KATBOT
A USER’S MANUAL
Written by:
Sherri Stoner
CONFIDENTIAL DO NOT DUPLICATE
November 18, 2004
WALT DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION
KATBOT
A user’s manual by Sherri Stoner
THE BASIC CONCEPT
Katbot is a curious somewhat naïve, fun-loving robotic cat alien sent from the
planet Katatonia to study earthling tween culture. Disguised as a foreign
exchange student, Katbot lives with the Lebore family in Ohio. Through her
friendships with an eclectic group of earthlings, Katbot experiences life on Earth
with a unique and comic perspective.
WHY IS SHE HERE?
Because on the planet Katatonia there comes a time in every Bot’s life when
they are jettisoned off to study another culture. One bot may be assigned to
study tween aged fleas on planet ITCHYIOPOLIS while another may get
assigned to study the tween aged mold spores in Dimension XERPLEX.
Katbot was assigned to Earth. Lucky girl, she gets to study…
Tween age earthlings. The most baffling creatures in the universe!!
Katbots assignment is to assimilate into her new earthling habitat - The Lebore
family in Ohio. She is to gain data, and send frequent reports back to Professor
Meew – her highly regarded mentor back on Katatonia..
SHE’S A CAT, SHE’S A ROBOT, SHE’S FROM ANOTHER PLANET – HOW IN
THE WORLD DOES SHE FIT IN?
She uses her hypno-façade to become a cute earthling named Katerina
Botenski.
HOW DOES KATBOT AFFECT THINGS?
As green and naive as she is, Katbot doesn’t simply “study” her earthling
subjects, she dives full force into their lives, and shakes things up. Her
inquisitive, and energetic nature sends any typical tween aged story spinning in a
new and fun direction.
BUT SHE MUST KEEP HER IDENTITY A SECRET
If Katerina’s true identity: was ever found out, she would be jettisoned home
before you could say Garfield. Or worst case scenario, the Government might
grab her and probe her and stuff. Yuck. So Katbot is under a ton of outside
pressure - and to make matters tougher …
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HER SECRET IS NOT SO SECRET
Junior Lebore - the son of her host family – knows she is a ”robotic cat alien
sent to earth to study tween culture.”. (he is the only one who will EVER really
know). But since they are best earth buds, her secret is safe with him.
BUT WORSE YET… SOMEONE ELSE SUSPECTS
Marcella Curd. The Lebore'd next-door neighbor and Katbot’s comic foil.
Marcella was in her bedroom the night Katbot arrived – she was laying back on
her bed, dreamily staring at the walls of her room –all covered with photos,
drawings and mementos of Jr. Lebore (the unrequited love of her life) when
Katbot’s spaceship crashed into the branches of the Lebore’s old oak tree
From that moment on, Marcella has been on a constant quest to uncover the
truth about Katerina Botenski.
OUR SHOW TAKES PLACE IN OHIO AKA ANYWHERE USA
The Lebore family (Dick, Delores and Junior) live in a modest home on a modest
street in a modest neighborhood. Junior goes to a modest middle school called
Flat Hills Elementary, Nothing much is out of the ordinary in their lives. Until
Katbot arrives…
Junior Lebore is at first flummoxed but then thrilled to have a robotic best friend!
Dick and Delores Lebore adore the idea of having Katerina Botenski stay with
them – although they had no idea a foreign exchange student was coming and
they have never exactly heard of Katatonia (a small Eastern European country
according to Katbot’s assimilation instructions). And the way she arrived –
blazing through the night sky and crash landing into their Koki pond in a space
ship was a bit “different.” But who are they to judge? They’ve never been out of
Ohio and LOVE the idea of learning about their new “little girl.”
Other locations include:
FLAT HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL – the school that every tween in town attends.
THE BURP N’ SLURP – the only mini-mart in town. No one has microwave
burritos like the Burp N’ Slurp.
DICK LEBORE’S VETINARY CLINIC – attached to the Lebore house with a
separate entrance. Dick treats any animal that shows up at his door - from a
poodle to a buffalo. And all these animals have comical reactions when Katbot
steps into the room.
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KATATATONIA – An uncharted planet that is somewhere just to the left of the
second to star to the right and straight onto nappage. Once inside the many rings
of fur-balls and sleep-zones, the planet looks like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.” With
a cat motif. Although Katbot rarely visits her “home planet” it’s culture figures into
her life on earth.
--On earth – babies are born
--On Katatonia – they are constructed on an assembly line, then their tanks are
filled with Cat DNA.
--On earth – you have parents.
--On Katatonia – you have robotic mentors. - Junior Lebore has Dick and
Delore…. Katbot has Professor Meew. (Not to say that Katbot doesn’t bond with
Dick and Delore… because she does)
The one thing that both planets have in common is “tweens.” Which leads us
nicely to….
OUR CHARACTERS
KATBOT
The show’s naïvely enthusiastic, emotional and optimistic heroine. Part cat part
robot, Katbot is the ultimate outsider. If you thought moving into a middle school
is confusing to most human children – imagine what it is like for a robotic cat
alien!
BUT KATBOT MAKES THE BEST OF THINGS
Although she doesn’t always “get” life on earth she adores it here and dives into
each story with all four paws. Katbot is curious, emotional, and fun loving. On
her flip side she can be competitive, petty, jealous, and sometimes nappish.
Katbot never takes anything for granted she is amazed by sunsets and ice cream
etc… She finds earth endlessly fascinating and is all about joining in.
Unfortunately, since she is a robotic cat alien, her antics are often a tad oddball.
And this bot is emotional, she takes things very personally. If Junior has a new
best friend then she will set out to get a new best friend of her own – with a
vengeance!
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Katbot is fun loving but not ditzy or flighty. She doesn’t use earth slang, and
often takes earth slang literally.
HOW DOES A ROBOTIC CAT ALIEN ASSIMILATE INTO HUMAN TWEEN
CULTURE?
