Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Headscratchers / SwatKats

Go To

1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3[[folder:General Kat Stuff]]
4Something that's baffled me for ages about this show.
5They have Litter.
6While we never directly see it, there's plenty of references to it, from TV personality "[[Creator/DavidLetterman David Litterbin]]" to more than a few passing comments made about Megakat Litter Corporation and/or their factory.
7Now obviously, it's intended to be a "lol, they're cats" jokey reference-thing by the writers, but it's apparently treated seriously by dialogue and such in the show itself, which makes me seriously wonder.
8A fully technologically-realized civilization capable or micromechanics, rocketry, energy-projective weapons, jet travel, advanced robotics, & countless other scientific breakthroughs... and yet it's implied nobody has ever even thought of inventing flush toiletry despite the fact they already clearly have indoor plumbing?
9* That's a good point. The easiest explanation is simply this: they ARE cats, they probably see no reason to do so. From their point of view, using a litter box is just the way it is, the same way using a flushing toilet is in Western Civilization today. Tl;dr: it's a cultural tradition they see no logical need to dispose of. The other explanation is perhaps more complicated and that would be that, again as cats, they CAN'T use a toilet like we do. But that assumes they behave like cats all the time--which to be honest, has some merit in terms of empirical evidence, since catnip is a controlled substance sold by drug lords and (if memory serves) the term "declawed" is thrown around more than once as a form of punishment. So it is possible they simply don't think like we do. They think like "real" cats.
10[[/folder]]
11
12[[folder:The Giant Bacteria]]
13* Dr. Viper mentions that the titular bacteria will keep splitting if you try to blow them up. But here's the thing: when Morbulus turned into the ''first'' bacteria, it had four eyes. When it was split by Feral's car, it became two Giant Bacterias with ''two eyes'' each. Good so far. When one of ''those'' was split later, it became two bacterias with ''one eye'' each. What would've happened in the next split? ''Half'' an eye? Razor immediately makes the assumption that they can split even further, and warns the Enforcers against using missiles on them. You could argue that Viper was lying, but that leads to some ''Fridge'' Fridge Logic when you realize he wasn't actually talking to anybody when he said it; just self-monologuing.
14** Viper never stated any such thing. Viper's only claim was that the creatures were immune to antibiotics. That they could divide (a finite number of times admittedly) seemed a (pleasant) surprise to him. And when Razor warned Feral not to fire on one of bacteria monsters, it was one with two eyes, so nobody ever claimed a single-eyed one could divide, or that the things could keep splitting indefinitely. The odious clipshow "Special Report" ''did'' edit some footage so that a one-eyed bacteria divided, though. Also it was Manx's limo that split the first monster, driven by Callie, not Feral's car, bit I'm just nitpicking now.
15* Dr. Zyme apparently getting eaten in is one of the worst excuses for a monster attack in the series. For starters, the attack shouldn't have even happened. When shot and momentarily "petrified," the bacteria monster was facing away from the lab, so having it just arbitrarily turn and smash the glass for no reason was really dumb. Then of course there's the issue with the glass breaking so easily, when the monster's hand barely even pokes it ("practically indestructible," my left foot!), and finally there's the way Zyme and Callie behave. Callie doesn't shout a warning of any kind even though she notices it first, and Zyme just standing there and screaming instead of joining her in running away is the stupidest part of all. And did the thing even get him? Most sources tend to write him off as dead, and in an episode that's already racked up quite a body count I wouldn't put it past them, but why else would we be shown the otherwise pointless shot of the monster getting distracted by Feral's chopper if we weren't meant to infer that Zyme escaped? It's one huge wall banger.
16* If the bacteria is immune to antibiotics, why did the stuff start to work? Shouldn't it have done nothing at all? It seems more resistant than actually immune, since "immune" implies the antibiotics wouldn't have started working, which they did. Can someone better at biology explain this here? I know it's strange to call out the show's scientific accuracy when the bacteria in question is ''fifty feet tall'' but still. Did they just use the wrong word?
17* I can understand Dr. Zyme, a scientist, identifying the bacteria monsters as being bacteria, but how did Razor and T-Bone both know? Neither were present when Zyme made his identification (in fact, Razor called it bacteria ''before'' that scene), and the things don't exactly ''look'' like bacteria. Just purple, humanoid globs of slime [[SlasherSmile grinning creepily]].
