A Popstar Adventure With Nature Cat is a 2020 animated television special. It was released on August 12, 2020, on PBS Kids. It is based on the Nature Cat television series.
Cast and characters[]
- Taran Killam as Nature Cat
- Kate Micucci as Daisy and Anti Daisy
- Bobby Moynihan as Hal
- Kate McKinnon as Squeeks
- Cecily Strong as Petunia Bunny
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Tanya
- Chris Parnell as the fashion designer that quits working for Anti Daisy
- Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Sadie Dog
- Joey Rudman as Jack
- Tony Vincent as Tony, the lead singer of Dog Gone (cameo)
- Lena Hall as Kumi the poodle, a Dog Gone band member (cameo)
- Tom Eastwood, Jennifer Barnhart, Lizzie Waterworth, and Adam Rudman as the fashion designers
- David Rudman as a bird that attacks Tanya and Jack
- Sophie Aldred as the show's event manager for Anti Daisy's tour
Additionally, Taran Killam, Owen Wilson, Nolan North, and Kate McKinnon voiced the spectators who attend Anti Daisy's concert at the park
Plot[]
The special begins at the city park on a sunny day, where a doppelganger of Daisy, Anti Daisy, works as a public relations expert and social media celebrity as she oversees the direction of a music concert to promote her celebrity status as well as the opening night of her tour. Anti Daisy frequently touts her philosophy of "B.Y.B.B.—be yourself but better". However, her constant disagreements with the show's event manager and desire to change the show's costumes cause the fashion designer to quit, leaving Anti Daisy upset. With two weeks left before the opening night of her tour, Anti Daisy wonders where she is going to find a replacement fashion designer. As she enjoys a salad to calm her nerves, a wisp of "Nature Magic" appears and enchants her smartphone. When Anti Daisy uses the phone to take a picture of her salad to upload to social media, the salad becomes digitized and vanishes into thin air. In addition, Anti Daisy discovers she can create holograms of different salads using the phone's touch screen, then believes that someone installed an app onto her phone. Elsewhere, Daisy (the regular Daisy), Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog gather in Nature Cat's backyard for a day of fun and exploring, but Sadie and Nature Cat are waiting for news about their recent summer applications to work at the park as landscapers. Just then, they each get a reply on their phones; Sadie Dog is hired on as the new fashion designer for Anti Daisy's concert tours, but Nature Cat's application is declined. Sadie considers turning down her position since she and Nature Cat won't be working together for the summer, but soon, Daisy insists that she should accept it, despite Nature Cat's hidden jealousy. Later, Sadie goes to the park to meet with Anti Daisy, where Anti Daisy expresses how impressed she is with how much Sadie loves nature as she does. Sadie is certain that her fashion skills will make the concert tour a huge success, and Anti Daisy is charmed by the flattery of Sadie Dog. Sadie calls Daisy (the regular Daisy), Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, and Tanya on her phone, as well as inviting them to see Anti Daisy's concert tours (including the opening night tour), and Nature Cat accepts, eager to support Sadie every step of the way, no matter what happens at Sadie's new job.
