Capitol Critters
Capitol Critters is an American animated sitcom about the lives of mice, rats and roaches who reside in the basement and walls of the White House in Washington, D.C.[2] The series was produced by Steven Bochco Productions and Hanna-Barbera in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC, which aired seven out of the show's 13 episodes from January 28 to March 14, 1992.[3] Cartoon Network later aired all 13 episodes (including the unaired episodes) from 1995 through 1996.
| Capitol Critters | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Created by | Nat Mauldin Steven Bochco Michael Wagner |
| Directed by | Robert Alvarez |
| Starring | Neil Patrick Harris Charlie Adler Patti Deutsch Jennifer Darling Dorian Harewood Bobcat Goldthwait Frank Welker |
| Theme music composer | Bruce Broughton |
| Composer | Don Davis |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Nat Mauldin David Kirschner |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production companies | Steven Bochco Productions Hanna-Barbera, Inc. Wang Film Productions 20th Television[1] |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | January 28 – March 14, 1992 |
The series was part of a spate of attempts by major networks to develop prime time animated shows to compete with the success of Fox's The Simpsons, alongside CBS's Fish Police and Family Dog.[4] The latter two, along with Capitol Critters, proved unsuccessful and were quickly cancelled.
Premise
A young mouse named Max is forced to flee his home on a farm in Nebraska after his family is killed by exterminators. He travels to Washington, D.C. to live with his hippie cousin Berkley, rebellious rat Jammett, and Jammett's mother Trixie. Max also befriends a hip cockroach named Moze and a former laboratory rat named Muggle who still suffers from the side effects of the experiments he is put through that often have him exploding.
The group has to deal with the White House's resident cats, which are caricatures of then-President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. The episodes' themes reference current issues of the day, including gun control and drug abuse.
Voice Cast
- Neil Patrick Harris as Max
- Charlie Adler as Jammet
- Patti Deutsch as Trixie
- Jennifer Darling as Berkeley
- Dorian Harewood as Moze
- Bobcat Goldthwait as Muggle
- Frank Welker as Presidential Cats
Additional voices
- Lewis Arquette
- Michael Bell as Roach Husband, Various
- Gregg Berger
- Earl Boen
- Sorrell Booke
- Hamilton Camp
- Brian Cummings
- Jim Cummings as Cockroach Gang Leader (in "Hat and Mouse"), Various
- Tim Curry as Senator (in "Max Goes To Washington")
- Jeff Doucette
- Nancy Dussault
- Paul Eiding as Max's Father (in "Max Goes to Washington")
- Richard Erdman
- Takayo Fischer as Kazuko (in "A Little Romance")
- Linda Gary
- Joan Gerber as Roach Wife
- Ed Gilbert
- Dan Gilvezan
- Danny Goldman as Opie the Squirrel (in "Opie's Choice")
- Arlene Golonka
- David Graham
- Whitby Hertford
- Gordon Hunt
- Helen Hunt
- Robert Ito as Ichiro (in "A Little Romance")
- Nick Jameson
- David Jolliffe
- Janice Kawaye as Miko (in "A Little Romance")
- Tony Lamond
- Steve Landesberg
- Jarrett Lennon
- Anndi McAfee
- Scott Menville
- Brian Stokes Mitchell
- Rob Paulsen as Janitor, Pigeon (in "The KiloWatts Riots"), Various
- Robert Picardo
- Noam Pitlik
- Don Reed
- Peter Renaday
- Ariana Richards as President's Granddaughter (in "If Lovin' You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Rat")
- Robert Ridgely
- Neil Ross as Newscaster
- Beverly Sanders
- Pamela Segall as Violet (in "If Lovin' You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Rat")
- Jeffrey Tambor
- Mark L. Taylor
- Russi Taylor as Bluebird (in "Into the Woods")
- Marcelo Tubert
- Chick Vennera
- B.J. Ward as Max's Mother (in "Max Goes to Washington")
- Lee Wilkof
- Eugene Williams
- Patty Wirtz
- Bill Woodson
- Patric Zimmerman as Felix (in "The Rat to Bear Arms")
Episodes
| No. | Title | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Max Goes to Washington" | Nat Mauldin | January 28, 1992 | ORO1 |
| After Max the mouse's family is murdered by pest control workers, he moves to Washington, D.C. to live with his cousin Berkley. | ||||
