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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hello_kittys_furry_tale_theater.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300: The main characters of the show [[note]] Counterclockwise from the middle: Hello Kitty, My Melody, Catnip, Grinder, Fangora, Tuxedo Sam, and Chip [[/note]]]]
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4'''Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater''' [[note]] not to be confused with ''Hello Kitty Animation Theater'' from 2000 [[/note]] is a 1987 SaturdayMorningCartoon starring everyone's favorite, Franchise/HelloKitty!
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6Presented in a two shorts format, Hello Kitty and her friends run a playhouse that performs quirky retellings of classic fairy tales[[note]]Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty[[/note]], storybooks[[note]]Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas, Knights of the Round Table[[/note]], and even various films.[[note]]The Original Franchise/StarWars trilogy, Film/{{Jaws}}, Film/KingKong[[/note]] as [[ShowWithinAShow shows within a show]].
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8This is the only ''Hello Kitty'' animated series that is an InternationalCoproduction intended for a non-Japanese market, originally airing on Creator/{{CBS}} in the United States; the animation was produced in Japan (by Creator/ToeiAnimation, with assistance from Korean studio Creator/BigStar) but all scripts and voice acting are in English. Three later anime series, ''Sanrio Anime Festival'', ''Hello Kitty and Friends'' and ''Hello Kitty's Animation Theater'', also plug her and other Creator/{{Sanrio}} characters into fairy tale retellings, [[TruerToTheText though those adaptations are much more straightforward and faithful]] (especially ''Animation Theater'') and lack a FramingDevice.
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10U.S. viewers can watch the whole series on digital retailers. VUDU[[note]]Pronounced like "voodoo".[[/note]] is also streaming the show for free in the U.S. (until 2019)
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12----
13!!''Furry Tale Theater'' contains examples of:
14* [[AdaptationalNiceGuy Adaptational Nice Girl]]: The mother duck in Literature/TheUglyDuckling was [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] if not outright [[AbusiveParents abusive]] toward the eponymous Ugly Duckling. Fangola meanwhile portrays the mother duck in "The Ugly Quackling" as, at worst, somewhat exasperated toward "Ugly" (portrayed by Chip) for his clumsiness, but otherwise treats him with mostly the same love and attention as her other hatchlings.
15* AdaptationalVillainy:
16** In "Kittylocks and the Three Bears," the Three Bears steal Kitty's food before she wanders into their house, to make her a little more sympathetic.
17** In "Kitty and the Beast" Sam is transformed into a beast by an evil witch rather than a fairy to teach him a lesson, however this leans more towards TruerToTheText than Adaptational Villainy when reading the original tale.
18* AnachronismStew: A regular feature of the stories involves a dose of this. Such as the curse in "Sleeping Kitty" being brought upon by watching television. Or the evil fairy of the same segment using a moped in her attempt to foil the heroes.
19* AnchoviesAreAbhorrent: In "Kittylocks and the Three Bears," Kittylocks rejects Mama Bear's pizza not for being too cold, but because it has anchovies on it. This despite telling Ranger Sam earlier that she loves fish--anchovies are apparently just so bad, even a cat doesn't want them!
20* AndroclesLion: "Paws", the Hello Kitty retelling of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', features the revelation that the shark's aggression was prompted by a fish hook caught in his fin. He befriends the protagonists after they pull it out.
21* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In "Grinder Genie and the Magic Lamp," Sultana Catnip says the penalty for Grandpa Kitty not paying his taxes would be the taking away of his houseboat, the taking of his children to be her slaves, and having to do homework every night.
22* AscendedExtra:
23** While Tuxedo Sam was already prominently used by Sanrio between the late 1970s and 1990s, in this show, Sam alongside his friend Chip are the main characters alongside Hello Kitty and My Melody. Since the show's cancellation, Tuxedo Sam and Chip both managed to star in a couple [=OVAs=] that were part of Sanrio's home video series called ''Sanrio Video'' and both served as MC for ''Sanrio Anime Festival'' between 1989 and 1996 similar to ''Furry Tale Theater''. Since the introduction of Keroppi and Badtz-Maru, Tuxedo Sam was [[DemotedToExtra demoted to a minor character]] before given a prominent role once again for Sanrio's music group "Hapidanbui" in 2021. Where he alongside Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, Pekkle, Hangyodon, and Pochacco are band members.
