Night of the Dark Kat

Animato Summary

Airdates: October 23/24, 1993
Written by David Ehrman

Dark Kat enlists Hard Drive to help him destroy both the SWAT Kats and their reputation; after the villains lure the pilots into a conveyor belt death trap, Hard Drive uses the stolen Turbokat to pose as the SWAT Kats and frame them as criminals. Good points: 1. Mook’s animation is well done. 2. Callie has a strong role that tests both her courage and her trust in the SWAT Kats; she even gets to save their lives for a change. Bad points: 1. The cliched “make the heroes look like villains” plot. 2. The whole death trap business. Dark Kat is foolish not to kill the SWAT Kats outright; even Hard Drive sensibly complains to his partner, “I still say you should have let me fry those two!” 3. Hard Drive’s introduction is marred by a clumsy, contrived monologue meant to explain the “high- voltage lowlife’s” powers to the audience. The verdict: I’ve seen worse, but this one needed one or two rewrites. B.