History WesternAnimation / TopCat

!!''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' contains examples of:

* AccidentalHero: At one point, Snerdly puts a very, ''very'' hot dressing on a salad and plans for Benny to eat it and die. When Brain insists on taking it and serving it himself, he promptly falls into the pool with the bowl, saving Benny's life.
* ArtificialLimbs: One scene reveals Snerdly has a mechanical hand (covered by his usual butler's glove), which he's seen using all of once to smack a stone wall, leaving his handprint (and then causing a piece of the wall to hit him on the head, resulting in a CranialEruption).
* AutomobileOpening: In the opening sequence, Benny is seen seemingly riding in a limousine, but turns out to be riding on its fender.
* {{Balloonacy}}: After Benny's been trapped in a sauna and sweated enough to reduce himself to the size of an action figure, T.C. inflates him with a bicycle pump, causing him to lift off and go flying until Snerdly shoots him down (fortunately, it's only a graze).
* BizarreAndImprobableBallistics: In one scene, T.C. is able to sink every billiard ball in a single shot, and in the proper order, while blindfolded. He claims he learned from someone the gang identifies as [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Minnesota Cats]].
* TheButlerDidIt: Gertrude Vandergelt's butler Snerdly, third in line in her will, tries to do in Benny (who's ''second'' in line) and has also manipulated Amy Vandergelt into never visiting her aunt Gertrude and working at a car wash, keeping her from learning of her aunt's "death" and that she's the primary heir. T.C. actually dismisses him as a threat at first, saying it's an old cliche and that the butler never does it anymore, but eventually comes to realize that Snerdly really is a villain.
* TheCameo: To get to the Vandergelt mansion, the gang hitches a ride on the back of a tourist bus that's showing people all the fancy houses and people of Beverly Hills. While passing through the neighborhood, [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone, Wilma Flintstone, and Dino]] can be seen in one yard, and Barney and Betty Rubble are in the next yard over.
* CanineCompanion: An evil variation in Ratsputin, a Russian wolfhound who's loyal to his master Snerdly and is almost never seen apart from him.
* CrushingHandshake: At the start of the film, T.C.'s latest scam involves the gang posing as "Alley Scouts", who do good deeds for rewards. He starts off by using a fan to blow a man's hat off his head, then pretends to have found it. The man, who sees right through him, responds by "thanking" him with a bone-crushing handshake before telling him to get lost.
* DreadfulMusician: Amy Vandergelt has a habit of singing variations on "Tomorrow" from ''Franchise/{{Annie}}'', but her singing is physically painful to Top Cat and the rest of the gang. Worse, she doesn't seem to realize it.
* EpicFail: At one point, while suggesting a way to get rid of Benny, Ratsputin pulls out a flail and starts giving it a few twirls... but ends up wrapping himself up in its chain.
* EvilLaugh: Snerdly regularly lets out an evil "Mwah-hah-hah" whenever he's plotting.
* FakingTheDead: The plot of the film revolves around Benny being heir to the wealthy and recently deceased Gertrude Vandergelt. She turns up alive and well at the end, disguised as her lawyer, much to evil butler Snerdly's shock -- he even saw her in the coffin, as indicated by his line "I went to your funeral!", and Gertrude's explaining that she hired a body double.
* GoldDigger: Kitty Glitter, who hears T.C. is rich and promptly agrees to try and woo him (as part of Snerdly's plan to distract him from protecting Benny). At the end of the film, when she learns T.C.'s actually broke, she instantly drops him and drives off, having no interest in a non-wealthy cat.
* HaveWeMet: Late in the film, the gang ends up in a car wash while trying to evade a dogcatcher; Benny recognizes the car wash girl, asking "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" and another of the gang calling it one of the oldest lines in the book. In this case though, Benny's right -- the girl is Amy Vandergelt, niece of Gertrude Vandergelt and the rightful heir to her fortune, and he recognized her from her portrait, which was hanging on the mansion's wall.
* HeroicCaninesVillainousFelines: Inverted -- most of the main characters are cats, but the villain's sidekick is an evil dog.
* HoneyTrap: Kitty Glitter is contacted by Snerdly in order to serve this role to distract T.C. and draw him away from Benny, whom he's protecting from Snerdly's thinly-disguised murder attempts. Unlike most cases, she isn't actually evil (and doesn't seem to realize that Snerdly is up to no good) -- [[GoldDigger she's just told that T.C. is rich and immediately comes to try and win his heart]].
* IfIDoNotReturn: Used during the scene where they rescue Benny from the dog pound, but argue over who gets to go:
-->'''Top Cat:''' Never mind, I'll go, but if I'm not back in 10 minutes, take off without me.
* InadequateInheritor: The will reading reveals that Gertrude Vandergelt left her entire fortune to her niece because she hates her other relatives. No reason for this hatred has ever been mentioned, but given their negative reaction to learning someone else was inheriting instead of them, it's not surprising.
* InheritanceMurder: Attempted by Snerdly, who keeps trying to kill Benny so he'll inherit instead. Also subverted by the fact that he simply arranged for Amy Vandergelt (who was first in line, ahead of Benny) to be kept away from the mansion and unaware of her aunt's death, rather than trying to kill her, and later on he resorts to simply keeping Benny away from the mansion until the time limit is past, which comes far closer to succeeding than any of his other attempts.
-->'''Top Cat:''' Ah, Beverly Hills. When they try to terminate ya, they do it with class.