With a hypno facade of course! When she touches her antennae together, a
TRADEMARK SFX: <SZUURT> is heard and she is instantly transformed into
KATERINA BOTENSKI
A cute earth girl. She looks a lot like Katbot and their personalities are the same.
Katarina maintains all the cat like behaviors Kabot possesses. She often drinks
out of a bowl instead of a glass, licks her plate, lap-drinks at the water
fountain, is delighted by a ball of yarn or chases the beam of a flashlight
across a wall. She is TERRIFIED OF WATER! The kids at school
assume all this kittenish behavior is because she is from a foreign country
and junk. Except for Marcella Curd. She sees Katrina’s odd behavior as
evidence that Katerina Botenski is an alien robot.
OTHER ROBOTIC POWERS
In “WE ARE FAMILY” Katbot uses her antennae to change the entire Lebore
household. Mom becomes a SUPER MOM/actress. Junior becomes a
rock Star and Dad becomes the President of the U.S.A. We don’t use this
Idea too much. Because Katbot is not here to change earthling culture as
much as she is to fit in and study it.
In “DUDE TIME” she changes herself into a dude, so she can infiltrate the secret
life of “dudes.”
And in “REBEL WITHOUT A CLAW” she transforms herself into a vixen/bully to
uncover what makes a good boy turn bad.
HER BACKPACK
Catboat’s backpack has two unique characteristics – first off it is a jetpack –
allowing she and Junior to occasionally fly off into the night sky. Secondly, it has
a variety of scents – as in the “forget me not scent” which makes anyone with in
smell shot forget what just happened. There is also the “truth spray” which
makes anyone within nose shot tell the truth.
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HER ROBO BRAIN
Katbot has a separate computer brain. All Katatonians do. When she accesses
her robo brain we see things through her eyes and a kitty-shaped terminator grid
covers what she sees. A different voice dictates what she sees:
KATBOT’S ROBO BRAIN
Chuck Dipster – hoop star and dim rod.
Accessing basketball data.
After this Katbot downloads all basketball data and becomes a supreme player.
The robo brain sounds a bit like the lady who says: “The white zone is for
immediate loading and unloading.”
SO SOMETIMES SHE IS A ROBOCAT AND SOMETIMES SHE IS A GIRL
When Katbot is by herself or alone with Junior, she is a green cat alien. Since
she has shared her secret with Junior, he gets to see her for who she really is.
And she is happy she did – removing that hypno façade feels better than kicking
off a knock off pair of Manolo Blahloniks.
CAT LIKE BEHAVIOR
But when she is in her girl “façade” she will often act like a cat. Tearing at
curtains or chasing at mice. Katbot can’t always help but give into her kitty
instincts. Use this device when it adds to the humor or plusses the story.
KATBOT IS FASCINATED AND OFTEN PUZZLED BY LIFE ON EARTH
“Why are people mean” “why do kids cheat?” “Why is there cheese?” Katbot is
very inquisitive….
Katbot is feeling earth emotions for the very first time. And as such, she reacts in
a big way. Remember the first time you felt cheated, or the first time you
cheated? The first time you thought someone “liked” you only to find out they
“liked” someone else? – or maybe played their clarinet better than you, and
knocked you out of first chair? (okay that was my issue but) Katbot is
experiencing all these human moments for the first time. So she really takes
things to heart.
- She could easily sit on the sidelines and observe earthling tween culture
and report back home… but instead she joins in, trying to understand
human behavior from the inside out. If she wants to study the school
bully, she becomes a bully herself. If she wants to understand slumber
parties she becomes the “ultimate slumber party girl.”
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Katbot is caring. If a pal of hers is in need she will go to outrageous lengths to
see that things turn out well for them.
- Katbot is competitive.
- Katbot is sometimes jealous
- Katbot has occasional has outrageous reactions to small events. When
her alarm clock goes off she shoots to the ceiling and holds on with her
claws. (this sort of thing would be fun to see when she is in her Katrina
façade)
JUNIOR LEBORE
Katbot’s best friend and cohort. A hacker, a slacker, a midnight snacker, Jr. is a
nutty Johnny Knoxville for the tween set. Despite the fact that he is pretty
clueless, he is an ever-loyal friend to his pal Katbot.
Jr. will occasionally use Katbot’s powers for his own personal gain. Like when he
really wants to win a trophy at the lowrider bot competition, he (over the top)
pleads with her to let him use her intergalactic drivers license so they can enter.
She usually relents to his pleading but sometimes shuts him down with a “talk to
the tail, cuz it’s moving away from you.”
He is the only person who knows that Katbot is actually a “robotic cat alien sent
from Katatonia to study earthling tween culture” and would NEVER tell ANYONE
that secret. These two may spar and fight, but they always end back together in
the end, often laying on top of the roof at the Lebore house and staring off into
the night sky. (These moments can be sweet, but not romantic – and always
funny).
Junior is into skateboarding, snowboarding and snoozin’ on the couch. He is a
c-student at best, but well liked at school.
Junior has a secret handshake that only Katbot and Junior know:
JUNIOR
YO!
KATBOT
YO!
JUNIOR
CHA!
KATBOT
CHA!
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BOTH
SHABBA SHABBA
JUNIOR
OOO!
KATBOT
AHHH!
BOTH
NONNIE-NONNIE
BOTH
(BURPS) AWE-SO-LICIOUS!
Junior speaks fluent “Dude-ish” words like “Cha!” and Awesolicious, pepper his
vocab. He and Rocky can have a total conversation using the word:
JUNIOR
Dude!
ROCKY
Dude?
JUNIOR
Duuuuuuddde?
ROCKY
DUDE!!!
JUNIOR
Cha! Dude.
ROCKY
Oooooo dude.
Many stories should focus around Katbot’s and Juniors friendship. The two
characters work very well together. Her intelligence meeting his dude dumb-
atude makes up for nice communication problems and absurd banter.
JUNIOR HAS A CRUSH
On the prettiest girly-guuurrl at Flat Hills Middle school – a certain Ms. Darcy
Dumont – head cheerleader and all around go getter. She barely remembers
Juniors name. But his admiration for his “lady love will continue till the end of
time-age, or till she moves away or some junk, or I meet somebody new.”