24** Chip from the Tuxedo Sam line is usually a supporting character in numerous Sanrio merchandise and animated media while usually a minor character elsewhere. In ''Furry Tale Theater'', he's one of the show's leading characters alongside Hello Kitty, Tuxedo Sam, and My Melody. To date, this is the only Sanrio animated work where Chip is given a prominent role before Keroppi and Badtz-Maru were introduced (the former created a year after this show's cancellation) with both characters taking over Tuxedo Sam and Chip's roles as Sanrio's leading characters.
25* BigBad: Catnip often portrays these roles in the performances.
26** BigBadDuumvirate: With Grinder or Fangora, in other performances.
27* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: In "Paws of the Roundtable" Chip, who plays future king Arthur and is worried he won't be strong enough to pull Excalibur from the stone. Furlin scolds him for giving up without even trying. Chip says that he'll try, and ''then'' give up.
28* BubblegumPopping: The episode "Robin Hood Penguin" based on Myth/RobinHood involves My Melody, Chip and Grandpa Kitty blowing up giant-size bubble-gum bubbles [[{{Balloonacy}} that allow them to fly]] and then are burst against their enemies, leaving them [[CoveredInGunge covered in sticky bubble gum]].
29* CanonForeigner: Catnip, Fangora and Grinder are all exclusive to this show. Since the show's cancellation, Sanrio never again acknowledged the existence of these characters (especially Catnip and Grinder) and never appeared on any merchandise.
30* CastingGag: Catnip as Creator/BillCosby in "Sleeping Kitty", as Creator/CreeSummer was in ''Series/ADifferentWorld'' (a spinoff of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'').
31* CompositeCharacter: In [[Franchise/StarWars "Cat Wars"]], Grandpa Kitty's role is a mix of Obi-Wan and Yoda.
32** Catnip's role in "How Scrinchnip Stole Christmas" is a mix of [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ebenezer Scrooge]] and [[Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas The Grinch]].
33** Grinder as the dwarf in "Snow White Kitty and the ''One'' Dwarf." He gets accused of being grumpy, bashful and dopey during the episode.
34** Catnip's character in [[Franchise/TheWizardOfOz "The Wizard of Paws"]] combines elements of ''both'' wicked witches. Unlike the Witch of the East, she survives getting crushed by Hello Dorothy's house (her only injury being temporarily SquashedFlat) and spends the rest of the episode in the role of the Witch of the West.
35* CompressedAdaptation: The episodes that parody movies (such as "Paws" and "KT, the Kitty-Terrestrial") have to shrink a LOT to fit the plots into an 11-minute cartoon short. "Cat Wars" in particular has elements from the first two ''Star Wars'' movies crammed into a very short space.
36* DumbJock: Grinder's not the sharpest knife by a long shot, and he usually wears a number 0 jersey which implies this.
37* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness:
38** Kitty's full name is often subject of [[IAmNotShazam I Am Not Shazam]] due to many people assuming her full name is Hello Kitty and not Kitty White. In this series however, her full name ''is'' Hello Kitty.
39** Many of Kitty's friends like Badtz Maru or Pochacco were either too young or were not created at the time, and as a result, the only recurring Creator/{{Sanrio}} characters in this show are My Melody, Tuxedo Sam and Chip.
40* EvilCannotComprehendGood: While not an evil character, per se, Catnip is generally antagonistic and snide. Cue her surprise as to why Hello Kitty would prepare her a sandwich with her favorite ingredients, and then commenting that the suggestion to be nice like her is a "strange idea".
41* FantasticRacism: In “K.T. The Kitty Terrestrial” cats are banned from Sam’s clubhouse. K.T. enters and does not read the sign. However, she does become the exception since she was hunted by Catnip and Grinder.
42* FamilyFriendlyFirearms
43** Throughout “Little Red Bunny Hood” water balloons are the primary weapons instead of guns.
44** In “Peter Penguin” the pirates use cherry pies instead of cannons.
45* FormulaBreakingEpisode: [[Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera "Phantom of the Theater"]], the SeriesFinale, deals with the cast's investigation of strange happenings in the theater, rather than a performance.
46* GenreSavvy: In the episode, ''Catula- A Fur-Raising Story'', Catnip's stage character is this. [[spoiler:From luring the heroes to the castle saying the bridge is out, using DumbMuscle to attack those who thwart her use of hypnotism, and how to foil those who use garlic against her]].
47** The heroes are not to be outdone by detecting Catnip's character as the milk-poaching vampire!
48* GreenEyedMonster: Catnip.
