Ratz (TV series)

Ratz is a French-Canadian animated comedy adventure television series created by Richard Zielenkiewicz. The show stars two rats, Rapido and Razmo, aboard the S.S. Wanderer, a cheese-filled ship without an actual destination. The focus of the series is on the adventures of the two rats, including guarding the cheese, interacting with other stowaways and various ill-fated encounters with the crew. The rats themselves live in the hull of the ship in a lavish two-bedroom apartment.

The French version features the voices of the comedy duo Éric et Ramzy, while the English version features the voices of Terrence Scammell as Rapido and Rick Jones as Razmo.

The show premiered its first episode, "Cheese Connection" on March 7, 2003, on Teletoon, and the series finale episode, "Tomo the Sumo" aired on October 27, 2003. It can be streamed online since March 25, 2020 on Netflix, released in French first.

Ratz was originally one of the several projects Jean-Yves Raimbaud had, which was originally called Rat's. The series is the culmination of a project initiated by Jingle, directed by Raimbaud, in collaboration with the cartoonist Ptiluc. The initial project could not be completed due to the bankruptcy of the studio.

It was later titled Rapido (in an unaired pilot) and featured a chunkier animation style. Also of interest is the pure blend of traditional animation and 3D animation, and the eclectic soundtrack by Hervé Lavandier.