Counterfeit Cat

Counterfeit Cat is a British-Canadian animated television series produced by Wildseed Kids and Tricon Kids & Family in association with Teletoon with the participation of Disney XD. The series first aired on Disney XD in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2016.[4] In the United States, the first episode aired on Disney XD as a sneak preview on May 31, 2016[5] and officially on June 20, 2016.[6] In Canada, it premiered on November 1, 2016.[7] 52 episodes were produced.[8] It has also aired on Pop since 2018.

Counterfeit Cat
GenreComedy-adventure
Science fiction
Animated
Created byAndrew Lavery (characters)
Developed byAardman Animations
Ben Marsaud
Cristina Fiumara
Directed byBen Marsaud
Voices of
ComposersAlex Greggs[1]
Drew Snyder
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes52[2] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Miles Bullough
  • Jesse Cleverly
  • Andrea Gorfolova
  • Frank Saperstein
ProducerSarah Mattingly
EditorsNikk Fielden
Dan Williamson
Running time11 minutes
Production companies
DistributorTricon Films & Television
Release
Original network
Original release12 May 2016 (2016-05-12) (U.K.) –
January 22, 2017 (2017-01-22)
External links
Website

As of May 2017, Sonar Entertainment has acquired the global rights to distribute the series, replacing its former owner, Tricon Films & Television.

Premise

The series revolves around the exploits of Max (Marc Wootton), a lazy housecat and Gark (Alex Kelly) an alien who disguised himself as a purple knitted cat. Gark crashed his spaceship on Earth, landing in the laundry room of Betty (Kayvan Novak), a klutzy yet kind old woman who is Max's owner. Gark believes that Max is a tiger, the bravest species on Earth, despite Max's cowardice. The two often find themselves in surreal and dangerous situations due to Gark's unstable, bizarre powers, which Max often uses to his own advantage without thinking of the consequences.

Characters

Main Characters
  • Max (voiced by Marc Wootton) is a self-centered old housecat that lives a cushy life in Betty's home. Max often gets dragged along into dangerous and frightening adventures with Gark—adventures that he hates getting involved in. Despite taking advantage of Gark's powers it is shown several times throughout the series that he still cares for his best friend. His full name is Maximillian Fluffybottom III.
  • Gark (voiced by Alex Kelly) is a young, fearless alien disguised as a purple knitted cat. His dangerous powers and curiosity get him and Max into misadventures because he actually thinks Max is a tiger, the bravest species in the world.
  • Betty (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a kindhearted but klutzy elderly old woman who owns Max and Gark. In "Jackson 5", She is revealed that she had Jackson and Max (before Gark came to earth) when she was younger. She has a daughter named Jeanette and several deceased husbands as revealed in the episode, "Humanoid".
  • Throckmorton (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is the artificial intelligence of Gark's ship, he is overprotective of Gark and acts like a father-figure to him, though when it comes to Max their attitudes clash.[9]

Recurring Characters
  • Staring Dog is a dog with big eyes and greyish brown fur, he constantly stares at Max which makes him uncomfortable and frightened. He made his debut in "Bin Juice" in the form of a cameo.
  • Ranceford (voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a white, odd-eyed cat. Max harbors a crush on her, but like the other animals, she prefers Gark over Max. She is the leader of The Sunshine Circle of Cats and denies Max membership.
  • The Kid (voiced by Kyle Soller) is a squirrel that lives in the park next to Betty's apartment and who is Nelson's best friend.
  • The Squirrels (voiced by Kyle Soller) are the three squirrels that also live next to Betty's apartment.
  • Nelson (voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a dumb and overweight green pigeon who is The Kid's best friend.
  • Cutter (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green-blue cat with a yellow eyes and purple hair. His voice is freakishly campy. His name is revealed in "Cat Box of Fear".
  • Anton (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a green dog with black hair. In his first appearance he is a bully to Max, but in later episodes isn't a threat.
  • Trash Can Hat Cat (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a cat with scruffy fur, he believes in wild conspiracy theories and is homeless.
  • Chico (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a bounty hunter disguised as a puppy. She wants to kidnap Gark because there is a bounty on his head for driving his ship too fast.
  • Zaxos (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a Wartian bounty hunter set out to capture Gark along with Chico. She later appeared in "Zaxos Returns" and claims to have changed her ways, but is actually out to steal Betty's cheeks.
  • The Cat Toy God (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is Max's nemesis and the ruler of an alternate dimension found underneath Betty's sofa.
  • Jackson (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green, street, ear-torn, one legged cat. He keeps dying and coming back from the dead, he blames Max for his deaths and tries to kill him but, like Anton, isn't a threat in later episodes.
  • Wilma (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an old woman who owns Staring Dog and one of Betty's friends.
  • Jeanette (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is Betty's cat-obsessed daughter, she occasionally looks after Max and always brings costumes, something Max hates.

