BatStarIndyFreak
I'm live-and-let-live when it comes to personal taste. It's just here I feel the need to bring my perspective. I think on the Garfield strips and then the cartoons, and they complement each other well with story lines that gradually build to the big comedic payoff.Not so much with the DIC Heathliff episodes. They follow Garfield episode pacing, and yes, good comedic playoffs, but that doesn't jibe with what we get from Heathcliff comics. They were single picture strips (occasionally an extra panel) with single actions and usually a single line that made it an ingenious running gag. That's the spirit of the Ruby-Spears eps; fast- paced with the comedy running in the whole plot process. I often laughed during the start, sometime in the middle, and at the big payoff. I enjoyed DIC (A biig help that they kept Mel Blanc), but Ruby-Spears' fluidity in their presentation makes it my unquestionable preference.
Kerwenus
I quite agree with the comment that lost were the days of magical cartoons. I grew up with G1 transformers and GI Joe - no 3D special effects and lame narratives.I was delightfully surprised to see there were people in other parts of the world who shared my curiosity on the non-co-existence of HeathCliff and Riff Raff. This is a childhood mystery that I have grown up with up to today. When I was 7 and I started watching the first few airings on HeathCliff and the Catillac Cats, my mind did not distinguish HeathCliff and Riff Raff - you see they were both sort of orange and led the 3 other cats. So I took it they were one in the same essence. But with more airings and on careful inspection, I saw they were entirely different characters. Now, it is common place for writers to bring different comic personalities in the same setting,this habit was not so for earlier generation cartoons. Perhaps a sort of code of discipline in cartoon writing. I do not think their non-co-existence was for aesthetic reasons as per personality lines, but for legal reasons; they were engineered and voiced by two different people who reaped their individual credits. I must say however, in the aftertheme, you could see Riff Raff taking off his hat from HeathCliff's head with a stick, and I was deeply and passionately drawn to that brief scene - it triggered a sort of philosophic hypothesis that although they had a troublemaking essence in common, but when fused in the same time and setting, one respectfully recedes personality to the other to avoid a sort of time-paradox...and this extends beyond mere cartoon drama, because their co-existence was and would have been, in fact, illegal and a breech of contract with respect to the production laws governing that cartoon, and for credit reasons. So formal airing of HeathCliff could never permit co-existence of those characters.The HeathCliff theme song is very nostalgic to me.
FloatingOpera7
Heathcliff (1980-1987): Starring Mel Blanc, Donna Christie, Henry Corden, June Foray, Stan Jones, Marilyn Lightstone, Danny Mann, Derke McGrath, Don Messick, Russi Taylor, Frank Welker, Danny Wells...Director Bruno Bianchi, Based On The Comics By Brand Anderson A flood of hazy memories assaulted my brain when I discovered that Heathcliff was on the IMDb. If this cartoon series was on from 1980-1987, I was approximately 1-7 years old! It must have been the first cartoon I ever saw. I had never read the comic books (it wouldn't be till the 90's when I started picking up a newspaper). Heathcliff (Mel Blanc) seemed to be on twice in one day, for I recall waking up as early as 7am to get ready for school, turning on the TV and Heathcliff would be on. Then there was another episode immediately following school around 2pm. Heathcliff was a male alley cat who was dirty, gruff, macho, a bully, poor and street-smart. He was in love with Sonja (Marilyn Lightstone) who was upscale, pretty and cleaner than him. There were various mean alley cats, dogs and other creatures lurking about but Heathcliff always protected his territory. I don't quite remember much of it because quite frankly I still had bed-head when I would see this cartoon. But this was one of the many morning cartoons and afternoon cartoons that I recall fondly. The children of the 80's were blessed by having experienced better cartoons. Many of the voice-over actors were quite talented and even famous, the cartoons were far better-written and didn't depend on the "Anime/computer graphics" cartoons do today. Lost is the magic of these types of cartoons. Other successful 80's cartoons included Garfield, Care Bears, My Little Ponies and Rainbow Bright. Ah, to be a child of the 80's once again!
Stephen Holloway
Heathcliff was Mel Blanc's final original character and starring role before he continued to reprise Barney Rubble and Mr. Spacely for Hanna Babera and the Looney Tunes for Warner Brothers. It was my favorite series in the late 80's to early 90's. Today it's out on DVD which is good so many others can enjoy Heathcliff and his friends as many times as you want. This was last scene on Bommerang. Even though it was the Ruby/Spears effort their version wasn't bad. But, DIC's effort was and still is far better. therefore if you had to choose only one, the DIC series is your best bet. But the Ruby/Spears series I can also recommend just to see Heathcliff only. Overall, this is an classic series. With one of the highest vote I could give, it's get an 9 out of 10.