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Description

Show: Fraidy Cat
Episode: 11
Year: 1975

Chief Complaints:

-The concept of the show itself is used very poorly

-Fraidy Cat gets almost no relief through his torment

-The laugh track is annoying and a terrible staple of 70’s cartoons

-None of Fraidy's 8 lives even remotely resemble him

-The animation is lazy at best

-Even Fraidy's own lives want him dead for no given reason

Believe it or not, I didn't first hear of this cartoon through MrEnter, but through public domain DVDs and whatnot. In a decade where 90% of the cartoons on TV were either rip-offs or spinoffs of some sort to varying degrees of success, Fraidy Cat is actually surprisingly original! But just because you have an original idea, that doesn't give your show or movie a pass to me; remember Unfriended? Yeah, I think that the idea of this cartoon, about a cat who is down in his final life and able to summon the previous 8 lives through saying their numbers, is a fairly good idea for a cartoon, honestly; heck, it would probably be pretty good as an adult cartoon akin to Fritz the Cat. The problem, however, lies in the execution as to why this show isn't very good.

In this episode for instance, we see that literally everyone hates Fraidy and is out to get him. Fraidy Cat is a paranoid wreck who is afraid of literally everything! And the constant laugh track really doesn't make his paranoia funny at all, especially with how stiff and lifeless the animation is. Here, Fraidy Cat has to deal with Cloud 9: a sentient and malicious cloud who chases Fraidy Cat around whenever he says "9" or a word that sounds like or rhymes with 9 (yeah, he doesn't even need to say the numbers to summon these ghosts; just further proof how much of a butt monkey he is) and tries to strike him dead with lighting bolts for a set period of time.

Cloud 9 is summoned because these two asshole cats tricked Fraidy into saying the number just to get a rise of out him, and aside from some very poorly done slapstick, they don't really suffer for this. The really weird part of this is that even when Fraidy's other lives are present (such as Elephunt Cave "One" Cat and his pet Apatosaurus Ant), they don't really seem to care about Cloud 9's presence and don't really care about helping Fraidy at all; instead, they seem ambivalent to Fraidy entirely, just wanting to hurt the guy. And the weird thing is none of the lives even remotely resemble Fraidy at all, despite being his own lives. I think what they were going for is that Fraidy has been reincarnated through history and that's what these ghosts represent, but it isn't well conveyed, and I feel they should more represent how each of them died.

Just like in the episode "Cupid the Cat", Ant seems to fall in love with Cloud 9 after being struck by its lightning.... Is that like their running gag or something? I have no idea. Anyways, in order to escape Cloud 9, Fraidy sucks himself through a pay phone via the phone lines, but alas he encounters the number 9 everywhere! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! There are ways to make someone's perpetual misery funny, but this isn't really how you do it. I'm not really angry at this cartoon, but I'm very disappointed at the wasted potential! This is something I want to see tried again today though because maybe if it were tweaked slightly, it could be a better product.

Cringe-Inducing Audio: 3
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 0
Lackluster Writing: 8
Annoyance: 6
Disturbing Content: 5
Unnecessary Cruelty: 5
Rancid Morality: 0
Low Production Values: 7
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Character Derailment: 0

Final Score: 34/100

I'm not really sure who owns Fraidy Cat now.

Animated Atrocities is from

Regulas314

Description

Show: Fraidy Cat
Episode: 11
Year: 1975

Chief Complaints:

-The concept of the show itself is used very poorly

-Fraidy Cat gets almost no relief through his torment

-The laugh track is annoying and a terrible staple of 70’s cartoons

-None of Fraidy's 8 lives even remotely resemble him

-The animation is lazy at best

-Even Fraidy's own lives want him dead for no given reason

Believe it or not, I didn't first hear of this cartoon through MrEnter, but through public domain DVDs and whatnot. In a decade where 90% of the cartoons on TV were either rip-offs or spinoffs of some sort to varying degrees of success, Fraidy Cat is actually surprisingly original! But just because you have an original idea, that doesn't give your show or movie a pass to me; remember Unfriended? Yeah, I think that the idea of this cartoon, about a cat who is down in his final life and able to summon the previous 8 lives through saying their numbers, is a fairly good idea for a cartoon, honestly; heck, it would probably be pretty good as an adult cartoon akin to Fritz the Cat. The problem, however, lies in the execution as to why this show isn't very good.

In this episode for instance, we see that literally everyone hates Fraidy and is out to get him. Fraidy Cat is a paranoid wreck who is afraid of literally everything! And the constant laugh track really doesn't make his paranoia funny at all, especially with how stiff and lifeless the animation is. Here, Fraidy Cat has to deal with Cloud 9: a sentient and malicious cloud who chases Fraidy Cat around whenever he says "9" or a word that sounds like or rhymes with 9 (yeah, he doesn't even need to say the numbers to summon these ghosts; just further proof how much of a butt monkey he is) and tries to strike him dead with lighting bolts for a set period of time.

Cloud 9 is summoned because these two asshole cats tricked Fraidy into saying the number just to get a rise of out him, and aside from some very poorly done slapstick, they don't really suffer for this. The really weird part of this is that even when Fraidy's other lives are present (such as Elephunt Cave "One" Cat and his pet Apatosaurus Ant), they don't really seem to care about Cloud 9's presence and don't really care about helping Fraidy at all; instead, they seem ambivalent to Fraidy entirely, just wanting to hurt the guy. And the weird thing is none of the lives even remotely resemble Fraidy at all, despite being his own lives. I think what they were going for is that Fraidy has been reincarnated through history and that's what these ghosts represent, but it isn't well conveyed, and I feel they should more represent how each of them died.

Just like in the episode "Cupid the Cat", Ant seems to fall in love with Cloud 9 after being struck by its lightning.... Is that like their running gag or something? I have no idea. Anyways, in order to escape Cloud 9, Fraidy sucks himself through a pay phone via the phone lines, but alas he encounters the number 9 everywhere! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! There are ways to make someone's perpetual misery funny, but this isn't really how you do it. I'm not really angry at this cartoon, but I'm very disappointed at the wasted potential! This is something I want to see tried again today though because maybe if it were tweaked slightly, it could be a better product.

Cringe-Inducing Audio: 3
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 0
Lackluster Writing: 8
Annoyance: 6
Disturbing Content: 5
Unnecessary Cruelty: 5
Rancid Morality: 0
Low Production Values: 7
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Character Derailment: 0

Final Score: 34/100

I'm not really sure who owns Fraidy Cat now.

Animated Atrocities is from

Regulas314