Top Cat: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Oct 28, 2024
• Format: Blu-ray Disc
• 

Director

William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

Release Date(s)

1961-1962 (October 1, 2024)

Studio(s)

Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Bros. (Warner Archive Collection)

• Film/Program Grade: B+
• Video Grade: A-
• Audio Grade: B
• Extras Grade: B-

Review

Often overshadowed by other Hanna-Barbera productions like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Yogi Bear Show, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (among others), Top Cat ran for a single season from 1961 to 1962 in prime time, but gained much more popularity in syndication, especially on Saturday mornings. The titular New York-dwelling feline is the leader of the Manhattan alley cats, often using them as a means of conning his way into various situations while trying to avoid beat cop Officer Dibble, who’s ever-vigilant in maintaining order in his neighborhood.

What stands up most today about Top Cat, besides the characters themselves, is the writing. Many Hanna-Barbera shows made during this era were sharply-written, reflecting the culture at large. Since the show was initially geared more toward adults, it has a kind of savvy sensibility about it. Inspired by The East Side Kids/The Bowery Boys and written primarily as a parody of The Phil Silvers Show, there’s a lower class versus upper class/the big city mentality at play. It also helps that the characters are sweet and good-natured, no matter what scam they’re running.

Arnold Stang stars as Top Cat (known to his friends as T.C.), supported by Marvin Kaplan as Choo-Choo, Maurice Gosfield (who was also in The Phil Silvers Show) as Benny the Ball, Leo De Lyon as Brain and Spook, John Stephenson as Fancy-Fancy, and Allen Jenkins as Officer Dibble. The show was also frequented by the likes of Paul Frees, Don Messick, Daws Butler, Jean Vander Pyl, and Hal Smith.

Not only was Top Cat a long-running favorite in re-runs, but it was also popular all over the world, especially in Mexico and the United Kingdom. (Interestingly, the show’s title in the UK had to be changed to Boss Cat due to a famous brand of cat food there already bearing that moniker.) Today the show is still popular with older fans, though like many cult-type films and TV shows of a certain vintage, it perhaps doesn’t have quite the reach that it once did. It’s all the more reason for younger audiences to check it out, and since the show is currently being shown on MeTV Toons, it’s likely to find new fans.

Top Cat was created using traditional cel animation on 35mm film, finished photochemically, and presented on television in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It’s worth pointing out that though the show was completed in full color, most audiences during its initial airing saw it in black-and-white. The Warner Archive Collection brings Top Cat: The Complete Series to Blu-ray for the first time with new 4K scans of the original camera negatives, which haven’t been touched in well over sixty years. The results are quite splendid, though not entirely perfect. Each Blu-ray disc in this set contains anywhere from 7 to 8 episodes, with bitrates that sit between 25 and 40Mbps, depending upon the amount of episodes per disc. There’s some macroblocking seen in the backgrounds here and there, but the overall look of the show hasn’t been compromised. A heavy but steady layer of grain is visible, with strong character lines, plenty of fine detail, and beautiful saturation. Blacks are deep with excellent contrast and everything is stable and clean, appearing absolutely organic with no obvious signs of digital enhancement or manipulation.

That all said, the contents of each episode aren’t perfect. In comparison to the previous Complete Series DVD releases of the show, the episodes All That Jazz and The Missing Heir are missing small amounts of footage. There are also some minor cropping issues here and there, in one instance when Officer Dibble is nearly cut in half on the right side of the screen, and in another when the edge of the frame is visible at the very top. It’s obviously a quality control oversight, but these moments are few and far between.

There’s also the matter of the opening and closing credits. This release re-instates the Kellogg’s sponsor tag in the taxi cab window at the end of the opening credits, but not the one shown on the billboard at the end before the show’s title and end credits. The “This Has Been an ABC Television Network Presentation” fence tag after the end credits is also missing in action. Lastly, the end credits that have been included are all exactly the same for each episode. Part of the reason why the Kellogg’s sponsor and ABC tags weren’t re-incorporated may possibly be due to rights and/or elements issues. That’s certainly the case for the end credits since there’s reportedly only one surviving camera negative element for them. However, at the end of the final episode, an extra set of credits is provided to make sure that everybody involved with the show gets their due.

It should also be pointed out that there are surviving 16mm and tape-based elements that prove the show was also sponsored at one time or another by Ban deodorant and Bufferin aspirin, likely among others.

Audio is included for each episode in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. Though it does sound a bit like a patch job from different elements at times, the audio is still clean with good support for dialogue, score, and sound effects. There are no dropouts or issues with distortion or hiss to speak of.