18* After the monsters are done dividing, there are three: two with one eye, and one with two eyes. The animators couldn't seem to make up their mind which of the three has which number of eyes. When T-Bone notices one missing, we're shown the two single-eyed bacteria, without the two-eyed one. Then the missing bacteria that dies in the subway has one eye. Then, when we cut to the other two arriving at Megakat Biochemical, one of them suddenly has two eyes. Of those two, the SWAT Kats kill one with one eye, and then the final remaining bacteria monster goes from having one eye, to two eyes, then back to only one again when it gets killed. All of this is made absolutely, unforgivably sloppy when the model sheets for the episode clearly indicates which creature is supposed to have which number of eyes.
19[[/folder]]
20
21[[folder:The Wrath of Dark Kat]]
22* What made Steele change his mind and come and get Feral? Or did he arrive when he planned all along, and was just surprised to see Feral alive?
23** Most likely, Steele realized it wouldn't look good for him if he didn't at least 'attempt' a rescue, but he deliberately dragged his ass and hoped that he would arrive too late. {{Lampshaded}} when Feral asks, "[[DeadpanSnarker Lights against you all the way, Steele?]]"
24* Where did the other two jets that arrived with Steele's go? They just sort of disappear. You'd think Feral would want wingmen going up against Dark Kat, ''especially'' with the unreliable, cowardly Steele as his gunner.
25** The flashback established that Feral is a glory hog who wants to take down Dark Kat himself. Crud, he even pulled the same thing against the SWAT Kats when they had him locked as he did to Jake and Chance back then.
26[[/folder]]
27
28[[folder: The Metallikats]]
29* Razor using the ash-tray to destroy Mac's body seemed to work very effectively, so why didn't he build a "sand-blaster" gun of some sort for later Metallikat encounters? Granted, in "Metal Urgency" it was unknown that the Metallikats had been rebuilt/gotten loose, but it would have made sense to have that around for later encounters.
30** That only work once. Enemies would learn from their mistakes and made upgrades to themselves.
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder: Metal Urgency]]
34* The Behemoth really sucks, with a number of horrific design flaws indicating it needed to really go right back to the drawing board. Firstly, it appears to lack redundancy, with the much-ballyhooed thought-controlled arsenal ''only'' being capable of controlled via thought, with no conventional means of firing when/if the mental control system is disabled, leaving the vehicle and its operator completely defenseless, and secondly, upon having its having system shorted out, rather than simply stopping, it spazzes out, goes rogue and just drives itself wherever, not stopping until colliding with something sufficiently heavy to halt its momentum. I know it's just a prototype, but, dang. Did Pumadyne really think any of this was a good idea?
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:The Ci-Kat-A]]
38* What happens to the alien-possessed characters? The Enforcer pilots can probably be written off as dead, what with their helicopters crashing and/or exploding (although in fairness this never seemed to do much to Feral) and Dr. Street, we know, survived his fall since he was slated to reappear in the really lame-sounding "Doctors of Doom" (more on this in a moment). But what about all those M.A.S.A. guys? ''They'' were all only knocked out. What did Megakat City ''do'' with them? ''To'' them? Will they continue slowly turning more buglike the way Street did? This is some real FridgeHorror stuff right here. "Doctors of Doom" would've been a perfect way for the show to address the fate of the infected cats, but the plot summary just sounds like a routine (and inexplicable) villain teamup, and likely wouldn't have touched on the issue.
39** The surviving infected might have been caught and put in a cell until a cure could be found.
40* Ann Gora and her cameraman, Jonny, have some kind of [[MauveShirt super minor character immunity]]. While they're running from the alien bugs, they come across a couple of guards and ask for their help, only for the bugs that were chasing them to jump on, bite and convert the guards. The problem here is Ann and Jonny were ''between'' their pursuers and the aliens, meaning the aliens jump ''over'' their original intended targets to get the new ones. So why didn't the aliens get ''them'' first, ''then'' the further away guards?
41** I'm guessing the bugs saw the guards as the bigger threat, and went for them first. They could've gone back to Ann Gora and Johnny at their leisure later.
42[[/folder]]
43
44[[folder:Enter the Madkat]]
45* In "The Wrath of Dark Kat," Steele said his name was spelled "with two E's," implying it is "S-T-E-E-L." But his nametag in this episode adds an extra "E," making it "S-T-E-E-L-E." Pretty much everyone uses this episode's spelling, despite what he said in the previous episode, but it's kind of weird nonetheless.
