The Three Kittens (2018 cartoon)

Title card from season 2-3.

Adventure

Children's

Comedy

Educational

Family

Amblin Entertainment

The Shihan Media World Company

Shihan Media World Cartoons Inc./Shihan Media World Animation Inc.

Turner Entertainment

Turner Broadcasting System

Boomerang

Nickelodeon

Kids' WB!

Nick Jr.

ABC

CBS

NBC

Chutti TV

Thankachchi

The Three Kittens is a Sri Lankan 2018 animated cartoon series created by The Shihan Media World Company and Warner Bros. Animation. It is about The Three Kittens' daily plans to defeat Mr. Crow Chick. It is aired on December 2018.

## Characters

**The Three Kittens**

* **Dhaty Gundo** :- The leader of the kittens' gang. He is a fat kitten. He has a spot in his body.
* **Color-TV** :- A brown and yellow kitten who is smart and intelligent. He made many technological inventions such as Color TV's Amazing Video Game.
* **Thankachchi** :- She is a kitten that likes to squat and meow. She is playful. She earned the title of "The Cutester".

**Other characters**

* **Brother Cat**:- The elder brother of the three kittens. He and his younger siblings are children of Mother Cat and her husband.
* **Uncle Cat**:- He is the uncle of Mother Cat's children, and the father of Bagel, Pancake, Spud and Happy. He has a Nokia 10 smartphone which he use for messaging, calling and having fun.
* **Mother Cat**:- She looks like one of her children, Thankachchi. She is the youngest female teacher of A-A Cat School. When she was a kitten, she always follows the CEO of SMW.
* **Principal Cat**:- He is the principal of A-A Cat School. He is a giant cat. He scratches on the school students when they have done mischievous behaviours.

## Production

The Three Kittens episodes are produced by Warner Bros. Animation and The Shihan Media World Company. The goal of the series was to be "Prevent children from watching Dora the Explorer and stick with the all-new animated cartoon series, The Three Kittens." The Three Kittens will use full animation, has more frames than the old Walt Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons of the 30's, the 40's and the 50's. Producers use fast 2D computer animation. The show, like the old Looney Tunes shorts, makes use of cartoon humor. Every episode have a focus on every situation. The show's animation is outsourced by Warner Bros. to a lot of animation studios.

These animation studios include Shihan Media World Cartoons Inc. (also known as Shihan Media World Animation Inc.), Cartoon Network Studios, Cartoon Network Studios Europe, Tokyo Movie Shinsha(now known as TMS Entertainment), Wang Film Productions, Morning Sun Animation, AKOM, Freelance Animators New Zealand, Encore Cartoons, StarToons, Kennedy Cartoons, Klasky Csupo Inc, DiC Entertainment (also known as DIC Enterprises), Ruby-Spears Productions, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Soyuzmultfilm, and Frederator Studios. Due to the use of these animation studios, the show became a massive success. The show has managed to stay afloat. The show has three executive producers, the President of Warner Bros. Animation, the founder of Amblin Entertainment and the CEO of The Shihan Media World Company. Due to this, The Three Kittens renewed the old partnership between Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment. It paved the way to the reboots of Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures.

## Original air

The show was first aired on The Shihan Media World Company Channel on 10th December 2018 at 07:00 am. Unlike other cartoons at the time, this show didn't have a Christmas, Easter or a Thanksgiving special, instead it has two Ramadan specials. An upcoming Hajj special is in the works. It will be released on the Hajj festival of 2022. The show will solve the problem the animation industry is suffering from.

## History

### The beginning

In 1936, a Betty Boop cartoon was released. Called "We Did It!", It was the first appearance of the leading The Three Kittens characters. In that short, the kittens have done mischievous behaviors. The kittens were punished by Betty Boop for causing mischief in her house. The white kitten is the prototype of Dhaty Gundo, the gray one is the prototype of Color-TV and the black one is the prototype of Thankachchi. Thankachchi's prototype also made a cameo appearance in one of the Fleischer Popeye shorts.

