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Counterfeit Cat

  • ️Sun Jul 10 2016

Counterfeit Cat (Western Animation)

What would happen if someone attempted to fuse The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time, Futurama, Rick and Morty, Gravity Falls and Regular Show into one? The result would be this.

Counterfeit Cat is a British-Canadian animated series created by British artist Andrew Laverey, and co-developed between Britain's Aardman Animations and Canada's Atomic Cartoons (with the latter providing the animation). It first premiered on Disney XD in the UK on May 12, 2016, and in the US, a sneak peek played on May 31st, and then the series officially premiered there on June 20. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon, beginning November 1, 2016. It came to an end in 2017 after a single season of 26 episodes, although 11 shorts were also produced.

The show centers on two friends; Gark, a blue, tentacled alien with strange Psychic Powers who wears a custom-made purple cat costume to blend in, and his close friend Maximilian "Max" Fluffybottom III, a selfish, vain housecat who live together with their doting owner Betty, a kind-hearted yet klutzy old woman, and their bizarre, over-the-top abstract adventures as Max occasionally ends up in weird situations or ends up misusing Gark's powers for his own benefit.

Interestingly, this show marks the third Aardman TV production with a Canadian studio, having previously done both Planet Sketch and Chop Socky Chooks with Decode Entertainment in the 2000s (both of which incidentally also aired on Teletoon in Canada)

Tropes pertaining to the series:

  • Abstaining from Rudeness: In "Low Resolutions", Max decides to be nice for his new year's resolution, struggling to hold himself back from insulting party guests. Meanwhile, Gark adopts Max's sarcastic personality, which the guests actually find funny coming from him.
  • Aerith and Bob: Gark and Max. Justified in that the former is an alien.
  • Alien Invasion: The climax of "Betty Laser Eyes" has a a race of multicolored extraterrestrials with googly eyes invade Earth after Betty's laser vision mucks things up.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Gark the alien speaks English (at least towards the animals).
  • Animal Talk: Aliens and most animals have no problem speaking with each other. Gark's translator must be on the fritz, though, because his speech comes across as a series of high-pitched mews to humans, while Throckmorton can be understood just fine.
  • Badass Adorable: Gark. He's unbelievably powerful, and he's absolutely adorable.
  • Bait-and-Switch: In one episode Max falls in love with a vacuum cleaner. While in Betty's room with it, Max proclaims "Finally, I understand what vacuums are for", sounding like he meant the vacuum giving him a blowjob, then it zooms out to show that it's just vacuuming the bed.
  • Benevolent A.I.: Throckmorton, the A.I. of Gark's ship, is overprotective and fatherly to Gark, but isn't so fond of Max.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Despite being small, cute, and generally friendly, Gark can be surprisingly formidable if pushed far enough.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Gark, a blue alien, is one of the main heroes of this show and is usually the one to save the day.
  • Body Horror: Pretty frequent for a children's show, but "Go Viral" takes the cake.
  • Butt-Monkey: Max is often at the brunt of the trouble he and Gark run into. He also doesn't seem to get respect from anyone besides Gark.
  • Cats Are Lazy: When not traveling with Gark, Max often sleeps around the house.
  • Cats Are Mean:
    • Max can be pretty vain and harsh towards other characters. But at the end of the day, he values Gark as a friend and Betty as his caretaker.
    • To a much lesser extent, Ranceford. She's only mean to Max.
    • Jackson takes this even further by trying to kill Max in "Jackson 5".
  • Cats Are Snarkers: Max and Ranceford are constantly snarky towards each other.
  • Cats Have Nine Lives: Jackson, a street cat and Betty's former pet, has died many times and lost all but one of his limbs as a result.
  • Cool Old Lady: Betty is this to a limited extent, but she does make up by being nice to everyone.
  • Couch Gag: The last scene of the intro. Regularly it's the wall of Betty's apartment falling down to reveal a giant monster with a leering eye; in horror-themed episodes, Betty's head unzips like a costume to reveal a tentacle monster, and in the Christmas special, Max and Gark are frozen while Christmas decorations are hung up in Betty's apartment.
  • Deranged Animation: The animation can get very weird at times, with the wormhole entering/exiting scene in "Wormhole" taking the cake.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Throughout "I, Maxine", Max attempts to do heroic deeds using a robotic supersuit in order to gain respect, only for Gark to keep interfering due to Max making things worse. By the end, he settles for the respect Gark already gives him.
  • The Cat Is an Alien: Gark, of course, is an alien in a cat suit. Later in "Wart Attack", Staring Dog also turns out to be an alien bounty hunter looking for Gark.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The "Power of all Creatures" in "Go Viral".
  • Freudian Trio:
  • Expy: Max is an overweight, self-centered feline with a big appetite. Does that remind you of anyone?
  • Fat Idiot: Nelson, an obese pigeon, isn't that bright and sometimes even forgets he could fly.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Apart from Gark and Betty (the latter being their owner), nobody else likes Max very much due to his personality. In "The Vet", the other animals agree help Max rescue Gark only for the latter's sake.
  • Giant Eye of Doom: At the end of the first opening, the wall crashes down for no reason, and a gigantic, lizard-like eye stares at Max, Gark and Betty.
  • Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Gark is childlike and optimistic while Max is often lazy and sometimes gets jealous of him.
  • Glowing Eyes: In "Staring Dog", Gark's eyes shine just like a pair of flashlights as he explores Wilma's apartment in the dark.
  • High on Catnip: In "Catnipped", Gark finds Max's old catnip toy and it causes Max to turn green and foam at the mouth, running away with the toy.
  • Ignored Epiphany: At the end of "The Scarlet Mark", it's revealed that eating cheese causes Max extreme guilt about his behavior to the point where he sets up traps for himself in his sleep. Max decides to just eat less cheese so he wouldn't have to feel bad about himself again.
  • Instrumental Theme Tune: The theme music is electronic-ish, and has whistling throughout; The only words spoken are a robotic "Counterfeit Cat" at the end.
  • It's All About Me: Max thinks very highly of himself. In "The Vet", he gets Gark to take his place for a vet checkup, which as Throckmorton later warns (other than Gark's true identity being discovered) could result in the world's destruction...but Max has to be reminded that he's part of the world to care.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Max is a self-absorbed yet cowardly layabout who frequently uses Gark's powers for selfish gain, but, deep down, he cares so much for his best friend, and when it shows, it shows.
  • Leave Me Alone!: Towards the end of "I, Maxine", Max's robotic suit rusts in the rain. Despite being trapped in it, he refuses help from Gark, thinking he can get out on his own. After staying there for about a year, the suit finally breaks apart, freeing him at the point where he has almost completely wasted away.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Max often calls Ranceford "Rancid".
  • Mistaken Identity: According to the show's official backstory, Gark initially mistook Max for a tiger, believing him to be the "bravest creature on Earth".
  • Never My Fault: Max rarely takes responsibility for his actions. He refuses to listen to Gark's warnings about his armor in "I, Maxine" until it rusts, to which he questions how it's his fault.
  • Nice Guy: Gark is kind and gets along with pretty much everyone...as long as they aren't intergalactic bounty hunters.
  • No Name Given: 'Staring Dog' is named exactly that by the animals while the humans call him 'Boy'.
  • Noodle Incident: How Gark crashed his spacecraft into Betty's laundry room is left unknown.
  • No Waterproofing in the Future: In "I, Maxine", Max's Powered Armor ends up rusting when exposed to rain. This is justified as it's made out of a material found on Gark's planet, where there is no water and it rains strawberry milk.
  • Ocular Gushers: In the episode "9 Lives", Gark cried an entire deluge that flooded the city.
  • Organic Technology: Bizarrely, by way of his alien powers, Gark can use his own body to interface with electronics, as in plugging his tentacle into a security camera to scrape the footage or playing back a DVD by swallowing it.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: If there wasn't apparently a Weirdness Censor, Gark's cat costume wouldn't last ten minutes, especially considering that it doesn't even match his skin color.
  • Powered Armor: The plot of "I, Maxine" is that Max attempts to gain respect by wearing an enormous robot suit.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Gark is surpringly cute for a powerful psychic alien.
  • Rubber Man: Gark can stretch his limbs and body ridiculously far, and he can also mold his tentacles into any tool he can think of as if they were clay, from a rowing oar to a surgical scalpel.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In "The Scarlet Mark", Gark is playing detective, dressed exactly like Sherlock; he even has dimples to denote prominent cheekbones.
    • The title "28 Seconds Later" is a reference to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later.
    • Near the end of "Staring Dog", Gark thinks he sees Betty in a red coat and it turns out to be Staring Dog, referencing Don't Look Now.
    • Betty and her friend Wilma (Staring Dog's owner). Is it really a coincidence that they have the same names as two certain animated cavewomen?
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Max and Ranceford often mock and insult each other, but the Valentine's day episode showed them going on a date together.
  • The Speechless: Staring Dog only communicates with a loud breathing sound.
  • Status Quo Is God:
    • In "Any Takers?" Max and Gark's friends find out Gark is an alien, prompting Max to get a device to wipe their memories. By the time Max comes back and uses the device everyone had grown to accept Gark as an alien.
    • In "Low Resolutions", Max tries to be nice and Gark becomes snarky, but their switch in personalities causes an imbalance in the universe, leading to a "space zit". After it pops, Throckmorton accepts the blame for putting them up to this, which causes another zit until he restores the balance by pinning the blame on Max.
  • Sticky Situation: The plot of "Bin Juice" is that Max is detailing him and Gark becoming a pop duo after they get stuck together with what is implied to be rain water mixed with garbage.
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: Staring Dog has a permanent one.
  • The Voiceless: Staring Dog, unlike the other characters, never says a word and only communicates with creepy breathing.
  • Yellow/Purple Contrast: Gark, a mysterious visitor wearing a purple costume, is surprisingly smart and experienced in alien technology compared to Max, a yellow cat with some cowardly tendencies and an ego but also a heart of gold.
  • Weirdness Censor: In "Wart Attack", as Max and Gark are explicitly engaging in a laser battle against two aliens, Betty and Wilma only see a handful of small animals roughhousing on the carpet.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: "28 Seconds Later", which you could probably guess just from the title.