46* In fact, let's talk about Steele. Specifically what he is even doing in this episode. Feral ''knows'' Steele abandoned him to die aboard Dark Kat's ship in "The Wrath of Dark Kat," or, at least, he strongly suspects, so what is Steele still doing in the Enforcers, much less ''free''?
47** Because Feral doesn't have any hard evidence, and it seems that Steele has connections of his own which could easily turn the whole thing into a case of Feral's word against his.
48*** Seems? Where do you get that from? Feral lacking hard evidence is (kind of) a legitimate argument, but you lose me when you pull these phantom connections of Steel's out of nowhere. Steel having friends in high places is a very popular fan theory, but it's one based on supposition rather than actual evidence. Anyway, even Feral lacking evidence against Steel is a poor theory. Steel crossed him, and Feral seems to answer to no one except Mayor Manx (he takes anything Callie says under advisement and almost ''never'' obeys her, but caves to Manx almost all the time), so there's so reason he couldn't fire the little weasel based on suspicion alone. Besides, even if Steel ''did'' have these hypothetical connections protecting his job, it's very much in Feral's nature to basically say screw them and fire the guy anyway.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Mutation City]]
52* Viper's katalyst transforms plants and animals into homicidal mutants just by touching them. However, the SWAT Kats go ''swimming'' in the stuff for a while and - at least in T-Bone's case - swallow it. It isn't until T-Bone actually gets bitten by a mutant that it has any effect on them.
53** Might be it doesn't work on kats; No one else that just goes swimming in the stuff (like Feral, Felina, and ''Razor'') transforms either. Viper has to directly pour the stuff on his head to get any effect on himself. It probably took being bitten (perhaps in addition to swallowing it?) for T-Bone to get exposed to enough of the katalyst to mutate.
54** Assuming the kat people do have a resistance to the katalyst, it leads to a bit of FridgeBrilliance when you realize that Dr. Viper isn't even a kat anymore; that's why all he had to do was pour the katalyst on himself for it to work.
55** That's all easily explained, really. They were swimming in the stuff, sure -- diluted in a massive quantity of swampy water. A tub of pure sulfuric acid will do quite an number to nearly anything. The same tub of sulfuric acid dumped into enough water to fill a few streets and buildings isn't that harmful. Recall in that episode that the place was implied to have been flooded later to turn it into a nightmare swamp. That wasn't pure katalyst they were swimming in.
56*** It was still powerful enough to mutate any stray animals or plants it came in contact with, though. Callie almost got killed by a tree.
57*** That was earlier in the episode where the flooding wasn't as extreme yet, so the katalyst wasn't that diluted.
58* It's established early that Chance can't swim. Yet by the end of the episode, without anything remotely resembling practice or training, he dives down at least 25 feet and rescues a drowning Razor. As cute as the rescue was, the HandWave ("Yeah, well I didn't know how to be a [[MakesSenseInContext mutated frog]] either until today.") was rather lame.
59** This is, however, an example of TruthInTelevision. Near this troper's home is a lake, and a boat capsized with a family in it. A girl who had never been in the water before and had never been taught to swim nevertheless swam to shore. In Chance's case, it was most likely an instinctual thing, a rush of adrenaline because a family member was in danger.
60** Also, he ''had'' just been a mutated frog. Maybe he picked up some swimming instincts from his amphibious time?
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:When Strikes Mutilor]]
64* Why did Mutilor begin his water-stealing operation just offshore of the mainland, instead of out at sea, giving the locals (who he ''had'' to have known had aircraft) a chance to attack his ship? Some of Mutilor's dialog later would seem to suggest he wants a challenge from some ''real'' warriors, but every time the SWAT Kats or the Enforcers try and stop him, he gets really angry at his work being interfered with. Well, Mutilor, they wouldn't interfere if you weren't a ''stone's throw away'' from their city.
65* Traag apparently can't count. After the SWAT Kats shoot down the last of the alien fighters, he whines, "That's our entire squadron!" and when the Enforcers show up, the mothership flies to a higher altitude to escape them, implying that, indeed, the SWAT Kats just destroyed the very last fighter ship Mutilor has to throw at his enemies. Yet when the Turbokat flies into the hangar later, it's filled with more fighters. One's first thought is it isn't a lack of ships but lack of guys, but immediately upon landing in said ship-filled hangar, the SWAT Kats get mobbed by Mutilor's goons. He seems to have at ''least'' twenty or thirty left aboard, so why didn't they just hop in those spare fighters and engage the SWAT Kats and Enforcers?