### The purchase of the rights of the main characters from The Three Kittens by A.A.P

In 1956, a company called Associated Artists Productions (also known as A.A.P) acquired the rights of the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film library, including the pre-1948 color Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and the black and white Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies cartoons (except Lady, Play Your Mandolin!). A.A.P also acquired the Fleischer/Famous Popeye animated short films, as well as the rights of the characters Dhaty Gundo, Color-TV and Thankachchi from Paramount Pictures. No new animated production featuring The Three Kittens was made. In 1957, A.A.P decided to acquire the short subject library of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $4,500,000. 900 shorts would be included in the package, such as the Tom and Jerry cartoons and Pete Smith comedies, among others. Although the deal was nearly finalized, it fell through, reportedly due to the price of the sale. MGM would then distribute the shorts themselves through their own in-house television subsidiary Metro TV. United Artists purchased A.A.P in 1958. A.A.P was then renamed United Artists Associated. U.A.A released the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons and Popeye cartoons on 8mm and 16mm film. U.A.A also distributed Beany and Cecil internationally. U.A.A kept using the A.A.P logo at the start of 8mm and 16mm films containing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. In 1981, MGM acquired United Artists. The acquisition included the A.A.P library and the United Artists library.

### The Hibiscus War

47 years after the release of We Did It!, Warner Bros. Animation started on a plan to release an animated film starring younger versions of Looney Tunes characters. Warner Bros.' President at the time was Terry Semel. His rival K.S Madhu always wanted to prevent Warner Bros' plan from happening. Semel and the rest of the people who worked at Warner Bros. at the time always wanted the animated film to be released. To make the plan come to fruition, Semel called Steven Spielberg and animators who formerly worked at Hanna-Barbera to make the plan a success. This made Madhu angry. He is a hater of cartoons and anime in general. To prevent the plan, he called some people and founded a new animation studio, Hibiscus Media. The cartoons that Madhu was about to produce and release were: Manchadi (also known by it's Tamil name Pattampoochi) Pupi and Kathu. A war began. It's called the "Hibiscus War" a.k.a Warner Bros. vs Hibiscus Media. The war caused many people to think that the animation industry was about to end. Parts of the world which supported Warner Bros. were: United States, Canada, the rest of North America, South America, United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, the Soviet Union, most of Asia, the Middle East, the Western and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand etc. The parts of the world which supported Hibiscus Media were all of India and the Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The development of Tiny Toon Adventures was still going strong. To combat Hibiscus Media, Warner Bros. teamed up with fellow companies that own cartoons such as Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Viacom, CBS, United Artists, Ruby-Spears Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures, Terrytoons, Worldvision Enterprises etc. The war caused both the United States and India to become dangerous countries. A propaganda film, titled "Let's defeat Hibiscus Media together" was released in 1987. The film starred popular cartoon characters such as Bosko, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Casper, Popeye, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, the Fox and the Crow, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Pink Panther, The Ant and the Aardvark, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Felix the Cat, Charlie Brown and Snoopy have appeared. In that short, they are fighting with Hibiscus Media cartoon characters Twinkle, Pupi and Kathu. In the ending, the Western cartoon characters have won the war. The Government of India then banned the film because the film mocked Twinkle, Pupi and Kathu. A new animation studio, Pixar learnt 3D computer animation from Hibiscus Media. But like all the other Western animation studios, it too was against Hibiscus Media. One of the 3D computer-animated short films that are made by Pixar during the war was Luxo Jr., released in 1986. Thanks to Pixar, defeating Hibiscus Media became easier. Kalanithi Maran, founder of Sun Group is one odd Indian who disliked Hibiscus Media and supported Warner Bros. and the rest of the Western animation studios, television distributors and film distributors. He would later use the Western, European and Japanese cartoons and animated films to found Chutti TV. The war ended in 1988.