49* [[HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas How Scrinchenip Stole Christmas]]
50* InterspeciesRomance: A few of the stories involve Hello Kitty and Tuxedo Sam (a penguin) as love interests to one another.
51* LighterAndSofter: Done quite a lot even if it does avert the SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel-flavoring Sanrio is known for. Particularly a parody of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' where nobody dies (unless you count [[InferredHolocaust some poor people on a carousel]]).
52* LovableAlphaBitch: Catnip's offstage personality. She's self-involved, snide, and sometimes antagonistic, but she has moments that show she cares for the others, and she's not all bad.
53* MadLibsCatchPhrase: In "Kittylocks and the Three Bears," Catnip-as-Mama-Bear's catchphrase is "I'm not good with X!" ([[LethalChef Porridge]], curlers, and bramble bushes, to name a few.)
54* MeanCharacterNiceActor:
55** Downplayed. Catnip often plays as antagonistic roles in many stories. Offstage, however, she's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
56** Grinder normally acts as TheDragon to Catnip whenever she is the main antagonist of plays, but when he's not acting he's a sweet-natured GentleGiant.
57* OffToSeeTheWizard: The show did this with the story "Wizard of Paws."
58* PunnyName: Besides the names of each individual story[[note]]With a few exceptions, such as "Kitty and the [[Film/KingKong1933 Kong]]".[[/note]], the show's name seems to be a pun on the then-recent Creator/{{Showtime}} series ''Series/FaerieTaleTheatre''. (It helps its case that the prior show was sometimes referred to as ''Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre'', after its creator/presenter/sometimes actress.)
59* RidiculouslyAliveUndead: In "Catula", the titular Catula (played by Catnip) goes around stealing the townspeople's milk cartons with the intent to drink from them. [[FauxHorrific She's still seen as a serious threat]].
60* SettingUpdate: Sometimes employed, such as "Little Red Riding Hood" reimagined as a western.
61* ShortRunner: Ran for one 13-episode season.
62* ShoutOut:
63** "Paws of the Round Table" features a scene where Grinder's Black Knight character [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail must answer three questions.]]
64** In "K.T.", Kitty exclaims, "[[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget Meowzers!]]"
65* ShowWithinAShow: The "furry tales" are pitched as stage plays in-universe.
66* SparedByTheAdaptation:
67** Kong gets to go home by the ending of "Kitty and the Kong." In the original ''Film/KingKong1933'', he falls to his death from the Empire State building.
68** Being a CompositeCharacter this time, the WickedWitch in "The Wizard of Paws" gets two. She's initially crushed by the house, but survives with a brief SquashedFlat effect, and later on rather than [[ImMelting melting to death]] at the end, she's punished by [[BewitchedAmphibians getting turned into a frog]].
69** Nobody dies in the "Jaws" parody. (Except for maybe [[InferredHolocaust the people on the carousel]]).
70* StageMom: Catnip's mom Fangora is implied to be one of these, but it's never really confirmed outright.
71* TheTeaser: The show has these before the opening sequence.[[note]]Two other CBS shows that season also did this: WesternAnimation/MightyMouse: The New Adventures, and WesternAnimation/PopeyeAndSon.[[/note]] Additionally, in most episodes, there's a prologue of what the characters are doing before the show starts. These actions will be used or mentioned in the play. For example, in "KT", some of the cast members were eating cookies that were meant for the show. Grandpa Kitty had to replace them with wooden replacements, but Sam later spit them out, saying they taste like wood.
72* TypeCasting: Catnip {{lampshades}} her InUniverse typecasting when she complains about how she's ''always'' a villainess like a witch and would just like to be the lead for ''once''.
73* VagueAge: Catnip's age is open-ended. She sure looks older than the other cast members and she plays a lot of adult roles, but she also plays SpoiledBrat teenagers sometimes and Fangora is implied to be her StageMom.
74* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: Played with. The ChristmasEpisode of the series starts out as ''A Christmas Carol'', but then becomes a parody of ''The Grinch''.
75* YouDontLookLikeYou: Chip is from Tuxedo Sam's line, but in this show he looks fairly different than he does in most merch (he's blue in most merchandise, grey in this cartoon, among other traits). In the series, he's the same size as Tuxedo Sam, Hello Kitty, and My Melody compared to [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/2b/12/b82b12f62c07fe142c29f30d7a75b97d.jpg his official design where he's notably shorter then Tuxedo Sam.]]

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