The Comic Strip is an American animated series that features four rotating cartoon segments: The Mini-Monsters, Street Frogs, Karate Kat and TigerSharks. The 90-minute series ran in first-run syndication during the 1987 season.
This was the last TV series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, before Rankin/Bass Partners dissolved in 2001.
Contents
Segments
Two segments were shown on each broadcast, each running for about 10 minutes. The four rotating segments are:
The Mini-Monsters
Human twin siblings Sherman (voiced by Seth Green) and Melissa Baxter are sent to summer camp for one year by their overwhelmed parents. Camp Mini-Mon turns out to be attended by monster children, most of whom are the children of famous monsters, and run by an organ-playing shadowy camp director (voiced by Peter Newman) with his pet vulture. The campers are Count Dracula's son Dracky; Frankenstein's son Franky; The Wolf Man's comedic son Wolfie; The Creature from the Black Lagoon's son Lagoon (voiced by Bob McFadden) who is a certified lifeguard; The Mummy's boxing son Mummo; the Invisible Man's son Blanka; Klutz (voiced by Bob McFadden), a clumsy giant lizard who may be related to Godzilla; Jynx the Witch (voiced by Maggie Wheeler), and Merlin's son Melvin who is accompanied by Cawfield the talking crow (voiced by Earl Hammond). In addition, the camp director is assisted by the camp counselor Garrison and the grandson of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (voiced by Bob McFadden) who works as the camp's physician.
Street Frogs
Street Frogs follows the hijinks of a gang of street-smart frogs: Dr. Slick, Big Max (voiced by Bob McFadden), Spider, Moose the Loose, and "Honey Love" Loretta (voiced by Tanya Willoughby). They are also on good terms with a turtle named Snappy Sam (voiced by Ron Taylor) who is the chef and proprietor of the diner that Loretta works at and the town's DJ Typhoon Toad. Each episode contains a musical number.
Karate Kat
In a late 50s/early 60s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic cats, Karate Kat (voiced by Bob McFadden) is a private investigator who uses his karate to fight crime in his town which is usually in the form of crime boss Big Papa (voiced by Earl Hammond) and his two lackeys named Boom-Boom Burmese (voiced by Larry Kenney) and Sumo Sai (voiced by Earl Hammond). Karate Kat works at McClaws's Detective Agency, run by his short-tempered boss Katie "Big Mama" McClaw (voiced by Gerrianne Raphael), Big Papa's ex-wife. Karate Kat is assisted by his friends/co-workers like his best friend/sparring partner Katgut (voiced by Earl Hammond), inventor Dr. Katmandu (voiced by Larry Kenney), Ciao-Baby and her sister Meow-Baby (both voiced by Maggie Wheeler), and Katatonic (voiced by Bob McFadden).
TigerSharks
A group of powered-up human/sea animal hybrids consisting of Mako (voiced by Peter Newman), Walro (voiced by Earl Hammond), Dolph (voiced by Larry Kenney), Octavia (voiced by Camille Bonora), Lorca, Bronc, Angel, and Gupp become involved in underwater adventures on the planet Water-O that has them facing off against villains like T-Ray (voiced by Larry Kenney) and Captain Bizzarly (voiced by Earl Hammond).
Foreign syndication
The show was also seen on ABC Television in Australia, on RPN-9 in the Philippines, on RTM 1 in Malaysia (where it was shown after the American children's educational series Sesame Street), on Fun Channel in the Middle East, on TV 4 in Trinidad and Tobago, on ATV in Hong Kong (as part of their children's television strand called Tube Time), on TVJ in Jamaica and on Rai 2 in Italy.
Home media
VHS releases of certain episodes of The Comic Strip were made available in 1987. These VHS tapes each featured three installments of one particular cartoon. For example, the video "Adventures at Camp Mini-Mon" contained three episodes: "Camp Mini-Mon The First Day", "The Belly Ache" and "Alien".
Episodes
The Mini-Monsters
Camp Mini-Mon - The First Day
The Bellyache
Alien
Practical Joke Day
Parent's Day
Melissa's Magic Painting
They're Not Monsters
The Big Fight
The Swim Meet
Cawfield Blows His Cool
The Magic Feather
The Switch
Wolfie's Bet
Lagoon in Love
Mini-Mon's Horse
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Claws
Ghosts in the Night
House for Sale
Campy Goody Twoshoe
Franklyn Builds a Friend
Mummo's Birthday
Home Movies
The Inspection
A Visit from Ooze
Phantom of the Mess Hall
Dracky's Bat
Street Frogs
The Hopline
The Crate
Typhoon Takes Off
The Drop Out
Loretta Goes to Hollywood
Rapperman
Fiddling Around
The Super
The Babysitters
Frog TV
Surprise Fights
Take Out
Moose's Ride
The Car Show
Bye Bye Toad
High Fashion Frogs
Fleet Frogs
The Derby
The Night Job
The Hairdo
Misty Marvelous
The Street Fair
Wilfred Returns
When I Grow Up
The Phone Call
Karate Kat
The Katzenheimer Kaper
The Sardine Turnover Kaper
The Mousemobile Kaper
The Crow Key Kaper
The Kata Hari Kaper
The Picat-So Kaper
Ticktocking Along
The Koffee Kup Kaper
Kat Tracks
The Bank Heist
The Tabby Tire Tracker
The Pink Sphinx
Cat's Ahoy
The Cousin Kaper
The Bathtub Bandits
Pretty Kitty Kaper
The Kattensniffer Kaper
The Cats 'N Bats Kaper
The Tabby Telemann Kaper
Cat Goes Ape
The Ghost of Legs Larue
Kat's Paws
The Twin Brother Kaper
The Amnesia Kaper
The Lonely Hearts Kaper