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Clip description
Opening titles introduce the Ferals. Modigliana the cat (voiced and operated by Mal Heap) and Rattus (voiced and operated by David Collins) are fighting again. Mixy (voiced and operated by Emma De Vries) the rabbit interrupts to ask why. Derryn (voiced and operated by Terry Ryan) the 'dopey dog’ arrives and delivers the shocking news that ‘someone’s moving into the house’.
Curator’s notes
Refreshingly politically incorrect, The Ferals features disrespect for authority, cartoon-style characters and stylised violence. For example, this clip uses cartoonish violence to illustrate the dysfunctional relationship between the two main characters. When a mallet-wielding Modigliana attacks Rattus, who hits back with a baseball bat, the violence is funny rather than disturbing because it doesn’t extend to the other characters and they don’t hurt each other. The animated stars that appear when one character strikes the other recall violence in cartoons.
Director David Evans uses a crash zoom at the end of this clip to alert the audience, who are entering the Ferals’ world for the first time, that someone moving into the house is a big deal.
The acidic dialogue, witty insults and Rattus’s aside to camera (‘I have to put up with this all the time’) are entertaining for older viewers. Evans credits the rudeness and irreverence as big factors in the show’s popularity.