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JUNIOR’S OTHER BEST FRIEND IS ROCKY LAMOTT
Rocky has been best buds with Junior ever since they simultaneously hurled on
each other’s shoes on the first bus ride to kindergarten. Junior and Rocky can
hang for hours doing seemingly nothing. Or they veg out in front of the T.V. On
some occasions they go to a gnarly skatepark. (Where they always wear
helmets). They are completely in sync and share that special “dude” langurage.
There is only one thing Junior will never tell Rocky – Katerina’s secret.
ROCKY
Rocky is Juniors best and only boy bud. Rocky is always on his skateboard and
seems to spend more time at the Lebore house than he does at his own. Not
that he doesn’t love his family. “It’s just quieter here.”
Rocky lives with his mom Yanni, his Dad, Victor and his siblings one older
brother and younger two twin sisters in a nice home down the street from the
Lebores. His dad moved his beloved family from Puerto Rico to Ohio so he
could work at the tire plant nearby.. They are happy in Ohio. But Dad has his
dreams…
Rocky occasionally works along side his dad in their garage to perfect the
“perfect tire.” One that will never lose pressure and never go flat…They usually
explode.
Miom is a loving mom with the twins crawling all over her like cute squirrels as
they plea for her attention Mama, mama. Mama…” “Don’t eat that dirt Victor, it
has worms in it!”
Rocky is a dim bulb. He makes Junior look like a mensa member. pretty much
everything goes over his head. And he likes it that way. The one thing that
sticks in his head is his crush on…
PAULA PETRELLA
Paula is a transplant from New Jersey. She lives with her Aunt Tushka (a palm
reader) in a mobile home park on the edge of town. She “adores it here!” “There
is so much nothing going on here, I don’t know where to start!’
Paula has a longwinded story for most every situation. Her stories always
involve one of her goofy relatives. “My grandma Doootch swallowed a fish once
and ended up bald for life.”
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Paula is Katbot’s best guuurl friend. (although Paula has no idea that Katarina is
a robotic cat alien). But Paula does understand that Katerina Botenski is a
foreign exchange student – and she herself understands the “horrific pressure
placed on the new kid.” And so Katerina and Paula became best friends..
Paula acts like a mother hen to Katerina – she shows her the “mysterious ways”
of Ohio girls and the complex “infrastructure of the culture at Flat Hills
Elementary.”
Paula is aware of the crush Rocky has on her, but pays it no mind. “Sure, he’s
cute – but I gotta keep my options open.”
Those are Katbot’s friends now what about her archenemy?
MARCELLA CURD
Marcella Curd has a mission and it is a two fold one:
MARCELLA
To A: prove that Katerina Botenski is NOT a foreign
Exchange student, but actually a robotic cat alien
Sent to earth to study tween culture, and B! Have
Her absconded by the government so I can have
That ho-o-o-tie Junior Lebore all to myself!!!!!!!!
Marcella is dead set on her mission. It is her life. It is her passion. She is often
found perched in a tree, (or inside a trash can etc.) spying on Katerina. As
Marcella spies she talks into her micro cassette tape recorder or her video
camera. Either way, each entry begins the same…
MARCELLA
Marcella Curd here…
MARCELLA’S VOICE
Marcella is verbose and grandiose and has a tremendous vocabulary…, but
occasionally gets bored with her own King Lear-ish rant and wraps up her point
with a quick “or some such.”
Since Marcella has braces she tends to “spew” out her “esses.” Whenever
possible we should big words with the letter “s”.
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MARCELLA’S LOVE FOR JUNIOR
She just is CRAZY FOR THAT MAN, and since she lives next door to the
Lebores, she has a birds eye view of him.
She has a shrine to Junior Lebore in her room. She pulls a LOCKBOX out of it’s
secret hidden area and presses in a computer code. It springs open, like a pop
up book, revealing a shrine to Junior.
MARCELLA NEVER CATCHES THE CAT
Marcella often gets just inches from discovering the truth, but something always
goes wrong – (she leaves the lens cap on her camera, her high tech equipment
malfunctions…or some such)
MARCELLA HAS THE GOVERNMENT ON SPEED DIAL
Seconds after Marcella hits her speed dial, two MEN IN BLACK SHOW UP .
(think Bill Gannon and Joe Friday).
It never works out, Katerina outsmarts Marcella, or Marcella’s equipment
implodes. The Men in Black leave and Marcella shouts at the heavens: “WHY?
WHY? WHY?”
Oh, by the way, the reason Marcella has the government on speed dial is
because one of the Men in Black is Marcella’s uncle.
MARCELLA’S MOM
We never see her but we often hear her from O.S. saying things like: “Get in the
car Marcella, Mama needs a lie down – or from downstairs calling up to Marcella:
“get off the phone with the government, Mama needs her feet rubbed.”
THE LEBORES
Dick and Delore LeBore are two of the friendliest earthling parents a Katbot could
ever meet. They are fascinated by her “Katatonian” culture – and do everything
in their power to embrace it. They ask her endless questions about Katatonian
customs and rituals and holidays. And they make every effort to celebrate them
in a fashion that would make their little “foreign exchange student” feel at home.
Delore is a happy homemaker and “darn happy about it!” She sometimes fills in
and becomes Dick’s secretary for his business…
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A VETINARY CLINIC ATTACHED TO THE HOUSE
Happy-go-lucky Dick has a vet clinic in an office attached to the house. He treats
any kind of animal from gerbil to ant.
SO KATBOT ADORES THE LEBORE’S – EXCEPT FOR ONE THING
Dick’s home business. You see, animals don’t really react well to Katbot. Every
time Katbot enters the house all the animals go crazy, barking, chirping,
meowing… etc. Katbot explains it away by saying that animals are allergic to
her… but she can’t help by eye the yummy birdie in the cage, or the rodent with a
cold.
