This show is probably most remembered for being a five-minute short that was included in the Pink Panther Show, in place of the Inspector or Crazy Legs Crane. I absolutely loved this cartoon, it follows the style of the Road-Runner and the Coyote, in that the aardvark is always thinking up more and more elaborate schemes to capture the clever ant (Charlie), and always failing. The whole cartoon is very stylishly put together, with cool jazzy lounge music played the whole way through. The two main characters are like stand-up comedians, in that they spend a lot of the time talking directly to the screen and making jokes to the audience. Insome ways the cartoon is quite laid-back, nothing happens too quickly, a lot of the humour is based around the script, rather than the action, although having said that - the animation is great and really enjoyable to watch even now 40 or so years on.
The cartoon was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprsies (DFE) and who also produced such greats as the Pink Panther, the Inspector, Spider-Woman, Fantastic Four to name a few, if you have a look at their website you will see the list is endless. For thos of you that remember it, DFE also made the animated intro for the tv show I Dream of Jeannie! John Byner did all of the voices on the show including the very distinctive Aardvark.
Charlie the Ant
Charlie is a very laid-back ant, all he wants to do is to be left in peace, although he does seem to take a lot of pleasure from tormenting/foiling the poor Aardvark's schemes. Charlie also has a cousin who is a termite that comes to visit in one show, and an aunt (see below). In most episodes we see Charlie lifting unfeasibly large (e.g. a whole melon!) pieces of food from people's picnic baskets etc. and carrying them to his termite mound where he stamps them in through the hole at the top.
The Aardvark
The Aardvark is a very hungry creature who justs wants to eat Charlie! The Aardvark tries ot do this by making a really distinctive hoovering noise (to literally hoover Charlie up) but he never seems to have any luck. I think he manages to out-smart Charlie in maybe two of the seventeen episodes! As you can see all Aardvarks seem to wear t-shirts and shorts that match their skin colour!
Aunt Minerva
In the episode 'The Ant From Uncle' Charlie is being chased by the Aardvark and so he runs to his Great Aunt Minerva, who as you can see is pretty Gi-ant (excuse the pun!).
The Green Aardvark
The Green Aardvark was an occassional character that appeared in a few of the episodes ('I've Got Ant's in My Pants' and 'The Odd Ant Out'). He got on o.k. with the blue Aardvark, but they inevitably ended up fighting over who got to eat Charlie.
Charlie's Home
From the outside Charlie appeared to live in a pretty typical ant's nest (it really looked more like a terminte mound), however in a couple of the episodes we get to see the inside. As you can see it's far from the norm, and quite comfortable looking.
The Ant and the Aardvark: Resources
A fan-page - contains pictures of all the title cards used in the series.
