N. Harmonik’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Oggy and the Cockroaches Episodes

Success! I, N. Harmonik, have managed to hack into Jyger’s Rant! I mean, I’ve decided to give my dear friend a break and try my hand at reviewing and stuff. And what better way to start than by typing about my currently most-adored franchise, Oggy and the Cockroaches!

Created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud (may he rest in peace) in 1998, this slapstickery cartoon is about a cat, the titular Oggy, and his dealings with three cockroaches, Dee Dee, Marky and Joey, who live in his house. When these ornery insects aren’t stealing Oggy’s food or some other object that he covets, they’re pranking him just for fun, usually with explosives. Oggy is sometimes helped by his cousin, Jack, although more often than not, his aid and bad temper just make the situation worse. Often, their antics will end up hurting and angering Oggy’s neighbour, a dog named Bob, who will then pound them (mostly the cats) into pulp. A late addition to the cast is Olivia, a sweet cat friendly to everyone (even the roaches) and Oggy’s love interest.

As you can see, this is a spiritual successor to Tom and Jerry. Unlike Tom and Jerry though, wherein every character except the cat and the mouse can talk, no coherent words are ever spoken and written words are kept to the barest minimum. Rarely, they’ll sing public domain songs (notably “A Night at the Opera” in which the opera “Carmen” is performed) but all communication is done through gestures and gibberish. Because there is no need for dubbing, the show is able to reach a wide audience, airing in at least 150 countries at the time of writing this. The cartoon’s success has spawned clothing, accessories, dolls, comic books, magazines, board games, video games, a music album, a radio drama and even a movie!

Allow me to tell you of my 5 favourite episodes in order of airdate. Naturally, there’ll be spoilers.

#1 – Granny’s Day

Oggy’s grandmother comes over to his house to celebrate her birthday. First the audience thinks the episode will be about the cockroaches driving her up the wall…until she pummels and captures Joey and Marky. Next the audience thinks the episode will be about how the remaining roach, Dee Dee, will endeavour to rescue his buddies/brothers…until he uncovers strong evidence that they’re dead. This causes Dee Dee to collapse into a sobbing mess, much to granny’s surprise, as if she had always assumed cockroaches were heartless. When she takes a look at her captive insects, they hand her a photo album showing them having a great time from babyhood to present day. And thus, granny is touched and realizes that Joey, Marky and Dee Dee may be awful to her grandson but they’re a family through thick and thin to each other. She not only releases Marky and Joey but the three bugs go with her back to her place for a while!

#2 – Love and Kisses

Oggy’s sister, Monica, visits and Jack is instantly smitten by her, thanks in no small part to her mistakenly kissing him. Noticing that she likes sports (the more extreme, the better), Jack strives to impress her in that department. Naturally, he stinks at all the events, even without the cockroaches (whom he had infuriated earlier) messing him up. Yet throughout, he never gives up so by the end of the episode, Monica finds his efforts cute and gives Jack her number before leaving. Unsurprisingly and amusingly, Jack celebrates the only way he knows how: loud as possible!

…Yes, Jack and Monica are cousins. I don’t know, maybe cousin-on-cousin isn’t considered incest in France where the show was made. Regardless, their relationship is strangely rather adorable. A pity it won’t last…

#3 – Ugly, Dirty and Good

Have I ever stated that I’m a sucker for the old good-guy-gets-amnesia-and-gets-tricked-into-becoming- a-bad-guy shtick? Well, in this episode’s case, the inversion occurs!

After falling on his head during the usual raid on the fridge, Joey not only mentally regresses into a child and forgets who Marky and Dee Dee are but also becomes convinced that Oggy is his father! Said feline cannot bring himself to harm him after an affectionate display of adoration so he adopts the bug. Oggy even makes a blue, furry suit for Joey to wear so he’ll look like him! Throughout the episode, Oggy and Joey partake in several endearing father-and-son activities while the other two roaches do their best to land a blow on their former leader’s head in order to get him back. Ultimately, Joey gives himself a concussion that snaps him out of it. He bites Oggy while returning to his brothers’ welcoming arms yet later is seen to beam at Oggy fondly…then he promptly slaps Dee Dee and Marky when he notices them snickering at him.