PROFESSOR MEEW
He is Katbot/Katerina’s mentor. Professor Meew is very much like “John
Houseman” from the “Paper Chase”
Katbot respects Professor Meew, but they often spar like parent and child.
SO THE OVERALL WAY THE SHOW WORKS IS…
Two eleven minute episodes where Katbot, Jr. (etc.) explore and expose the
things – great and small, good and bad that we earthlings care about. The show
will point out what we take for granted, and on the flip side what we overly
obsess about. But it should be FUNNY, FUNNY and fun to write.
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DISNEY’S
KATBOT
LOGLINES/SYNOPSIS
"Party Animal" (723A-101)
LOGLINE: Katbot goes to a slumber party and learns that they
have nothing to do with sleep.
SYNOPSIS: Darcy Duvet, the most popular girl in school and
president of practically every club, comes to the Lebore’s
front door to invite Katbot to a slumber party. Junior has a
crush on Darcy so severe, he can only stutter in her
presence. Katbot is amazed not only by the fact that parties
are thrown for your birth but such a party to celebrate
sleep. Junior and Rocky are obsessed with answering the
world’s most important question: what is the color of
Darcy’s pajamas. During the party, they try to get a peek.
Similarly, Marcella schemes to expose Katerina by ringing
the doorbell in a series of disguises, only to be booted out
every time. Katbot shows up at the party with her sleeping
(garbage) bag. The girls play truth or dare, tell ghost
stories and Katarina goes above and beyond what is expected
and humanly possible to fit in. At dawn, Katbot slumps home
exhausted...her thesis to Professor Meew: Slumber Parties
have nothing to do with sleep. Katbot falls over in a
tired, happy sleep. Marcella never gets into the house and
the only thing that Rocky and Junior come home with, is a
rash from hanging out in the poison oak all night.
"First Day of School" (723A-102)
LOGLINE: Katbot seeks out her best friend and discovers that
people can have more than one best friend.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot is excited about her best friend, Junior
Lebore but is heartbroken when Rocky, Junior’s other best
friend returns from summer camp. Jilted and rejected,
Katbot tries to find a new very best friend to call her
own. If Junior can have a new best friend, then she could
find a new one too. At school, she considers several
candidates of various high school caricatures: jocks,
cheerleaders, and the rest. Meanwhile, Katerina is spied
upon by Marcella Curd, who is convinced that Katbot is
indeed a Robotic Cat Alien sent from another planet to study
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‘tween culture. This is a secret that only Junior Lebore
knows. Marcella is intent on exposing Katerina for whom and
what she really is, not only for the worldwide notoriety,
but to get closer to her true love, Junior Lebore.
Katerina’s desire to find a new best friend offers Marcella
the perfect opportunity to lure her prey into her web of
deceit. In Marcella’s room, which is wired with
surveillance equipment to spy on unsuspecting Katerina, they
do what every pair of best friends do (according to
Marcella) – share secrets! Marcella confesses she collects
buttons and as Katerina is about to admit her secret, Junior
bursts in and announces that Marcella is a fraud. Katbot is
hurt that the whole friendship was a lie, but is overjoyed
that Junior came to her rescue. Junior is her best friend.
"Lowrider Bot" (723A-103)
LOGLINE: Katbot enters a demolition derby and learns about
trophies and winning.
SYNOPSIS: Junior and Katbot watch TV and see Junior’s hero,
Jose Slam Bob announce an amateur Low Rider Demolition
Competition this SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! The winner will
win take home a big shiny trophy. Katbot doesn’t understand
the allure of trophies until she becomes entranced by its
irresistible shininess. They both enter the competition
with the help of Katbot’s Katatonian driver’s license and
her spaceship. They rebuild it to demolition derby
specifications and head out to the derby. Theirs is the
smallest of all entrants, so it’s not too long before it is
smashed, trashed, slashed, and completely totaled. Junior
feels terrible - he didn’t get the trophy and he totally
wrecked Katbot’s spaceship and declares himself loser first
class. Katbot proclaims that “No human of mine is a
loser!!” and transforms herself into a mega cool rider.
They rejoin the derby and win their trophy, presented by
Jose Slam Bob. Junior’s hero and the trophy are not as big
as what they’ve seen on TV. Heading home dragging the
spaceship wreckage behind them, Katbot uses her robo powers
to make the trophy really big and really shiny. Katbot
learns that it wasn’t about winning; it was about how much
fun she and Junior had working together. It’s much better
than vegging out in front of the TV.
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“We Are Family” (723A-104)
LOGLINE: Competitiveness becomes contagious when Katbot
talks to her bragging cousin, Pussbot.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot is not in her normally happy, peppy mood.
In fact she’s surly and downright crabby. She’s been
exchanging instant Kmails with her cousin Pussbot who is now
a foreign exchange student on the most spectacular planet in
the universe (according to Pussbot, anyway). The more
Pussbot brags about her life, the worse Katbot feels about
her own. Suddenly the doorbell rings and its cousin Pussbot
(in a hypno-facade of her own) here to visit her favorite
cousin. Before Pussbot can see the Lebore clan, Katbot uses
her robo powers to transform them into the perfect family.
She works her tail off to impress cousin Pussbot and at the
end of the week, Katbot is exhausted and her robo powers
short out. The Lebores revert back to their normal selves.
Pussbot sees Katbot’s life for what it actually is - loud,
chaotic, silly, but fun. Pussbot enjoys herself - a lot
(but won’t admit it). Katbot realizes that she likes things
just the way they are - the Lebores are “purrfect”.
“Kitbot” (723A-105)
LOGLINE: Katbot is turned into a kitty, then adopted by
Marcella, learning there’s hidden good in everyone.
