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SYFY WIRE Everything You didn't Know

The Radical Squadron! Everything you didn't know about SWAT Kats

By SYFY WIRE Staff

During the '90s, there was no shortage of anthropomorphic crime-fighting animal animated series. You can thank the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for that. However, there are few shows that suffered such a lack of network support that fans actually blamed actress and activist Jane Fonda for the cancellation! The only series that lives up to that description is SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, but there's a lot more to the story.

As noted above, the series starred humanoid-like cats named Jake "Razor" Clawson and Chance "T-Bone" Furlong. Together, they formed the secret team known as SWAT Kats after they were unceremoniously dropped from the Enforcers, the military police of Megakat City. But these unjustly framed heroes didn't take that demotion lying down. They actually built a new state-of-the-art jet out of junk and took matters into their own hands.

When the series debuted on TBS in 1993, the Ted Turner-owned network wasn't prepared for the show's instant success. Because of that, SWAT Kats toys weren't readily available. Back in the day, animated kids shows lived and died on that toy revenue. But that wasn't what sealed the show's fate.

SWAT Kats had the misfortune of debuting when politicians and Turner himself were campaigning against violence on TV. And let's be honest, SWAT Kats could be pretty violent! Because Fonda was married to Turner at the time, some fans believed that she influenced his decision to kill the series. There may be some truth to that, but the economics of the show were also a major factor. Without Turner's support, SWAT Kats came to a premature end after only 25 episodes.

For more SWAT Kats trivia, check out the latest episode of SYFY WIRE's Everything You Didn't Know!