66** Because being a fighter pilot is a completely different job from being an infantryman, and you can't assume that those trained for one of those roles are also trained for the other? Just because the SWAT Kats and the Enforcers are so badass that they can do both doesn't mean that everybody can.
67*** Then what are all the extra ships for? Why have more ships than guys to fly them?
68*** It never hurts to have spares.
69*** Actually, it's made quite clear that that the Enforcers are somehow some sort of multidisciplinary force--hell, even they function essentially as just some militarized police force with its own army, naval, and air arm. There's clearly a lot of cross-training involved, and even the SWAT Kats themselves were ex-Enforcers.
70* The entire sequence with the Thunder Truck is ultimately pointless and affects the plot in no way whatsoever. Mutilor destroys it very quickly and it doesn't even damage his ship. The in-story excuse for it is flimsy, too: supposedly it is because the [=TurboKat=] isn't finished being repaired, but in the time it took to strip down and convert a three-axle tow truck into a ''two''-axle monster truck ''and'' arm it, they could've, I dunno, finished repairing the [=TurboKat=]. When they finally head back and finish with the jet, they rush the job and it makes no real difference ultimately.
71** I always chalked this up to a lousy attempt at {{Padding}}.
72** Alternatively, the amount of offscreen time for converting the truck and repairing the [=TurboKat=] could have been different. They seemed to have equipment ready to convert the truck already available and didn't seem to be taking too long for the conversion. However, in the time it took to launch the [=TurboKat=], enough time passed for the Enforcers to send search parties for downed pilots and prepare a second wave of fighters for an attack against Mutilor's ship, suggesting that hours, maybe even days could've passed while the SWAT Kats completed repairs on the [=TurboKat=].
73** Maybe they were hoping to make a Thunder Truck [[MerchandiseDriven toy]]?
74* Mutilor's ship must have an automatic forcefield that kicks in whenever the hull is breached. Otherwise everyone on the bridge (including the SWAT Kats) would've died when Felina crashed through the windshield.
75** Almost certainly it does. It's a standard cliche of sci-fi (see ''Franchise/StarTrek'') that ships will throw up a forcefield around a hull breach to prevent the escape of oxygen/gravity.
76
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:Razor's Edge]]
80* The fake elderly couple. How were they not found out sooner? By someone besides Razor? Think about it. They're not actually injured, and they're not even old. They're two young hoods wearing masks. Anyone who examined them either at the accident site or at the hospital/on the way to the hospital would very easily determine these things. How could anyone declare them seriously injured without even the most cursory examination - one which would've discovered, no, they're not hurt, and they're also wearing masks. Even if the masks are so seamlessly attached and super-lifelike, it'd still be obvious to anyone looking at them without their clothes (or at least their shirts) that these are young bodies. You can't fake broken bones, not from trained medical professionals, so, were the doctors and nurses in on it? What about the paramedics who carried them away on stretchers? Y'know, the ones who determined they were injured in the first place? Did Dark Kat spread some filthy lucre around, bribing hospital employees, and use fake paramedics?
81** Dark Kat has shown to be a dangerous competent villain considering he has technology that rivals above the Enforcers' arsenal surprisingly as this is a world where super advanced technology is commonplace. The two fakers are probably using state of the art masking technology to disguise their true appearance and are probably trained to fake limps.
82* Also how did Razor even get in to see them? Forget bribed doctors and nurses ensuring nobody comes and goes from their room, the frickin' Enforcers, unaware of all of this and thinking it was an actual, hurt elderly couple, should've had someone there. I'd say police protection doesn't exist in Megakat City, but we've seen the Enforcers directly defend Manx and Callie, so what gives? Is Enforcer protection only for the wealthy? Do these two (as far as Feral knows) random joggers not count? Sheesh.
83** Despite how big of a mistake Razor did, he is still their hero. Also, the Enforcers are too busy dealing with Dark Kat.
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:Cry Turmoil]]
87* [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What happened]] to the guard Razor tied up in his ejektor seat and left under a sheet? Unless I missed something, she's never mentioned again. Was she found? Did she manage to get herself free? 'Cause if not, well, then, she was still sitting there bound and gagged as the entire ship crashes into the ocean later. I know she's just [[WhatMeasureIsAMook a nameless enemy soldier]] working for the villain, but dang, that's harsh.
