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Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse - The Complete Series

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse - The Complete Series

List Price: $79.95
Your Price: $71.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not As Bad As I Remember -- It's Even Worse!!
Review: ...And that of course is the beauty of this series. I love bad TV and bad movies, and I don't care who knows it. Mid-'60s/'70s Hanna-Barbera is like Norman Rockwell or Disney compared to this cheesy animation. Good Lord, this collection is non-pariel in its awful-ness. Better yet, absolutely no effort was expended to beef up the sound (a la Fleisher's "Superman" animated collection from the '40s) or to gussy up the video. All of the substandard production values of the original series are kept gloriously intact -- even down to the audio. Yes, it's monaural. Perfect! I wouldn't have changed a thing, either. Thank you, A&E! Thank you!!!

This long-lost series was a staple of my childhood viewing regimen on New York's WABC-TV before school (along with the now politically incorrect "Jasper" series and the equally cheesy Terry-Toons), and after school on WNEW-TV. Total mindlessness, even to a 5-year-old. And even then, I could detect the inconsistencies in the production values. Multiple "artists", if you will, contributed their divergent takes on the characters within a single episode. What a mess.

This is the exciting part -- this 4-DVD collection represents the entirety of the series!! Yes --- 10 full hours of Flatface Frog (aka "Chauncy", aka "The Frog" ["mmmyeahhh"]), Robber Rabbit, stolen cheese, Marilyn Mouse, Professor Shaggy Dog, "I like bananas", Minute Mouse turning on Courageous Cat, "Don't worry, Minute! My (paralyzing/disintegrating/rope) gun will save us!"...the whole riff. All 130 episodes. Each and every one. Yep.

If this isn't one of the worst cartoons ever made, it's certainly in the Top 10. The studio went on to do another horrible series, "Sinbad, The Sailor", which seems to have fallen off into the ether somewhere, although Hanna-Barbera, if I recall correctly, did pick it up and improved upon it, sort of.

As for the creator of the series, the late Bob Kane, he can rest in the peaceful assurance that this package was released well after his death. Unfortunately, he was around for the filmed triumph and then the ultimate trashing of his greatest creation, The Batman. Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were intended to have been a parody of Batman and Robin. Where this syndicated cartoon series failed in that regard, the last two "Batman" films more than succeeded in making a mockery of his characters. Talk about unintended consequences. Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were far too corny to be considered satire.

I intend to watch all 130 episodes. I think I'll preface all future "feature presentations" with a cartoon. They'll appreciate what comes next all the more. I could play "Car Wash" and they'll think it's "Citizen Kane"!

Bravo, A&E!!! Bravissimo!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not As Bad As I Remember -- It's Even Worse!!
Review: ...And that of course is the beauty of this series. I love bad TV and bad movies, and I don't care who knows it. Mid-'60s/'70s Hanna-Barbera is like Norman Rockwell or Disney compared to this cheesy animation. Good Lord, this collection is non-pariel in its awful-ness. Better yet, absolutely no effort was expended to beef up the sound (a la Fleisher's "Superman" animated collection from the '40s) or to gussy up the video. All of the substandard production values of the original series are kept gloriously intact -- even down to the audio. Yes, it's monaural. Perfect! I wouldn't have changed a thing, either. Thank you, A&E! Thank you!!!

This long-lost series was a staple of my childhood viewing regimen on New York's WABC-TV before school (along with the now politically incorrect "Jasper" series and the equally cheesy Terry-Toons), and after school on WNEW-TV. Total mindlessness, even to a 5-year-old. And even then, I could detect the inconsistencies in the production values. Multiple "artists", if you will, contributed their divergent takes on the characters within a single episode. What a mess.

This is the exciting part -- this 4-DVD collection represents the entirety of the series!! Yes --- 10 full hours of Flatface Frog (aka "Chauncy", aka "The Frog" ["mmmyeahhh"]), Robber Rabbit, stolen cheese, Marilyn Mouse, Professor Shaggy Dog, "I like bananas", Minute Mouse turning on Courageous Cat, "Don't worry, Minute! My (paralyzing/disintegrating/rope) gun will save us!"...the whole riff. All 130 episodes. Each and every one. Yep.

If this isn't one of the worst cartoons ever made, it's certainly in the Top 10. The studio went on to do another horrible series, "Sinbad, The Sailor", which seems to have fallen off into the ether somewhere, although Hanna-Barbera, if I recall correctly, did pick it up and improved upon it, sort of.

As for the creator of the series, the late Bob Kane, he can rest in the peaceful assurance that this package was released well after his death. Unfortunately, he was around for the filmed triumph and then the ultimate trashing of his greatest creation, The Batman. Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were intended to have been a parody of Batman and Robin. Where this syndicated cartoon series failed in that regard, the last two "Batman" films more than succeeded in making a mockery of his characters. Talk about unintended consequences. Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were far too corny to be considered satire.

I intend to watch all 130 episodes. I think I'll preface all future "feature presentations" with a cartoon. They'll appreciate what comes next all the more. I could play "Car Wash" and they'll think it's "Citizen Kane"!

Bravo, A&E!!! Bravissimo!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great fun!
Review: I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that there was a DVD set for this old series. I can remember watching it way back when I was a little kid in the 70s, but I had no idea there were 130 episodes. I had to buy it.

