The Biskitts

The Biskitts
Title screen
Genre	Adventure Fantasy Comedy
Directed by	Oscar Dufau George Gordon Carl Urbano John Walker Rudy Zamora Ray Patterson (supervising director)
Voices of	Dick Beals Peter Cullen Jennifer Darling Marshall Efron Henry Gibson Kathleen Helppie Darryl Hickman Bob Holt Jerry Houser Kip King Kenneth Mars Mark L. Taylor B.J. Ward
Composer(s)	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	13 (26 segments)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Producer(s)	Art Scott
Editor(s)	Gil Iverson
Running time	20 minutes (whole) 10 minutes (separate)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 17, 1983 (1983-09-17) – September 8, 1984 (1984-09-08)

The Biskitts is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1983 to 1984 and aired on CBS. The series lasted for only one season; Shirt Tales replaced the show in its time slot the following year. The Biskitts returned to that same time slot in March 1985 but only aired reruns in the remainder of that season.^[1] Following the series' retirement from CBS, like many other cartoons, it was acquired by the Armed Forces Network and shown throughout much of the 1980s, mainly as entertainment for children of deployed American servicemen in Asia and Europe.

Plot

The Biskitts are a group of tiny anthropomorphic dogs who live on Biskitt Island and are committed to guarding the crown jewels of Biskitt Castle. Modeled after Robin Hood, the Biskitts still serve their recently deceased king while performing good deeds for the underprivileged inhabitants of their tiny island. It is explained in the opening narration that due to their good reputation for responsibility and security, other kings have entrusted their treasures to be safeguarded by the Biskitts.

The villain of the series is the king's mean-spirited, wasteful, younger brother King Max who rules the neighboring Lower Suburbia. In lieu of a proper coronation, Max constantly schemes to steal the royal treasure with the help of his hench-hounds Fang & Snarl and his jester Shecky. The Biskitts are also in danger of being captured and eaten by a large wildcat named Scratch.

Characters

• Waggs (voiced by Darryl Hickman) – The protagonist of the series who leads the Biskitts on every mission and is always there if his friends are in trouble. He is Sweets' boyfriend. Waggs is a Jack Russell Terrier who is also part Scottish Terrier.
• Sweets (voiced by Kathleen Helppie) – A kind and gentle Biskitt that is friendly to other animals as well as the Biskitts and very helpful. She is Waggs's girlfriend. She is a Saluki.
• Shiner (voiced by Jerry Houser) – Very lazy and selfish and jealous of Waggs' leadership. Sometimes when the Biskitts fall into a trap, Shiner blames Waggs for nothing. He makes poor Downer do all his work. However, he does have a hidden kindly side. He is a Shar Pei and is also part Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
• Lady (voiced by B.J. Ward) – The posh Biskitt who likes to stay clean and pretty and can't the slightest dirt or wetness. Lady also like decorating the castle. She is an American Cocker Spaniel.
• Bump (voiced by Bob Holt) – A strong Biskitt who is a bit dim and clumsy but is also helpful and friendly with Scat. In one episode, Bump found Shecky's jokes funny and becomes friends with him. He is a St. Bernard.
• Downer (voiced by Henry Gibson) – Downer is an unhappy and cowardly Biskitt, pessimistic that something bad will happen. He is unlucky friends with Shiner, who makes him do work for him while Shiner lies about. Downer is a Basset Hound.
• Wiggle (voiced by Jennifer Darling) – Wiggle is another girl Biskitt who helps out with events. She likes Shiner but in one episode she had a crush on Waggs. Wiggle is a Rough Collie.
• Spinner (voiced by Bob Holt) – Spinner is the oldest and a wiser Biskitt. He helps the Biskitts when they stumble into something he knows about in fact Spinner knows a lot about the swamp. Spinner is a Siberian Husky.
• Scat (voiced by Dick Beals) – Scat is a young Biskitt. He is industrious and brave, but sometimes his bravery can land him into trouble. Scat is friends with Bump who saves him sometimes from trouble. He is a Dachshund.
• Mooch (voiced by Marshall Efron) – Mooch is the fat and gluttonous Biskitt who always thinks about food. He really likes bones, berries and cakes. Mooch is an Old English Sheepdog.