* KitchenSinkIncluded: Humorously subverted, then played straight, in a scene where Top Cat and his gang are having a wild party and their neighbors respond by throwing a bunch of junk at them to get them to quiet. Fancy then remarks that the neighbors have thrown everything but the kitchen sink; the next object dropped is a grand piano. T.C. yells, "What's the matter with you up there?! He said, 'kitchen sink'!", with predictable results.
* LatexPerfection:
** Snerdly provides Benny with a dog mask, which fools both Brain ([[TheDitz not that that's too hard]]) and a dogcatcher into thinking he's a real dog.
** Gertrude Vandergelt disguises herself as her male lawyer, wearing a rubber mask to hide her identity. Until she suddenly starts speaking in her normal voice after the gang and Amy return to the mansion, ''nobody'' is able to tell it's a disguise.
* LegacyVesselNaming: At one point, Benny is given an inflatable inner tube named ''Titanic II'' by [[TheButlerDidIt the butler]] so he can float in the pool. Benny has the feeling he's heard that name before... naturally, Snerdly's planning to shoot it out from under him with a harpoon gun.
* LiteralMinded: In one scene, Choo Choo suggests drawing straws to decide who goes up the ladder to rescue Benny. Brain, not understanding the concept, literally draws one on a pad of paper.
* MistakenForSpecialGuest: When Kitty Glitter shows up at the Vandergelt mansion for a blind date with T.C., due to a mishap, she ends up taking Brain out instead (who, admittedly, ''tries'' to tell her he's not T.C. but gets cut off), not realizing the error until Snerdly finally manages to get a hold of her.
* TheMovie: The first full-length film to feature the cast, released as part of the ''WesternAnimation/HannaBarberaSuperstars10'' series.
* NasalTrauma: When Ratsputin the dog is watching the gang through a set of holes in Amy Vandergelt's portrait, his nose also causes the portrait to bulge out. Unfortunately for him, T.C. sees this and unknowingly smacks him in the schnoz while flattening it out.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If not for [[TheButlerDidIt the butler's plans to get rid of Benny and inherit Mrs. Vandergelt's fortune]], Top Cat and his gang wouldn't have found her missing niece.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: When Top Cat is playing pool and sinks all of the balls blindfolded, the gang asks him how he did it. Top Cat then pulls out a picture of someone he claims to be his "teacher", whom the gang recognizes as "Minnesota Cats".[[note]]In this case, he's likely a reference to the real-life pool player who started using "Minnesota Fats" as a nickname, and not the original character from ''The Hustler''.[[/note]]
* OnOneCondition: With the disappearance of Mrs. Vandergelt's niece Amy Vandergelt, Benny is the next in line for the inheritance (Mrs. Vandergelt had other relatives but [[PassedOverInheritance despised them all]] for unspecified reasons). Provided that Amy didn't return and nothing bad happened to Benny in the next 48 hours, he'd get the inheritance. If something happened to him, the butler would get the money (and naturally spends the rest of the film trying to bump Benny off, or at least ensure he won't be at the estate at the proper time). In this case, Benny never feels comfortable with his newfound potential wealth because he knows Amy was ahead of him to inherit, and when he and the gang find her by sheer chance, he immediately gives up his inheritance to her. (Of course, then it turns out Mrs. Vandergelt isn't really dead.)
* PassedOverInheritance: At the start of the film, Benny saved a wealthy woman's life. Because she hated all her relatives (besides a missing niece), she left her entire estate to him. [[OnOneCondition Assuming the niece doesn't reappear and nothing happens to him within 48 hours from her death]]. Of course, then it turns out she's faked her death.
* PortraitPaintingPeephole: In one scene, Ratsputin the dog can be seen watching the gang through a set of holes in Amy Vandergelt's portrait.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: At the will reading, Benny learns he must wait for 48 hours before he can inherit a fortune. Should anything happen to him during that time, the evil butler and his dog would get it. Subverted in that the urgency doesn't start until 24 hours have passed and Snerdly sets a plan into motion that nearly works. [[spoiler:Also subverted in that the original heiress returned and the benefactress [[FakingTheDead faked her death]] to trick the butler into revealing his true colors]].
* RagsToRiches: The events of the film are precisely this to Benny, and the trope even gets [[ConversationalTroping name-dropped at one point]]:
-->'''Spook''': It's the old rags to riches story.
-->'''Top Cat''': Right, except Benny could never afford the rags.
* RightHandAttackDog: [[TheButlerDidIt Evil Butler Snerdly]] has a right-hand hound named Ratsputin, who's just as eager to off Benny as his master.
* SecretlyWealthy: During the "Alley Scouts" scam at the start of the film, Benny meets an old bag lady and shoves her out of the way of some falling junk, saving her life. Soon after he leaves the scene, a limousine drives up, revealing the "bag lady" to be a disguised Gertrude Vandergelt, wealthy heir to the Vandergelt diamond mines.
* SpeechImpairedAnimal: The dog Ratsputin speaks entirely in a thick growly voice (though none of the characters seem to have any issue understanding him).
* VerbalTic: The dog Ratsputin, befitting his name and breed (Russian wolfhound), tends to add "-ski" to the end of most of his words.
* WentToTheGreatXInTheSky: Late in the film, T.C. and the gang regretfully inform the niece of Gertrude Vandergelt that her aunt has "gone to the great country club in the sky".
* YouJustRuinedTheShot: During the climax of the film, Snerdly (who's wearing a dog mask) and Ratsputin are running down the street, only to nearly get run over and jump out of the way... and then a man yells at them, revealing he's shooting a movie and the two (whom he's apparently mistaken for actors) were supposed to get ''hit'' by the car, not avoid it. He then calls for a retake, only for the dogcatcher from earlier to show up and take the pair into custody.

