The Comic Strip (TV series)


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.

Segments

Two segments were shown on each broadcast where they each ran for about 10 minutes. The four rotating segments offered were:

The Mini-Monsters

A segment where normal human twin siblings Sherman and Melissa Baxter find themselves in for a surprise when they are sent to summer camp for one year by their overwhelmed parents. Camp Mini-Mon turns out to be run by an organ-playing shadowy camp director with his pet vulture, and attended by monster kids who are offspring of usually famous monsters, mad scientists, mutants, a witch, and Merlin. They 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 who is a certified lifeguard, The Mummy's boxing son Mummo, the Invisible Man's son Blanka, Klutz the clumsy giant lizard monster who may or may not be related to Godzilla, Jynx the Witch, and Merlin's son Melvin accompanied by Cawfield the talking crow. In addition, the camp director is assisted by the camp counselor Garrison and the grandson of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who works as the camp's physician.

Street Frogs

A segment depicting the typical teen-aged hijinks of a gang of street-smart frogs named Dr. Slick, Big Max, Spider, Moose The Loose, and "Honey Love" Loretta in an 80s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. They are also on good terms with a turtle named Snappy Sam who is the chef and proprietor of the diner that Loretta works at and the town's DJ Typhoon Toad. Apart from Rankin-Bass regular Bob McFadden, this segment featured an African-American cast. Ron Taylor also provides the theme song vocals for this segment. Each episode contains a musical number.

Karate Kat

In a late 50s/early 60s-themed world inhabited by anthropomorphic cats, Karate Kat 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 and his two lackeys named Boom-Boom Burmese and Sumo Sai. When working at for McClaws's Detective Agency run by his short-tempered boss Katie "Big Mama" McClaw who is Big Papa's ex-wife, Karate Kat is assisted by his friends/co-workers like his best friend/sparring partner Katgut, inventor Dr. Katmandu, Ciao-Baby and her sister Meow-Baby, and the aptly-named Katatonic. Karate Kat's catchphrase is "I'm lean, I'm mean, I'm a karate machine" as he spin-changes from his private investigator attire into his karate attire in order to fight crime.

TigerSharks

A group of powered-up human/sea animal hybrids consisting of Mako, Walro, Dolph, Octavia, 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 and Captain Bizzarly. Each episode consisted of two parts.

Foreign syndication

The show was also seen on ABC Television in Australia, on RPN-9 in the Philippines, on RTM 1 in Malaysia, on Fun Channel in the Middle East, on TV 4 in Trinidad and Tobago, on ATV in Hong Kong, on TVJ in Jamaica and on Rai 2 in Italy.

Video releases

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''

  1. Camp Mini-Mon - The First Day
  2. The Bellyache
  3. Alien
  4. Practical Joke Day
  5. Parent's Day
  6. Melissa's Magic Painting
  7. They're Not Monsters
  8. The Big Fight
  9. The Swim Meet
  10. Cawfield Blows His Cool
  11. The Magic Feather
  12. The Switch
  13. Wolfie's Bet
  14. Lagoon in Love
  15. Mini-Mon's Horse
  16. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Claws
  17. Ghosts in the Night
  18. House for Sale
  19. Campy Goody Twoshoe
  20. Franklyn Builds a Friend
  21. Mummo's Birthday
  22. Home Movies
  23. The Inspection
  24. A Visit from Ooze
  25. Phantom of the Mess Hall
  26. Dracky's Bat

''Street Frogs''

  1. The Hopline
  2. The Crate
  3. Typhoon Takes Off
  4. The Drop Out
  5. Loretta Goes to Hollywood
  6. Rapperman
  7. Fiddling Around
  8. The Super
  9. The Babysitters
  10. Frog TV
  11. Surprise Fights
  12. Take Out
  13. Moose's Ride
  14. The Car Show
  15. Bye Bye Toad
  16. High Fashion Frogs
  17. Fleet Frogs
  18. The Derby
  19. The Night Job
  20. The Hairdo
  21. Misty Marvelous
  22. The Street Fair
  23. Wilfred Returns
  24. When I Grow Up
  25. The Phone Call

''Karate Kat''

  1. The Katzenheimer Kaper
  2. The Sardine Turnover Kaper
  3. The Mousemobile Kaper
  4. The Crow Key Kaper
  5. The Kata Hari Kaper
  6. The Picat-So Kaper
  7. Ticktocking Along
  8. The Koffee Kup Kaper
  9. Kat Tracks
  10. The Bank Heist
  11. The Tabby Tire Tracker
  12. The Pink Sphinx
  13. Cat's Ahoy
  14. The Cousin Kaper
  15. The Bathtub Bandits
  16. Pretty Kitty Kaper
  17. The Kattensniffer Kaper
  18. The Cats 'N Bats Kaper
  19. The Tabby Telemann Kaper
  20. Cat Goes Ape
  21. The Ghost of Legs Larue
  22. Kat's Paws
  23. The Twin Brother Kaper
  24. The Amnesia Kaper
  25. The Lonely Hearts Kaper