Episode 1: pilot
Music:
:zoviet*france:
Vienna 1990
The quality of this episode is considerably lower than those which followed, since it was edited together at home using two VCRs. As is so often
the case with early efforts, there are many things we'd do different now—some of the sequences just go on and on and on, and because it was all
shot before we conceived of the show, many of the angles feel wrong—but it is what it is.
The credits were done by creating the graphics on the computer (using a seven year-old copy of LView Pro 1.B for Windows 3.1) and taping the monitor. We liked the look of the title screen so much we decided to make that the official opening. The rest of the credits are created on LView, then transferred to the studio's equipment.
In December of 2002 we reconstructed the episode in the studio, using the original footage but reducing a few generations in the process. The new version is called "pilot [remaster]" and looks much better. (Note to the completists: don't worry, we'll include both versions on the DVD.) It still is what it is, though. Really.
Episode 2: catnipvision
Music:
The Conet Project
Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations
and
Stephen P. McGreevy
Auroral Chorus II: Music of the Magnetosphere
Contains the "nip sequence," our first usage of studio effects, visible in some of the screenshots. The music for the sequence was actually from Vienna 1990, used in Episode 1.
Episode 3: boots!
Music:
Coil
Queens of the Circulating Library
Featuring the Martini kitties. This episode is very popular with boot fetishists.
Episode 4: this is the law of the plague
Music:
Diamanda Galas
Masque of the Red Death
Boxes, Happy Noodle Boy, and blasphemy in Latin. (At least, we're pretty sure it's blasphemy. We
don't speak Latin.)
Episode 5: an instructional sound film
Music:
The Velvet Underground
"Sister Ray"
White Light/White Heat
Contains the 1938 short film Three Little Kittens.
By this episode we'd learned to streamline the production process and
reduce the number of tape generations, so it has the best quality yet. Plus Mina eats lettuce.
Episode 6: sleep #1
Music:
Spacemen 3
"An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music"
An unbroken shot of Oscar and Mina sleeping for twenty-seven and a half minutes. This is probably the episode which resulted in
the San Francisco Bay Guardian comparing kittypr0n
to an Andy Warhol movie while giving us a Best of the Bay Award (it's the last one on the page). If so, it's an astute observation, as this episode is in fact an homage to Warhol's literal snoozefest Sleep. ("Then why do
you call it sleep #1 and not sleep #2?") If an extremely slow zoom was possible on a camcorder, Michael Snow's Wavelength would be next.
Episode 7: the unbare cupboard
Music:
Agness
"Oil Water," "The Sixth Toe"
Love, Alice
and
Miss Murgatroid
"Hecklers Chant," "Dolls Inside the Walls," "Below the Bellows"
Myoclyonic Melodies
The kitties get "tuna juice" (and the leg fetishists get a treat of their own), Oscar gets into the cupboard, and Mina watches kittypr0n.
Episode 8: a saucerful of sirens
Music:
Vangelis, "Heaven and Hell Part 2," Heaven and Hell
Pink Floyd, "A Saucerful of Secrets," Ummagumma
This Mortal Coil, "Song to the Siren," It'll End in Tears
Stars of the Lid, "Requiem for Dying Mothers Part 2," The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Featuring Bridget (older than Oscar and Mina combined), Mary's ghost, the first appearance of the color green
and natural light on the show, and Space Kitty.
Repeated on October 31 as The kittypr0n Halloween Special.
Episode 9: complicated interior lives
Music:
David Lynch and Alan Splet
Eraserhead Soundtrack
The official press release:
from the vaults
Ever since the last original idea was used by The Shaggs on Philosophy
of the World in 1969, everything in pop culture is a remake of something
else, and silly little public access shows are no exception. Tonight,
we present an ultra-super-rare b&w kinescope of the original kittypr0n, as
broadcast by a pioneering independent New York station in the late
forties. None of the slick digital effects or ironic, self-referential
dialogue you've come to expect from kittypr0n—this is the original stuff.
The centerpiece is a 1944 short film by Alexander Hammid and Maya Deren
called The Private Life of a Cat. The rest of the episode should
give you a sense of how much we try to be faithful to the original
show—you'd
swear those were the same cats in the same apartment you see in every
episode and that we simply pressed the "monochrome" button. It's so
eerie, maybe *this* should have been the Halloween episode. And how the
heck were the original producers were able to use the soundtrack to Eraserhead three
decades before that movie was made? It's a puzzle right up there with
Fermat's Last Theorem. Watch the mystery unfold tonight.
To match the look of The Private Life of a Cat as closely as possible, the video footage of Oscar and Mina—all
five and a half minutes of it—is in monochrome.
Hopefully we'll find a good excuse to do it again, as it looks nice and sharp, but we try to keep the effects gimmickery down to a minimum.
