This series re-aired during the mid-to-late eighties in the UK and I can’t say I really enjoyed watching it. Looking back at it now, with the early shorts of the twenties and thirties to one side and the “Twisted Tales” series of the nineties on the other, I just can’t take this one seriously anymore. Felix’s fifties world is just too happy and cheerful, the opening and closing titles especially (Felix the cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat aargh).* And there were few problems Felix couldn’t solve with his magic yellow bag, the ultimate in Deus ex Machina plot-devices. Although this kind of thing isn’t new in the world of Felix, it was done with a lot more style in the older days.

The Professor and his assistant weren’t very good villains, more incompetent comic relief. The Master Cylinder was more intimidating, as far as early TV cartoon bad guys go, but ultimately Felix use of his bag’s abilities outmatched pretty much anyone he came across.

Felix how has a voice, and thanks to Felix innate cheerfulness it was quite grating, but not as much as his friend Poindexter, who was also a master of science (with a name like that he’d better be), not to mention pointing out the obvious. PD’s relationship with Felix is a strange one, seeing that the walking encyclopaedia is the professor’s nephew, who always seemed a bit indifferent to his uncle's failings.

Animation is pretty standard for this period in TV history, everything is still trying to find its feet and the quality of the writing still manages to just hold out, with semi-inventive plots around the standard Professor trying to steal bag formula. The characterisation is strongest on Felix, but it is more reminisce of the three Van Beuren shorts than the product of the Pat Sulivan studios. Unfortunately the biggest problem is the late fifties, early sixties color scheme. It is a just a bit too much, bright and primary; too cheerful, Felix was meant to brood.

Ultimately this Felix will be remembered by many, and many will look at it through rose-tinted glasses, that’s not really a bad thing, as this isn't a terrible episode for the feline. Myself, I’ll watch the original shorts, or Felix’s Twisted Tales and leave this to the consigns of history. Still, it not as bad as the black cat’s movie.

*Saying that there is a re-issued version of the 50-60 Felix with an even worse theme song.

A divisive series if ever there was one. People seem to fall into two camps over this very late 50's Felix TV series. Those who can either remember, or who have discovered the original 1920's and 30's theatrical shorts, and who regard the TV series as a weak re-invention, and those who grew up with it, never knew the original, and are inclined to have fond memories of it.

I fall into both camps. 'Felix the Cat' aired in Australia probably as late as the early 70's, certainly the late 60's. In any event it was on when I was a kid, and it's etched into my memory - particularly the theme song. The cartoons themselves are a bit more of a blur, but I'm going to be a bit of a heretic here.

Although it had almost none of the original Felix's sheer innovativeness, less of its off-the-wall anything-might-happen-next plots, and is less adult (I don't remember the 1958 Felix getting drunk on moonshine, vomiting out of a porthole, or turning around and 'mooning' someone, for instance), and despite its pretty shoddy animation, I actually think if you take it on its own merits it was a quirky and memorable series which deserves a place in early TV animation history.

After 30+ years, my memories are obviously imperfect, but I do think the Felix TV series retained some of the original cartoons' weirdness and distinctiveness. Enough to be reasonably memorable in its own right. Sure, Felix may have done a lot of irritating laughing in this version, but this was a characteristic of the original character - it's just that he was silent, so you could hardly be annoyed by it. The magical 'bag of tricks' which Felix uses to escape from tricky situations, and which the Professor is always trying to steal, isn't a wholly new invention either. In many ways it's also a continuation of the impossible antics of the original character, who would do things like pull off his tail and use it as a crank, or pluck exclamation marks out of speech bubbles and use them as canoe paddles. I'm not suggesting that a magic 'bag of tricks' in 1958 is anywhere near as groundbreaking as a character who grabs punctuation marks out of his own speech bubbles in 1919, but it does retain a modicum of quirkiness which you wouldn't have found at the same time in say, 'Huckleberry Hound'.

It was never one of my favourite shows, but I did enjoy it, and I'm tempted to give it three stars because of its evil, cylindrical robot villain and King of the Moon, 'The Master Cylinder'. For some reason this always struck me as a particularly creepy and memorable creation, and don't tell me he isn't the inspiration for Bender in '"Futurama"!