### The successes of Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain (1988-1999)

Jean MacCurdy, who worked at Warner Bros. at the time said that Tiny Toon Adventures was changed from a full-length animated feature film to a television show to reach a broader audience. Madhu was very angry that he and his company had lost the war. He told CBS that he wanted the Hibiscus Media cartoons to air on television and to prevent Tiny Toon Adventures from airing on the channel in 1990. In 1989, episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures have started production. After the first episode of Tiny Toons, The Looney Beginning has finished production in mid-1989, CBS told JVC, creator of VHS, a very popular videocassette format at the time that they would start a International Television Air Candidate of 1990. During December of 1989, the International Television Air Candidate of 1990 event was started. The venue took place at the Tokyo TV studios in Japan. The pilot episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, The Looney Beginning and the Hibiscus Media cartoons Manchadi (also known by it's Tamil name Pattampoochi), Pupi and Kathu were all showcased in the event. A Japanese man was reviewing both Tiny Toon Adventures and the Hibiscus Media cartoons. He said to Semel and Madhu that He liked Tiny Toon Adventures and Kathu, one of the Hibiscus Media cartoons. Semel was happy that the Japanese man liked Tiny Toon Adventures. The cartoons were showed on two CRT TV sets using two VCRs. The Japanese man said that Tiny Toon Adventures won the event. Madhu was very angry that Tiny Toon Adventures won the event. The Hibiscus Media cartoons except Kathu were rejected. The Japanese man told CBS that Tiny Toon Adventures will air on the channel in 1990. He told Madhu that the Hibiscus Media cartoons except Kathu won't be shown on television or released into VHS, Betamax or LaserDisc for ten years. On 14th September 1990, the pilot episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, The Looney Beginning was shown on CBS. The first 65 episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures was aired in syndication on 135 stations, beginning in September 1990. During that time, *Tiny Toons* was a huge success and got higher ratings than its *Disney Afternoon* competitors in some affiliates. After a successful run in syndication, Fox attained the rights for season 3. Production of the series halted in late 1992 to make way for *Animaniacs* to air the following year. At the time, other Western animation studios, television distributors and film distributors were having successes with their own television cartoons and animated films. For example, Disney was having success with television cartoons such as DuckTales (1987), Marsupilami (1993), Raw Toonage (1992), Darkwing Duck (1991), Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (1989) etc. and animated films such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Toy Story (1995) etc. Turner Entertainment (now owned by Warner Bros.) was having success with television cartoons such as Tom and Jerry Kids (which is an adaption of the old Tom and Jerry animated shorts that are released from 1940-1967)(1990), The Flintstone Kids (an adaption of the old 1960's animated series The Flintstones)(1986), Droopy Master Detective (An adaption of the old Droopy shorts that are released from 1943-1958)(1993), A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (an adaption of the Scooby-Doo franchise that is debuted in 1969)(1988) Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990) etc. and animated films such as Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992). Fox (under the children's programming block Fox Kids) aired Tiny Toon Adventures from 1992-1995. Another animated television series from Warner Bros., Animaniacs was aired on Fox Kids from 1993 to 1995. The lead characters from Animaniacs, named Yakko, Wakko and Dot bear striking resemblances to the leading characters from The Three Kittens, Dhaty Gundo, Color-TV and Thankachchi respectively. In 1995, The WB was started. At the same time The WB started it's own children's programming block Kids' WB!. After that, Animaniacs was aired on Kids' WB! from 1995 to 2000. Following the order of what the Japanese man told Madhu about releasing Hibiscus Media cartoons at the International Television Air Candidate of 1990, Warner Bros., under it's home video division Warner Home Video (now Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), dubbed Kathu in English and released it on VHS under license from Hibiscus Media in 1995. This VHS release introduced North American viewers to Kathu. This had no effect on the production of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain episodes.

#### The acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System by Time Warner

In 1996, Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) acquired Turner Broadcasting System. The acquisition reunited the pre-1950 Warner Bros. Film library and also included the rest of the Turner library. Thanks to the acquisition by Time Warner, The Three Kittens are now under ownership by Warner Bros.. This had no effect on the production of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain episodes.