#4 – Back to the Past! (Featuring Olivia)

The roaches destroy a witch’s hat by accident (for once) and pin the blame on Oggy, Jack and Bob. As punishment, the witch transforms the cats and dog into children, leaving Olivia to look after them. Olivia soon finds herself at wit’s end taking care of the cute but hyperactive rascals so she drags Joey off with her to locate and confess to the witch and makes babysitters out of Marky and Dee Dee. Meanwhile, the men are having a delightful time being boys again; pillow fighting, playing with their food and roughhousing while being as messy as they can. The one exception is school where they have to deal with bullies and human kids who think they’re dolls. In the end, the witch turns Bob, Jack and Oggy back into adults then, at Olivia’s request, changes Joey, Marky and Dee Dee into kids! The cutie pies are then given to the guys by Olivia to care for until the spell’s undone. And Oggy himself is likely going to need the practice…

#5 – Oggy is Getting Married! (Featuring Olivia)

The cats and cockroaches take a trip to Venice, Italy. Oggy reveals to Jack that he intends to propose to Olivia while Joey reveals to Dee Dee and Marky that he intends to pilfer his engagement ring to propose to Lady K, a conniving female roach living in Olivia’s house. In typical cartoony fashion, Oggy’s first attempted proposal fails; luckily, so does Joey’s first attempted theft. Oggy becomes jealously suspicious when he espies Olivia conversing with a male, grown-up human then hiding later when aforementioned human passes by. One awkward kidnapping later (with Jack as an all-too-willing accomplice), she reveals that he is a painter with whom she was transacting. With that matter mostly cleared up, Oggy pops the question and Olivia gleefully accepts…only for the roaches to swipe the ring. What follows is a madcap pursuit through the canals and roads that ultimately reduces the city to rubble. Oh well, at least they got the ring back. Later back home, it is shown that Olivia had commissioned the artist (revealed to be named after creator Jean-Yves Raimbaud) to do a portrait of her sweetheart-and-now-husband, Oggy.

Yes, you read that last part right, folks; a slapstickery cartoon actually defied the status quo of its genre and had two of its main characters tie the knot! This is the last episode produced so far yet chances are good that another season will be produced. I just hope it doesn’t take a few years again…

Those are my 5 favourite episodes and you probably noticed a theme connecting them all: love. And I hear you asking, “Why?” The thing is, I actually can’t stand franchises that are almost completely about love; I greatly prefer stories that have lots of action. Because love doesn’t come up often in this series, it seems much sweeter and cuter! Perhaps that’s why I like this franchise…

But just in case, here’s a list of more of my favourite episodes that aren’t as, ahem, lovely if you know what I mean: A Night at the Opera, The Ghost Hunter, Working Cat, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Oggy’s Double, Roachy Redneck, Inspector Dee Dee, Priceless Roaches, Let’s Party Guys, Metamorphosis, The Dictator, For Real, What a Lousy Day and From Mumbai with Love (Featuring Olivia).

So, leave any comments you might have below, and I’ll see you later…maybe. Kawoom!

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…-r my 400th blog post!… … …What the hell just happened? o.O

Related articles

• Oggy and the Cockroaches (en.wikipedia.org)
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Jyger’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Scenes From Superhero Tales (WARNING – SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTING AHEAD)

Well, I WAS gonna save this for the 1 Year Anniversary of my own little brand of superheroes, but I got impatient, so I decided to go ahead with this now and do something different for the 1 Year Anniversary. If you haven’t been reading, Superhero Tales is a series of stories on DeviantArt for my own original superheroes and superheroines, from their perspectives as they go about their lives. There are characters like the Green Defender, a man who is infused with an advanced form of electricity called green voltage, Starslip, a teenage girl who can alter her molecular structure to turn intangible or harder than steel (and recently phased out of her closet), Zenith Woman, a stranded alien from a race of warrior women who protect the universe, and a group of heroes called The Hexagon, which teams Green Defender and Zenith Woman with four of the greatest superheroes in the world.

Green Defender, The Bard, Jack’d, Zenith Woman, Strix, and Outrun

Now, since I like to keep a good sense of humour in the midst of an often-times tragic and scary world, naturally I tend to do so in my writing, and Superhero Tales is no different. And while I get that it can be somewhat egotistical to spend time laughing at my own shtick, sometimes I just write out something so ridiculous that I can’t help myself. Plus, let’s be honest, I’m no stranger to self-promoting, so why not here? So, with all that said, let’s take a look at five of my favourite scenes from my stories, and just so you know, SPOILERS for anyone who hasn’t been reading much of what has happened as of late.

#1 – Jack’s Prayer from The Hexagon #10

Jack’d is kind of an enigma. You never know exactly what he’s going to say or do in situations, he has powers that cannot be logically explained, and he has an irrational fear of monsters from outer space, which is odd for a guy who fights zombies on a regular basis. So, in this scene from The Hexagon #10, as they were fighting alien plant monsters called Botanical Aberrations while speeding around a city in a buggy, THIS was his reaction, as witnessed by The Bard from the back-seat.

“Dear Lord, I am aware of the fact that my powers are likely satanic in some way, shape, or form,” I hear Jack’d pray in the shotgun seat while hurling flash paper fireballs at the worms. “But if you could do me a favour and spare my life, I would be VERY much appreciative!”

