Tales From The Crypt “Dig The Cat…He’s Real Gone”

There’s something to be said about the fact that every episode gives a nod to the late William Gaines as the editor/publisher of the original comics.  That something is when these comics were shut down by the Comics Code Authority and other measures, he turned around and started MAD magazine.

I’m not digging the tone for these early episodes.  Maybe they all were like that, but the over-edited format that seems to exist to make everything surreal or at least not particularly realistic, I don’t care for it.  Three episodes in, and two of these episodes have looked like that.  This episode here, also, has the main character breaking the fourth wall to narrate his own life.

See, this guy Richard, as played by Joe Pantoliano, was a homeless guy when a scientist offered him a big wad of cash to do an experiment.  Said experiment transplanted a gland from a cat to Richard’s brain, theoretically giving Richard nine lives.  Yes, we are going with that old idea that cats have nine lives.  However, it works:  after waking from surgery, the scientist shoots Richard in the head, and he pops up alive again after a minute or so.

It doesn’t heal the bulletwound though…

So, to make more money, some for the scientist’s research, some for Richard (the scientist assumes Richard will use it to buy booze; not cool, Doc), they become…a carnival act!  Richard dies in different ways and comes back to life.

And, uh, these are pretty elaborate revivals.  The first involves his drowning in a tank and apparently requires the audience to hang around for over an hour as his corpse sits underwater.  The final one, the one where he’s buried alive, needs people to come back after several hours.  I would think a carnival would want the audience to wander around and spend more money at every location, but what do I know?

Anyway, Richard gets greedy because apparently carnival acts pay very well.  He kills the scientist he is splitting the profits with, laughs off when his carnival girlfriend stabs him in the back and robs him, and then demands 100% of the profits for his final stunt.

Oh, and then he realizes the cat died to give him the gland, so he only had eight lives.  He’s not getting out of that tomb.  Oh well.

What about the Cryptkeeper?  Still speaking in a quieter tone, he’s lighting candles, stroking a live cat, and wearing a brown hood.  Also, the puns are less prominent.

Notable Names:  Pantoliano, his Goonies director Richard Donner behind the camera, Robert Wuhl is there as the carnival owner/barker.