Do you remember Tom and Jerry? Do you want to watch Tom and Jerry, but Tom is now blue and Jerry is replaced with three cockroaches? Do you also wish it was made in France? If you do, then I have just the show for you! Oggy and the Three Cockroaches, or Oggy et les Cafards, in French, is a French animated TV series created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud (who died in June 1998 after producing the first episode) and directed by Olivier Jean-Marie. It has seven seasons, with Gaumont Multimedia producing the first two seasons and Xilam Animation for the rest.
Oggy and the Three Cockroaches follow Oggy, the anthropomorphic blue cat, and the three cockroaches, Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee. Along with Oggy is his brother Jack, a green cat who is more violent and short-tempered than Oggy, and his neighbor Bob, a brown bulldog with anger issues. Oggy tries to spend his time eating, watching TV, or doing housework. Meanwhile, the roaches continuously pester him with pranks that usually involve stealing Oggy’s food or being a general nuisance to him. The show uses silent comedy, meaning the characters don’t talk and instead make unintelligible noises and gestures to communicate to the audience and other characters in the show. The cartoon also makes use of slapstick comedy, similar to Tom and Jerry, although Oggy and the Cockroaches is a bit more extreme in its use of slapstick, such as dropping an entire aircraft on someone instead of a piano, or an explosion throwing a character through the roof instead of into it.
Each episode is around 22 minutes, usually containing three segments each. They mostly occur inside Oggy’s house, although they could also take place inside a plane, in the middle of a jungle, and in many more settings. Concepts for every episode can range from Oggy and the roaches fighting over food to the trio of bugs hijacking a plane that Oggy is on, and even tiny aliens that look almost exactly like Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee, replacing them for a night to mess with Oggy. In general, the show has a lot of wild and creative concepts for its episodes, making each episode a memorable watch.
The series has a film in Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie and a reboot in Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation, which introduces a new main character in Piya, an optimistic and cheerful Indian elephant. Episodes for the original show can be found and watched for free on YouTube.
Overall, Oggy and the Cockroaches is a fun cartoon. Although similar to its inspiration and spiritual predecessor Tom and Jerry, Oggy and the Cockroaches has its own charm to it. If you want to watch a wacky show like Tom and Jerry, then I recommend you give Oggy and the Cockroaches a try!