As I watched the first disk I was sure I'd made a mistake. These cartoons were bad. Bad to the point of being barely watchable. Choppy animation and ridiculous plots. But as I kept watching they grew on me all over again. Yes, they're bad, but they're so bad they're good. By the second disk I was hooked, and I couldn't wait for each subsequent episode. I think the best episodes were some of the strangest, such as the one Cold War shows with the two spies, and Marilyn Mouse, and the constant mentions of atomic weapons. I have to admit that I felt pretty sad when the last episode ended and the menu popped back up. Unlike so many shows which occasionally pop up in other incarnations, the end for this one really was the end. Still, I'd love to see a movie version of this someday.

The shows hold up amazingly well after 40+ years. So much of it is dated, but it's still a simple, somewhat innocent fun. My one complaint with the DVD is that the episodes don't seem to be in order ; either that, or this show has the worst continuity imaginable. But this I can certainly overlook, since it was so much fun to revisit this classic from my childhood.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great fun!
Review: I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that there was a DVD set for this old series. I can remember watching it way back when I was a little kid in the 70s, but I had no idea there were 130 episodes. I had to buy it.

As I watched the first disk I was sure I'd made a mistake. These cartoons were bad. Bad to the point of being barely watchable. Choppy animation and ridiculous plots. But as I kept watching they grew on me all over again. Yes, they're bad, but they're so bad they're good. By the second disk I was hooked, and I couldn't wait for each subsequent episode. I think the best episodes were some of the strangest, such as the one Cold War shows with the two spies, and Marilyn Mouse, and the constant mentions of atomic weapons. I have to admit that I felt pretty sad when the last episode ended and the menu popped back up. Unlike so many shows which occasionally pop up in other incarnations, the end for this one really was the end. Still, I'd love to see a movie version of this someday.

The shows hold up amazingly well after 40+ years. So much of it is dated, but it's still a simple, somewhat innocent fun. My one complaint with the DVD is that the episodes don't seem to be in order ; either that, or this show has the worst continuity imaginable. But this I can certainly overlook, since it was so much fun to revisit this classic from my childhood.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Who'd a thunk it?
Review: I mean who'd'a thunk that ANYONE would ever release a complete set of Courageous Cat cartoons in ANY format. These cartoons were so bad that as a little kid watching them I wasn't sure if they were comedy/parody (they weren't funny enough to be that) or serious (who could take this stuff seriously?) Growing up in NYC, this was on channel 7 (ABC) early in the morning, and all us kids (at that time) thought of channel 7 as the cheesiest station in the city so, of course, they had the cheesiest cartoons--the cheesiest being Courageous Cat. Still, I plan to buy this set and tho I don't own it yet, I have a lot of these crummy cartoons on video tape and have seen them recently.
Why give it 4 stars after knocking it so much? Well, somehow CC & MM managed to be entertaining, even now after all these years. And they had that great Nelson Riddle music (which I always wondered about--how did they get a big shot like Riddle to do music for this super-cheapo production? Or did they just buy it canned from a stock music house?) As long as you don't watch more than 3 or 4 at a time (these grow tiresome awful quick) you'll get some chuckles out of this set

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: They made 130 of these?!
Review: I'm all for nostalgia and all but this DVD set does little to invoke any sense of it for me. About the best part of the series is the theme music and intro. I remember little else about the series, having last seen it nearly 30 years ago (!) in black & white. Watching these episodes again I find that instead of being fun, the series is ludicrous: the animation is bad, the plots are nonsensical, Courageous Cat's gun-for-every-situation is ridiculous and Minute Mouse is 100% useless; it almost boggles the mind that 130 of these cartoons were created. As another reviewer stated, these shorts can get tiresome quickly and watching no more than 3 or 4 at a time is recommended. Unfortunately, I rented the first disc from Netflix.com and, not wanting to hold onto the disc too long, am forcing myself to watch 11 shorts at a stretch (good thing they're only 5 minutes long) so I can send it back from whence it came as soon as possible. Feels more like a chore than a nostalgia trip.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Collection
Review: This is the first cartoon collection that includes EACH AND EVERY episode in the series! 130 of 'em to be exact! So hats off to A&E! These cartoons are typical early 60's fare and 100% nostalgia. If you're looking for the fantastic art like early Fleischer, Disney or Warner Brothers, forget it. This is TV stuff...quickly made...not much detail...but it is very cool to see these cartoons that have been kept hidden for so many years. Courageous Cat is not your typical save-the-day, not-do-anything-wrong hero. He screws up on occasion, makes errors in judgement and is actually more of a regular guy trying to be a hero! I don't think it was intended that way, but that's how it comes across. Minute Mouse, on the other hand, could've been a lot better if they hadn't decided to use a high, irritating voice. The Frog, an Edward G. Robinson-type villain, is always fun to watch. Included is an essayed biography of Courageous Cat's creator, Bob Kane, creator of Batman (there are many similarities between these two characters). These cartoons are definitely flawed, but the nostalgia effect is wonderful. This is a wonderful addition to my personal collection and it should be in yours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome
Review: THIS SHOW IS AWSOME!!!!! I love the series. I also love all animation. This series is a dream come true. I love comedy and action adventure, so this dvd collection is perfect. If tou are thinking about buying this series..... do it!! You will not regret.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A blast from the (cat gun) past!!!
Review: When I read in Entertainment Weekly that this would be released,I knew it was a must have for my collection.Although this dynamic duo is a parody of Batman I always enjoyed laughing to the villians most of all froggy.This set brings back many childhood memories as these cartoons were popular in the 60's when I was growing up and nothing mattered except if the infamous cat and mouse would save the day each afternoon for us.The only drawback is that at 100 plus episodes it will take a while to view completely,but it is cool that you do get every single one at once and not divided into future sets.


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