There’s just something hilarious to me about a horrific-looking chaos mage praying to God in situations like this. Kinda dark, I guess, but funny nonetheless.

#2 – The AT4W References from Green Defender #4

Say, have I mentioned that I kinda like the show Atop The Fourth Wall? Okay, okay, put the weapons down! Yes, I’ve paid homage to my reviewer role-model, Linkara, and his comic book review show on a number of occasions…and naturally, in a series about superheroes, how could I possibly resist making a reference to him in Green Defender #4? Now, there were actually two in this particular chapter, but this one is my favourite.

It’s been two nights since the Greene murder as I weave between cars on the Emeraptor. The streets have been somewhat quiet, save for a break-in at a corner store and one moron who actually tried to pose as an internet celebrity and get free comic books for his ‘status’. I wouldn’t have even needed to get involved, but I was in the area, and the man was claiming to be armed. Not so much.

And for the record, I have yet to explain where that man purchased his not-so-magic gun. I’m saving that for a DVD exclusive. 😉

#3 – The Bard’s Disliking of Truth or Dare from Starslip #6

Okay, this one might not actually make a ton of sense as to why I find it particularly funny, but just bear with me as we look at this scenario play out before Starslip.

“Well actually, since we got more than two people…” Olette says with an almost evil smirk, pulling out an empty bottle.

“Oh no, NOT Truth or Dare!” Bard cries desperately.

“Oh, come now,” Maple replies, “it should be fun.”

“EVERYTIME I have EVER played Truth or Dare with you, you have dared me to do increasingly embarrassing acts,” Bard accuses. “First it was the hair dye, then it was wearing that horribly extravagant dress, then it was singing Never Gonna Give You Up at that bar when the people there were just BEGGING for an excuse for a fight to break out.”

“We escaped, didn’t we?” Maple reasons as both myself and Olette are ready to die laughing.

Now here’s the reason why: The Bard is actually based heavily off of N. Harmonik, who is also my spellchecker, and I know for a fact that she doesn’t like Truth or Dare fanfics. So yeah, that was actually meant to be a friendly joke directed at her…Also, at some point, I NEEDED to include a Rick Astley reference. It’s like a law.

#4 – The Flirt from Zenith Woman #2

…Y’know what, let’s just let the scene speak for itself, as a rather muscular-looking man hits on Zenith Woman while she’s in civilian disguise and going shopping with The Bard.

“Well, think your friend would mind if we went for a stroll?” the man suggests, and it’s at this point I notice his gaze is quite a bit lower than my face. “Maybe go for a bite to eat?”

“…Oh!” I say as I realise his intent. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe we should be mating at all.”

The man blinks, looking flustered. “Wha-…wai-“

“It’s just, that sort of thing should only be done between two who share a strong bond,” I go on. “Also, while your muscles are a bit bulkier-looking than mine, I’m almost certain that, should we attempt to mate, I would likely break you, and I’m afraid I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.”

The man just looks at me oddly, stepping away slowly. “…A-Alright then…I’ll see you ’round…”

I watch as he leaves, confused, until I hear an odd sound coming from behind me. Turning, I see Robina standing a couple of feet away, and she appears to be trying to keep from laughing.

“…What?” I ask, befuddled.

“…Vyx, you have NO idea how awesome that was,” Robina says, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she keeps from laughing harder.

There’s just something inherently funny to me about an alien girl interacting with dumbass human men. When you see it happening, you know it won’t end well and you likely know the punch-line to come, but you can’t look away! XD

#5 – The Defender Signal Suggestion from Green Defender #17

I’ve made it pretty clear in the past that Batman is my favourite superhero. As such, much of Green Defender was inspired by Batman. And if you’re wondering, here’s who else inspired him…

However, while I try not to make GD TOO much like Batman, there are some moments where I just can’t help but make tongue-and-cheek references to him, as seen here when he’s meeting Detective Catherine Summers on a rooftop.

I land softly on the roof. I’m about a minute late, but I felt the need to scope out the area to make sure this wasn’t a trap. Standing in the shadows of the roof entrance is Detective Summers, having a cigarette as she waits for me.

“Y’know those are bad for you,” I note as I walk over.

“I hear the same thing about having mass voltage running through your body, but you seem okay,” the Detective replies. “Besides, it’s an e-cigarette. I’m trying to quit.”

“Also, there are better ways to contact people than to stash cellphones in their pockets,” I go on.

“Well, what would you prefer, a giant spotlight with your symbol on it or something?” Summers inquires.

Thinking for a moment, I just shrug. “…Eh, too egotistical…”

And that’s my 5 Favourite Scenes From Superhero Tales. I hope you enjoyed this blatant attention-whoring, and by all means, leave a comment below what you thought, and if you like these, by all means check out Superhero Tales. Ja né!

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