (voiced by Elinor Donahue) – The apparently single mother of the family that owns Eek!. Does a lot of house cleaning and is a student of foreign languages, especially "Spangalese". Once on a flight to England she listened to a tape of British-accented English, a language she found especially challenging. A running gag features her absent-minded listening to foreign language cassettes, reciting the nonsensical translations of English phrases while unknowingly causing mayhem.
• Wendy Elizabeth and J.B. (voiced by Elizabeth Daily and Charlie Adler) – The children of the family that owns Eek!, normal kids and are whiny and spoiled. They watch a lot of television. Their favorite show is The Squishy Bearz Rainbow of Enchanted Fun Minute, a spoof of the Care Bears.
• Annabelle (voiced by Tawny Kitaen in 1992-1996, Karen Haber in 1994, 1995-1997) – A female cat and Eek's girlfriend who acts like a Southern belle. She is also extremely fat, although Eek! does not seem aware of this (he responds, genuinely surprised, "Really?" whenever someone comments on Annabelle's weight), he just sees Annabelle as being very beautiful. He is attributed as saying about Annabelle: "The more of you there is, the more there is to love." Despite her weight, her arms and legs are very skinny. Eek! fell in love with Annabelle the first time he saw her, when he was hit by the arrow of a one-winged cupid.
• Timmy – Elmo's brother. He constantly needs money for various absurd medical ailments which Elmo tries to raise with Eek!'s help. These usually consist of very dangerous stunts that only harm Eek! when he gets involved.
• Mittens – Eek!'s friend who is also a cat. His fur is blue, he always wears red mittens, he suffers from extreme paranoia and he always ends a sentence with the word "Man" (e.g. LOOK OUT, MAN!!).
• The Squishy Bearz – Four colorful bears with their own children's TV program called The Squishy Bearz Rainbow of Enchanted Fun Minute; they're an obvious parody of the Care Bears. Kozy (brown), Puffy (blue) and Wuz Wuz (pink) all have happy and friendly attitudes. The fourth bear, Pierre (green), who speaks with a French accent and wears a beret, is bitter and cynical. Kozy is voiced by Elizabeth Daily (except in "Bearz 'N The Hood" and "Catsanova" wher he is voiced by Jaid Barrymore, Puffy and Wuz Wuz are voiced by Cam Clarke, and Pierre is voiced by Bill Kopp.
• Steven – A squirrel who lives in a nearby tree with his wife and four children. Steven and his family are so incredibly boring that even Eek! can't stand being around them for long.
• Piggy the Penguin – First appearing in the episode "The Lord of the Fleas" (an obvious parody of Lord of the Flies) Piggy is a small penguin with thick eyeglasses who can often be seen sporting a pig mask. He is often seen in the company of a larger and deeper-voiced penguin as they take part in the bizarre circumstances of the show. Oftentimes, in a running gag, Piggy will discover something strange and attempt to inform his larger companion, who then responds by saying "Shut up Piggy!" Piggy has a distinct British accent, another reference to The Lord of the Flies. Piggy returns several times in quick cameos and occasionally takes a larger role.
• Hank and Jib (voiced by Dan Castellaneta and Charlie Adler) – A pair of government scientists who make recurring appearances, often clutching a cup of coffee each and conversing in dull tones, their words are usually punctuated with 'ums' and 'ers'. A running gag in the show involves the two at a ground station in the company of other scientists after finally getting the Hubble Telescope to work, only for it to be struck by a character or object from the show's main story, causing it to either malfunction or to point to somewhere on Earth. This often results in either some celebrity showing up on the monitor or the monitor simply going black, which pair of scientists obliviously acknowledge as being the fruit of their research, followed by Hank inquiring, "Who wants lunch?"
• Zoltar (voiced by Brad Garrett) - An evil alien bent on destroying Earth by capturing Annabelle and using her as a battery for their planet-destroying laser. His attempts are always being thwarted by Eek! and his friends.

The Terrible Thunderlizards

The Terrible Thunderlizards segment was introduced in the second season of Eek! The Cat. Like Eek!, this segment was also created by Holland and Kopp. It ran from November 20, 1993, to July 28, 1997. The segment was originally spun off from Eek! The Cat. In 1994, The Thunderlizards segments were mixed with the Eek! segments into Eek! Stravaganza (where Eek! was the main segment).

Like Eek!, the segment was also a Nelvana and Fox Kids production in association with Savage Studios. The series chronicled the misadventures of a trio of dinosaur mercenaries released from incarceration and charged with the task of eliminating two primitive human beings. However, despite their superior size and firepower and the obliviousness of their targets, the mercenaries always fail with comedic results. When the Thunderlizards are not after the humans, they must protect Jurassic City from the Thuggosaurs.^[1]

Klutter

The Klutter segment came in the fourth season of Eek! Stravaganza on September 9, 1995. It followed Ryan and Wade Heap and their pet Klutter, who they created from a pile of junk because they couldn't have a real dog due to their father's allergies. There are other characters in the show, like Sandee Heap, who was lonely at first, before Klutter came into their lives. They went on mysteries, a la Scooby Doo like to save animals and solve crimes.

Klutter was unsuccessful with viewers and ended on April 8, 1996 with 8 episodes. Unlike Eek! and Thunderlizards, the segment was created by David Silverman and Holland. Unlike the other two segments, Klutter was a co-production between Savage Studios Ltd and Fox Kids with Film Roman for animation production. Some fans consider that Klutter was a combination of Eek! and The Critic. The crew from The Critic worked on Klutter, after its demise in early 1995 on Fox.

