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Oggy and the Cockroaches (French: Oggy et les Cafards) is a French animated television series created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud and produced by Gaumont Multimedia for seasons 1–2, Les Productions Coquerelles for season 2, and Xilam Animation for seasons 3–7. It chronicles the comedic exploits and burlesque adventures of Oggy, a light blue cat with a red nose and white gloves, whose life is constantly interrupted by three cockroaches – Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee respectively – who regularly cause mischief at his home. The show employs silent comedy, with characters not speaking or instead use unintelligible vocalizations and gestures.
The series premiered in September 1998 on France 3, and was licensed internationally in over 150 countries.[3][4] It ended in January 2019, having released seven seasons in over two decades.[citation needed] The cartoon relies on slapstick humour, much like its inspiration Tom and Jerry;[5][6][7][8][9] although traditional slapstick cartoon characters prefer dropping anvils and pianos on each other, Oggy and the Cockroaches sometimes uses atomic bombs or submarines.
In September 2020, a reboot series was announced, entitled Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation, in which Oggy takes care of Piya, a young elephant from India.[10][11] It was released worldwide on Netflix on 28 July 2022. Although it differs noticeably from the original series in terms of its visuals and tone, Gulli labels it as Oggy's eighth season.[citation needed] In 2021, a spin-off, Oggy Oggy, was released, focusing on a kitten version of Oggy without the cockroaches.
Premise
Oggy, an anthropomorphic cat, spends his days watching television and eating, but is continually pestered by three cockroaches (Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee). The roaches' slapstick mischief ranges from plundering Oggy's refrigerator (mostly) to hijacking the train he just boarded. In many situations, Oggy is also helped by his cousin, Jack, who is more violent and short-tempered than him and is also annoyed by the cockroaches. Other recurring characters include Bob, a short-tempered bulldog and Oggy's neighbor, and Olivia, a female cat who becomes Oggy's love interest.
All notable characters as they appeared in the fourth season
Main
Oggy is a cat with a light blue body, green eyes, red nose, white gloves, portly figure, grey tummy and white feet. Oggy also has a black "cap" (shaped to include his ears) over the top of his head. Oggy usually spends his time either watching TV or doing housework, when he's not chasing his archenemies, the cockroaches. Despite the constant mayhem caused by the roaches, Oggy has a love–hate relationship with them, having lived with them for a long time. Whenever he finds himself alone in his house, he will begin to miss the roaches along with their pranks (as seen in the season 3 episode "Priceless Roaches" and the season 1 episode "So Lonely"/"Alone at Last"), followed by nothing interesting happening in his life. According to executive producer Marc du Pontavice and France Info, Oggy was named after punk rock musician Iggy Pop[12] and the rock album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972).[13][14] In the first three seasons, Oggy, like his Tom and Jerry counterpart, was the main punching bag in the series, though this was phased out somewhat in the fourth and fifth seasons. He also has a fear of heights, as shown in "The Rise and the Fall" and its season 7 remake "Vertigo!" – however, it only applied for Jack's construction site.
The Cockroaches are a trio of cockroaches named Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee (who are implied to be named after members of the rock band Ramones), who love harassing and playing tricks on Oggy and Jack. However, if the cats left, they would miss each other, as seen in "Moving Out". The cockroaches have wide heads, vibrantly-colored sclerae with long, pointy black noses and black feet. They also have black "caps" with their antennae, like Oggy, and gloves.
Joey is the smallest cockroach with a purple-pink body, pink right eye (originally red), a yellow left eye, and a lavender head. Even though he is the shortest roach in the group, he is the leader, and the most intelligent, always being the brain for their plans – but is sometimes forced to go alone, because Marky and Dee Dee often think that his ideas are stupid. He also loves money (which is shown in several episodes such as "Saturday Black Fever" and "Mister Cat"), but his efforts always fall short, usually ending with him getting swatted or beaten up. He is named after lead singer Joey Ramone. While he also has a black "cap" with his antennae, like Oggy and the other roaches, it was originally lavender, as seen in "Bitter Chocolate" and "It's All Under Control", but was changed in the remakes.
