Top Cat is the leader of the gang and his right hand men consist of Benny the Ball (a short, chubby, naive and cute cat who is slow... not stupid), Choo Choo (he is the tallest of all the alley cats), Brain is the dim-witted member, who really struggles to keep a secret, Fancy Fancy (laid-back, sweet talking and is always chatting up the ladies) and Spook (the servant of the gang who is also a pool shark). Join these alley cats as they menace the streets of New York City in another six classic episodes...

Volume 3 of Top Cat contains the following six episodes:

Rafeefleas: Benny accidentally spends the night in the local museum after he fell asleep and is locked in. When the gang discover a priceless Egyptian scarab stuck to his jacket they think it's a cheap plastic imitation. Fancy Fancy gives it to one of his girlfriends just before Top Cat realises that it's the real deal. Can the gang sneak it back into the museum, where it belongs, before Dibble catches them?

The Tycoon: A billionaire decides that he wants to help a needy person by sharing some of his vast fortune with them. He bumps into Benny and the gang and thinks he's found the perfect poor family. A cheque for a million dollars is handed over to Top Cat and his gang, but Top Cat tears up the cheque not realising how much it's for.

The Long Hot Winter: With snow on the ground, Top Cat and the gang manage to talk their way into spending a night in Dibble's warm apartment. Things don't run smoothly, and Dibble evicts them. In an attempt to shame Dibble into letting them back in, Top Cat calls a magazine with a story for them to print - a story about a noble officer's charitable campaign to save the homeless from a freezing alley.

The Case of The Absent Anteater: When an anteater follows Benny back to the alley, Top Cat soon leans that it has escaped from the zoo and that there is a reward for its safe return. As they are taking the anteater back to the zoo a dogcatcher captures it and takes it off to the dog pound. Now TC and the gang plan on breaking into the dog pound in order to rescue the anteater, return it to the zoo and claim their reward.

T.C. Minds The Baby: The gang find a baby abandoned outside a house that is due for demolition. They take the baby and do their best to look after it. But babies need feeding and so the gang have to steal bottles from prams in the park. When the police hear about this the gang come under suspicion from officer Dibble - who hasn't yet realised why there are nappies drying in the alley, and a baby's bottle in his phone box.

Farewell, Mr. Dibble: New patrolman Earnest Prowler is keen to make his mark. He asks to be given officer Dibble's beat, thinking that he can clean up the streets where Dibble has failed. As Prowler's uncle is the sergeant, he soon gets his wish and Dibble is fired. Top Cat and the gang don't like the fact that Prowler is too hot on crime, and so they set out to get the softer Dibble's job back for him.

Extras include Cool Cats in the Alley - two interview featurettes with the original vocal cast. First up we have Top Cat (10 min, 20 sec interview with Arnold Stang who provided the voice of Top Cat); and Cool Cats (20 min, 54 sec interview with Leo De Lyon (who voiced Spook and Brain), Marvin Kaplan (who voiced Choo-Choo) and writer Barry Blitzer). While these interviews will be of interest to old viewers, there isn't really a whole lot of interesting revelations awaiting fans.

The worst thing about this collection though is the picture quality. Now, this is probably down to the quality of the original recording. It's not so much that the film is poor, just that the original animation cells seem to have been poorly looked after. Whenever anyone moves there is a deterioration in quality of the image. This is most noticeable in the first few minutes of watching your first episode - it's like watching a bad video - but over time you do get used to it. Also, this series hasn't aged well. The jokes are pretty poor and the animation is pretty basic too.

Die-hard fans of the show, and young viewers, will probably love this. But for those who are thinking of embarking on a trip down memory lane... don't. It's probably best to remember Top Cat how you think it was, rather than having your childhood memory shattered by watching this DVD.

6

Nick Smithson