A new Season 5 special breaks the fourth wall with Nature Cat and his friends working to figure out what their movie special is about, as the newly anointed King Galahad. voiced by Chris Parnell (‘SNL’), begins taking things from nature for his castle; the special, along with a ‘Nature Chat with Nature Cat’ short form series that speaks directly to fans, debuts today, April 22.
Showrunners are always looking for new and creative ways to connect with their audience on important real-life issues. For Nature Cat’s co-creator and executive producer Adam Rudman, the answer was breaking the fourth wall altogether in Nature Cat’s Nature Movie Special Extraordinaire.
“On many occasions throughout Season 5, the characters reference that they are doing a show, even at times pulling out a script to check their lines,” notes Rudman, also known for creating the PBS Kids series Donkey Hodie. “For the special, we wanted to push that even more by having it open with Nature Cat and his pals trying to figure out what their ‘Movie Special Extraordinaire’ is about.”
Releasing on PBS Kids Monday, April 22, just in time for Earth Day, the Spiffy Pictures series special begins with housecat Fred, who transforms into “Nature Cat” (Taran Killam) when his family leaves the house for the day, and his fellow house pet friends brainstorming ideas for their movie. Suddenly, heartthrob hamster Sir Galahad (Chris Parnell) from Nature Cat’s very first episode, who’s now anointed himself King Galahad, begins taking things from nature to make his castle look more beautiful. It’s up to Nature Cat and the gang to show Sir Galahad a better way to appreciate the natural beauty of their world before he does more damage to their favorite place.
“Humor and heart are key to the series,” says Rudman, who created the series, which first aired in 2015, with his brother David Rudman (Sesame Street, The Muppets) and Todd Hannert (Bunnytown, Jack’s Big Music Show). “We want to be silly and physical with our comedy, and we are incredibly fortunate to have an amazingly talented comedic voice cast who deliver the funny and at the same time also bring in the heart of these characters who care greatly about each other and the world around them.”
“We're coming up on the 10th anniversary of this show,” adds Tommy Gillespie, senior director of content creation at PBS Kids. “We've told so many stories over the years and all the ‘Nature Cat’ specials and episodes really do a great job of celebrating nature and the impact that kids can have on being good stewards of the environment. But this one takes the humor that all the episodes have and brings it up to a new level.”
Current seasons of the Nature Cat show and this new special are produced by Spiffy Pictures with animation by Yowza! Animation, known for their work on Warner Bros.’ Looney Toons Cartoons, Netflix’s Green Eggs and Ham, Nickelodeon’s Middlemost Post, and more. The special also includes three original songs featuring music written by Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning Bill Sherman and performed by the cast: Taran Killam, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan, and Kate Micucci.
“In this line of work, any time you’re asked to write a Yacht Rock tune, you jump at the possibility,” says Sherman, who has served as composer and music director for Nature Cat since 2015. “Some of the greatest songs of our time are of this genre and to try and emulate that sound is always a joy. I really ran with the idea of channeling Philly soul duo Hall and Oates for this as well. Opening numbers, whether for the stage or for a ‘Nature-tastic Movie Special’ must grow and soar and introduce us into the world. Anytime Nature Cat and his friends can sing, harmonize, and even modulate, you know the movie is off to a good start.”
With Broadway as another inspiration for the special’s tunes, Sherman says he tried “to summon all of the massive theatrical and movie anthems” he could think of, including Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” and the opening to The Greatest Showman. But then there was also the fact that, like the show, Nature Cat’s music should never take itself too seriously.
“‘Nature Come Back’ was one of the more serious songs in the movie but, on another level, it turned into a long-running and silly inside joke between Adam and me about the much-maligned, soft or "lite” rock that dominated radio airwaves in the late 1970s and early 1980s like Ambrosia and Christopher Cross, of which we are both secret fans,” says Hannert. “Nature Cat is so full of contradictions and full of himself in such a lovable way. His true nature is that of a showman and song-and-dance-cat. He would love to do a pull-out-all-of-the stops musical theater number with all of the fanfare and pomposity of a dynamic musical opener, starring him, in something like Ziegfield’s Follies meets PT Barnum meets ‘Annie.’”
Luckily, the team is expanding Nature Cat’s stage. Releasing the same day as the special, a new short-form series Nature Chat with Nature Cat will feature Nature Cat speaking directly to fans about how they can help make the world a better place. Harkening back to clips from across all five seasons of the series, with the help of his production assistant Gary the squirrel, Nature Chat explores ten different sustainability topics ranging from composting and water conservation to upcycling, avoiding food waste, and more.
“A lot has changed about the way kids view and consume media in the nine years since ‘Nature Cat’ premiered,” notes Gillespie. “And it's a great opportunity for us to start to have content living on different platforms, maybe platforms like YouTube, where we know kids are like to watch shorter-form content. We want to be pushing and innovating around the ways that we're delivering content while taking advantage of the great library we have. It was also a perfect way to marry some new animation with some of the incredible stories that we have in the catalog.
A short-form series is something Rudman says he and his fellow creators have always wanted to do. It was just a matter of finding out how to do it right. And drawing on the nostalgia, while using bite-sized episodes to hone in on specific nature topics with kids fit their goals like a glove.
“And it’s been so much fun for us,” says Rudman. “With five seasons worth of episodes, it’s easy to forget certain storylines, so this was a great way to get to look back at all we’ve done.”
Nature Chat–which joins PBS Kids’ newer assembly of short-form series like Jelly, Ben & Pogo and Augenblick’s City Island–was also a way to directly address and lessen some of the trauma that can be experienced by kids in a situation like a natural disaster.
“We have stories addressing when there's maybe a hurricane coming to your area and the different ways you and your family should prepare,” shares Gillespie. “And, in addition to the information about preparedness, we're also addressing these things from a child development perspective, providing the strategies to kids and parents for how to get through the emotional issues that come up.”
Rudman adds, “And we have two of the best curriculum advisors/producers around–Jesse McMahon and Frances Nankin–who have worked closely with us and guided the curriculum from day one of the series.”
From the beginning, Nature Cat has defied the norms of bold-edged caricatured animation. Despite the beady-eyed characters resembling those of Cartoon Network’s more zany and jarring cartoons, like Angry Beavers, Nature Cat is a comforting, educational show that addresses emotional topics with sincerity and lightness. It’s a welcomed surprise and one that stands out in both the long line of American comedy cartoons and the plethora of PBS Kids legacy series. And it somehow bridges the gap between the two.
“We like to take in all the incredible cartoon DNA we can,” says Gillespie. “Humor is key to the way we want to engage with kids, but we always come at it from a smart perspective, not leaning into the lowest common denominator gag. Nature Cat can still get shoved into a plastic cup, but it’s in service of a much bigger goal. We want to make sure that we are delivering top-tier educational content, but also top-tier entertaining and funny content.”
And if its seven-dozen episodes or Emmy Award nominations have anything to say about the longevity of the property, it’s that Nature Cat and his friends plan to explore the natural world for a long time to come. There are certainly no shortage of topics for the team to harvest from.
Rudman shares, “We just love these characters and are excited for anytime we can get them out in the world more.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
