| The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat | |
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| Genre | |
| Written by | Dr. Seuss |
| Directed by | Bill Perez |
| Voices of | |
| Narrated by | Mason Adams |
| Music by | Joe Raposo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | David H. DePatie |
| Producers | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
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| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | May 20, 1982 (1982-05-20) |
The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (also known asThe Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched, orThe Grinch Vs. the Cat in the Hat) is a 1982 AmericanEmmy Award–winning animatedmusical television special andcrossover starringThe Grinch andThe Cat in the Hat. Completed in 1981, it premiered on May 20, 1982, onABC and would beDePatie andFreleng's final Dr. Seuss special and the only Dr. Seuss cartoon byMarvel Productions.[1] The songs were written bySesame Street composerJoe Raposo.[2]
The Grinch wakes up in a good mood one morning until his reflection in the mirror speaks to him, prompting him to repeat the "Grinch's Oath", reminding him of his evil, venomous nature, and he leaves to prove himself. Meanwhile,The Cat in the Hat goes on a picnic. Their paths cross when the Grinch bumps his car into the Cat's, and things quickly escalate into a fierce car chase after the Cat inadvertently insults the Grinch by calling him "Mr. Greenface".
The Cat returns to the safety of his home, but the Grinch follows him to demonstrate a device he has invented that scrambles all sounds within a 50-mile radius, including the Cat's voice. Back home, the Grinch decides to upgrade the device into a "darkhouse", an anti-lighthouse that spreads beams of darkness.
The Cat becomes livid with the Grinch's hijinks and has a psychiatric session with him in athought bubble to find out what makes him so mean-spirited. He gets nowhere with the imaginary Grinch (though he is briefly triggered by the memory of his deceased mother), so the Cat then decides to go over and have a talk with him. The Grinch makes it so dark that the Cat can't see where he's going, and he crashes his car when he passes a "Dead End" sign. The Grinch decides to liven things up by changing the beam of darkness to persimmon pink.
The Cat takes refuge in a nearby restaurant, while the Grinch sends beams that make things change colors, and literally and crazily come to life, and his hijinks result in confusion all over the place. The Cat has now become sick and tired of the Grinch and ponders to himself how he can change the Grinch, eventually finding an idea and rallies up everybody in the restaurant to follow him to the Grinch's house. There, he leads everyone in a song to remind the Grinch of all of the love he received from his mother and implore him to change his ways and be a better person. Before the Grinch can get to the darkhouse to scramble it, he collapses in grief over the memory of his mother and he and Max dismantle the darkhouse.
The next morning, the Grinch is again happy, but when the reflection tries to turn him evil again, Max reveals he left the device intact and scrambles the reflection's words.
1982Primetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Animated Program.[4]
Both the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat were recast with different voice actors than the ones used in previous specials, all of whom had died.Bob Holt voiced the Grinch (Hans Conried, who voiced the Grinch inHalloween Is Grinch Night, died four months before this special had aired, whileBoris Karloff, the original voice of the Grinch, died in 1969) andMason Adams took over voicing the Cat in the Hat fromAllan Sherman, who died in 1973.
Since Freleng was absent from production onPink at First Sight due to him breaking upthe studio he began with DePatie before returning toWarner Bros., this was the only other fully animated DFE production to be made byMarvel Productions and one of the last DFE cartoons Freleng was involved in. Coincidentally, Marvel's figurehead,Stan Lee, had served in the same division of theUnited States Army as Dr. Seuss duringWorld War II.[5]
The special was first released onVHS in the mid-80s viaCBS/Fox Video'sPlayhouse Video division, and reissued later in the 90s by Random House Home Video. The Random House Home Video release used the titleThe Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched. The special retained its normal name on VHS re-releases (includingDr. Seuss Sing-Along Classics) by20th Century Fox Home Entertainment withCBS Video andFox Kids Video. It was also re-released on VHS in 2000 byParamount Home Entertainment.
It was later released on DVD byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment/Universal Studios Family Productions. The special was released again onDVD byWarner Home Video on October 18, 2011 as part of theDr. Seuss's Holidays on the Loose! DVD set, along withHow the Grinch Stole Christmas! andHalloween Is Grinch Night. In October 2018, it was released on Blu-ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as an extra onDr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Ultimate Edition, along withHalloween Is Grinch Night. Both extras were remastered in high definition for this release.[6]
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