----

In the late 1980s, Arnold Stang [[RoleReprise reprised]] his Top Cat role in the syndicated series ''WesternAnimation/YogisTreasureHunt'' and the MadeForTVMovie ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' (part of the "WesternAnimation/HannaBarberaSuperstars10" series). In 1990, T.C. and Choo-Choo had an entry in the ''Fender Bender 500'' segment of ''Wake Rattle And Roll''. Top Cat and his gang have also appeared on ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw''.

Creator/HannaBarbera produced this AnimatedSeries for Creator/{{ABC}} in 1961. Unlike the studio's earlier series, ''Top Cat'' was set in the midst of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. Even before the first episode was broadcast, Bill Hanna knew that ''Top Cat'' was going to be popular.

* TheButlerDidIt: "The Missing Heir" features butler Chutney trying to do in Benny in order to obtain a fortune he's mistakenly believed to be an heir to

* CastingGag: Benny's voice actor had previously starred in Series/ThePhilSilversShow as Private Duane Doberman, and was fittingly voiced by Doberman himself, Maurice Gosfield.
* CatsAreMean: Averted -- Top Cat may be a con artist, but he's also a pretty decent guy. He once helped an immigrant hot dog vendor who had been conned (unbeknownst to the vendor) by another pair of swindlers (although he was planning on scamming him himself...)

* TheCon: The Landmark Scam variant is used as a BrickJoke in one episode -- T.C. goes to the doctor after a nasty fall. When Choo-Choo mentions this to Dibble, the latter snidely remarks that T.C. will try to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge ("[[ComicallyMissingThePoint I didn't even know it was for sale!]]" replies Choo-Choo). Sure enough, when the doctor begins discussing his fee, T.C. then tries to pay him with a "business opportunity": "I can't mention any names but it's about a certain bridge..."