88* Also, the guard never being found creates a continuity error: Razor suddenly has his ejektor seat back later. The guard is tied to it when he leaves her, but it's back in the Turbokat later.
89** Lance Falk, writer of the episode, [[WordOfGod answers both questions]] via [[https://www.facebook.com/Televisions.Lance.Falk/posts/10154487706338782?comment_id=10154487731818782&notif_t=feed_comment this]] Website/{{Facebook}} post:
90-->"1. Let's assume someone found the guard and untied her. Yeah. That's what happened.\
912. That seat came from the very same magical cartoon place where all those Turbocat [sic] missiles and devices manage to fit into. Or...Cartoon logic."
92*** Only the first one really carries any weight, since her being found offscreen is perfectly logical, but Falk appealing to "cartoon logic" in a show that typically doesn't use it (if it did, half the dead characters would've survived) seems a little lazy, bordering on a non-answer. BottomlessMagazines and {{Hammerspace}} is one thing, but the seat is established as not being ''in'' the jet and then is back in later without explanation, meaning it isn't cartoon logic, it's a continuity error. I'm going to assume Falk is just joking. Also, did he actually write it as "Turbo''c''at?"
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder: The Dark Side of the SWAT Kats]]
96The Dark SWAT Kats may have been defeated, but the Dark Kat in their world is still on the loose. What's stopping him from creating another bomb? I don't think their Enforcers are enough to stop him since they suck at their job in the regular SWAT Kat universe.
97* Chances are the Dark SWAT Kats ''killed'' their world's versions of the other villains save Dark Kat.
98* For all we know, the Enforcers in the alternate universe may be better than their counterparts. That explains Dark Kat's comment when he hears what he believes to be the Dark SWAT Kats' reason they failed to steal the mega-detonator.
99* If Dark Kat can really make another bomb, it must take too much time since he had the Dark SWAT Kats steal one.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder: Are the Enforcers also the police in that city?]]
103If they are both military and police, does that mean they take on petty crimes as well?
104* In "Enter the Madkat," Katzmer (the shopkeeper) comes to Enforcer Headquarters to report a robbery. This is not treated as being at all unusual, so, yes, they handle minor crimes too.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder: Humans were around?]]
108* Do they live in a universe where everyone is a cat, or was their earth inhabited by humans at some point? Didn't the creators toy with the idea that the Swat Kats live in a future world where humans are extinct (possibly the year 3000)?
109** Originally the crew of the water freighter Mutilor stole in "When Strikes Mutilor" were going to be human astronauts. This was nixed by producer Buzz Potamkin ("Just make them kat aliens."), and thus we got the katlike Aqueons.
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder: Dogs]]
113* The episode featuring Red Lynx as the antagonist has the expression 'dogfight'. If there's an expression that starts with 'dog', does that mean dogs exist or at least once existed in the series' world? Is there a Dog City in that world?
114** Probably not, but there may be normal (non-anthropomorphic) dogs. Background art for the pet store in "Mutation City" shows a doghouse.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder: Dark SWAT Kats' looks]]
118* They are the only characters who don't look like their respective counterparts and yet even the SWAT Kats themselves (the good ones ''and'' the bad ones) have trouble telling the difference.
119** Evil!Callie also looks a little different than her good counterpart; her character design is more angular.
120** It was dark, so there is trouble to tell the difference.
121[[/folder]]
122
123[[folder: Battle of the egos in the origin flashback?]]
124I'm curious as to why Feral wanted to take down Dark Kat himself. Why not let T-bone and Razor blast him? And as for T-bone, instead of obeying an order, why is he arguing with the commander, his boss/superior? Did both guys have enormous egos, or is it something else?
125** The guys had a perfect shot to take down Dark Kat. This will rid of an evil that plagued Meg Kat City for good. Instead of supporting them, Feral arrogantly knock their jet causing their headquarters to be destroyed. Not only Feral is at fault but he is at fault for pushing his blame onto them.
126[[/folder]]
127
128[[folder: Why is he not called David Litterbox?]]
129They're cats. Why not name their character David Litterbox instead of David Literbin?
130* "Bin" sounds more like "man". Cuz, ya know, Letterman.
131[[/folder]]

Top