SYNOPSIS: Marcella is a odd one, and all the Lebores have
noticed. What they don’t see, is that she is ordering a
“love ray” out of a spy catalogue. At the Siberian
warehouse, the workers accidentally send her the wrong ray
gun. Later, she shoots the ray at the Lebore’s house, but
instead of making Junior fall in love with her, she
unknowingly turns Katbot into a kitten! Trying to find
Junior, “Kitbot” is taken in by Marcella, who thinks maybe a
pet is a better outlet for her. She puts Kitbot through a
grueling schedule of affection and discipline, never wanting
the two of them to part. Luckily, Kitbot makes her escape
away. Kitbot finds Junior, who helps her get back to
normal—though they turn Rocky into a baby during the
process. Oops! way, Marcella can’t believe she had Katbot
in her grasps all this time… and she let her go! Reflecting
back on her adventure, Katbot has to admit that Marcella
will make some lucky pet very happy some day.
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“Sneaking Out Is Hard To Do” (723A-106)
LOGLINE: When Katbot and Junior go to a rock concert on
Mars, they learn that some rules are there for a good
reason.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot’s “sort of” boyfriend from Katatonia,
Eddie, is in a band that’s playing in the Kat-A-Palooza on
the moon this weekend. Unfortunately, Katbot is not allowed
to leave her assigned planet. Eddie tells her to leave a
hologram to answer if Professor Meew calls. Katbot thinks
this is sneaky and wrong but BRILLIANT! She invites Junior
and they both head out with the help of holograms to hold
down the fort for the next 4 hours. Katbot and Junior take
off in the spaceship for the moon. They both enjoy the
concert and they even get on stage to sing with Eddie.
Katbot’s robo brain informs her that it is time to head back
to earth. Time ticks away as they look and look for their
spaceship in the huge parking lot. To make up lost time,
Katbot speeds toward planet earth only to be pulled over by
an intergalactic cop. Junior is sweating bullets because he
knows he’ll be grounded for life if his parents learned he
snuck out. Mom does find out Junior’s gone and Professor
Meew finds out Katbot left the planet. Sure enough, Junior
is grounded and Katbot is assigned a 90019 page thesis on
“following protocol”. Later after everyone is asleep,
Katbot and Junior share a moment - sure they were busted,
but that moon concert rocked!!
“The Waiting Dance Craze” (723A-107)
LOGLINE: Katbot invents a new dance craze and learns about
taking credit.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot and Junior are at the local mini mart,
heating up a burrito. Those seconds seem to take forever!
They can’t stand the torture of waiting!!! Katbot does a
goofy waiting dance to pass the time and Junior joins in.
After they leave, the owner rewinds the surveillance footage
and starts to sing and dance along - he is suddenly happy.
Soon everyone who stops by the mini mart and sees the
footage on a loop is doing the waiting dance. The craze
starts to spread out into the streets. Life is better.
Everyone is happy when they do the waiting dance. Katbot
however starts to get a bit miffed because she does not get
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credit for her creativity. Katbot uses her robo powers to
interrupt a TV broadcast of the fad and hypnotize the world
into a forgetting dance. The next day, the world is a
greyer place. Katbot realizes that getting credit wasn’t
that important after all so she takes Junior back to the
mini mart and starts the fad all over again.
“Trying To Score” (723A-108)
LOGLINE: Katbot learns about the value of winning fair and
square.
SYNOPSIS: Junior makes a proclamation to Rocky that he will
win Darcy Dumont’s heart by making the football squad.
Junior pleads with Katbot - he needs her help to make the
team. Katbot figures this will benefit her because now she
has a subject for this month’s report: the social
implications of winning. Katbot uses her robotic hyper beam
to help Junior single handedly lead the team to the first
game win. Meanwhile Marcella is spying on Junior trying to
figure out the truth about Katbot. After the first game
win, Darcy is suddenly all about Junior and Katbot is
suddenly all about winning. She takes Junior to win the
state championships. With win after win, they reach the
Superbowl. Professor Meew has been watching the Superbowl
via satellite and pulls the plug on Katbot’s powers. Katbot
learns that she cannot possibly explore the social
implications of winning if she is using her powers to
cheat. Junior goes on to score the final touchdown without
Katbot’s help and she changes her thesis to: winning feels
better when you come by it fair and square.
“Thanks 4 the Giving, Part I and Part II” (723A-109 and
723A-110)
LOGLINE: Katbot pretends to be her own relatives and learns
what makes a family.
SYNOPSIS: With the holiday approaching, Katbot decides her
latest report will be on Thanksgiving. She researches on
Pilgrims and Indians but when Katbot goes downstairs in a
pilgrim outfit on Thanksgiving, holding a basket of maze she
discovers the house is cacophony of manic activity. The
doorbell rings and an obnoxious herd of Lebore relatives
descend on the house. Katbot is confused – this is not what
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she had researched. Junior tells her that Thanksgiving is
about putting up with annoying relatives – that you only see
once a year. Katbot is perplexed. Not only did she miss the
point of this earth holiday, she doesn’t have any real
relatives. She needs a robotic family to be constructed and
delivered to her immediately. So she uses her hypno façade
to transform herself into various relatives. The big glitch
is – Katbot can only be one character in one place at one
time. Meanwhile, Marcella Curd has snuck in, disguised as a
Lebore cousin that no one seems to remember. She is on a
mission to expose Katerina Botenski and her relatives.
Eventually, after playing 6 or so characters…Katbot is
exhausted. Junior checks on Katbot. She laments that the
earthling holiday of Thanksgiving seems to have nothing to
do with giving thanks. There is a knock at the door – it is
Professor Meew – wearing a hypno-façade – he introduces
himself as Katbot’s Godfather. Katbot is so happy to see
him; she gives him a great big hug. He whispers in her ear:
“I thought you might like to see someone from home…” Later…
At the dessert table…Professor Meew says how thankful he is
to spend his first thanksgiving in this “new world” with his
Goddaughter – Katerina.
“Flirty Dancing” (723A-111)
LOGLINE: Katbot gets stood up at a school dance.