** In one episode, TC leaves one of his gang as collateral for a loan. The lender is perplexed: "A human collateral?" Then again, the only time in the entire series when the gang actually behave like cats is when they spend the winter at Dibble's, and they all jump into the only bed, crowding Dibble out and pushing him onto the floor: anyone with a cat knows what THAT's like.

* DoorJudo: One episode has Benny go on a cruise, prompting the rest of the gang to tag along. At several points, Officer Dribble, the ship's captain, and a counterfeit artist try to barge into the cabin... only to end up [[GravityIsAHarshMistress running right off the ship]], having to cling (unsuccessfully) to the side of the hull.

* IdenticalStranger: In the episode "The Missing Heir", when reading the heir’s physical description in the newspaper, the cast realizes that Benny matches that description perfectly. [[StatusQuoIsGod Unsurprisingly]], by the end, it's revealed Benny is not the heir, but the real one is near identical, outside of a birthmark on his foot (the matching birthmark on Benny turning out to actually be a piece of chewing gum).

* PlayingCyrano: Top Cat does it for Choo-Choo. As usual with this plan, it does not end well.

* RecklessGunUsage: In trying to [[PlayingCyrano help Choo-Choo woo a lady cat]], TC ends up [[ShowdownAtHighNoon drawing pistols at high noon]] with the lady's actual boyfriend. Of course, he rigs the duel beforehand and has Benny replace everyone's bullets with blanks, and then he feigns a fatal injury so his "HeroicSacrifice" would get him back into everyone's good graces. Turns out, though, that Benny didn't have time to switch out the bullets, at which point T.C. stares at the ''bullethole'' going through the middle of his hat and faints dead away.

-->"Yes, he's the chief, he's a king, but above everything, he's the most tip top... Top Cat! '''''TOP CAT!'''''

* MistakenForSpecialGuest: "The Maharajah of Pookajee" has a maharajah with a habit of giving out rubies, who's going to be staying in town at a fancy hotel. Top Cat, on learning of this, has the gang disguise themselves with the aid of [[PaperThinDisguise some towels]] and a bag of fake rubies so they can get past Dibble, who's guarding the hotel entrance, then look for the maharajah and get some rubies. In the hotel lobby, though, the receptionist mistakes T.C. for the real maharajah, so T.C. goes along with the charade and gets to stay in a luxury suite. Amusingly enough, when the real maharajah shows up, Top Cat ends up [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller mistaking the real deal for another impostor]].

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: T.C. and the gang guest-star in a crossover comic with ''[[ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp Scooby-Doo]]'', "Reigning Cats and Dogs", in which the villains are a pair of realtors aren't doing anything illegal, but they're jerkasses who don't care about the people whose lives they're ruining with their plans. T.C. and the gang, along with Officer Dibble, work together to stop their plan.

A Flash animated [[WesternAnimation/TopCatTheMovie Top Cat movie]] with CGI backgrounds has been released in 2011 in Mexico, where the show has been especially popular in the past decades where it's known as ''Don Gato y Su Pandilla (Don Gato and His Gang)''[[/note]]. A sequel was made which uses CGI entirely and released in 2015. The cast also appears as recurring characters on the 2021 Creator/HBOMax animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}''.

!!This series provides examples of:

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In one episode, Officer Dibble is replaced by an even stricter police officer, who is so zealous that he is drawing public complaints to his superior for being excessive. To get rid of him, T.C. convinces said officer that the city's mayor is Cha-cha Charlie, a gangster wanted by police for extortion, smuggling and leading a dance school without permission.
* ArtificialLimbs: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', one scene reveals Snerdly has a mechanical hand (covered by his usual butler's glove), which he's seen using all of once to smack a stone wall, leaving his handprint (and then causing a piece of the wall to hit him on the head, resulting in a CranialEruption).
* AutomobileOpening:
** In the opening of the show, T.C. is seen presumably being driven in a limousine. When the limousine turns around, we see he's actually [[RealVehicleReveal riding on its rear fender]].
** The same thing happens in the opening of ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', except this time it's Benny who's seemingly riding in a limousine and then turns out to be riding on its fender.
* {{Balloonacy}}: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', T.C. inflates a shrunken Benny with a bicycle pump, causing him to lift off and go flying until Snerdly shoots him down (fortunately, it's only a graze).
* BalloonBelly: Subverted in the film adaptation, in the scene where Dibble returns to the alley to alert T.C. and his gang that the villain became Chief of Police... after the gang had a celebration going. It may or not be visible to you, but if you've got a good eye and can compare other scenes T.C. is in, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMcOSrTsiWI take your pick]] (Go to 0:23:00). He does however, state he feels sick from eating too much having partied.

