Counterfeit Cat is a British-Canadian animated television series produced by Wildseed Kids for Teletoon and Disney XD. The series first aired on Disney XD in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2016. In the United States, the first episode aired on Disney XD as a sneak preview on May 31, 2016 and officially on June 20, 2016. In Canada, it premiered on November 1, 2016.
The series revolves around the adventures and friendship of Max (Marc Wootton), a lazy housecat, and Gark (Alex Kelly), an alien who disguises himself in a purple knitted cat costume to blend in. Gark crashed his spaceship on Earth, landing in the laundry room of Betty (Kayvan Novak), a klutzy yet kind old woman who is Max's owner. Gark believes that Max is a tiger, the bravest species on Earth, despite Max's cowardice. The two often find themselves in surreal and dangerous situations due to Gark's unstable, bizarre powers, which Max often uses to his own advantage without thinking of the consequences.
Main Characters
Max (voiced by Marc Wootton, full name: "Maximillian Fluffybottom III) is a yellow, lazy, selfish house-cat that is pampered by Betty. Max often gets into dangerous and frightening adventures with Gark -- adventures that Max hates getting involved in, but it is shown several times throughout the series that he does care for his best friend. There are many customizations of him possibly in every episode.
Gark (voiced by Alex Kelly) is a naive 9-year-old psychic alien disguised as a purple knitted cat costume to blend in. He often use his powers for Max (If he needs help). Gark is often braver than Max. They often go on adventures together. His customizations was appeared throughout every episode.
Betty (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a kindhearted but klutzy elderly old woman who owns Max and Gark. In "Jackson 5", She is revealed that she had Jackson and Max (before Gark came to earth) when she was younger. In "Humanoid", She has a daughter named, Jeanette and revealed that she has deceased husbands. She didn't appear in every episode that often, making her a recurring character.
Recurring Characters
Staring Dog is a dog with big eyes and greyish brown fur, he constantly stares at Max which makes him uncomfortable and frightened. He made his debut in "Bin Juice" in the form of a cameo.
Phlegmy (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is green furball originally started as a planet and the moon by Gark. All of the furballs were merged to create him. And he is treated as a child by Max and Gark themselves. He made his debut in "Furst Born". He later made his form of a cameo in the episode "Dreamcatcher".
Throckmorton (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is the artificial intelligence of Gark's ship, he is overprotective of Gark and acts like a father-figure to him, though when it comes to Max their attitudes clash. He made his debut in "Wart Attack".
Ranceford (voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a white, odd-eyed cat. Max harbors a crush on her, but like the other animals, she prefers Gark over Max. She is the leader of The Sunshine Circle of Cats and denies Max membership. She made her debut in "Catiquette".
The Kid (voiced by Kyle Soller) is a squirrel that lives in the park next to Betty's apartment. He made his debut in "Bin Juice".
The Squirrels (also voiced by Kyle Soller) are the three squirrels that also lives next to Betty's apartment like The Kid. They made a cameo in "The Last Yogi Standing".
Nelson (also voiced by Katherine Ryan) is a dumb and overweight green pigeon and The Kid's best friend. He also made his debut in "Bin Juice".
Cutter (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green-blue cat with a yellow right eye and an left eye patch and purple hair. He made his silent appearance in "Bin Juice". His name was later revealed in "Cat Box of Fear".
Anton (also voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a green dog with black hair. In his first appearance he is a bully to Max, but in later episodes isn't a threat.
Trash Can Hat Cat (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a cat with scruffy fur, he believes in wild conspiracy theories and is homeless. He made his debut in "Catiquette", his name was revealed in "The Cat Crib".
Clamant (voiced by Kyle Soller) is a cat with orange hair, yellow eyes, a pink tennis headband and a black and white face who is an expert on yogi and he is a rival of Max and Gark. He made his appearance in "The Last Yogi Standing".
Chico (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a bounty hunter disguised as a puppy. She wants to kidnap Gark because there is a bounty on his head for driving his ship too fast. She made her debut in "Wart Attack".
Zaxos (also voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a Wartian bounty hunter set out to capture Gark along with Chico. She made her debut in "Wart Attack", she later appeared in "Zaxos Returns" and claims to have changed her ways, but is actually out to steal Betty's cheeks.
The Cat Toy God (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is Max's nemesis and the ruler of an alternate dimension found underneath Betty's sofa. He made his debut in "Where Do All The Cat Toys Go".
Jackson (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a light green, street, ear-torn, one legged cat. He keeps dying and coming back from the dead, he blames Max for his deaths and tries to kill him but, like Anton, isn't a threat in later episodes. He made his debut in "Jackson 5".
Wilma (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an old woman who owns, Staring Dog and one of Betty's friends. She made her debut in "Staring Dog".