Marky is the tallest cockroach with a silver body, green head and pink eyes (originally red). Although Marky originally used to love causing mischief just like Dee Dee and Joey, he has grown to be more laid-back as the series progressed and has a generic role. In most episodes, he is shown with Dee Dee as his partner-in-crime. He sometimes is a hopeless romantic (as seen in "Jealousy" and "Baby Doll"/"Doll Idol"), and his hobbies consist of dating puppets and reading books (which are never shown). He also has bad breath as revealed in "It's a Small World"/"Itsy-Bitsy Oggy". While his eye color changed, they turn red again at one point in "Teleportation". He is named after drummer Marky Ramone.
Dee Dee is the youngest cockroach with a dark blue body, orange head and green eyes. Always hungry, his appetite sometimes reaches insane proportions, often resulting in the consumption of larger animals or other things that would otherwise be inedible (such as hyenas in one case and, due to the effects of a poisonous mushroom in another case, an insect; other instances include the fish on the wallpaper in "Oggy's Clone"/"Oggy's Costume" and a clownfish in "Scuba Diving"). He is known to like opera in "A Night at the Opera"/"Oggy at the Opera", wanting to publicly perform on-stage. Sometimes it is shown that his feet are so foul-smelling that the juice they produce is toxic and can melt objects, as seen in "Caught in a Trap"/"High Security Fridge". He is named after bassist Dee Dee Ramone.
Recurring
Jack is a cat with an olive green body, yellow eyes, red nose, pale pink stomach, and white feet. In contrast to Oggy, he is more short-tempered, violent, and arrogant than him. He can be seen as greedy, as shown in a few episodes where he goes against Oggy or teams up with him for money. He often finds himself building huge machinery, such as roach-catching contraptions, and is very interested in physics and chemistry, though this was phased out in later seasons. Jack has an excellent relationship with Oggy, particularly in the episode "Happy Birthday" where he tries to stop Oggy from committing suicide. Jack mostly visits and sleeps at Oggy's house, and owns a green jeep in which he and Oggy go for a variety of journeys, and in mundane cases for trips to the beach or going fishing. He is sometimes seen trying to propose to Oggy's sister Monica, but the cockroaches' pranks always stop it. In one episode ("Don't Rock the Cradle!"/"Oggy the Babysitter"), Jack and Monica seem to have a baby together and ask Oggy to babysit their child. In "Just Married!", Jack plans to marry a poodle, but it got cancelled due to the cockroaches sneaking in and causing trouble.
Bob is a fierce brown bulldog and Oggy's neighbor, who has anger issues – when Oggy, Jack, or the cockroaches accidentally irritate him (e.g. crushing him, shaving his fur or destroying his home), he usually pummels Oggy or Jack offscreen. Despite this, he has some sort of friendship with them, as notably seen in the episodes "Olivia", "Steamed Out!", "Oggy Splits Hairs", and "Back to the Past!". Even though Bob is tough, he also has a comically sensitive side, as shown in "Oggy's Teddy Bear", where it's also revealed he's a toy collector. In addition, Bob also works as a police officer in several episodes (such as "Dee Dee Capone") and a teacher in one ("Back to School").
Olivia is a white cat with a yellow bow on her head, a pink nose, and light blue eyes. She first appears in the fourth season as Oggy's love interest. Olivia is happy-go-lucky and polite, being fond of nature and finding any sort of opportunity for fun. In spite of her optimistic outlook, she is aware of the cockroaches' mischief, so she sometimes stops them when they are around by using aggressive methods (in "Oggy and the Not-So-Smart Bracelet", she outright retaliates at Marky). However, she is also friends with the cockroaches (as seen in "Oggy Goes Green!" and "Un(Happy) Camper!"). Olivia also cares a lot about her appearance, as seen in the episode "Olivia's Pimple", where she refuses to leave her house when she sees a pimple on her face. In "Oggy Is Getting Married!", as the episode's title implies, Olivia and Oggy marry after a trip to Venice, Italy. However, their life after said marriage is not frequently shown later in the series.
