On this day:At 6th January of 1995, the final episode of "SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron" aired. Created by Christian Tremblay and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, the series takes place in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City, which is populated entirely by anthropomorphic felines, known as "kats". The titular SWAT Kats are two vigilante pilots who possess a state-of-the-art fighter jet with an array of weaponry. Throughout the series, they face various villains as well competition from Megakat City's militarized police force called the Enforcers. The show originally premiered and ran on the syndication block "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera", as well as TBS Superstation (as a part of the Sunday Morning In Front Of The TV block) from 1993 to 1995.The 90’s was the decade where cartoons ruled the television network during our childhoods. Shows like 'Dexter’s Laboratory', 'Johnny Bravo', 'Powerpuff Girls', 'Samurai Jack', 'Duck Tales',' The Tick', 'Darkwing Duck', 'Animaniacs', 'Freakazooid!', 'Ren and Stimpy', 'Tiny Toons Adventures', 'Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers', 'Tale Spin', 'X-Men', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Batman The Animated Series' and 'Gargoyles' used to be cool and fresh.
However, there’s one show that no one remembers about and people mostly have forgotten about it. Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you 'Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron'. Originally aired on TBS on the block “The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera” and later aired on Cartoon Network, Swat Kats was an incredibly popular show that won the hearts of many cartoon fans and the show was just an action-packed thrill to sit through. Unfortunately, it was cancelled and “The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera” block was closed for good.
Swat Kats takes place in Megakat City, a sprawling urban futuristic metropolis where humanoid cats rule the city. However, crimes are ranking up very fast and super-villains from unknown places are starting popping up to try take over the city.
The Reinforcements, led by Commander Feral, try to stop crime but they always fail (as all other military characters in cartoons) and only one team of vigilantes can stop these bad guys and protect the city at all costs. Their name ? Swat Kats of course!
Two vigilantes fighter pilots with their wide range of gadgets and their jet called the “Turbokat” to take down enemies from long or short range. These two vigilantes are Chance “T-Bone” Furlong, the pilot driver and the one with yellow fur with stripes, and Jake “Razor” Clawson, the smart cat that makes the gadgets and an expert to hand to hand combat. Together, they take on the meanest and weirdest bad guys that dares to threaten the peace of Megakat City.
The animation on Swat Kats is still good to look at. While the animation is ver dated and containing a lot of animation errors, it holds up with it’s unique anime inspired style on the character designs and some very detailed visuals on the buildings. The action scenes on Swat Kats are the real deal here. Explosions go boom, monsters unleashing chaos in the city, jets go full speed ahead, Swat Kats has it all and it makes Michael Bay look bad in comparison.
The music is also excellent containing the best opening theme to any cartoon show in the 90’s and it gets your blood pumping for more. The voice acting is also great with Charlie Adler and Barry Gordon doing a fine job as T-Bone and Razor, nailing the cool attitude of the characters, Gary Owens doing a decent job as Feral and Frank Welker just oozing with evil as Dr.Viper. It’s a solid cast and everyone does a great job on their roles.
After the success of the second season of Swat Kats (which gained ratings that ranged from 9’s to 10’s), Hanna-Barbera went quickly to work on the third and fourth season with stories that range from Feral getting seduced by some succubus and with a story that tells the full origins of T-Bone and Razor but all those plans went down the toilet when Hanna-Barbera were forced by none other than Ted Turner to cancel Swat Kats and close “The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera” for good but why ? Oh, wait till you hear this.
The reason for canceling Swat Kats is because the show was “too violent” for children and didn’t made enough merchandise. So the show was pinned down and died for a long time. Yes, a lot of cartoons had violence but it was never that violent and plus as kids, we knew that the violence that they showed on cartoons were fake because we have parents that teaches us that the things that we see on cartoons or TV are not real.
In the end, when we started to grow up and go to school, we realized that the stuff that we see on TV was, in fact, not like we imagined to be. It was different but in the end, that’s the entire point of growing-up and for teachers to help us educate ourselves better to live our own lives as smart grown adults. It’s called the process of learning after all.
The show had lots of clever puns, witty dialogue and plot hints and was always good for a laugh. Yet it never degenerates into silliness or stupidity, but still manages to be cartoonish enough to be suitable for children. In conclusion, this show rocked back in the 90's and it still does!
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