Production

The show premiered on the now defunct Fox Kids Saturday Morning block in 1992 as Eek! The Cat. The show originally had 13 20 to 22 minute episodes for its first season.

In the second season in 1993, the show was first retooled into only 11 minutes. During the middle of that season, Kopp had left the show (he still did the voice of Eek! and others) for his own show, The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show for Walt Disney Television Animation, which in turn would also own Eek! as well. Also in the middle of the season, another segment was added to the show, called The Terrible Thunderlizards, which was retooled for a second time into: Eek! And The Terrible Thunderlizards at the time.

In the third season in 1994, instead of separating Eek! and Thunderlizards, a third retooling came around, this time changing the name once again to Eek! Stravaganza (which would be used until the end of the show), keeping the same formula that was used in the second season with Eek! And Thunderlizards, but this time the Thunderlizards became a smaller segment, and Eek! as the main segment, not unlike the second season.

In the fourth season in 1995, a fourth retooling came. This time, another segment called Klutter. It lasted from 1995 to early 1996.

In the fifth season in 1996 and 1997, because of the ratings falling a little and the merger of Saban Entertainment and Fox Kids, the show was reduced to just 18 11 minute episodes (12 Eeks and 6 Thunderlizards, there were no more Klutters made). The new season aired on September 9, 1996. Fox abruptly stopped airing Eek! Stravaganza after October 28, 1996, which was canceled. Then, on July 7, 1997, through August 8, 1997 (which was the last new episode), new episodes aired on Fox Kids' Summer Blast. Along with the new episodes, there were 11 minute reruns from the past seasons (mostly Thunderlizards) that aired with 10 new episodes.

Most episodes of Eek! Stravaganza (except Klutter and some Eek! segments) were then re-run from 1998 to 1999 on Fox Family, now ABC Family, which has the rights to this show.

For years, all that was available commercially was a single VHS tape with episodes 2 and 7 on it in 1995. Some time after 2001, Eek! and other properties of Saban Entertainment were sold to The Walt Disney Company.

A few seasons of the series are now available to watch on the ABC Family website and can also be seen on the Jetix and Jetix Play channels in some parts of Europe. Some episodes have the Fox Children's Productions logo at the end replaced with a newer "You're going down" message.

Cast

• Bill Kopp .... Eek! The Cat, Pierre, Jib, Additional Voices
• E.G. Daily .... Wendy Elizabeth (1992-1994), Kozy (II, on Cape Fur until the end of the show), Pam, Polly, Stinky, Additional Voices
• Charlie Adler ..... J.B. (1992-1994), Granny (1992-1994), Professor Wiggly (1992-1993, 1995), Additional Voices
• Cam Clarke .... Puffy, Wuz Wuz, Shifty, Spill, Additional Voices
• Elinor Donahue .... Mom (1992-1995, 1997)
• Dan Castellaneta .... Mittens, Hank, Additional Voices (1992-1993)
• Tawny Kitaen .... Annabelle (I, 1992-1995)
• Jaid Barrymore .... Kozy (I, the 2nd and 3rd episode), Additional Voices
• Brad Garrett .... Zoltar (1992, 1994-1997), Additional Voices
• Savage Steve Holland .... Elmo The Elk, Additional Voices
• Gary Owens .... Announcer, Additional Voices
• Karen Haber .... Annabelle (II, filled in for Tawny in 1994, 1995-1997)

Cameo appearances

Celebrities made cameo appearances as themselves on the show, unless otherwise noted. (Also, Bill Kopp and Savage Steve Holland appeared as themselves in the show.)

• William Shatner .... Santa Claus/Commander Berzerk (1993, 1995)
• David Duchovny .... Agent Fox Mulder (1995)
• Nia James .... Herself (1995)
• Gillian Anderson .... Agent Dana Scully (1995)
• John Walsh .... Himself (1997)
• "Weird Al" Yankovic .... Himself (1997)
• Tim Curry .... Narrator of both Christmas television specials (1993)
• John Landis .... Himself (1995)
• Dee Snider .... Dee Snidersarus (1996)
• Fabio .... Himself (1995-1996)
• Don Cornelius .... Himself (1994)
• Heather Locklear .... Alice (1994)
• Chris Leary .... (radio DJ and occasional Fox Kids announcer) (1997)
• Bobcat Goldthwait .... Rudolph (1993)
• Margaret Loesch .... President of Fox Kids (1994, 1997)
• Shane and Sia Barbi .... Themselves (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997)
• Cynthia Rothrock (Black Belt Hall of Fame/Stunt Woman/Actress) ....Sharky is a big fan of hers (1996)
• Mr. T .... Mr. T-Rex (in The Terrible Thunderlizards) (1994-1995)
• Buck Henry .... Cupid (1992)

Crew

• Savage Steve Holland: Creator, Writer, Executive Producer
• Bill Kopp: Creator, Writer (1992-1994)
• Kati Rocky: Writer (1994-1995)
• Pamela Wick: Writer (1994-1995)
• Henry Gilroy: Writer (1994-1995)
• Paul Germain: Writer (1994-1995)
• Sandy Fries: Writer (1994-1995)
• Frank Santopadre: Writer (1994-1995)
• Patrick Loubert: Producer
• Michael Hirsh: Producer
• Clive A. Smith: Producer
• John Halfpenny: Director (1992-1994)
• Jamie Whitney: Director (1995-1997)

References

External links

• Eek! The Cat
  Eek! And The Terrible Thunderlizards
  Eek! Stravaganza at the Internet Movie Database
• Eek! The Cat
  Eek! And The Terrible Thunderlizards
  Eek! Stravaganza at TV.com