Fantomcat is a British animated series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films. It was first broadcast between 7 September 1995 and 18 December 1996, and was animated by Alfonso Productions, a Spanish animation studio also responsible for animating and bringing Cosgrove Hall's shows Count Duckula, Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime, Avenger Penguins, Sooty's Amazing Adventures and The Foxbusters to life, Milimetros, another Spanish animation studio, and in-house by Cosgrove Hall themselves. It aired largely on Children's ITV. The series also had a run on Pop from 2003 to 2005. It was the first Cosgrove Hall cartoon to be animated with a process called Animo, wherein the animation drawings were scanned and then digitally coloured on computers. The first season was produced and directed by Ben Turner, while the second and final season was produced and directed by its creator, Andy Roper.

Influences

The main character of Fantomcat was influenced heavily by Zorro, Errol Flynn and Fantômas, and the series itself was influenced by Batman: The Animated Series and the time-lost approach of both Adam Adamant Lives! and Gargoyles.

Details

Fantomcat centres on the character Phillipe L'Entrique Elan de Chanel, Count Givenchy and Duke of Fantom, a.k.a. Fantomcat, a masked swashbuckling hero who thrives on December 31, 1699 in mortal combat with his nemesis Baron von Skelter, a sword-wielding caped Skeletoid alchemist. But Von Skelter is not alone in Castle Fantom, as he has brought with him two of his henchmen. During the battle, Phillipe is treacherously cast into a painting within the halls of his home, Castle Fantom, by Von Skelter's henchmen with the Crystal of Malevolence, a stone so powerful that it can change worlds. As his clock strikes midnight, he becomes trapped in the painting for three centuries while Von Skelter stole his Ring of the Fantoms and his sword, Touché. As time passed, the area around Castle Fantom becomes a bustling metropolis called Metrocity, a city submerged in crime rings led by the fiendish arachnid Marmagora. Eventually, at midnight on 31 December 1999, Fantomcat is freed from the painting by the Wildcat Detectives when they take a wrong turning into the castle while chasing two explosive-wielding reptiles. On 1 January 2000, Fantomcat joins the Wildcat Detectives in their battle against Marmagora and her henchmen, who have used another Crystal of Malevolence to summon Baron von Skelter into the modern day and join her as her partner in a new world order. Fantomcat and the Wildcat Detective Agency defeat Marmagora's henchmen, and blow up Baron Von Skelter with the two Crystals of Malevolence. Although the Baron has been defeated, Marmagora is still hanging around, and the battle will continue another day.

Characters

Heroes

Villains

Other characters

Episode list

Season 1

Season 2

Home media

On 13 January 2003 in the United Kingdom, Cinema Club and Granada Media released 2 DVDs and videos of Fantomcat, one with Episodes 1 and 2, and one with Episodes 3 and 4. Previously, in 1996, Telstar Home Entertainment released 3 videos as part of their Star Kids range. So far, the rest of the first series and the second series have not been officially released in the United Kingdom, but bootleg copies of the first and second series exist, and can be requested from ITV Viewer Requests. As of January 2022, both series were made available for streaming on BritBox. In Serbia, Beokolp released 2 DVDs of Fantomcat, one with Episodes 14, 15, 16 and 10, and one with Episodes 5, 6, 7 and 22.