Other
Oggy's Grandma is the least-known member of Oggy's family who appears in several episodes, including "Granny's Day" and "Oggy's Grandma" (where she appears to be very strict with Oggy's mannerisms). She also makes a cameo in "Deep Trouble" where she supports Oggy and Jack, along with Monica. In "Granny's Day", she decides to attack the roaches, but eventually spared the cockroaches at the end. She is then actually attacked by them in "Oggy's Grandma", once getting her head flattened by the lid of Oggy's toilet. She also gets frequent, short-lasting bursts of energy from coffee, which aids her in defeating the roaches. In "Granny's Day", she successfully captures Joey and Marky – but later feels sympathy for them when Dee Dee cries on a picture of the trio, with the other two crossed out.
Monica is Oggy's twin sister and Jack's love interest, the latter of whom she has a child within "Don't Rock the Cradle!"/"Oggy the Babysitter". Jack's attempts to propose to Monica are always stopped by the cockroaches' pranks. A sporty tomboy compared to Oggy, she's known for being active and taking on physical challenges such as sky diving and bungee jumping. She sometimes is seen rollerskating, and wears a pair of them casually. Out of all the characters, Monica appears the least – however, she makes a brief cameo in "Oggy Is Getting Married!", where she sits next to Bob. She later plays a major role as Olivia's rival in the episode "Sharing Oggy", although they later become friends.
Lady K is a light yellow female cockroach who debuted in the episode of the same name (also in the fourth season), as the cockroaches' new love interest (mainly Joey's) – to which she takes advantage of. She lives in Olivia's house which Olivia is not aware of, and hates her for unknown reasons. She frequently attempts to use the cockroaches as her pawns to get what she wants or her job done.
Pit is a gray dog living in the same neighborhood as Oggy, who debuted in the fourth season. Like Bob, he is also strong.
Bobette is Bob's daughter who debuted in the fifth season. She is Jack's love interest, as seen in the episodes "Marky's Tournament" (where Marky also had a crush on her) and "Jackromeo and Bobette". She is seen in the episode "Emperor for a Day" as Napoleon's love interest.
The Policeman is an unnamed human policeman who is normally seen in traffic, or sometimes wherever Oggy has traveled to. Sometimes Oggy or Jack accidentally annoy him, due to the cockroaches' mischief. He appears in every season, except for the fifth.
The Doctor is an unnamed human doctor who sometimes visits Oggy's house when Oggy gets sick, or in other cases, when another character (like Jack) assumes Oggy has gone mad. He sometimes wears a nurse's outfit. In the episodes "A Dog Day's Afternoon"/"Cute Little Puppy", it is revealed that he has a pet puppy (which Oggy took care of). He is also shown in "Missing in Action"/"Where's the Exit?" as an artist (specifically, a painter). The Doctor is later absent in season 5.
The Witch is a female witch which has a black coat and dress and a black magic hat who appeared as a minor character to several episodes like in season 3 episode "Inside Out" in which her magical telescope fell in Oggy's house and also in season 4 episodes such as "The Magic Pen" (in which her pencil fell) and "Back to the Past" (in which she made Oggy, Jack and Bob into babies). She is bald, just have gray hair in two left and right on the head and always lives with an attitude. In Season 7, the witch got a redesigned which reuses Miss Cleo the Witch Impersonator's design from Space Goofs.
