Fraidy Cat is a 1975 comical children's cartoon show that originally appeared as a segment on Filmation's short-lived ABC series Uncle Croc's Block.
Plot
The show stars Fraidy "Nine" Cat, an unlucky and miserable cat who, like all cats, has nine lives, but has used up eight of them and is on his ninth and last life, where he wants to make it last. The main joke of the series is that as if Fraidy's life was not miserable enough, every time Fraidy inadvertently says out loud any single-digit number, or any word or any part of a word that rhymes with or sounds the same as the number's name in any language, a ghost from one of his former lives will appear and mistakenly tend to make things even worse for the hopeless cat. The ghosts are:
Elephunt Cave "One" Cat - A prehistoric saber-toothed tiger with a caveman motif. He owns a huge pet Apatosaurus named "Ant".
Kitty "Two" Wizard - A befuddled magician whose wand was often on the wrong setting.
Captain "Three" Kitt - A pirate who is the self-proclaimed "buccaneer's buccaneer".
Billy "Five" the Kit - A western cowboy. He is a small guy with a very loud voice.
Jasper "Six" Catdaver - An undertaker who actually prefers to expedite Fraidy's passing to the "Other Side", though not out of spite. He is ironically the least troublesome of the ghosts.
Captain Eddie "Seven" Kittenbacker - A pilot who is a very erratic flier.
Cloud Nine - As accidentally saying a number from one to eight gets Fraidy a ghost, as if to fill the void towards his last life, saying "nine" calls forth an ominous, malevolent storm cloud which immediately gives chase after Fraidy, attempting to blast him with bolts of lightning until Fraidy manages to either outrun the cloud or its limited time it can stay expires.
Each short begins with all eight ghosts appearing around Fraidy who says to the audience about his life: "Every kitty has nine lives. But eight of mine went fast. Now there's only one life left, and I want to make it last!"Cloud Nine appears and he starts running. Then he morphs into the yellow-lined cat's name which its letters said it was at the end of the intro. Whenever terrified by some dangerous situation, Fraidy often exclaims: ''"This kitten's splitting!"
Episodes
The last six episodes were never made, due to the cancellation of Uncle Croc's Block.
All 12 Fraidy Cat episodes were released by Boulevard Entertainment on two DVD volumes in the 2000s, and later by BCI on a compilation DVD called Frightfully Funny: Volume Two, which also included episodes of Groovie Goolies and Filmation's Ghostbusters. Fraidy Cat has been mistakenly believed to be in the public domain, and has shown up on many public domain compilation DVDs.