Villains

• King Max (voiced by the Kenneth Mars) – The evil, mean-spirited, and wasteful King who rules the neighboring Lower Suburbia and serves as the antagonist. He is the younger brother of the previous King. Why Max is not crowned the new ruler of the Biskitts is never explained. He tries hard to go the Biskitts Castle to steal the royal treasure. King Max bosses Shecky around the castle most of the time and threatens the Biskitts to talk sometimes by trying to kill them from an Eagle who does not like Biskitts attacking them to boiling them alive. Despite being the King, Max wears tatty, ripped clothes with the toe part of his left shoe missing.
  • Shecky (voiced by Kip King) – Shecky is King Max's sidekick and court jester. Although Shecky was rather dimwitted and not always loyal to Max, he even made friends with Bump who shared his love of practical jokes. He is not just a Jester, he also cleans, cooks, and does other jobs for King Max.
  • Fang and Snarl (vocal effects provided by Kenneth Mars and Peter Cullen) – Fang and Snarl are King Max's hounds. They help Max and Shecky to sniff them out.
  • Moat Monster (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – A serpentine monster that lives in the moat surrounding King Max's castle.
• Scratch (voiced by Peter Cullen) – Scratch is a wildcat who is always trying to catch the Biskitts and eat them. He lives in a cave somewhere in the swamp. When the Biskitts are near Scratch's cave, they need to be on the watch out from him. He has a cousin named Itch who caused the Biskitts confusion.

Other characters

• Rover (voiced by Peter Cullen) – Rover is a pirate like Biskitt who has been away from Biskitt island for a long time. He is a Golden Retriever.
• Flip – A laid-back Biskitt. He is a Doberman Pinscher.
• Fetch (voiced by Kenneth Mars) – A silly-looking Biskitt. He is a Beagle.
• The Whiskers – A group of cats. Only appear on the episode "Raiders of The Lost Bark".
  • Mouser – Leader of the Whiskers. He befriends with Sweets and showed her his home.
  • Pendora – A female cat who has a crystal ball to see what's going on (Sweets notes that this is similar to the extensive knowledge in Spinner's book).
  • Boots – A fat lazy cat who always sleeps so he could go to bed at night.
  • Scaredy Cat – A cat who is afraid of everything.
  • Mink – A pretty French-accented cat and have a crush on Scat, after he saved her from Scratch. She seems to be a feline version of Lady.
  • Jinks – A cat with constant bad luck.
  • Tiger – A tough cat with an eye patch, he seems to be the Whiskers' equivalent of Bump.
• Talon the Rat – A large rat who tries eat the Whiskers, just like Scratch hunts the Biskitts. When they crossed each other's paths, Talon was scared of Scratch and ran away, causing Scratch to chase him and meaning that both of them weren't seen for a while.
• King Otto – A king who arrived with his army of knights to steal King Max's treasure. He only appeared in "King Max's War".
• The Witch – She tries kidnapped Sweets and Waggs and feed them to her mirror. But Spinner knows a lot about her and stops just in time and her castle gets destroyed alone with her. She has a pet bat and a pet rat.
• Princess Biskitt – The Princess Biskitt gets kidnapped by King Max to capture the Biskitts. The male Biskitts fall into the trap and was about to boiled alive with her. Sweets, Wiggle and Lady thought she was not real at first but found out that she is and saved the male Biskitts and Princess Biskitt from their hot watery doom.
• Pyronce – The Dragon who menaced the Biskitts until he was defeated.

List of episodes

Music

Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is used in theme and in parts in some of episodes. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera used the tune in their Tom and Jerry cartoon The Cat Concerto.

Cast

Children's book

A children's book was created based on The Biskitts. In the book, it is discovered that King Max's jester Shecky bears a striking resemblance to King John, one of the kings who has entrusted his treasure to be safeguarded by the Biskitts. When King Max learns of this, he plots to use it to his advantage telling Shecky that they will attempt to steal King John's treasure by having Shecky impersonate King John to come and withdraw his treasure, and Max will pretend to be his slave. While Max and Shecky fool the Biskitts at first into thinking the real King John has come; Shecky seems to enjoy goofing off more and allowing Max to have to do all sorts of chores, much as King Max made him do plenty of demeaning labor.

Home Media releases

An episode of the show, part of the DVD collection, Saturday Mornings Cartoons: 1980s - Volume 1, released on May 4, 2010.

References

External links

• The Biskitts at the Internet Movie Database
• The Biskitts at TV.com