* TheButlerDidIt: Used twice.
** "The Missing Heir" features butler Chutney trying to do in Benny in order to obtain a fortune he's mistakenly believed to be an heir to.
** ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' features butler Snerdly trying to do in Benny (and has also manipulated Amy Vandergelt into never visiting her aunt Gertrude and working at a car wash, keeping her from learning of her aunt's "death" and that she's the primary heir). T.C. actually dismisses him as a threat at first, saying it's an old cliche and that the butler never does it anymore, but eventually comes to realize that Snerdly really is a villain.

* TheCameo: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', to get to the Vandergelt mansion, the gang hitches a ride on the back of a tourist bus that's showing people all the fancy houses and people of Beverly Hills. While passing through the neighborhood, [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone, Wilma Flintstone, and Dino]] can be seen in one yard, and Barney and Betty Rubble are in the next yard over.
* CanineCompanion: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' has an evil variation in Ratsputin, a Russian wolfhound who's loyal to his master Snerdly and is almost never seen apart from him.

* CatsAreMean:
** Averted -- Top Cat may be a con artist, but he's also a pretty decent guy. He once helped an immigrant hot dog vendor who had been conned (unbeknownst to the vendor) by another pair of swindlers (although he was planning on scamming him himself...)
** The movie makes his decent side clearer, as he not only saves an old woman from being squashed, he makes it clear to his gang when they suggest stealing someone's tickets to an event that they will only steal from someone who deserves it. He is also shocked to learn that he has been accused of stealing from an orphanage.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: T.C. and the gang guest-star in a crossover comic with ''[[ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp Scooby-Doo]]'', "Reigning Cats and Dogs", in which the villains are a pair of realtors aren't doing anything illegal, but they're jerkasses who don't care about the people whose lives they're ruining with their plans. T.C. and the gang, along with Officer Dibble, work together to stop their plan.

* DreadfulMusician: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Amy has a habit of singing variations on "Tomorrow" from ''Franchise/{{Annie}}'', but her singing is physically painful to Top Cat and the rest of the gang. Worse, she doesn't seem to realize it.
* FakingTheDead: The plot of ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' revolves around Benny being heir to the wealthy and recently deceased Gertrude Vandergelt. She turns up alive and well at the end, disguised as her lawyer, much to evil butler Snerdly's shock -- he even saw her in the coffin, as indicated by his line "I went to your funeral!", and Gertrude's explaining that she hired a body double.

* AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted: Episodes feature this happening a few times. The most notable one is where a millionaire gives Benny a check to T.C for one million dollars after he finds out how rough the gang has it. When the merchants' association finds out, T.C and the gang are treated like royalty. In the end, it all goes away [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because Top Cat]], [[NotNowKiddo who didn't give Benny a chance to explain about the million dollars]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tore up the check]]. To be fair, Top Cat thought that Benny had been tricked into accepting a ticket for a 25 cent raffle, so he didn't know any better.

* {{Gaslighting}}: In one episode, Top Cat faked an illness so he could be waited on by a HospitalHottie, but once she went away to get married and he was left with a much less pleasant nurse he got out of her care by making her think [[ItMakesSenseInContext the Christmas decorations around his room (in Summer)]] are only in her head.

* GoldDigger: Kitty Glitter in ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', who hears T.C. is rich and promptly agrees to try and woo him (as part of Snerdly's plan to distract him from protecting Benny). At the end of the film, when she learns T.C.'s actually broke, she instantly drops him and drives off, having no interest in a non-wealthy cat.

