Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater

Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater
Title card
Genre	comedy
Developed by	Sanrio DIC Entertainment MGM/UA Television
Directed by	Michael Maliani
Voices of	(English Dubbing) Carl Banas Mairon Bennett Len Carlson Elizabeth Hanna Kyōko Hikami Denise Pidgeon Tara Charandoff Cree Summer Francks Noam Zylberman
Country of origin	United States Japan
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer	Andy Heyward
Producer	Michael Maliani
Running time	approx. 22-23 min.
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 19 – December 12, 1987

Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater (Japanese: サンリオ・アニメ世界名作劇場, Hepburn: Sanrio anime sekai meisaku gekijō, lit. Sanrio Anime World Masterpiece Theater) is a Japanese-American co-produced animated series based on the popular Japanese character, Hello Kitty. The series involved her and her friends doing their own version of popular fairy tales and stories. Each of the 13 episodes consisted of two 11-minute cartoons, for a total of 26 “shows”; each show was a spoof of a well-known fairy tale or movie.

Characters and voices

• Tara Charandoff - Hello Kitty
• Elizabeth Hanna - Mama Kitty / Grandma Kitty
• Carl Banas - Grandpa Kitty
• Len Carlson - Papa Kitty
• Sean Roberge - Tuxedo J. Orville Sam
• Mairon Bennett - My Melody
• Noam Zylberman - Chip
• Cree Summer Francks - Catnip
• Denise Pidgeon - Fangora
• Greg Morton - Grinder
• Fred Savage - Mowzer
• Additional voices - Charlie Adler, Michael Bell, Peter Cullen, B.J. Ward and Frank Welker

Format

Each cartoon opens with the theater filling up with patrons, and usually a look at some comical goings-on backstage. The play then begins (with Hello Kitty or another character saying “Once upon a meow”) and the stage transforms into whatever setting the story calls for (outer space, the American Old West, et cetera). Each show is a lighthearted takeoff of a children’s story and a popular movie. At the end, the stage returns to normal, and the actors take their bow.

One exception to this format is the cartoon “The Phantom of the Theater,” which begins after the actors have finished a show; all the action in this story takes place backstage.

Episode list

Ep.	Cartoon	Spoof of:
1	The Wizard of Paws	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
	Pinocchio Penguin	Pinocchio
2	Cinderkitty	Cinderella
	The Pawed Piper	The Pied Piper of Hamelin
3	K.T.—The Kitty Terrestrial	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
	Peter Penguin	Peter Pan
4	Kittylocks and the Three Bears	The Three Bears
	Paws—The Great White Dog Shark	Jaws
5	Cat Wars	Star Wars
	Tarsam of the Jungle	Tarzan
6	Sleeping Kitty	Sleeping Beauty
	Kitty and the Kong	King Kong
7	Kitty and the Beast	Beauty and the Beast
	Little Red Bunny Hood	Little Red Riding Hood
8	Snow White Kitty and the One Dwarf	Snow White
	Frankencat	Frankenstein
9	Catula	Dracula
	Paws of the Round Table	Knights of the Round Table
10	Rumpeldogskin	Rumpelstiltskin
	Robin Penguin	Robin Hood
11	Hello Mother Goose	Mother Goose
	Crocodile Penguin	Crocodile Dundee
12	Grinder Genie and the Magic Lamp	Aladdin
	The Ugly Quackling	The Ugly Duckling
13	How Scrinchenip Stole Christmas	Various Christmas stories
	The Phantom of the Theater	The Phantom of the Opera

Availability

Two VHS videocassettes were released, each containing four cartoon shorts, as well as the opening and closing sequences.

In 2003, five DVDs were released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, each containing five cartoon shorts; the only one of the 26 not to be included was “How Scrinchip Stole Christmas.” The opening and closing sequences are not included.

Home video

• Hello Kitty (TV Series): Kitty and the Beast (also includes “Grinder Genie and the Magic Lamp,” “Hello Mother Goose,” and “Little Red Bunny Hood”)
• Hello Kitty: Wizard of Paws (also includes “Snow White Kitty,” “Sleeping Kitty,” and “Peter Penguin”)
• In 1989, episodes from "Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater" were in a video called "Hello Kitty and Friends Get Along from Burbank Video.

DVD list

• Hello Kitty Becomes a Princess (February 4, 2003)
• Hello Kitty Goes to the Movies (February 4, 2003)
• Hello Kitty Saves the Day (February 4, 2003)
• Hello Kitty Plays Pretend (February 17, 2004)
• Hello Kitty Tells Fairy Tales (February 17, 2004)

iTunes

In 2008, all thirteen episodes were made available to download on iTunes for $1.99 an episode or $21.99 for the entire series. To promote the series, iTunes offered the episodes "Wizard of Paws and Pinocchio Penguin" as a free download for a limited time.

Hulu

In 2010, all 26 half episodes were made available to watch on hulu.

External links

• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater at IMDb
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater anime at the MyAnimelist
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater anime at the ANN
• Template:Tv.com show
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater episode guide at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater at Toonarific.com
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theatre on hulu.com