Oggy and the Cockroaches (known as Oggy et les Cafards in French, often shortened to Oggy) is a French animated comedy series produced by Xilam and Gaumont Film Company.

Synopsis

The show centers on Oggy, a content, blue cat, who would prefer to spend his days watching television and eating - if not for the three roaches in the household: Joey, Dee Dee and Marky (named after members of the punk group Ramones). The trio seems to enjoy making Oggy's life miserable, which involves mischief ranging from (in most cases) plundering his refrigerator to such awkward things like hijacking the train Oggy just boarded. Oggy usually finds creatures accompanying him to the end of the episode, such as crabs, clams, a horse, a very technologically advanced child, a puppy, and an octopus. However, it's not always Oggy who wins.

The cartoon relies on slapstick humour, much like its "ancestor", Tom and Jerry, only amplifying the level of extremities up a notch. While traditional slapstick cartoon characters prefer dropping anvils and pianos on each other, this show sometimes uses buses or submarines. Despite these, however, most gags are easily accessible and enjoyable for younger viewers. Since dialogue is kept to a minimum, the humour is entirely visual.

Main characters

• Oggy is an overweight blue cat. Oggy usually spends his time either watching TV or doing housework - when not chasing the cockroaches. Despite the constant mayhem caused by the cockroaches, Oggy has developed a sort of love–hate relationship with them, having lived with them for a long time. Whenever he finds himself alone in his house, he will eventually begin to miss the cockroaches along with their pranks. Oggy's house appears bigger on the inside, mainly featured in the roller coaster-like staircase scenes. Oggy has come to realize that without the cockroaches, nothing fun or interesting ever happens in his life. According to executive producer Marc du Pontavice and France Info, the character of Oggy was named after punk rock musician Iggy Pop^[1] and the rock album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.^[2][3]

• Joey, a pink-bodied, purple-headed roach with a pink right eye and yellow left eye, is the self-proclaimed leader of the roaches. Even though he's the smallest roach in the group, most of the time he's the brains behind the operations, but is sometimes forced to go solo, because his companions often think his plans are stupid.

• Marky is a suave heartbreaking, grey-bodied, green-headed roach with pink eyes; he is the tallest of the three roaches and often doesn't really care about what the two others are doing. While he originally used to love causing mischief just like the other cockroaches, he has grown to be more laid-back in later episodes, though he still enjoys hanging out with Joey and Dee Dee and causing general mayhem like he has always done. His hobbies are dating puppets and reading books. He also has bad breath, as revealed in the episode It's a Small World.

• Dee Dee is an ever-hungry cockroach. His appetite sometimes reaches insane proportions, often resulting in the consumption of larger animals or other things that would otherwise be inedible (such as hyenas in one case and, due to the effects of a poisonous mushroom in another case, an insect. Other instances include the fish on the wallpaper Oggy's Clone and a clownfish Scuba Diving). He is known to like opera. Sometimes it is shown that his armpits and feet are so foul-smelling, the juice they produce is toxic and melt objects.

• Jack is the other cat in the show. He is Oggy's cousin and the complete opposite of Oggy. Jack is short-tempered, violent, arrogant - a perfect target for the roaches to annoy. He often finds himself building huge machinery, such as roach-catching contraptions, most of the time resulting in them backfiring. He is also very interested in chemistry (that is, the more explosive parts of it). Jack often sleeps over at Oggy's house. At times, he bullies Oggy. Jack seems to be the strongest character in the show. He likes to show off, challenge the roaches and date girls – mainly Oggy's sister Monica. He is sometimes seen trying to propose to Monica, but the cockroaches' pranks always make him stop short. In one episode, they seem to have a baby together and ask Oggy to babysit their child.

• Bob is a fierce brown bulldog and Oggy's neighbour. He has severe anger management issues. A running gag in the show has Oggy or Jack doing something that accidentally crushes Bob or shaves his fur or destroys his house, with Bob then pummeling Oggy or Jack off-screen. He does not always pummel Oggy, as seen in Baby Boum and Police Academy. He has some sort of friendship with Jack, as notably seen in Olivia. He is known to like boxing.

• Monica is Oggy's twin sister and Jack's love-interest. In one episode (Don't Rock the Cradle), they seem to have a child together named Selina. She visits Oggy's house every now and then. She is well known for being very active and likes to take on physical challenges such as sky diving and bungee jumping. She's always seen skating around on her inline skates. Out of all the main characters, she has the least number of appearances; even fewer than Bob. Monica has rarely appeared onscreen with the cockroaches or Bob. There is a glitch in the Hindi version owing to Oggy and Monica's relationship. In some episodes, Monica is introduced as Oggy's childhood friend, while in some she is his sister.

• Olivia is a white cat and Oggy's new neighbour and new love interest. She loves nature, even Oggy's enemies Joey, Marky and Dee Dee, leading to Oggy acting nice to them every time she's around. She always breaks down when someone hurts any part of nature. She also cares a lot about her looks; in the episode Olivia's Pimple when she sees a pimple on her face, she refuses to leave her house. In one episode, Olivia and Oggy get married after a trip to Venice.

• Lady K is the new female in the show and the roaches' new love interest. She's the roach from Olivia's house.

Episodes

In other media

Album

An album, Oggy et les Cafards : Le Show du Chat, was released in France^[4] on CD and for digital download on 6 September 2010.^[5]

CD Drama

A CD drama, Oggy et les Cafards Volume 1, was released in France on CD and for digital download in October, 2012. It contains narrations of five episodes by Anthony Kavanagh.^[6]

Comics

A French comic series is adapted from the cartoon, first started out in 2010. It is published by Dargaud, written by Diego Aranega, drawn and colourised by Frévin, also known as Sylvain Frécon.^[7]

• 16 April 2010 : Plouf, prouf, vrooo !
• 5 November 2010 : Crac, boum, miaouuuuu !
• 23 September 2011 : Bip...bip...bip...

Media information

Five DVDs came out in 2003 within the United States, with 12 episodes each. In 2005, several VHS's were released in NYC.

On 8 October 2008, a French DVD boxset of the complete first series plus the pilot and the episode Working Cat, is available. On 6 September 2010, three French DVD boxsets of the complete first series, of the complete second series and of the complete third series are available. On July 2011, a French DVD boxset containing all episodes from seasons 1, 2 and 3 became available.

Magazine

A magazine version, called Oggy et les Cafards, le mag came out in France in 2009 (2 issues),^[8] then again in 2011.

• n°1 : 11 July 2009
• n°2 : 21 October 2009^[9]
• n°3:^[10] 14 January 2011^[11]

Film

The film Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie (originally Oggy et les Cafards, Le Film) was released to theatres on August 7, 2013.

Broadcast

Oggy and the Cockroaches originates in France where it was broadcast on networks France 3, Canal+, and Gulli. The series is also broadcast internationally. In Australia the series has aired on ABC1 and ABC3. In Canada the series has been broadcast on YTV and VRAK.TV. Oggy has been broadcast on SABC 1 in South Africa. In the United Kingdom, the series was broadcast on CITV, Fox, POP, Nicktoons and Toon Disney. In the United States, the series began airing on Fox Kids in 1998. In India, the series is broadcast on Cartoon Network. The voice-over is based on mimicry of leading Bollywood actors.

References

External links

• Official website Template:Fr icon
• Website of the producer Xilam Template:En icon
• Oggy and the Cockroaches at IMDb