Jeanette (also voiced by Kayvan Novak) is a cat-obsessed girl who is Betty's daughter. She made her debut in "Humanoid" and made her full length major appearance in "Fun in the Sun" where she looks after Max and Gark for the weekend until they run away.
Charles Anthony (voiced by Adam Buxton) is Max's favorite cat toy, though he is now owned by Cat Toy God after Max dropped him underneath the sofa. He only speaks when he is in Cat Toy God's dimension. He also made his debut in "Where Do All The Cat Toys Go?".
Doris (voiced by Kerry Shale) is an old woman with blue eyes and grey hair, who is a bird feeder and Max and Gark's nemesis. She made her debut in "Breaking Bread".
Edwin (voiced by Adam Long) is a man with a white shirt and a purple tie and one of Doris' partners. He also made his debut in "Breaking Bread".
Marge (voiced by Myles McLeod) is an old man and also one of Doris' partners. "He made his debut in "Breaking Bread".
Flargle (voiced by Sandra Dickinson) is a purple female three-eyed alien who posts on a blog about how bad of a planet Earth is, which causes Gark to be mad. She partners with Chico and Zaxos in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent". She made her debut in "Mere Mortals".
Chameleon (voiced by Kerry Shale) is a chameleon who turned into a super villain by Gark in "The Gark Night Rises". He paired with Anton and Staring Dog in the episode, "Gark's Got Talent".
Jibbo (voiced by Alexa Kahn) is an green and yellow alien who one of the saviors of Baa-Boo-Raa. She was introduced in the second part of "Gone Gark".
Baa-Boo-Raa (voiced by Reginald D. Hunter) is an Sensei who chose Gark to save the universe by joining the saviors for training. He was introduced in "Gone Gark" .
Meathead (voiced by Kayvan Novak) is an alien who is made of meat and from Planet Meathead. He is also one of the saviors. He made his debut in the second part of "Gone Gark".
Development
On December 3, 2010, Aardman Animations originally started the development for the show for Disney. The series is Aardman's first series to use traditional animation.
The development was in co-production with Wildseed Studios to complete the development for the project together while Atomic Cartoons was hired to serve animation production and Tricon Films & Television committed to distribute the series.
During the development, The series was going to focus on the life of an 9-12-year-old house cat named "Gort". According to an early article. But however, The show's original idea was scrapped due to various difficulties.
The designs for the show were provided by Antoine Birot and Raphael Chabassol based on original designs by Nick Edwards. The series is directed by Ben Marsaud and produced by Sarah Mattingley. The first season consisted with 52 full-length episodes and 9 two-minute shorts.
It is the first ever Disney XD series to be partnered up with Aardman Animations. The company is also known for Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run and as well as Canimals and commonly Rex the Runt.
Ben Marsaud (who is the director of the series) was a former storyboard artist of seasons 1-3 of Cartoon Network's original British-American children's animated series, The Amazing World of Gumball & as well as a current director of Netflix's original sitcom, F is for Family.
Animation
The animation services for the series is handled by Atomic Cartoons. The animation company also been known for Atomic Betty, Captain Flamingo and as well currently as the sixth season of Max & Ruby and Angry Birds Toons. The animation is being made on Adobe Flash.
Short Overview
Counterfeit Cat premiered on May 12, 2016 with the episode, "Bin Juice" and "Where Do All The Cat Toys Go?" in the United Kingdom on Disney XD. As of July 7, no new episodes were airing in the UK, as the series appears to be on hiatus. In Canada, more episodes are remaining airing on Teletoon, But never released in UK or the US as the series sometimes moves to Canada.
The episode, "Merry Christmax / Low Resolutions", aired in Canada on December 15, 2016 and making it that the British release date is yet to be revealed for the Christmas special and the future episodes.
Home Media
The first and second volumes of Season 1 streamed on iTunes on November 1, 2016 (the same day that the series premiered on Teletoon) and on November 23, 2016 respectively.
Shorts
Counterfeit Cat also premiered with the shorts were originally shown on Disney XD's UK YouTube channel on May 12, 2016 to help keep the show going. It was originally intended to be released with 11 two minute shorts. But, however... only 7 shorts are completely unproduced or never posted to YouTube, Making it that there were only 9 shorts.
2-Part Special
A 2-part episode, "Gone Gark", is released on January 30, 2017 on Disney XD in the United States. It also served as the 26th segment and the 52nd episode, making it the season finale of season 1. It aired on Teletoon on Feburaury 9, 2017. In the UK, It was released on January 22, 2017.
Critical response
Since the show's debut in the middle of 2016, The series have reached it's rating of 8/10 on IMDb. Emily Ashby (of Common Sense Media) stated that her TV review is that Counterfeit Cat is a "Funny buddy comedy has mischief, feline-flavored humor".
The series is commissionally pitched for children ages from 7 to 15. The show is rated TV-Y7 for cartoon fantasy and science fiction scenes.