SYNOPSIS: It is Thursday afternoon and Paula, Junior and
Rocky are sitting on the Lebore couch lamenting the boring
weekend ahead of them. Katerina enters with a flyer
announcing this weekend’s dance! At school, Paula sets
Katerina up with every available male type guy: Danzer, a
game whiz, Luxor the weight lifter, Decon the playground
rapper. Paula is afraid her pal will never get a date to
the dance until the two girls arrive back at the Lebores -
Katerina has a note from a secret admirer inviting her to
the dance! Katbot is thrilled! Mrs. Lebore is thrilled –
she has a girl to dress up! Dad Lebore is thrilled he can
finally take some meaningful family photos! And Marcella is
thrilled because she wrote the note. She wants Katbot to be
heartbroken when no one shows up to be her date. “Perhaps
her heartbreak will send her back to her planet and I will
have that hottie Junior Lebore all to myself! Paula wants
to go to the dance to make sure her best pal is okay… so
Rocky is thrilled! He gets to take her. Junior is going to
crash at home. At the dance, so far Katerina’s date is a no
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show. Marcella is in the rafters, using binoculars enjoying
Katbots heartbreak. Suddenly the band starts playing
something akin to “Time of My Life” from DIRTY DANCING. A
handsome kid appears in the shadows. Katbot is alone on the
dance floor. The kid steps out and… It is JR! Wearing a
really silly tux. He dances with Kat ala the final number
from Dirty Dancing. Paula and Rocky join in and the friends
have a blast dancing together. Marcella is so flummoxed she
falls from the rafters into the punch bowl. Junior admits
to Katbot that he wasn’t her secret admirer – but he does
admire her. And if he ever finds out who stood her up –
he’ll kick box their butt! Katbot thinks this is the best
first dance ever.
“Babysitting Bot” (723A-112)
LOGLINE: Katbot has her first babysitting
experience…babysitting a bird which she wants to devour but
she soon learns that the work is hard but very rewarding.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot takes a job as a babysitter. When parents
depart and the Katbot hears the sound of the baby crying,
she opens the door to Baby's room and turns on the light.
It's not a human infant, but a bird! A Mynah Bird, capable
of speech, or, in this case, mimicking dead-on the sound of
a human baby crying. Kat pulls herself together. "I'm Kat,
and I'll be your, ah, sitter, tonight!" Kat tries to take
the high road, but her feline instincts give her willpower a
real workout. Katbot is barraged by bird imagery on the
wallpaper, poultry in the refrigerator, and the sound of
chirping birds. Katbot tries to cover all of this up but
Baby demands Kat's attention. He's afraid she doesn't like
him anymore. Kat holds Baby, conflicted by her desires.
Driven by feline instinct, Kat swallows Baby, looks
momentarily satisfied, then her reason kicks in and she's
racked by guilt. She spits him out, into her palm. Baby:
"That was cool! Kat swallow Baby again!" Kat declines,
declaring herself the best baby-sitter, period. Kat rocks
Baby to sleep, singing a lullaby. He's just about under when
Mom and Dad finally do come home. Kat is overjoyed when she
gets paid, then Baby cries like crazy when Mom tries to take
him from Kat. After several attempts to part Baby from Kat,
Mom suggests, "Why don't you just stay the night? I'll pay
you triple!" Kat shrugs, torn yet ultimately responsible.
"How much longer can all night be?" she muses. Last shot is
Kat reprising her lullaby to Baby, who finally gets to sleep
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as dawn breaks. The weary Kat realizes "Wow, work is really
hard. Maybe that's why they call it work!"
“Collections Purr-fection” (723A-113)
LOGLINE: Katbot takes up comic book collecting but she
learns a lesson never to let hobbies interfere with
friendships.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot explores why human tweens collect things.
Katbot is curious – most earthling tweens seem to have a
collection of some sort. Katerina enters the “Collections R
Us” mini mall and enthusiastically ventures out to find a
collectable to collect. She suddenly meets a short
mysterious stranger (Marcella) in a pulled down hat, trench
coat and a fake beard. The stranger lisps: “Ever heard of
comic books? Well then I think you shall enjoy this series…
It is about an evil feline alien, called Robo-kitty-guurl
sent to rob the world of all the cute boys - and then
DESTROY THE EARTH”. Katerina is interested. She buys issue
#1 of the comic book and reads the comic. Katbot needs to
read what happens next! Marcella draws the next three
installments of the comic. She copies them and has them
displayed at the local comic book store. Marcella builds a
large following of fans. Marcella (in her mysterious
stranger disguise) sits down at her card table at the comic
book convention and before she knows it she is swamped with
fans buying the last installment of Robot-Kitty- Girl.
Katerina is in the line with the rest of the fans. To the
horror of the fans, there are only two pages – of Marcella
saying that the whole thing was a goof. There is no way a
robotic cat alien could come to earth! The fans are rabidly
irritated – they have invested in a lie?! Katerina is
indignant – and hurt! Robotic Cat Aliens are real and she
can prove it! Marcella wrings her hand: “perfect, perfect”
Her plan is working – Katbot is going to expose herself as
an alien – in public! Marcella blows a whistle and THE
AGENTS flank her- irritated as always. Katerina deactivates
her hypno-façade and becomes Katbot and shows herself in all
her glory to prove she is real. The kids at the convention
turn to Marcella and say “nice effects” but they demand the
rest of the story. They chase Marcella off into the
distance demanding satisfaction. Later at home, Katbot
reports back to Meew. He is irritated. – Katbot broke the
rules and revealed her true identity to humans. Had they
21
believed her – she would have been called home immediately.
Katbot apologizes. Her observation is that collections are
a fun diversion, but they can’t consume your life.
“The Mark of Curd” (723A-114)
LOGLINE: In a switcharoo, Katbot spies on Marcella and
learns about the sad life of social outcasts.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot and Junior arrive late to the cafeteria for
lunch! Katbot again is late with her report. The cafeteria
is jammed. Every table is full. Katbot finally spots an
area of empty all around Marcella Curd. Without another
choice, Katbot and Junior sit at Marcella’s table. Marcella
startles and stares at them wide-eyed then dashes off.
