The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat is an Emmy Award-winning animated crossover starring two of Dr. Seuss' famous characters, The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat. The special premiered on the 20th of May 1982 on ABC and won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Individual Achievement (Animated Programming).

Plot

Opening on a morning so beautiful that even the Grinch wakes up in a good mood. But his cheerfulness is soon revoked when his reflection in the mirror (possibly an envisionment of his father) talks back to him and reminds him that he's a Grinch and therefore shouldn't be cheerful, by repeating 'the Grinch's Oath' with him:

A Grinch is unhelpful, unfriendly, unkind, with ungracious thoughts, in an unhealthy mind. A Grinch is uncheerful, uncouth, and unclean. Now say this together: I'M FRIGHTFULLY MEAN! My eyes are both shifty, my fingers are thrifty. My mouth will not smile, not half of an inch! I'm a Grinch! I am a Grinch. I'M A GRINCH!

Out to prove himself to his reflection, the Grinch goes out to cause misfortune. Meanwhile, the Cat in the Hat goes on a picnic and soon crosses paths with the Grinch when the Grinch crashes into his car. The Grinch demands that the Cat "get this crate out of my way", but when the Cat willingly and cheerfully agrees to his demands, the Grinch pursues him in a car chase for mistakenly calling him 'Mr Green-Face'. Realizing he's upset this person, the Cat returns to his house, but the Grinch tracks him there and messes with his voice using a device he has invented, "my Acoustical Anti-Audio Bleeper, otherwise known as my Vacusound Sweeper", to garble the sounds of anything that gets caught in its waves. He is undeniably proud of his invention as he sabotages all other nearby sounds, proclaiming himself the 'Master of Everyone's Ears'. Then the Grinch goes back to his house and builds a "Darkhouse" with which to mess with the Cat's sight, proclaiming, "That Cat's gonna suffer like never before!"

The Cat becomes upset with the Grinch's hijinks and has a psychiatry session with him in a thought bubble. Predictably he gets nowhere with the virtual Grinch, so he then decides to go over and have a talk with him, but in the process, the Grinch makes it so dark he can't see where he's going, and he crashes his car. The Cat attempts to hide from the Grinch in a nearby restaurant, but the Grinch's machine continues to mess with reality, and his hijinks cause michief all over the restaurant. The Cat is now furious with the Grinch and ponders to himself how he can change the Grinch, eventually racing through a door and sending himself hurtling into the Grinch's Dimension. There, as he ponders, he has to endure visions of a floating Grinch head of laser lights, a spinning spiral, and getting split into four different-colored outlines - blue, green, red, and yellow, which join together to become a white outline, and he turns back into himself. He soon figures it out and rallies everybody in the restaurant to follow him to the Grinch's house. There, he sings a song about the love the Grinch received from his mother while using his umbrella as a conductor's baton; the Grinch, having a soft spot for his mom, bursts into tears when he hears this, and is afterward told by the spirit of his mom that "everything's going to be all right." Touched, the Grinch disassembles his machines and goes through his change of heart again the next morning. But when his reflection tries to revert him back to a grouch, his dog Max shuts the mirror up with the Vacusound Sweeper.

Credits

Cast

• Bob Holt as the voice of The Grinch
• Mason Adams as the voice of The Cat in the Hat
• Frank Welker as the voice of Max and the Waiter
• Joe Eich as the voice of The Grinch's mother and the Waiter

Crew

• Produced by: Ted Geisel and Friz Freleng
• Directed by: Bill Perez
• Executive Producer: David H. DePatie
• Based upon characters created by: Dr. Seuss
• Written by: Ted Geisel
• Music by: Joe Raposo
• Special Music/Music Editor: Joe Siracusa
• Teleplay and Lyrics by: Ted Geisel
• Production Manager: Kathy Condon
• In Charge Of Production: Lee Gunther

Trivia

• Production began at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and then was completed at Marvel Productions Ltd.
• The Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched was the working title for the special from Random House Home Video, and was the title used for the vhs version.
• Some vhs releases cut out half of the car chase sequence, ending the chase after the Grinch drives into a mud pit. Since this is before the Cat realizes the Grinch is chasing him, his exclamation "Phew!" (which he utters after making it home) is out of place in the edited version. The sequence is fully intact on the dvd release (and on old CBS-Fox Video/Playhouse Video releases).
• This was the last DePatie-Freleng/Dr.Seuss special for ABC and final DePatie-Freleng cartoon.
• This was not only Marvel's lone Dr. Seuss special, this was also the only Marvel Productions project that Friz Freleng was involved in.

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