Minor Characters
  • Flargle (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a purple three-eyed alien who posts on a blog about how bad of a planet Earth is, which causes Gark to be mad. He partners with Chico and Zaxos in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent". He made his debut in "Mere Mortals".
  • Chameleon (voiced by Kerry Shale) is a chameleon who turned into a super villain by Gark in "The Gark Night Rises". He paired with Anton and Staring Dog in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent".
  • Jibbo (voiced by Alexa Kahn) is a green and yellow alien who one of the saviors of Baa-Boo-Raa. She was introduced in the second part of "Gone Gark".
  • Baa-Boo-Raa (voiced by Reginald D. Hunter) is a Sensei who chose Gark to save the universe by joining the saviors for training. He was introduced in "Gone Gark" .
  • Jock (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an alien who is made of meat and from Planet Meathead. He is also one of the saviors. He made his debut in the second part of "Gone Gark".

Production

Development

On December 3, 2010, Aardman Animations originally started the development for the show for Disney. The series is Aardman's first series to use traditional animation. The development was in co-production with Wildseed Studios to complete the development for the project together while Atomic Cartoons was hired to serve animation production and Tricon Films & Television committed to distribute the series until Sonar Entertainment had taken over its distribution.

The designs for the show were provided by Antoine Birot and Raphael Chabassol based on original designs by Nick Edwards. The series is directed by Ben Marsaud and produced by Sarah Mattingley. The first season consisted of 52 episodes at ten minutes each and coincided with 11 two-minute shorts.[10]

Ben Marsaud (who is the director of the series) was a former storyboard artist of seasons 1–3 and 6 of Cartoon Network's original British-American children's animated series, The Amazing World of Gumball and is the current director of Netflix's original animated sitcom, F is for Family. Miles Bullough (who is the executive producer of the series) is also an executive producer on the animated shows, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time, Chop Socky Chooks & the Wallace & Gromit short film, A Matter of Loaf and Death for Aardman.

Animation

The animation services for the series is handled by Atomic Cartoons. The animation company also been known for Atomic Betty, Captain Flamingo and as well currently as the sixth and seventh seasons of Max & Ruby and Angry Birds Toons. The animation is made on Adobe Animate.

Episodes
Main article: List of Counterfeit Cat episodes

Series Overview
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
Series52May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) (UK)
May 27, 2016 (2016-05-27) (US)
November 1, 2016 (2016-11-01) (CAN)		January 22, 2017 (2017-01-22) (UK)
January 30, 2017 (2017-01-30) (US)
February 9, 2017 (2017-02-09) (CAN)
Shorts11May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24) (UK)
November 30, 2016 (2016-11-30) (CAN)		March 22, 2017 (2017-03-22) (FRA)

Reception

Accolades
List of awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result
Royal Television Society Best animated Programme or Series Counterfeit Cat Nominated
British Academy Children's Awards BAFTA Animation Award Counterfeit Cat Nominated
British Writers Guild Awards Best Children's Episode Room of Panic by Tim Bain Won

Broadcast

In the United Kingdom, the series first aired on Disney XD on May 12, 2016, it also premiered on Pop on 1 October 2018. Counterfeit Cat debuted on Teletoon on May 12, 2016, In Latin America, it began airing on Disney Channel and Disney XD on June 10, 2017, In Germany, it began airing on Disney XD on October 17, 2016

References
  1. Bedtracks Bedtracks Music and SFX to be Heard in Disney XD's New Animated Series
  2. "Wildseed, Tricon to Co-Produced 'Counterfeit Cat'". 29 April 2015.
  3. Bleeding Cool Aardman And Disney Teaming Up For Counterfeit Cat
  4. Wildseed Studios Counterfeit Cat Launching on Disney XD
  5. Twitter Twitter post regarding preview airdate
  6. Animation World Network 'Counterfeit Cat' Bounds into the U.S. on Disney XD
  7. "TV Listings Grid, TV Guide and TV Schedule, Where to Watch TV Shows – Screener".
  8. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 77. ISBN 9781476672939.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2017-10-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Wildseed Studios Counterfeit Cat
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