Katbot is curious. Marcella sits alone, is easily startled,
and her food falls out of her dish when she eats. Marcella
ran off because her territory was invaded. Cats are
solitary, easily startled, and sometimes knock their food
out of their dish. Marcella is cat-like. Is it possible, or
even conceivable, that Marcella is also a…Katbot?!? Is she,
in fact, a spy for the Katatonian Kouncil sent down to
observe why Katerina is late with her reports? Katbot
starts spying on Marcella wherever she goes, catching her in
a string of cat-like behaviors: playing with yarn; walking
on all fours (when her glasses fall off) licking her “paws”,
etc. Marcella catches on to Katbot’s spying, then pulls out
her camera and writes her own notes. Convinced that Katbot
is up to something diabolical, Marcella plans a
counterstrike. Using Kat’s sudden interest in her, she lures
her over to her house and traps her in her room. They act
sweetly to each other at first, but in a back-and-forth
escalation until Marcella pulls out the ultimate ace: speed
dial to her Uncles-In-Black to come and take Katerina
directly to the government so she could have Junior to
herself. When Marcella’s uncles arrive, she accuses
Katerina of being a robot alien. Kat then shows her many
pictures of Marcella acting like a cat, making her seem like
she’s the alien. When Marcella shows her pictures of
Katerina acting…like a normal person. Marcella’s uncles drag
Marcella off to the government, to be poked and prodded. In
the end, a wiser Katbot does a report on one of the finest
human inventions ever — the tuna melt. Professor Meew says
it’s one of the best spelled reports he’s ever seen.
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“Katbot Fever” (723A-115)
LOGLINE: Katbot gives herself a cold but realizes that being
sick sticks.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot is fascinated by Junior’s cold. He skips
school, plays video games and gets presents. She goes to
outrageous lengths to contract a cold until she finally gets
sick. At first she is giddy about the routine of being sick
and getting to laze around, plus she has a subject for her
report to Professor Meew. What she hadn’t expected was that
her sickness might get worse and she begins to understand
that “not feeling well” is part of being sick. Marcella
gets jealous that Katerina has caught Junior’s cold but she
sees the brighter side – Katerina’s quarantined state makes
her a sitting duck for spying and taping. When Katbot
updates Professor Meew, it comes out that she has a fever.
She starts sneezing and her hypno-façade turns on and off,
switching her from Katbot to Katerina, back and forth.
Marcella arrives and Katbot undergoes a series of comical
close calls, having to force or stifle a sneeze to keep from
transforming. The wind up is one last big sneeze that
completely infects Marcella. With rest and fluids, Marcella
recuperates at home, warmed by the fact that she caught her
beloved Junior’s cold.
“Rebel Without a Claw” (723A-116)
LOGLINE: Katbot learns that bullies hurt other people
because deep down, they hurt inside.
SYNOPSIS: Katbot, Jr., Paula, and Rocky run into school
bully, Chuck Buttz in the hallway. Katbot, having no notion
what a bully is, greets Chuck. Chuck is miffed by this and
begins harshing on Katbot. From then on, Chuck does his
darndest to bully Katbot but she disarms him with honest
comments. Katbot wins a certain amount of respect. This
now stirs up her curiosity and she wonders if anyone has
ever tried to figure out why Chuck is a bully. She starts
to play the role of a bully, tricked out and donning rebel
gear. She struts around home and school, even treats her
friends rudely. Junior runs up and asks her “what is this
all about?!” only to be cut down. Katbot’s friends are
convinced she has gone to the “dark side”. Chuck is
impressed and starts a beautiful new friendship with
Katbot. They hang out at the football field and this gives
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Katbot the chance to ask why Chuck became a bully. Chuck
spills his guts about how he was teased in kindergarten
about his last name, Buttz, and his estranged relationship
with his father. Back at home, Katbot tells Professor Meew
that she was only acting bad to find out about bad tweens
and how she discovered they are bad for a sad reason. She
tells him about Chuck. The next day, Katerina is back to
normal, and thanks to the emotion purging from the day
before, Chuck actually had a good talk with his dad and they
decided to change their last name from Buttz to Botts.
“Sign of the Katbot” (723A-117)
LOGLINE: Katbot gets into astrology and learns that you
can’t be defined by a category.
SYNOPSIS: Paula’s decisions are all based on what her
horoscope tells her. Katbot is amazed how much people are
controlled by the stars and planets and when they were
born. Katbot asks Professor Meew what sign she is which is
a difficult question because she was assembled in various
factories. By his calculations, he guessing that she should
be a Capricorn. Katbot downloads information about
Capricorns and takes on all of the characteristics: becomes
a star student, runs for class president, for the first
time, submits her report before her deadline but then
Professor Meew tells her that he got her serial number wrong
and she’s actually a Leo. Katbot takes on the
characteristics of a Leo. Professor Meew keeps calling,
apologizing, and correcting himself and Katbot continues to
change her personality to fit her astrological sign. Junior
is getting pretty steamed with Katbot’s ever-changing
moods. She says she’s just trying to see where she fits in,
but he assures her that as a robot cat disguised as a
foreign exchange student, she doesn’t fit into any
category. She apologizes and offers to let him beat her for
once at a video game. Professor Meew has been trying to
reach her and now appears as a character in the video game
wearing a pink Mohawk and assures her that he’s got the
right answer this time. Katbot takes her joystick and
neutralizes him. She’ll explain all when she files her
report.
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“Dude Time” (723A-118)
LOGLINE: Katbot becomes a boy and spies on Junior but she
learns in the end to respect people’s privacy.
SYNOPSIS: Rocky comes over, and he and Junior take off.
Katbot is excited to go along, but Junior stops her because
it’s “dude time”. Katbot decides that to learn more, she
will simply have to become a dude. Junior and Rocky hang
out on a bus bench talking about the most inane things in
the world. Zipping by on a skateboard is this dude they’ve
never seen before. Tom Katowski – aka Katbot in a hypno-
façade. Tom can do crazy skateboard stunts and so Junior
and Rocky decide he’s cool enough to hang with. Meanwhile,
Marcella Curd is spying on them and falls in love with Tom
Katowski, causing her to swear off Junior forever. She
tears down her shrine to Jr., and dedicates a new one to
“Tom”. That night at dinner, Katerina naively starts
repeating the crass “dude time” behavior at the dinner
table. Junior thinks it’s weird when non-dudes act like
dudes. Junior soon figures out that “Tom” is actually
Katbot and that she’s been spying on them as “Tom
Katowski”. Junior gives Katbot the silent treatment. The
only way she can get him to listen is the next time he’s
having “dude time” with Rocky and she shows up as “Tom”.