#### Continuing the success (1997-1999)

In 1997, Tiny Toon Adventures was also moved from Fox Kids to Kids' WB!. Tiny Toon Adventures aired on Kids' WB! from 1997 to 2000. Warner Bros. was having success with other television cartoons such as Animaniacs' spin-off Pinky and the Brain, Road Rovers, Freakazoid!, Histeria!, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and another spin-off of Animaniacs, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, animated short films such as I'm Mad (1994), Carrotblanca (1995) and animated feature films such as Space Jam (1996) and Cats Don't Dance (1997). At the same time, the long-running Japanese animated television series Pokémon, based on the Pokémon video game series by Nintendo was debuted on Tokyo TV. Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain were discontinued in 1998. Tiny Toons was already discontinued in 1992. Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain was discontinued in 1999. But, that did not end their success. In 1999, Warner Bros. created a new animated compilation show called The Cat and Birdy Warneroonie Pinky Brainy Big Cartoonie Show. This show was aired on Kids' WB!. It was a compilation of Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain and the old Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. After the Japanese animated television series Pokémon started airing on Kids' WB! in 1999, the show was reduced to a 30-minute format and showed only Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. Despite the fact that most of the show is made up of old content, the show was popular enough to gain a second season. The series' full name was renamed to The Cat and Bunny Warneroonie Super Looney Big Cartoonie Show and showed only episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. The show was hosted by two animated kids called Karen and Kirby. The Big Cartoonie Show was also on weekday afternoons, where the Looney Tunes cartoons were also featured. The series was cancelled at the end of the 1999–2000 season, with its last airing on August 31, 2000. With this, *Tiny Toon Adventures*, *Animaniacs*, *Pinky and the Brain*, *Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain*, and *Looney Tunes* were retired from the Kids' WB block to make way for the 2000-2001 lineup.

### The Dark Age of Animation (2000-2020)

#### The beginning of Dora the Explorer and Go! Diego Go!

In 1997, Nickelodeon, owned by Viacom, one of the companies that supported Warner Bros. during The Hibiscus War contacted Funhouse Animation to involve in a new project called Benjamen the Rabbit. Funhouse Animation agreed. Funhouse Animation and Viacom were working on the project. Viacom then decided that due to the use of anthropomorphic animals in many animated television shows and animated films, they will scrap Benjamen the Rabbit himself and replace him with a girl named Nina. Funhouse Animation agreed. They continued on. Nickelodeon decided to make the show Nick Jr.'s next big hit, after Blue's Clues and Little Bear, two animated television shows that aired on Nick Jr. at the time. Nickelodeon wanted to represent the diversity of Latinas. Two years later in 1999, they renamed Nina as Dora. They decided to name the then-upcoming show as Dora the Explorer. They created additional characters for the show. The results were:- Boots the Monkey, Benny, Isa, Tico and Swiper the Fox. Nickelodeon at first didn't like Swiper, because the company knows that Swiper will cause a bad effect on the well-being of preschoolers. The next year, Dora the Explorer aired on Nick Jr.. That was the beginning of a new dark age. Dora also teached many bad morals and a few good morals and a few Spanish lessons. For example, Dora and Boots prevent Swiper the Fox from stealing by saying "Swiper no swiping" and after that, Swiper says "Oh, man!" and runs away. This is impossible in real life. If said in front of a real thief, the thief will continue to steal the person's objects and will hurt the person and will violently kill the person and steal their body parts. This proves that it teaches children the WRONG way to prevent a thief from stealing, which actually does more harm than good and that it is a BAD moral. Other bad morals include: Encouraging all children to swim, encouraging all children to swing like a monkey, encouraging all children to involve in dangerous activities, tricking children to believe that lifeless objects can speak and that mythical creatures such as dragons, mermaids, unicorns etc are real, encouraging children to be friends with burglars and other bad people, encouraging children( even 2-year 3-year, 4-year and 5-year old children) to go into dangerous environments such as rainforests, jungles and forests without professional advice and adult supervision, encouraging children to talk to strangers, to have sex, teaching witchcraft, animal abuse and living in their friend's house etc. At the time, Warner Bros. was losing the success it had with Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, Freakazoid!, Histeria! and Road Rovers in the 90s. Disney was suffering by the loss of success it had with animated television series such as Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, TaleSpin, Raw Toonage, Marsupilami, Mickey Mouse Works and feature films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, Tarzan, Mulan and Pocahontas in the 90's. Universal was producing cartoons such as The New Woody Woodpecker Show (which was discontinued in 2002 because of Dora the Explorer and Woody Woodpecker fans complaining to Universal about the lack of Andy Panda). Other Western animation studios, television distributors and film distributors were suffering the same fate at the time. Even Viacom was suffering from the same fate. To recover themselves, Warner Bros., Disney, Universal, MGM, Sony and Viacom made attempts to stop Dora the Explorer from ruining the animation industry. Warner Bros. created Justice League (2001), Baby Looney Tunes (2001), What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002), Teen Titans (2003), Duck Dodgers (2003) etc. Disney produced Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000), House of Mouse (2001), The Legend of Tarzan (2001), Kim Possible (2002) etc.. Universal produced the aforementioned The New Woody Woodpecker Show (1999) which was cancelled in 2002, The Mummy: The Animated Series (2001), Curious George (2006) etc.. Fox Animation produced American Dad! (2005), The Cleveland Show (2009) etc.. Other companies were involved in similar efforts at the time. The aforementioned Pokémon cartoon was still airing on TV Tokyo at the time. Animated feature films were heavily popular at the time. Examples include Monsters Inc. (2001, from Disney), Shrek (2001, from DreamWorks), Finding Nemo (2003, also from Disney), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003, from Warner Bros.), Cars (2006, from Disney), Curious George (2006, from Universal), Kung Fu Panda (2008, also from DreamWorks) etc.. It was also during this time that religious cartoons and religious animated films became widespread. Examples include Zaky (2005-present) which is an Islamic cartoon. These attempts and efforts have slowed down the popularity of Dora the Explorer. In 2005, a spin-off of Dora the Explorer, called Go! Diego Go! premiered on Nick Jr.. It, just like Dora is also bad. Dora was discontinued in 2014. Go Diego Go was discontinued three years earlier.

