October 1984
Reviewed by VegaNova
Show Segments
"Thriller"
"Here I Am (Come and Take Me)"
"Ben"
"Beat It"
"She's Out of My Life"
"It's the Falling in Love"
"Melodie"
"To Make My Father Proud"
"I Can't Help It"
"Lady in My Life"
Birthdays / Special Segments
"Billie Jean Birthday"
King Kat was the successor to The King, and while maintaining many of the character's fur cosmetics, he was transformed to impersonate Michael Jackson instead of Elvis. His showtape was typical of those belonging to earlier "lounge" acts - a vocal impersonator (and also in this case, a stage announcer) made custom introductions and exits to songs, all of which with the exception of the birthday track, are original recordings by Michael Jackson.
Stage Announcer - Many of King Kat's shows were introduced by an unseen stage announcer. These shows inlcuded "Thriller", "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)", "Ben", "Beat It", "It's the Falling in Love", "You're a Symphony", "Melodie", "I Can't Help It", and "Lady in My Life".
Thriller - The stage announcer at the end of "Thriller" makes a neat little promo about Pizza Time Theatre's new pizza - unfortunately the new pizza introduced around this time is believed to have thrown off their business model and been a contributing factor to Pizza Time's ultimate bankruptcy.
Here I Am (Come and Take Me) - Both the stage announcer and King Kat make references to Chuck E. Cheese during this skit. King Kat really pushes the wholesome aspect of Chuck E. Cheese's and how "Chuck E. cares".
Ben - Playing on the significance of this song, King Kat makes a reference of how Chuck E. Cheese reminds him "of a special friend" (this song was written to a rat).
Beat It - During the outtro the stage announcer tells the kids to "take a stroll through our Fantasy Forest" until the next show.
It's the Falling in Love - Here the stage announcer says that they're going to take a short break and "build ourselves a big salad at Chuck E.'s garden fresh salad bar".
To Make My Father Proud - Wow... here's a good signifier that Pizza Time was really trying to push sales. King Kat mentions how one of the most special aspects of Chuck E. Cheese's is the birthday parties - and wouldn't it be nice to celebrate your mom or dad's next birtday with Chuck E. and him?
I Can't Help It - More product placement is found at the end of this show, where the announcer tells kids to visit Jasper Jowl's General Store to check out the souveniers, toys, shirts, and school supplies.
Lady in My Life - The barrage of cross-promotion never ends with this tape - after the conclusion of this track, the announcer tells everyone to check out the show in the main showroom with Chuck E, Jasper, Helen, Munch, and Pasqally.
Billie Jean Birthday - This special birthday song was the only track on the entire showtape that was performed by Pizza Time Theatre's lip-synch artist.
-3.5 out of 5 Tokens-
Ahh King Kat... this guy was supposed to "save" Pizza Time Theatre as the company was headed for some pretty rotten times. This character and showtape had high expectations, and the concept was seen by many in the company as their last and best hope for survival. We all know what happened though.
In all honesty, I don't think this is a bad tape, nor do I think King Kat was a bad character or concept (start throwing stones now, I know you want to). The appeal to children of the 1980s was definetely there - Michael Jackson was huge. And it's hard to fault Pizza Time for lack of effort when you look at the massive amount of product placement and sales pitches made throughout these skits. That's something that was new and unique, and an intentional effort to drive sales. Unfortunately it was probably just too little too late.
I've never been a fan of the usage of original artist's recordings, and I still stand by that. But I also gotta say that the "Billie Jean Birthday" is the hidden gem on this tape, the voice actor trying to pull of Michael Jackson actually does a competent job at it. For me that's the highlight of the entire showtape and leaves me to wonder how much bigger King Kat might have been had the company not collapsed soon after his introduction. From what we can gather not many stores ever received him, making this tape quite rare - in fact we've only started learning details about King Kat in recent years.
"Thriller"
"Here I Am (Come and Take Me)"
"Ben"
"Beat It"
"She's Out of My Life"
"It's the Falling in Love"
"Melodie"
"To Make My Father Proud"
"I Can't Help It"
"Lady in My Life"
Birthdays / Special Segments
"Billie Jean Birthday"
King Kat was the successor to The King, and while maintaining many of the character's fur cosmetics, he was transformed to impersonate Michael Jackson instead of Elvis. His showtape was typical of those belonging to earlier "lounge" acts - a vocal impersonator (and also in this case, a stage announcer) made custom introductions and exits to songs, all of which with the exception of the birthday track, are original recordings by Michael Jackson.
Stage Announcer - Many of King Kat's shows were introduced by an unseen stage announcer. These shows inlcuded "Thriller", "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)", "Ben", "Beat It", "It's the Falling in Love", "You're a Symphony", "Melodie", "I Can't Help It", and "Lady in My Life".
Thriller - The stage announcer at the end of "Thriller" makes a neat little promo about Pizza Time Theatre's new pizza - unfortunately the new pizza introduced around this time is believed to have thrown off their business model and been a contributing factor to Pizza Time's ultimate bankruptcy.
Here I Am (Come and Take Me) - Both the stage announcer and King Kat make references to Chuck E. Cheese during this skit. King Kat really pushes the wholesome aspect of Chuck E. Cheese's and how "Chuck E. cares".
Ben - Playing on the significance of this song, King Kat makes a reference of how Chuck E. Cheese reminds him "of a special friend" (this song was written to a rat).
Beat It - During the outtro the stage announcer tells the kids to "take a stroll through our Fantasy Forest" until the next show.
It's the Falling in Love - Here the stage announcer says that they're going to take a short break and "build ourselves a big salad at Chuck E.'s garden fresh salad bar".
To Make My Father Proud - Wow... here's a good signifier that Pizza Time was really trying to push sales. King Kat mentions how one of the most special aspects of Chuck E. Cheese's is the birthday parties - and wouldn't it be nice to celebrate your mom or dad's next birtday with Chuck E. and him?
I Can't Help It - More product placement is found at the end of this show, where the announcer tells kids to visit Jasper Jowl's General Store to check out the souveniers, toys, shirts, and school supplies.
Lady in My Life - The barrage of cross-promotion never ends with this tape - after the conclusion of this track, the announcer tells everyone to check out the show in the main showroom with Chuck E, Jasper, Helen, Munch, and Pasqally.
Billie Jean Birthday - This special birthday song was the only track on the entire showtape that was performed by Pizza Time Theatre's lip-synch artist.
-3.5 out of 5 Tokens-
Ahh King Kat... this guy was supposed to "save" Pizza Time Theatre as the company was headed for some pretty rotten times. This character and showtape had high expectations, and the concept was seen by many in the company as their last and best hope for survival. We all know what happened though.
In all honesty, I don't think this is a bad tape, nor do I think King Kat was a bad character or concept (start throwing stones now, I know you want to). The appeal to children of the 1980s was definetely there - Michael Jackson was huge. And it's hard to fault Pizza Time for lack of effort when you look at the massive amount of product placement and sales pitches made throughout these skits. That's something that was new and unique, and an intentional effort to drive sales. Unfortunately it was probably just too little too late.
I've never been a fan of the usage of original artist's recordings, and I still stand by that. But I also gotta say that the "Billie Jean Birthday" is the hidden gem on this tape, the voice actor trying to pull of Michael Jackson actually does a competent job at it. For me that's the highlight of the entire showtape and leaves me to wonder how much bigger King Kat might have been had the company not collapsed soon after his introduction. From what we can gather not many stores ever received him, making this tape quite rare - in fact we've only started learning details about King Kat in recent years.