Mittens the Cat (TV series)

***Mittens the Cat***is an American hand-drawn animated action-adventure comedy series produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studios. It was released on June 9, 2010 and ended in July 22, 2016. The cartoon is created by Vincent Waller, who had worked before as a storyboard artist in Nickelodeon's *Ren & Stimpy* and *SpongeBob Squarepants*. *Mittens the Cat*is inspired by Nintendo's *The Legend of Zelda*and Cartoon Network's *Samurai Jack,* while also trying to be its own thing.

## Plot

Mittens is an anthropomorphic light yellow cat with blonde hair. He is a knight in a kingdom called Kool Kingdom. Now, he found a powerful sword from the pedestal. Mittens will fight the evil hordes that plague all over his kingdom. Sometimes, he is intelligent, dim-witted, brave and funny. But, Mittens is always saving his kingdom and defeating the obstacles.

## Characters

#### Heroes

* **Mittens the Cat** (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook) - Mittens is an 18-years-old light yellow cat and the main protagonist. He has blonde hair, bright blue eyes, white snout, white paws and white tail end on his tail. Mittens is wearing bright blue tunic, bright blue Phrygian cap, brown gloves, light gray pants and long brown boots. He speaks with a California accent. Mittens can fight the bad guys and break obstacles with using his invincible magical sword. He also can use shield, boomerang, bomb, bow and arrow as his fighting tools. Mittens is inspired by Link from *The Legend of Zelda*and Jack from *Samurai Jack*because of his similarities.
* **Princess Sally**(voiced by Dionne Quan) - Princess Sally is a 15-years-old female rabbit. She is Mittens' love interest and loyal friend. Princess Sally is wearing yellow tiara with a triangle on the middle, light purple dress and brown boots. She has white fur and dark yellow hair.
* **Isabelle the Fairy Canary** (voiced by Lara Jill Miller) - Isabelle is a magical fairy canary. She is a helper of Mittens, despite she is usually getting annoyed by him.
* **Merlyn** (voiced by Charlie Adler) - Merlyn is a wizard duck. He is a helper of Mittens.

#### Allies

* **King Simmons**(voiced by Jeff Bergman) - King Simmons is an Irish Wolfhound. He is the king of Kool Kingdom.
* **Gerard**(voiced by Frank Welker) - Gerard is a squirrel who is wearing monk clothing.
* **Madame Hippo**(voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Madame Hippo is a large female hippopotamus who gives Mittens a kiss after he's getting hurt.
* **Captain Longneck**(voiced by Tom Kenny) - Captain Longneck is a giraffe. He is Mittens' teacher.

#### Villains

* **Lord Mousetoff** (voiced by Billy West) - A large greedy rat and the main antagonist. Lord Mousetoff is based on Ganondorf from *The Legend of Zelda*and Aku from *Samurai Jack*because of his similarities.
* **Big Bully** (voiced by Clancy Brown) - An evil bulldog.
* **Shadow** (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook) - An evil shadow that looks and sounds like Mittens.
* **Copper the Coyote**(voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A slick sneaky coyote that steals things that are shiny.
* **Sir Cheatsalot** (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - A cheetah black knight who wants to marry Princess Sally.
* **Queen Bee** (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - An evil queen who wants to steal all of the honey in Kool Kingdom.

## Production

#### Development

After Vincent Waller working on *SpongeBob SquarePants*episodes, he is planning to go to Paramount Television Animation. Waller is going to the meeting with the staff of Paramount Television Animation. He got his good plans and said, "We're going to make a new cartoon for Netflix!" "What is it?" asked the president of Paramount Television Animation. "I said, we're going to make our first animated cartoon series for Netflix as original series." replied Waller. The president of Paramount Television Animation said, "Okay, you can make a show for Netflix as its first original series." Waller have an idea to make a cartoon with anthropomorphic animals as non-human cast. Later, Waller is drawing cats in his cartoony style. He is also drawing some animals in cute style. Waller is working on concept art of an anthropomorphic cat, who is holding a sword. The next day, Waller is showing the staff his drawings of a cat. They said, "Your character looks like a classic cartoon, but it is perfect for new cartoon for Netflix!" He was influenced by Nintendo's *The Legend of Zelda*, Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Paramount Cartoon Studios cartoons, Bob Clampett cartoons, Chuck Jones cartoons, Terrytoons cartoons, Japanese anime shows and Tex Avery cartoons for making a new show. Later, Waller is drawing a light yellow cat with blonde hair (taking inspiration from Link from *The Legend of Zelda*). He named the cat "Mittens" as a new character. Waller thinks it's a good idea to make a new title *Mittens the Cat*.

#### Voices

The cast features Bryce Papenbrook, who had previously played roles in English dub versions of Japanese anime shows. He is the voice of the titular character of the show.

#### Animation

The additional animation of *Mittens the Cat*is animated at Dong Woo Animation and Rough Draft Studios. Also, the show's animation used by hand-drawn animation software, Pencil 2D.

#### Music

The music of *Mittens the Cat*is composed by Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker. The show's theme song is performed by Tom Kenny.

*See Mittens the Cat (song)*

## Episodes

*List of Mittens the Cat (TV series) episodes*

## Trivia

* *Mittens the Cat* was the first animated original series for Netflix.
* After 5 years, *Mittens the Cat* premiered on September 11, 2015 on Nickelodeon, making its debut outside Netflix and officially becoming into the first Nicktoon to be also a Netflix Original Series.
* There are several cameos from the other Nicktoons shows in the cartoon.
	+ Rocko, Heffer Wolfe, Filburt and Spunky from *Rocko's Modern Life* appear on one of Mittens' posters in his bedroom.
	+ In the episode, *Dandy Date*, Cat and Dog from *CatDog* (voiced by Jim Cummings and Tom Kenny, respectively) appear in the village as peasants. Mittens walk by and says, "Happy Happy Joy Joy!", which Dog replies, "That's Stimpy J. Cat's line. Right, Cat?", while Cat shouts, "Be quiet, Dog. We're doing a cameo".
	+ In the episode, *The Horse Race*, Velocity's sword from *The Velociraptor Warrior* appear on the wall of the hallway.
	+ In the episode, *Pens and Swords*, Gatopardos the Cheetah from the show of same name appear on the picture in the hallway.
* Mittens made several cameo appearances in other titles:
	+ In the *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode *A SquarePants Family Vacation*, SpongeBob is playing ocarina just like Mittens, the song sounds similar to Mittens' Ocarina Solo.
* After the show's over, there is a sequel series called *The Return of Mittens*. There's a present-take spin-off series called *Awesome Family*.