Krazy Kat

OF ALL THE comic strips that have inspired our collective loyalty and devotion in following them in daily and Sunday newsprint, none has done more in garnering the attention of the intelligentsia than did George Herriman's KRAZY KAT. The unusual art style, the non-sequitur type of Panel development art narrative and the unusual fractured English employed by Krazy Kat himself/herself.

WE DARE GIVE that previous complex description of just how K.K.'s sexual identity should be classified with good reason. It never was established as to what was the gender of our feline star. It was a way for Mr.Herriman to explore a lot of avenues to unusual storytelling.

WHEN CONTRASTED WITH the previous animated films from other Studios, this TV series rates very highly. The early silent cartoons were very close to the strip; both in appearance and in storyline. It was as if the Daily and Sunday Comics panels had come to life.

A LOW POINT in Krazy Kat adaptations came in the 1930's as the Columbia Studio's Animation Department ran far and wide from the source material. After some early shorts, which at least had the proper look of the character, things went far afield. Most of those Columbia shorts that we saw in the 1950's on WGN TV's GARFIELD GOOSE & FRIENDS kiddie TV show had only one element of the original; that being the name itself.

BUT, WE DIGRESS! Once again, getting back to our reviewee of the day; we must express a much more positive attitude. The King Features/Famous Studios collaboration had a high satisfaction to impart to any KK aficionado. The artwork mirrored that of the "Old Master", Herriman (Himself). The situations always revolved around the "Eternal Triangle" that existed between Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse and the always protective Offisa Pup. Ignatz, hating all (including Krazy) would constantly hurl bricks at Krazy's head. Krazy would always mistake the bricks impact for feelings of affection for Ignatz. Offisa Pup would be there to protect Krazy Kat and always incarcerated the ornery rodent in the Coconino County Jail.

THAT WAS THE premise of the KRAZY KAT Strip and most all of the TV Animated Series. There was a little embellishment to the stories, but then, only a little.

IT WORKED FOR the newspaper comics section for years, so why not for the TV generation. Why not, we ask? Why yes, is the answer!

"Highly Recommended!"

i think i was about ten so when i first noticed this comic strip. did not pay much attention to it at first but the more you looked the more you became fascinated by it. i haven't seen any of the cartoons for very many years but i still remember those crazy landscapes. it seems to me that george herriman could have made a name for himself as a painter of surrealist landscapes. of course, at that time i had no inkling of surrealism but was aware that such landscapes could not exist in the real world. some have commented on how a supposedly timid mouse could have turned into a fierce aggressor. i have nothing to say about that. things happen, you know. burgesssha

Now that's it out on DVD, we can wonder why we found it so entertaining 40 years ago. This is the strangest cartoon. A masochistic female cat is madly in love with a nasty little rat (ok, mouse) who throws bricks at her. And she loves it!

I can't believe when people comment about cartoon shows from the early 60's and complain about the picture quality. A lot of these shows such as Krazy Cat are far from classics, but for those of us that grew up watching them it is a blessing to even have access to them again on DVD. These so called critics that are looking for multi layered plots to unfold are looking in the wrong genre. These are cartoons. They are for children and for nostalgic adults like myself. My 4-year-old son seems to enjoy Ignatz as much as I did and he isn't complaining that the plots are too thin. My son also enjoys other cartoon collections from my youth including "Davey and Goliath", "The Mighty Heroes", "The Mighty Hercules", "Gigantor", "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse" and "The Beatles" cartoon series. While most of these shows can't stand the test of time like Bugs Bunny cartoons, if you were there and saw them when you were young it is great to see them again.

I've read almost every one of George Harriman's original comics, which run the gamut between Krazy's unrequited love for the (Married) Ignatz Mouse, to the kat's pronunciation of words, to the kat's views of the world, to topical humour of the day, and almost everything that could be imagined in between. These comics were created between 1910-1929 and you can definitely see the time period euphemisms in each comic.

30 odd years later, King Features comes along and decides that it's time to bring Krazy Kat et al. into the future. A horrible mistake. The naiveté of Krazy, the violence of Ignatz, and the environment of Kokonino County (Why was it changed from Coconino County in the comics, lawsuit perhaps?), do not fit in the 60's culture. George Harriman himself described Krazy as neither male nor female, an elf, a sprite, a free happy go lucky spirit that you can't tack a gender onto, however the cartoon decides to make Krazy a female, because I'm guessing that having children unsure of genders would be too confusing. The cartoon decides that Ignatz is not married, and lives with Krazy inside their own house, which brings a confusing schism into their relationship, exactly what IS their relationship? Kokonino County (ugh) is reduced to almost nothing in the background, with very few references to anything in the comics. There was one episode that even put the County in the wrong state, instead of in Arizona.

There really was no reason to change any of the characters looks from the comics version to what it is in the cartoons. Offisa Pup looks nothing like he should, Krazy is...just a mess and even Ignatz, while looking the closest out of the bunch, looks quite wrong.

The voice acting is quite bad as well. I know there are a lot of Paul Frees fans out there but this really wasn't the character for him to voice. I'm not sure if they had even tried to get someone to try and vocalize Krazy as how he (using the general he here) spoke in the comics, they just ignored all the alliterations of his speech and just made her speak like someone with a speech impediment.

Unfortunately it's quite easy to go on and on about this cartoon, with the ultimate question being "Why was it even made?" There are actual cartoons from the 1910s and 20s with Krazy Kat available on Youtube. There's not many but if you research them, you can definitely see the major differences between the art styles.

As a Krazy Kat fan, I cannot recommend this to watch, because it embodies nothing of the original comics. I would tell you to search the comics archive online, and you'll be much more rewarded for that effort.