#### The revival of Hibiscus Media

In the early 2000s, following the successes of computer-animated cartoons and animated feature films such as Toy Story (1995) and Antz (1998), K.S Madhu Jr., who became the new head of Hibiscus Media, following in the footsteps of his father, decided to release the Hibiscus cartoons into television. He contacted Kairali TV in 2002 to scan and convert his VHS tapes and film reels containing Hibiscus cartoons. The head of Kairali TV successfully converted the Hibiscus VHS tapes and film reels to digital. The head of Kairali TV told Madhu Jr. that which cartoon should be aired on Kairali TV first. Madhu Jr. replied that Manchadi (aka Pattampoochi) should be shown first due to the Hibiscus cartoons' production being ordered like this: Manchadi (aka Pattampoochi) (1983), Pupi (1984), Kathu (1985). Manchadi started airing on Kairali TV, being renamed as Twinkle Twinkle. Madhu Jr. stated that it was the first Malayalam computer-animated television series. When Hibiscus Media released the content of Twinkle Twinkle on VCD (A CD-based format, similar to DVD), it's title was reverted to Manchadi. Two years later, they released Pupi, another cartoon that was already produced in the 1980s in 2004. After that, for some time until 2011, They produced Manchadi and Pupi cartoons and released them on VCD and DVD, as well as rereleased existing ones on the formats. In 2011, Kathu, Hibiscus' only good cartoon at the time, having been already released by Warner Bros. on VHS in 1995, was released on VCD, DVD and YouTube. Pupi 3 and Manchadi 4 are the last Manchadi and Pupi cartoons ever released. Kathu also has sequels. Unlike Manchadi and Pupi, which are discontinued, the Kathu franchise is still exists today. Kathu also has sequels, Kathu 2, Kathu 3 and Kathu 4. After that, Hibiscus Media produced and released two new cartoons, Banu and Bablu and Mr. Kumaran. During the early part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (2020), they produced and released a new cartoon about the pandemic and the importance of using surgery masks during the pandemic, called "The Mask" (Not to be confused with the popular 1995-1997 American animated series, "The Mask: Animated Series", based on the 1994 film of the same name, or the popular 1985-1986 French animated series, "M.A.S.K", based on the M.A.S.K action figures.). They also released compilations containing their existing cartoons on YouTube. Manchadi 1 was released on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, but was taken down by Hibiscus for unknown reasons.

### The arrivals of Tofu and Tia and Miraculous Ladybug (2012-2020)

A company called "T-Series Kids TV" , decided that kids' cartoons cause violence and as a result, they began releasing tofu and tia cartoons, which depict a child who calls older people by names and others.

Also, Domino's pizza had a licensing deal with Mediawan to use the Noid on their new cartoon. Due to licensing issues, they ditched their deal and created new characters who look ugly and disgusting.

Both tofu and tia. And miraculous ladybug were ruining the name "cartoons" for nearly a decade.