Some of the characters cameo in Xilam's other series, such as Zig & Sharko and The Daltons (In Joe’s dream in "The Secret Passage"), and in the film Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure (2007). The eponymous characters make a debut in the Space Goofs episode "Venus Junior", where they are seen on the aliens' television (before the pilot episode was officially posted online, in 2016). In the second season, "Space Sailors" has a gag where the roaches greet Etno (in the aliens' now-flooded house), as they row by. Oggy, the roaches and Jack appear as drawings in "Doodle", and Oggy and Monica make a cameo in the episode "The Alien Show".[citation needed]
Production
The project dates back to 1997; shortly after the success of Space Goofs, Marc du Pontavice approached Jean‑Yves Raimbaud with a specific creative brief: "think about what Tom and Jerry would look like in the year 2000." Raimbaud responded by designing a blue cat (later named Oggy) and replacing the classic mouse with three mischievous cockroaches—effectively inverting the usual predator-prey dynamic, and thus Oggy and the Cockroaches was created.[15][16] The show was meant to "counter the surge of superheroes, manga and Franco-Belgian comic book heroes." After the death of Raimbaud, Olivier Jean-Marie, director of the series, decided not to modify the design of Oggy, in particular his blue color. The first name of each of the three cockroaches, Joey, Dee Dee and Marky, refers to three of the members of the punk rock group called the Ramones. Oggy, for his part, owes his first name to the famous singer Iggy Pop as well as the character of Ziggy Stardust created by David Bowie. Iggy Pop also sang for the theme song of Space Goofs. The first season cost approximately 9 million euros to produce, with production costs subsequently decreasing in later seasons.
A third season was commissioned somewhat later, in 2008, following the first two seasons' meteoric rise to international success. After a four-year gap in production, season 5 was released in mid-2017 with two more seasons coming later.[17][18][19] Season 6 episodes began airing on K2,[20] while Season 5 was previewed on Gulli.[21]
Music
Throughout the first through fourth seasons of the series, Hugues Le Bars composed the series' music. Hervé Lavandier, the composer of Space Goofs, only composed the music for the first and second seasons. Starting with the fifth season, Vincent Artaud, who was a composer on other Xilam titles like the second through fourth seasons of Zig & Sharko, Hubert & Takako, and FloopaLoo, Where Are You?, replaced Le Bars as the composer for the show. Some of the music composed by Artaud is arranged versions of the music from Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie.
Broadcast
Oggy and the Cockroaches originated from France, and the series originally aired on France 3 through the network's Les Minikeums block (seasons 1 and 2 with reruns of seasons 3 and 4), Canal+ Family (seasons 3 and 4), and Gulli (seasons 5 to 7, who also reran older episodes from November 2005 to May 2009 on the GRRR!!!, GulliGulli, GulliGang and GulliGood blocks), with reruns airing on other French networks like Canal J, Canal+, Télétoon+, France 4, Boomerang and TiJi. The series "is watched by 800 million households worldwide."
In the Philippines, the series aired on TV5 in 2010, and ABS-CBN from 2010 to 2020. In late 2011, it was welcomed to Cartoon Network's line-up and adored by the channel, and aired until 2022 due to the said show being one of the network's top-viewed programs. It moved to GMA Network on 3 September 2022, under the network's Astig Authority Saturday morning block.
In Southeast Asia, season 3 of the series was broadcast on Disney Channel and Disney XD from 2009 to 31 December 2013. Seasons 1, 2 and 4 were broadcast on the local Cartoon Network from late 2010 to 2017, and seasons 4 to 7 from 2017 to 2022. Seasons 1 to 4 were broadcast on Nickelodeon from 2015 to April 2021.
It also aired in India from 2009 to 2012 on Nickelodeon. In July 2012, the series was taken to Cartoon Network, which broadcast a Telugu audio track of the show, airing it hours each day until its fourth season.[25][26] In 2015, Nickelodeon started rebroadcasting the show's older episodes, from seasons 1 to 3.[27] Later, the series was also picked up by Nickelodeon Sonic, which broadcast the same seasons as Nick. Season 5 started airing on Cartoon Network from 14 August 2017.[28] Seasons 3, 6 and 7 aired later, during 2018–19 in Cartoon Network India. In 2020, Sonic Nickelodeon started airing season 4 again. Cartoon Network aired seasons 5 to 7 until March 2022. In 2021, Sony YAY! took over the rights for all seven seasons.[29]
In the United States, it aired on Fox Kids from September 12, 1998 to March 5, 1999. Nickelodeon began airing the series on February 23, 2015 until March of that same year.[30] The show later aired on KidsClick from 2018 until the block's discontinuation in 2019.
Five DVDs came out in 2003 in the United States, with 12 episodes each. In 2005, several VHSs were released in New York City.
