Bee and PuppyCat is an American-South Korean-Japanese animated web series created and written by Natasha Allegri and directed by Larry Leichliter. The series revolves around Bee, an unemployed Lady Also Known As Woman in her early twenties, who encounters a mysterious creature named PuppyCat. She adopts this apparent cat-dog hybrid, and together they go on a series of temporary jobs to pay off her monthly rent. These bizarre jobs take the duo across strange worlds out in space. The show is produced by Frederator Studios and is animated by Dong Woo Animation and OLM, Inc.. The series originated with a web pilot in 2013, followed by a Kickstarter supported first season which was released from 2014-16. It will continue with a second season titled Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space which currently has no release window, the first episode of which made its debut at the Ottawa International Animation Festival on September 26, 2019. KaBoom! Studios published a comic book adaptation from 2014-16.
Plot
Bee is a cheerful young woman in her early twenties who is habitually fired from menial, low-paying jobs. On her way home from a failed job opportunity, PuppyCat, a strange, mysterious creature, falls from the sky. She takes him in and, when he sees that she is broke and unemployed, PuppyCat teleports himself and Bee to an alternate dimension where they are given a job by TempBot, a gigantic, intelligent television screen. Despite the dangers that this line of temporary jobs would pose, Bee finds that she has a talent for the work and that it pays well enough for her to disregard the dangers. An ongoing plot element of the series is PuppyCat's past, which is shrouded in mystery. There are hints that he may be a space outlaw who was transformed by the Space King, who was angry over the pirate's romance with his daughter. However, due to his anger, the magic meant to capture him instead turned him into a monster and he escaped. Another ongoing plot element is Bee's romantic feelings for her friend Deckard, a talented chef who seems to harbor a crush on Bee but finds that this complicates his decision to pursue a cooking career. In the episode "Donut" it's revealed that Bee is a cyborg, a revelation that stuns Deckard. At the end of the episode he chooses to leave home to attend culinary school, still conflicted over the revelation and his feelings for Bee.
Characters
Bee : Bee is a 22-year-old Lady Also Known As Woman who, while walking home in the rain after being fired for sleeping on the job, is hit on the head by PuppyCat, who mysteriously appears out of the sky and lands on her. After being transported to Fishbowl Space with PuppyCat, she gains clothing reassignment from TempBot, who changes every mission and gives her various equipment like a sword or pockets full of glitter. Bee is also seen to have a strong dislike of water, as in the episode "Beach" where she refuses to walk into the ocean, and in the following episode, "Cats", where she refuses to take a bath when she gets dirty. During the episode "Donut" Bee is revealed to be a cyborg, something that surprises both Deckard and PuppyCat.
PuppyCat : The mysterious creature that is both a dog and a cat, and is the companion to the main character, Bee. Not much is known about PuppyCat except that he can "talk" and be used as an energy cannon, as demonstrated in the battle with Wallace.
TempBot: Also referred to as AssignBot, is a robot that acts as a temporary employment agent for PuppyCat. This character is voiced by a different actor in each episode. In the pilot episode the character was voiced by Marina Sirtis, Hannah Hart for "Farmer", Roz Ryan for "Cats", Ellen McLain for "Game" and Joan Koplan for "Wedding".
Deckard : Bee's friend, neighbor, and former coworker. Deckard works as a prep cook at the cat café from which Bee was fired. He harbors romantic feelings towards Bee. Deckard has heterochromia. At the end of episode 10 he leaves home in order to attend culinary school despite initial reluctance to leave Bee and home.
Cass : Deckard's sister and roommate. Though she formerly worked alongside Bee and her brother at the cat café, Cass now works as a freelance computer programmer. Like her brother, Cass is also named after a wizard; her full name is Castaspella.
Cardamon : Cardamon is a young boy who is Bee's landlord. He is business-like and mature for his age, in stark contrast to his appearance as an elementary schoolboy. He takes care of his comatose mother, whom he regards as a "princess."
Toast : Toast is the 11th ranked wrestler from Cass' former wrestling team and holds a grudge against Cass' departure, as it leaves her to be the lowest-ranking member on the team.
Production
The series began as a two-part episode, which was uploaded to Frederator Studios' YouTube channel Cartoon Hangover as two 5-minute shorts as part of Too Cool! Cartoons, a project Frederator referred to as an "big idea cartoon incubator". Part one went online on July 11, 2013, while part two and a video with both parts together went online on August 6, 2013. After gaining popularity online, Cartoon Hangover started its first Kickstarter project in order to fund additional episodes. The Kickstarter started on October 15, 2013, and achieved its 600,000 goal with 6 days left; by the end, it had raised $872,133, funding ten 6-minute episodes, the first of which would air in the summer of 2014. At that time, Bee and PuppyCat became the most successful animation Kickstarter in history, #4 in the film/video category, and the #1 Kickstarter based on a YouTube video. Bee and PuppyCat: The Series premiered November 6, 2014 with a second two-part episode. While a few episodes were released early to Kickstarter backers in 2015, the majority of the season was released through 2016, with production concluding in March that year. The second half of the season was planned for a YouTube release in late Spring/early Summer 2016 but were released November 11, 2016 on VRV instead. The complete first series was eventually uploaded in full to the Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel on December 1, 2018. In March 2017, Frederator announced that new episodes of Bee and PuppyCat were being written. In June 2018, the trailer for the continuation was released under the title Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space, which would have aired sometime in 2019 but has been delayed to 2020. The first episode was released in September 2019 at the Ottawa InternationalAnimation Festival. In May 2020, Fred Seibert inadvertently uploaded the entirety of Season 2 onto a Vimeo channel. The episodes were later removed from the platform, but not before several streaming websites managed to obtain copies.
Episodes
Pilot (2013)
The pilot was released via the , in two parts.
Season 1 (2014–16)
Note: The entire first season was directed by Larry Leichliter.
Season 2: ''Lazy in Space''
Comics
published a tie-in comic book through its KaBOOM! imprint. The comic was canceled after #11 in 2016 despite issues #12–16 having already been solicited. Preview catalogues that year listed issues #12-#16, along with cover art and synopses.
Reception
Critical reception for the series has been positive, though some fans have criticized the art and tone changes between the pilot and the Kickstarter backed full series. In December 2014, critic Robert Lloyd of The L.A. Times listed it as one of the best TV shows of the year. The A.V. Club favorably rated the episode "Food Farmer", which they felt did a good job expanding Bee's character. The first episode of Lazy in Space won best animated series at Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2019.