| 2 | "Of Thee I Sting" | Nat Mauldin | January 31, 1992 | ORO3 |
| Max gets trapped in the briefcase of a charismatic but crooked politician. | ||||
| 3 | "The Rat to Bear Arms" | Nat Mauldin | February 1, 1992 | ORO4 |
| Jammett finds a gun and plans to obliterate the presidential cats to avenge the death of a young rat named Felix; who was killed by one of the cats. | ||||
| 4 | "Hat & Mouse" | Nat Mauldin | February 8, 1992 | ORO2 |
| Moze shows up to return Max's hat, but Max's fellow rodents don't take kindly to a cockroach in their midst. | ||||
| 5 | "A Little Romance" | Nat Mauldin | February 15, 1992 | ORO5 |
| When a stowaway family of Japanese mice arrive at the White House, Max rescues their daughter from the presidential cat and falls in love with her. | ||||
| 6 | "Opie's Choice" | Nat Mauldin | February 29, 1992 | ORO6 |
| Jammett begins supplying Opie the squirrel with caffeine pills. | ||||
| 7 | "An Embarrassment of Roaches" | Nat Mauldin | March 14, 1992 | ORO7 |
| Max encourages his friends to let an elderly cockroach couple move in next door, but soon the rodents are up to their ears in baby roaches. | ||||
| 8 | "Into the Woods" | Nat Mauldin | September 15, 1995 | ORO8 |
| Trixie mistakes one of Jammett's marbles as a grape and bites into it, causing a massive toothache. Meanwhile, Jammett tries to help an owl who's in danger of losing his home when a crew shows up to tear down the forest and erect a shopping mall. | ||||
| 9 | "Gimme Shelter" | Nat Mauldin | September 22, 1995 | ORO9 |
| Max discovers a rat and a cockroach who've been living in a fallout shelter for 30 years. | ||||
| 10 | "The KiloWatts Riots" | Rob Cohen | September 29, 1995 | ORO12 |
| When the power goes out below the White House, Jammett begins doling out extension cords in return for favors. Meanwhile, Muggle tries to devise an alternative power source. | ||||
| 11 | "The Bug House" | Nat Mauldin | September 3, 1996 | ORO11 |
| Jammett's attempt at cheating during a baseball game lands him, Max and Moze in Roach Prison. | ||||
| 12 | "The Lady Doth Protest to Munch" | Nat Mauldin | September 10, 1996 | ORO10 |
| When an important bill is vetoed, Berkley protests by going on a hunger strike. Of course temptation lies around every corner. | ||||
| 13 | "If Lovin' You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Rat" | Karl Fink & Roberto Benabib | September 17, 1996 | ORO13 |
| When the president's grandchildren visit the White House, Jammett falls in love with their pet hamster. | ||||
Reception
Capitol Critters was cancelled after less than two months.[5] In its short run, the series dealt with such topics as politics, racial segregation, drug addiction, and mortality.[6] In his review of the series, Variety critic Brian Lowry wrote that "at its best, the show seems to ape the work of film director Ralph Bakshi by using an animated setting to explore adult themes", and that "the bland central character and cartoonish elements [...] will likely be off-putting to many adults, who won't find the political satire biting enough to merit their continued attention. Similarly, kids probably won't be as smitten with the cartoon aspects or look."[6] Capitol Critters had their own Burger King Kids Club toys in 1992, which featured Jammet, Max, Muggle, and a Presidential Cat sitting on or emerging from miniature Washington D.C. monuments.
References
- ^ "20th Century Fox Restructures Film, Television Units". Associated Press.
- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 108. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 175–177. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ Daniel Cerone, 'Fish Police' on Endangered Species List, Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1992, accessed January 20, 2011.
- ^ Stabile, Carol A.; Harrison, Mark, eds. (2003). "The second prime time animation boom". Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture. Routledge. p. 79. ISBN 0-415-28326-4.
- ^ a b Lowry, Brian (1994). "Capitol Critters". Variety Television Reviews 1991-92. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8240-3796-0.
External links
- Capitol Critters at IMDb
- Capitol Critters at the Big Cartoon Database