* HaveWeMet: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', the gang ends up in a car wash while trying to evade a dogcatcher; Benny recognizes the car wash girl, asking "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" and another of the gang calling it one of the oldest lines in the book. In this case though, Benny's right -- the girl is Amy Vandergelt, niece of Gertrude Vandergelt and the rightful heir to her fortune, and he recognized her from her portrait, which was hanging on the mansion's wall.

* HeroicCaninesVillainousFelines: Inverted in ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', where most of the main characters are cats, but the villain's sidekick is an evil dog.
* HoneyTrap: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' features Kitty Glitter, who's contacted by Snerdly in order to serve this role to distract T.C. and draw him away from Benny, whom he's protecting from Snerdly's thinly-disguised murder attempts. Unlike most cases, she isn't actually evil (and doesn't seem to realize that Snerdly is up to no good) -- [[GoldDigger she's just told that T.C. is rich and immediately comes to try and win his heart]].

* IfIDoNotReturn: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' has this during the scene where they rescue Benny from the dog pound, but argue over who gets to go:
-->'''Top Cat:''' Never mind, I'll go, but if I'm not back in 10 minutes, take off without me.

* InadequateInheritor: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Gertrude Vandergelt left her entire fortune to her niece because she hates her other relatives. No reason for this hatred has ever been mentioned, but given their negative reaction to learning someone else was inheriting instead of them, it's not surprising.

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: Issue #16 of ''Creator/CartoonNetwork Presents'' features the story "It's a Wonderful Strife", in which both T.C. and Officer Dibble, tired of putting up with each other, wish they'd never come to the city. The both of them are then shown alternate realities by their guardian angels, played respectively by Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss. Huck shows T.C. that, without guidance from a crafty leader, his gang has to resort to crime for sustenance, and Snagglepuss shows Dibble that if he never became a police officer, T.C. would be an anarchist bossing around the entire police force.

* KitchenSinkIncluded: Humorously subverted, then played straight, in ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats''. Top Cat and his gang are having a wild party and their neighbors respond by throwing a bunch of junk at them to get them to quiet. Fancy then remarks that the neighbors have thrown everything but the kitchen sink; the next object dropped is a grand piano. T.C. yells, "What's the matter with you up there?! He said, 'kitchen sink'!", with predictable results.

* LatexPerfection: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Gertrude Vandergelt disguises herself as her male lawyer, wearing a rubber mask to hide her identity. Until she suddenly starts speaking in her normal voice, ''nobody'' is able to tell it's a disguise.

* LegacyVesselNaming: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Benny is given an inflatable inner tube named ''Titanic II'' by [[TheButlerDidIt the butler]] so he can float in the pool. Benny has the feeling he's heard that name before... naturally, Snerdly's planning to shoot it out from under him with a harpoon gun.

* LiteralMinded:
** Benny the Ball is implied to have done this in "Rafeefleas" when Choo Choo tells T.C. that Benny was at the museum:
--->'''Choo Choo:''' He was standing in front of a display with a big sign that said "Watch This Space."\\

** Brain too; in one scene of ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Choo Choo suggests drawing straws to decide who goes up the ladder to rescue Benny. Brain, not understanding the concept, literally draws one on a pad of paper.

* MasterOfDisguise: One episode has a criminal who can do this, and used this to disguise himself as Officer Dibble.

* MistakenForSpecialGuest:
** "The Maharajah of Pookajee" has a maharajah with a habit of giving out rubies, who's going to be staying in town at a fancy hotel. Top Cat, on learning of this, has the gang disguise themselves with the aid of [[PaperThinDisguise some towels]] and a bag of fake rubies so they can get past Dibble, who's guarding the hotel entrance, then look for the maharajah and get some rubies. In the hotel lobby, though, the receptionist mistakes T.C. for the real maharajah, so T.C. goes along with the charade and gets to stay in a luxury suite. Amusingly enough, when the real maharajah shows up, Top Cat ends up [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller mistaking the real deal for another impostor]].
** In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Kitty Glitter shows up at the Vandergelt mansion for a blind date with T.C. and, due to a mishap, ends up taking Brain out instead (who, admittedly, ''tries'' to tell her he's not T.C. but gets cut off), not realizing the error until Snerdly finally manages to get a hold of her.

** T.C. once pretended to be a Texan millionaire to out con a couple of con artists who had tricked an immigrant hot dog vendor (who T.C. was apparently going to con himself) into [[ViolinScam investing in some worthless stock]].