Episode 10: carnations and petunias
Music:
Negativland
Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak
The announcement, bashed out five hours before the episode aired:
carnations and petunias
Tonight's guest cat is Petunia, owned by San Francisco-based writer Michelle Tea and slam poet/rapper Rocco Kayiatos. Watch as Petunia makes no attempt to hide her contempt for us and our camcorder—if you've ever wanted to see under Michelle Tea's bed, you're in luck. Marvel at the breakable things which should get knocked off the dresser, but don't. Wonder what the heck that cacophony in the background is. (Negativland's recent automotive opus Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak, in fact.) All of this, and fun with flashlights. Happy holidays.
Michelle and Rocco were the first people to actually request their cat be on the show, and we were more than happy to oblige. Petunia, however, had not been consulted on the matter.
Episode 11: el gato del chupa cabras
Music:
Tribes of Neurot
Adaptation and Survival
hardwood puppet terror!
At the feet of every great visionary mixologist there's a cat, and local
artist slash Sacrifice & DNA Lounge bartender Chupa Cabras is no
exception. (The sculptures you may have recently seen in the window
of Leather Tongue are hers.) See Chupa's cat Cretin adapt and survive
against some scary puppets, on what may be the most beautiful hardwood
floor in the 415 area code, to the insecty sounds of Tribes of Neurot's
Adaptation and Survival. All this and still more battery-draining flashlight antics,
tonight at half past midnight on San Francisco cable channel 29.
This was supposed to be the first episode of our new Tuesday timeslot, but it was accidently
shown in the old Monday slot, so it was repeated in February on the proper day.
The title is "The cat of Chupa Cabras" translated into Spanish. Oddly enough, when translated back
into English, it becomes "bite the wax tadpole". We haven't figured that one out yet.
Episode 12: closetmonst0r
Music:
The Boredoms
"GO!!!!!"
Super Roots, Vol. 5
GO!!!!!
You'll want to turn your volume either way down or way up for tonight's
episode, featuring the very noisy stylings of The Boredoms. You may even
want to join the tabby in the closet to escape the aural
onslaught. Damage your eardrums tonight at half past midnight on San
Francisco cable channel 29, and again tomorrow morning at half past
eight.
It's been an odd year for scheduling: originally intended for March, this episode was pushed back a month so #13 could be shown in March instead.
Episode 13: red on white
Music:
Sonic Youth/Jim O'Rourke
"Radio Amatoroj"
SYR 3
very rude things with q-tips
You know them. You love them. You may even occasionally use them for
personal hygiene. (I can't imagine how, but it's possible.) Tonight's
guest cat Thelma and her owner Lynn Breedlove (author and lead singer of
the legendary queercore band Tribe 8) demonstrate uses which can't be
discussed in polite company, and are probably illegal in some
municipalities. Meanwhile, Sonic Youth lays waste to their
studio. Witness the debauchery tonight at half past midnight on San
Francisco cable channel 29, and again Wednesday morning at half past
eight.
The reason the broadcast order for this episode was swtiched with #12 was so Lynn could promote it on stage. It seemed the least we could do.
Episode 14: leash
Music:
durtro
rush-hour on the event-horizon
Lynn Breedlove refers to this episode as "cat bondage." High praise indeed.
Episode 15: avec absinthe
Music:
Goose
BART
Partially shot in the suburban wasteland that is north Fresno.
Episode 16: ash tree
Music:
Alastair Galbraith
Coordinated Universal Time
Sometimes, everything clicks.
Episode 17: fetch
Music:
Plastic Spider Thing
A Ritual Work Remixed from Past Coil Albums
by DraZen of Black Sun Productions
Catnipvision Music:
James Potter
"A Brief Introduction," "Electric Arnold"
13 Drones
By popular demand, another "nip sequence." It's still unclear why a stimulant produces effects like a hallucinogen, though.
Episode 18: sleep #2
Music:
Robert Rich
"Seascape"
Drones
The trip down memory lane continues, and all your questions from "sleep #1" are finally answered. Or not.
Episode 19: spooky flying mouse
Music:
Stars of the Lid
Live at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco, 11/17/02
Spooky flying fun!
Episode 20: fez!
Music:
Excerpts from The Evil Dead and Evid Dead II
Takin' Minkit for a drag. Vroom, vroom.
Episode 21: starfish rising
Music:
Current 93, "Killykillkilly (A Fire Sermon)," Nightmare Culture
Penis Flytrap, "The Living Hate the Dead," Dismemberment
Beequeen, "Lexington '59," Sugarbush
Wilco, "Less Than You Think (excerpt),"
A Ghost is Born
Starring Ripley, the resident (and hairless) cat at Borderlands Books.
Episode 22: dose the tabby
Music:
William Basinski
"d|p 2.2"
The Disintegration Loops II
Nearing the end.
