Harem Cat is the second part of the 24th episode of the first season of the series Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats.
Synopsis[]
Cleo is smitten by Orville, a Sheik's cat. He comes to the junkyard to take Cleo as another wife. Cleo rejects him and kidnaps Cleo. Riff Raff and the gang follows to rescue her.
Plot[]
A sheik from a Levantine country comes to Western land with a visit. When his private jet lands on the city airfield, the monarch appears with a retinue of his wives and his cat, Orville, who also maintains his own feline harem. The Catillac Cats are watching the visit from a nearby television store. Cleo is apparently impressed by the Middle-Eastern cat, which makes Riff-Raff jealous.
The sheik and his retinue are staying at a luxury hotel in the city, behaving as it can be expected from their homeland while the crowd is waiting in front of the hotel. The sheik and his cat do their audience a favor and appear on their apartment's balcony, greeting their visitors with hand gestures. Orville spots Cleo amongst the crowd - he throws her a rose he has previously sniffed and sends a kiss, making sure the recipient receives the flower. Shortly afterward, he turns to his bodyguards and orders them to find out where Cleo lives.
Back at the junkyard, Cleo is contemplating the gift from the sheik's cat. Riff-Raff remains jealous, while Hector is trying to calm his leader down with remarks. Riff-Raff grabs Hector's collar and before he manages to deliver him a knuckle sandwich, Sheik's car with Orville and his muscles appears in the middle of the landfill. The sheik's cat complains about the environment Cleo hangs around, which focuses Riff-Raff's attention. Cleo interrupts the tomcats their clash before it happens. Being mocked by the unwanted guest, Riff Raff calls his Catillac Cats to attack, but they wind up defeated easily. Orville offers Cleo a ride and she agrees. Riff-Raff and his gang protest against that, but they only get splashed by the mud under the car's wheels.
Inside the sheik's car, Cleo is given milk to drink by her host. She admires the luxury Orville lives in and the way she is treated like a lady. Orville asks her if she would like to live forever under such conditions. Cleo explains that she just wanted to teach Riff-Raff a lesson, how to treat a lady. The sheik's cat unveils his plan to Cleo, that since he spotted her in the crowd, he had plans to make her his 21st wife and that he always gets what he wants. When Cleo insists that she demands to leave the car, Orville orders his muscles to seize his guest.
After the incident with Orville, Riff-Raff is feeling blue. Wordsworth interrupts his contemplation to pass the news, that the Sheik is flying back home, certainly with Cleo on board. After a small talk, Riff-Raff takes his gang to the airport. The Catillac Cats arrive just in time to see Cleo being dragged to the sheik's plane against her will by Orville's retinue. The gang sneaks into the airplane deck by hiding in the luggage, which turns out not the best idea when they feel the pressure during the plane taking off. Once regaining consciousness, Riff makes up the idea to dress in Levantine outfits to find Cleo without suspicion.
Speaking of which, Orville is admiring his next victory in winning the hearts of women in his throne room, with Cleo dressed in a pink-dark blue harem outfit with a pink face veil. She tells Orville, that Riff-Raff will save her and she walks away. The sheik's cat calls for service and the Catillac Cats in disguises reply. When ordered to clean the throne room, Riff-Raff and the gang wipe the dust from the floor diligently, then Orville starts coughing and orders them to stop. The gang toss their brooms directly at Orville's exposes legs, which infuriates him more. Riff-Raff offers Orville a drink and spills it on him, then Cleo recognizes Riff-Raff under his cover. Riff-Raff grabs her hand and announces retreat, so the cats abandon the throne room.
When Orville recovers, he calls his guards to chase the intruders and retrieve his 21st-wife-to-be. Tracks lead to another room in the area, decorated with pillows, pillars, sculptures, and similar paraphernalia. One of Orville's muscles finds Mungo under a stack of pillows. At Mungo's signal, the gang bombards Orville and his retinue with pillows. During the subsequent fight, two of Orville's henchmen attempt to tackle Mungo, both wind up being thrown at pillars where Wordsworth renders them unconscious with jugs. Hector is grabbed by the third of Orville's muscles, though he manages to tickle him, sneak under his robes and render him giggling, right into Wordsworth waiting with another jug. Riff Raff defeats Orville with a piece of the curtain he wraps around the sheik's cats to spin him right into Wordsworth's trap.
When Orville and his retinue are defeated, Cleo jumps behind a sofa and hugs Riff-Raff. The cats make an escape from the plane using parachutes found in the cargo bay. Hector finds three parachutes - one for Cleo, one for Riff-Raff and the last one for the remaining gang members. Orville and his thugs press on cargo bay door, so Cleo abandons the plan first, with Riff Raff's help just before the door is breached. Riff-Raff treats Orville and his muscles with a water hose. Meanwhile, the plane pilots are told that the cargo bay door in the sheik's plane are breached, thus are told to return to the airfield. Before Orville and his retinue reach the Catillac Cats, the plane makes a pivot, causing the gang to be literally thrown from the plane. Riff-Raff opens his parachute and calls Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo, where are they - it turns out that they also managed to escape using one parachute.
Back at the junkyard, Hector, Mungo and Wordsworth are serving Cleo and Riff-Raff drinks, still clad in the abayas they wore on the sheik's aircraft's board. Riff-Raff accepts the drink and tells them with a patronizing voice tone, that they may walk away, then he asks Cleo, how does she like her new treatment, compared to the one she received from Orville. Cleo replies, that Riff-Raff treats her much better. The couple laughs and the episode ends.
Characters[]
- Riff-Raff
- Cleo
- Hector
- Wordsworth
- Mungo
- Orville
- Inspector Gadget (cameo)
- The Sheik
- The Sheik's Wives
- Orville's Wives
- Sheik's Plane Crew
- Orville's Bodyguards
- Announcer
- Crowd
Trivia[]
- Inspector Gadget makes a cameo appearance in this episode, being in the crowd watching the visitors get off the plane.
Animation errors[]
- When Riff-Raff takes Cleo from Orville's throne room, Cleo is shown losing her veil. While the Catillac Cats run from the throne room, Cleo is still wearing her face veil. After the pillow fight, she appears with an uncovered face.
Home video releases[]
- 2005 - Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats (Shout! Factory / Sony Music Entertainment) - DVD
- 2012 - Heathcliff: Season 1, Volume 1 (Cookie Jar Group / Mill Creek Entertainment) - DVD
- 2016 - Heathcliff: The Complete Series (DHX Media, Ltd. / Mill Creek Entertainment)