* TheMovie: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', released as part of the ''WesternAnimation/HannaBarberaSuperstars10'' series.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', if not for [[TheButlerDidIt the butler's plans to get rid of Benny and inherit Mrs. Vandergelt's fortune]], Top Cat and his gang wouldn't have found her missing niece.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
** Fancy's voice is basically Cary Grant.
** In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Top Cat is playing pool, and when he sinks all of the balls blindfolded, the gang asks him how he did it. Top Cat then pulls out a picture of someone he claims to be his "teacher", whom the gang recognizes as "Minnesota Cats".[[note]]In this case, he's likely a reference to the real-life pool player who started using "Minnesota Fats" as a nickname, and not the original character from ''The Hustler''.[[/note]]

* OnOneCondition:
** In "The Missing Heir", a rich person's disappeared cat had a deadline to reappear or else the butler would get the inheritance. Benny [[MistakenIdentity was mistaken]] for the missing cat, turning him into the target of the butler's ire. The real cat then appeared and got the money despite having missed the deadline. The viewers were left to assume that it was because [[TheButlerDidIt it was the butler]] who caused the disappearance in the first place.
** ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'': With the disappearance of Mrs. Vandergelt's niece Amy Vandergelt, Benny was the next in line for the inheritance (Mrs. Vandergelt had other relatives but [[PassedOverInheritance despised them all]] for unspecified reasons). Provided that Amy didn't return and nothing bad happened to Benny in the next 48 hours, he'd get the inheritance. If something happened to him, the butler would get the money. In this case, Benny never feels comfortable with his newfound potential wealth because he knows Amy was ahead of him to inherit, and when he and the gang find her by sheer chance, he immediately gives up his inheritance to her. (Of course, then it turns out Mrs. Vandergelt isn't really dead.)
--->'''Top Cat:''' Ah, Beverly Hills. When they try to terminate ya, they do it with class.

* OutOfContextEavesdropping: Dibble overheard Top Cat's doctor saying the ticker was shot when TC tried to pay with a clock, and thought Top Cat was dying. Also, Dibble overheard the Chief talking about getting rid of the old wrecks (the worn out police cars) and thought he was going to be laid off.
* PassedOverInheritance: At the start of ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Benny saved a wealthy woman's life. Because she hated all her relatives (besides a missing niece), she left her entire estate to him. [[OnOneCondition Assuming the niece doesn't reappear and nothing happens to him within 48 hours from her death]]. [[spoiler: Of course, then it turns out she's faked her death.]]

* {{Prequel}}: Mexican movie ''WesternAnimation/TopCatBegins'' is the prequel to both ''WesternAnimation/TopCatTheMovie'' and [[WesternAnimation/TopCat the show]], as it shows how the gang met.

* RaceAgainstTheClock:
** In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Benny must wait for 48 hours before he can inherit a fortune. Should anything happen to him during that time, the evil butler and his dog would get it. Subverted in that the urgency doesn't start until 24 hours have passed.
** [[spoiler:Also that the original heiress returned and the benefactress [[FakingTheDead faked her death]] to trick the butler into revealing his true colors]].
* RagsToRiches: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' is precisely this to Benny, and the trope even gets [[ConversationalTroping name-dropped at one point]]:
-->'''Spook''': It's the old rags to riches story.
-->'''Top Cat''': Right, except Benny could never afford the rags.

* RightHandAttackDog: [[TheButlerDidIt Evil Butler Snerdly]], the BigBad of ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', has a right-hand hound named Ratsputin.

* SandInMyEyes: Happens when the gang adopts an abandoned baby, only to have to give him back when the mother reclaims him.