Top Cat: The Complete Series on Blu-ray is a four-disc set that sits in a blue Amaray case with an insert that re-uses the artwork from the 2004 and 2017 DVD releases of the show. The following episodes and extras are included on each disc:

DISC ONE (EPISODES 1-7)

1. Hawaii, Here We Come (25:52)
2. The Maharajah of Pookajee (25:51)
3. All That Jazz (25:39)
4. The $1,000,000 Derby (25:54)
5. The Violin Player (25:51)
6. The Missing Heir (25:50)
7. Top Cat Falls in Love (25:55)

• Audio Commentary on the Standard Definition Version of Hawaii, Here We Come with Jerry Beck, Earl Kress, Mark Evanier, and Leo De Lyon

DISC TWO (EPISODES 8-15)

8. A Visit from Mother (25:52)
9. Naked Town (25:56)
10. Sgt. Top Cat (25:49)
11. Choo-Choo’s Romance (25:52)
12. The Unscratchables (25:55)
13. Rafeefleas (25:55)
14. The Tycoon (25:51)
15. The Long Hot Winter (25:50)

• Audio Commentary on the Standard Definition Version of A Visit from Mother with Jerry Beck, Earl Kress, Mark Evanier, and Leo De Lyon

DISC THREE (EPISODES 16-23)

16. The Case of the Absent Ant Eater (25:55)
17. T.C. Minds the Baby (25:57)
18. Farewell Mr. Dibble (25:50)
19. The Grand Tour (25:55)
20. The Golden Fleecing (25:53)
21. Space Monkey (25:52)
22. The Late T.C. (25:51)
23. Dibble’s Birthday (25:54)

• Audio Commentary on the Standard Definition Version of The Late T.C. with Jerry Beck, Earl Kress, Mark Evanier, and Leo De Lyon

DISC FOUR (EPISODES 24-30)

24. Choo-Choo Goes Ga Ga (25:53)
25. King for a Day (25:51)
26. The Con Men (25:55)
27. Dibble Breaks the Record (25:53)
28. Dibble Sings Again (25:54)
29. Griswald (25:52)
30. Dibble’s Double (26:37)

• Back to Hoagy’s Alley: The Making of Top Cat (SD – 16:41)
• Storyboard Showcase: J.B. and Co. Original Series Pitchboards for The Missing Heir (SD – 20:44)
• Cool Cats in Interview Alley (SD – 20:54)
• Top Cat Sing-Along (SD – :51)
• Original Sketches and Artwork (SD – 6:44)
• Vintage Commercials (SD – 3 in all – 3:05)

Other than the trailers for other DVD releases, everything has been carried over from Top Cat: The Complete Series on DVD. This includes three audio commentaries for the episodes Hawaii, Here We Come, A Visit from Mother, and The Late T.C. with writers and animation historians Jerry Beck, Earl Kress, Mark Evanier, and actor Leo De Lyon. These are presented separately via standard definition versions of each episode, probably due to the timing of the episodes since the new restorations offer additional footage. Hosted by Leo De Lyon, Back to Hoagy’s Alley briefly details the making of the show with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, but also gives us an overview of the characters and the cast. Storyboard Showcase presents a side-by-side presentation of the pitchboards and final animation for the episode The Missing Heir. Cool Cats in Interview Alley features interviews with actors Arnold Stang, Leo De Lyon, Marvin Kaplan, and writer Barry Blitzer by Earl Kress. Top Cat Sing-Along offers an instrumental version of the opening theme with lyrics and musical notes at the bottom of the screen. Original Sketches and Artwork is a treasure trove of various pieces of production art, promotional stills, sketches, and background drawings for the show. The Vintage Commercials offer 2 black-and-white commercials for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes starring the gang, as well as the aforementioned original closing for the show with the Kellogg’s sponsor billboard and a set of textless end credits. It’s worth noting that these standard definition extras are encoded at a slightly squashed aspect ratio and an incorrect framerate, so they can be a little jerky if you’re paying close attention.

There are also lots of other things that haven’t been included that can be seen and heard elsewhere, such as the UK opening and closing credits with the Boss Cat title spliced on rather crudely, the Robin Hood Starring Top Cat story and song LP from 1965 (featuring Daws Butler as Top Cat), promos for the show when it originally aired, various bumpers from the show’s airings on the Boomerang network, and of course, the varying alternate opening and closing credits for the show. Based upon the show’s popularity in Latin-speaking countries, it’s also odd that the Spanish dub wasn’t included at all.

Despite what’s missing from this release, it shouldn’t deter you from picking it up. Top Cat: The Complete Series on Blu-ray looks so good that it’s flaws are mostly forgivable. One would hope that if the show were to magically get a UHD upgrade in the future since the 4K scans have already been done, some of the errors can be corrected, and some of the missing material can be included. Regardless, it’s still a fine release and worthy of a re-visit. Highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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