Unfortunately, she first has to fend off a lovesick
Marcella. When Junior tries to tell Tom he’s not welcome
during “dude time”, Rocky defends him. “Dude! He’s a
dude!” Junior goes along with him, because he can’t divulge
Katbot’s secret. Instead, he sits and listens while “Tom”
apologizes. He says he’s moving to Antarctica, and says his
goodbye forever before skateboarding off. Back at home,
Marcella watched in horror as her beloved Tom turns back
into Katbot.
“Bad Fur Day” (723A-119)
LOGLINE: Katbot gives herself a bad day and learns that
tomorrow is a new day.
SYNOPSIS: Junior tells Katbot that Paula is having a really
bad day. Junior explains: a bad day is a time when
everything goes wrong and it looks like it'll never be
right. Katbot is overjoyed. She must have a bad day at once
to broaden her human experience. Katbot prints out charts
and pie graphs of possible bad incidents. Junior stops by
and Katbot proudly shows off her work. Junior cautions
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Katbot to be careful what you wish for, but Katbot is too
giddy about her upcoming bad day to heed him. Katbot’s
plans don’t go according to plan. At school, all of her
potential bad stunts end with a silver lining. An attempt
to receive detention by acting out gets Katbot invited to
join the drama club. Stumbling in the hall gets her
attention from cute guys. Katbot grows more frustrated and
outrageous with each new stunt. But even a "bad day" moment
with Marcella turns out fine. Katbot complains to Junior
that nothing went right. She tried everything and couldn't
have a bad day. Junior suggests they walk across the park.
Maybe that'll cheer up Katbot. Now everything Katbot tries
to cheer her up backfires. She jumps on a swing, but the set
collapses. Katbot's double-scoop chocolate falls through the
bottom of her cone all over her clothes when the ice machine
goes haywire, coating Junior and Katbot in sludge. . Junior
laughs but Katbot slumps. Junior scrapes sludge off his
sleeve, makes a snowball and throws it at Katbot. Katbot
glares at Junior, then smiles. Soon Katbot, Junior and the
other kids in the ice cream parlor are throwing snow balls.
Junior and Katbot walk along. Katbot says that just changing
her attitude made a world of difference. Now the day doesn't
seem so bad.
“Copy Kat” (723A-120)
LOGLINE: Cheating cheats the cheater in the end.
SYNOPSIS: Katerina gets an A+ on a math quiz (as usual), and
Andy “The Andy Man” Manfred gets an F. He tells Katerina
that he is worried about an upcoming American History exam.
She zaps a test with all the answers filled in and gives it
to him. Marcella sees this and plans on busting her. The
next day, Andy shows up in a new sports car his parents
bought for him because they were so proud of his A on the
test! Katbot observes the students are worried about
another upcoming test. On her own, Katbot reasons that if
she can make one person so happy by helping them cheat,
maybe she should be able to make everyone that happy!
Pretty soon, all of the students have completed tests with a
note that says “Here are all the answers. Love, Katerina,”
Every kid in school becomes a straight-A student! Professor
Mew contacts Katbot, saying his computer is registering a
strange disturbance. In an “It’s A Wonderful Life” inspired
sequence, Prof. Meew shows Katbot how the cheating students
go on to have much worse lives, because they haven’t learned
26
anything in school. The school has an assembly and Marcella
takes this chance to expose Katbot in front of the whole
school but right as Marcella is about to rise, Katerina
stands, admitting that she cheated for everyone! The
principal tells Katerina that she did the right thing by
confessing, and that she is “Like a totally awesome role
model.” At least that’s how Katbot relays the end of the
story to Professor Mew, as she reads from a sheet of paper.
Professor Mew asks her what she’s reading from.
Embarrassed, Katbot admits that last part was an answer,
Junior told her to say. “That’s cheating,” Professor Mew
reminds her, “What did principle really say?” “He said I got
suspended for two weeks,” Katbot reluctantly admits.
“Mother’s Day the Katbot Way” (723A-121)
LOGLINE: Katbot gives Delore the ultimate Mother’s Day gift
Showing people you care about them isn’t about getting them
stuff; it’s about giving them your time.
SYNOPSIS: Mom Lebore is excited about Mother’s Day but when
she finds out that her son and husband “rock climbing for
the day”. Mom Lebore is sad, she slumps over her coffee…
What kind of Mother’s Day is this…? Katbot enters with
balloons and horn-hooters and wearing a one-man-band suit.
She sings a diddy about the best Mom in the universe. Mom is
happy… but sad at the same time – Junior and Dad forgot
Mother’s Day! Determined to show Mom the Mother’s Day of her
life, Katbot tries way-too-hard to make things special. At a
fabulous SPA Katbot uses her hypno façade to impersonate a
SWEDISH Masseuse. She helps Mom into the TUB O’ EXPENSIVE
MUD…But because Katbot is not a licensed therapist she is
chased out – along with Mom (still covered in mud) they dash
out onto the street. Despite Katbot’s good intentions
(actually, because of them) it all goes comically awry.
Katbot and Mom sit in the driveway, totally thrashed by the
day. Katbot apologizes, saying that she just wanted to show
Mom the perfect Mother’s Day. Mom replies that all the
stuff they did together…was just stuff—-the important thing
was spending the day together and so it was perfect. They go
inside together only to discover that Junior and Dick have
set up an amazingly crazy Mother’s Day dinner with all of
crazy items they picked up at roadside attractions along the
way—Seeing Katbot and Mom completely messed up from the day,
Junior and Dad Lebore ask what happened. Mom and Katbot
smile and reply, “Mother’s Day.”