* ScarecrowSolution: T.C. and the gang guest-star in "Reigning Cats and Dogs", a crossover comic with ''[[ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp Scooby-Doo]]'', in which two realtors are doing a project that [[CommunityThreateningConstruction threatens the local suburbs]]. Since what they're doing isn't illegal, no matter how despicable they are, [[spoiler:Officer Dibble]] pulls the BedsheetGhost trick to get rid of them. It takes some time to convince them it's a real ghost since Top Cat had previously tried the trick to keep his illegal gambling operation a secret and [[ScoobyDooHoax dressing up as a ghost]] is the first thing they teach at realtor school and, when they're finally convinced, they flee not in fear of the ghost itself but of how unprofitable the land they want becomes because of it.
* ScoobyDooHoax: T.C. and the gang guest-star in "Reigning Cats and Dogs", a crossover comic with ''[[ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp Scooby-Doo]]'', in which a developer says dressing up as a ghost is the first thing they teach at realtor school. Ironically, neither of the two developers in that story pull the trick. The first two ghosts are Top Cat's gang trying to keep Officer Dibble from catching Top Cat's illegal gambling scheme, and the other ghost is Officer Dibble using a ScarecrowSolution to prevent the developers from [[CommunityThreateningConstruction destroying a suburb]].

* SecretlyWealthy: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Benny meets an old bag lady and shoves her out of the way of some falling junk, saving her life. Soon after he leaves the scene, a limousine drives up, revealing the "bag lady" to be a disguised Gertrude Vandergelt, wealthy heir to the Vandergelt diamond mines.

** In "King for a Day", Top Cat and the gang appear on the titular game show, which is basically a GenderFlipped ''Series/QueenForADay''.

* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: Closer to 1 than to 2.
* SpeechImpairedAnimal: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' features the dog Ratsputin, who speaks entirely in a thick growly voice (though none of the characters seem to have any issue understanding him).

* VerbalTic: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', the dog Ratsputin, befitting his name and breed (Russian wolfhound) tends to add "-ski" to the end of most of his words.

* WentToTheGreatXInTheSky: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', T.C. and the gang regretfully inform the niece of Gertrude Vandergelt that her aunt has "gone to the great country club in the sky".

* InadequateInheritor: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Gertrude Vandergelt left her entire fortune to her niece because she hates her other relatives. No reason for this hatred has ever been mentioned.

* MistakenForSpecialGuest: "The Maharajah of Pookajee" has a maharajah with a habit of giving out rubies, who's going to be staying in town at a fancy hotel. Top Cat, on learning of this, has the gang disguise themselves with the aid of [[PaperThinDisguise some towels]] and a bag of fake rubies so they can get past Dibble, who's guarding the hotel entrance, then look for the maharajah and get some rubies. In the hotel lobby, though, the receptionist mistakes T.C. for the real maharajah, so T.C. goes along with the charade and gets to stay in a luxury suite. Amusingly enough, when the real maharajah shows up, Top Cat ends up [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller mistaking the real deal for another impostor]].

** ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'': With the disappearance of Mrs. Vandergelt's niece Amy Vandergelt, Benny was the next in line for the inheritance. (Mrs. Vandergelt had other relatives but [[PassedOverInheritance despised them all]] for unspecified reasons.) Provided that Amy didn't return and nothing bad happened to Benny in the next 48 hours, he'd get the inheritance. If something happened to him, the butler would get the money.

* RecycledPremise: T.C. and the gang's trying to put numerous schemes over on Officer Dibble is reminiscent of Series/SgtBilko, with Maurice Gosfield appearing on Sgt. Bilko as Private Doberman and on Top Cat as Benny the Ball.

* AutomobileOpening: In the opening of the show, T.C. is seen presumably being driven in a limousine. When the limousine turns around, we see he's actually [[RealVehicleReveal riding on its rear fender]].

* TheButlerDidIt: "The Missing Heir", in which butler Chutney tries to do in Benny in order to obtain a fortune he's mistakenly believed to be an heir to, and ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', where butler Snerdly does the same thing (and has also manipulated Amy Vandergelt into never visiting her aunt Gertrude and working at a car wash, keeping her from learning of her aunt's "death" and that she's the primary heir). T.C. actually dismisses him as a threat at first, saying it's an old cliche and that the butler never does it anymore, but eventually comes to realize that Snerdly really is a villain.

%%* DepthDeception: Twice in the opening credits.

* LegacyVesselNaming: In ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Benny is given by [[TheButlerDidIt the butler]] an inflatable inner tube named ''Titanic II'' so he can float in the pool. Benny has the feeling he's heard that name before... naturally, Snerdly's planning to shoot it out from under him with a harpoon gun.

* RagsToRiches: ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats,'' is precisely this to Benny, and the trope even gets [[ConversationalTroping name-dropped at one point]]:

%%* TrueCompanions