On 8 October 2008, a French DVD box set of the complete first season, plus the pilot and the episode "Working Cat", was released. On 6 September 2010, three French DVD box sets of the complete first, second, and third seasons were made available. In July 2011, a French DVD box set containing all episodes from seasons 1, 2 and 3 became available. Seasons 4 to 7 are yet to be available. Multiple VHSs were sold in Italy.
#
DVD name
Release date
1
Volume 1
4 November 2003
2
Volume 2
4 November 2003
3
Volume 3
25 November 2003
4
Volume 4
25 November 2003
5
Volume 5
25 November 2003
Magazine
A magazine called Oggy et les Cafards, le mag came out in France in 2009 (two issues),[38] then again in 2011.
"Oggy Never Falls in Love (Bonus in dematerialised version)"
3:36
Comics
A French comic series adapted from the series first started out in 2010. It is published by Dargaud, written by Diego Aranega, and drawn and colourised by Frévin, also known as Sylvain Frécon.[44]
16 April 2010: Plouf, prouf, vrooo!
5 November 2010: Crac, boum, miaouuuuu!
23 September 2011: Bip...bip...bip...
An American comic was planned to be released in summer 2019. The first issue was released on 11 December 2019, after being delayed two times.[45] It is published by American Mythology Productions.[46][47] The comic was released on a bi-monthly schedule, but was on a hiatus for four months after two issues were published due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the comic book industry. Issue #3 was published on 24 June 2020. It is currently on hiatus as of 23 October 2020.
CD drama
A CD drama, Oggy et les Cafards Volume 1, was released in France on CD and for digital download in October 2012. It contains narrations of five episodes by Anthony Kavanagh.[48]
2012: Oggy et les Cafards Volume 1(Sony Music Entertainment)
The film Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie (originally Oggy et les Cafards, Le Film) was announced in 2012,[49] and released to theatres on 7 August 2013. This film has four segments, "Oggy Magnon", "Prince Oggy II", "Jack Holmes", and "Oggy-Wan Kenoggy", the latter of which is a CGI segment.
Video game
A video game adaptation for the Game Boy Advance based on the television show was announced in 2004 and planned and developed by Xilam. The game was present at E3 2004, where footage was shown as it being a 2D platformer, and it was scheduled for release months later in Q3 2004, but the game was cancelled and never materialized for unknown reasons.[50][51]
Oggy Oggy, which centers on a kitten version of Oggy, free from the mayhem of the roaches, was released on 24 August 2021.[52][53] It is CG-animated. The series was released on Netflix and is the first French Netflix original series.[54]
Like the original series, it focuses on the wacky antics of Oggy and the trio of mischievous cockroaches that inhabit his house. This reboot also has Oggy taking care of Piya, a young, seven-year-old elephant from India.[55]
Statue
In December 2019, to commemorate the series' 20th anniversary, the characters were included in the Musée Grévin.ref>[hhttps://xilam.com/en/2019/12/18/oggy-grevin-paris "Oggy and the Cockroaches Takes Residence at Grévin Museum"]. 28 October 2025.</ref>
Controversy
The series' run on the American Nickelodeon was short-lived; it entered a brief controversy in the United States during a broadcast on the network on March 5, 2015, when the network aired "(Un)Happy Camper!", an episode in which the appearance of a framed portrait of a topless woman was seen in the background of a shot in Oggy's trailer during the scene where he enters it after Joey switches oil and water signs. Faced with the anger of parents and complaints from many viewers, Nickelodeon quickly intervened; the episode was quickly removed from its website and rotation on its television network.[56] The series was also on Nicktoons and was quietly removed from the schedule by May of the same year.[57][58] Both the network and Xilam declined to comment. All later releases of the episode replace the picture with a beach scene.
The show holds a cult classic status in India as well as in many Southeast Asian countries. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show 2/5 stars, saying that the show "lays up slapstick comedy and physical violence among its mutually contentious characters to get laughs".
See also
Pakdam Pakdai, a 2013 Indian animated series based around a dog and three mice by Nikhil Vyas
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