Boss Cat (found British opening and ending titles of "Top Cat" animated series; 1962-1989)

The British title card for Top Cat.

Status: Found

Date found: 11 Jun 2017

Found by: doubledeckers

Top Cat is an animated television series made by the Hanna-Barbera studios, which ran from September 27th, 1961 to April 18th, 1962, for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network.

Shortly after ending its original run in the United States, Top Cat debuted on British television on May 16th, 1962, under its original name, but was quickly renamed The Boss Cat on June 13th, 1962. This was shortened on February 22nd, 1967 to Boss Cat. This rapid name change was made because Top Cat was also the name of a then-popular British brand of cat food. The dialogue and theme tune still referred to the character by his original name. Still, a small cut was made at the climax of the opening credits (resulting in a slight "jump" in the film) and a title card added before the episode proper. Similarly, the Top Cat name was edited from the final section of the show's closing credits, causing another slight "jump" (as Top Cat is putting on his eyeshades and readying himself for sleep in his trash can).

Despite the Boss Cat title card, the continued use of the Top Cat name (and the acronym T.C) throughout the UK-aired soundtrack meant that the character was always popularly referred to as Top Cat by every generation of UK viewers. The Boss Cat title card was last used for a repeat run in 1989; by the time the series was next aired in 1999, the Top Cat food brand had been discontinued in the UK (as had any concerns about mirroring such a brand name even if it did exist), allowing the original title to be used. This continues to be the case in contemporary showings on Boomerang and BBC Two.

The British titles were uploaded to YouTube by doubledeckers on June 11th, 2017.

Gallery

The intro and credits of Boss Cat.

See Also

• CBS Storybreak "What Happened in Hamelin" (lost episode from animated series; 1987)
• Dastardly & Muttley - Operation: Pigeon Pursuit (lost build of unreleased PlayStation 2 video game; 2007-2008)
• Fender Bender 500 (partially found episodes of "Wacky Races" reboot animated series; 1990s)
• Jetsons: The Movie "Gotcha" (partially found full version of song from Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1990)
• Jetsons: The Movie - Janet Waldo performance (lost audio of animated film; 1988-1989)
• Jokebook (partially found Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1982)
• Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone (partially found episodes of syndicated animated series; 1990)
• Return of the Bunjee (lost ABC Weekend special; 1985)
• Rock Odyssey (partially lost Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1987)
• Showbiz Pizza's Yogi Bear and Boo Boo Showtape (found animatronic audio showtape; 1987)
• The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (partially found Hanna Barbera live action-animated TV series; 1968-1969)
• The Flintstones (cancelled Seth MacFarlane reboot of animated series; 2013)
• The Flintstones Movie (partially found Sega Channel exclusive build of 2D movie tie-in platformer; 1995)
• The Funny World of Fred and Bunni (partially found live-action/animated variety show pilot; 1978)
• The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour (partially found NBC comedy variety show; 1978)
• The Moxy Show (partially found episodes of CGI anthology series; 1993-2000)
• The New Teen Titans "Just Say No!" (partially lost Hanna-Barbera anti-drug animated PSA; 1983)
• The Ruff and Reddy Show (found episodes of NBC Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1957-1960)
• The Snorks (partially found unaired pilot of Hanna-Barbera animated TV series; 1982)