On the day of the music concert, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, and Tanya arrive to support Sadie, and Sadie introduces them to Anti Daisy, confusing Daisy because of how different the two bunnies are. Due to their time of working together, Anti Daisy and Sadie appear to have already gotten very friendly. Anti Daisy even refers to Sadie as her new "best friend", much to Nature Cat's shock and envy. Anti Daisy is introduced by Sadie to her other friends: Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, and Tanya. However, Anti Daisy only expresses interest in Nature Cat after learning that he has an official show on PBS Kids and that he loves nature. She chooses to make Nature Cat and all of his friends the central attraction of her opening concert tour, and the animals accept out of desire to make Sadie's dream come true, but Squeeks, knowing that something could go wrong, harbors hostility and suspicion toward Sadie's new friend: Anti Daisy. Nature Cat believes Sadie isn't acting like her true self. While the group's instruments get set up, they split up to explore and enjoy nature for a while, and Sadie Dog returns to oversee the concert tour's fashion designs. Hal and Daisy check out a family of rabbits resting in a burrow, but Daisy gets scared of waking them up (because of Hal's loud barking) and instead goes to observe a group of snails hanging out on a table, flashbacking to when she first met some snails. When both Hal and Daisy eventually work their way up to observing the rabbit family (as they still sleep in their burrow), even Daisy is a little spooked on how the rabbits move their ears, and Hal proudly announces himself as "Bunny Babysitter", much to Daisy's confusion. Meanwhile, Sadie is showing Nature Cat on how they set up the stage for Anti Daisy's concert tour while giving directions to a designing team of multiple animals on how they should make the shows a success. When Nature Cat suggests taking a break, Sadie declines and wants to continue working, much to Nature Cat's disappointment. In another part of the city park, Nature Cat finds out that Anti Daisy hired Petunia Bunny to be the park's main landscaper instead of either him or Sadie. He gets more suspicious. Nearby, Squeeks is taken aside by Anti Daisy to discuss her plans for the music concert. As part of her new vision for the band and her tour, as well as keeping her philosophy of "B.Y.B.B.—be yourself but better", she chooses to dress up Squeeks and give her a "bad girl" public image. When Squeeks "kindly" refuses the offer, thinking that getting dirty doesn't make her look good, Anti Daisy decides to get her out of the way. She uses her magically enchanted phone to take Squeeks's picture, digitizing and transporting her into the phone itself. Squeeks finds herself trapped in a strange white space and discovers the salad that Anti Daisy digitized earlier. Meanwhile, Sadie continues working on the fashion designs for the big concert tour, but the dog gets increasingly stressed by technical setbacks. Nature Cat appears, much to Sadie's shock, and asks her if she has seen Squeeks, but Sadie refuses to be distracted and suggests that Nature Cat simply lost Squeeks the mouse among the park's large crowd of animals. Believing Sadie Dog is more concerned about the big music show than Squeeks's disappearance, Nature Cat storms off in anger to continue searching. Elsewhere, Jack and Tanya make themselves at home under the shade by using a tree. Jack is interested in playing with a tree branch, but Tanya believes the hare doesn't eat plant matter and immediately recognizes it as a home for birds. As Jack tries to lie to her about why trees are home to birds, he and Tanya are attacked by a bird when Jack makes a tree nest fall out of the branch, causing both Jack and Tanya to flee in fear as the bird gives chase throughout the park.
As Jack and Tanya run faster from the bird, Nature Cat goes over to them, asking them if they have seen Squeeks, as she has strangely vanished, but both Jack and Tanya go off topic and tell him to stop the bird that is chasing them (because of Jack making it's tree nest fall). Soon, Jack says that "Squeeks is probably fine", and they make a new bird nest for the bird that is chasing them with Nature Cat pitching in, despite his annoyance. Later, Hal and Daisy are informed by Nature Cat if they have seen Squeeks, as she has strangely vanished, but both Daisy and Hal are also more concerned about other matters: Daisy with her increasing fear of waking up the rabbit family as they sleep, and Hal with his park duties as the "fun inspector". He even appoints Nature Cat as his "deputy fun inspector". Back at the tree that was broken earlier by Jack, a Robin bird and a bluejay bird have gotten so tired of Tanya and Jack trying to distract them from their sleep that they offer them a "peaceful nap" as consolation, but Jack is determined to "have some nature fun, no matter what the cost is".
Tanya, realizing that the tree is indeed missing a branch, suggests they give up and go get some ice cream. Jack agrees and tosses his sticks into the air as they walk away, unaware that he finally got to leave the birds alone and even give them a new home. Meanwhile, Nature Cat starts to consider that he's worrying about Squeeks for no reason and being suspicious of Anti Daisy the bunny because he's jealous of Sadie Dog's newfound friendship with her. When a park security guard notices Nature Cat's "deputy fun inspector" badge (which Hal gave to him), he grants him access to the mysterious Anti Daisy's Counting Down Concert Tour security surveillance room, making him more suspicious of Anti Daisy the bunny. Using the surveillance cameras in the room, Nature Cat spies on Anti Daisy and sees her talking with Hal. When Hal also refuses to go along with Anti Daisy's new vision for the band, Anti Daisy gets angry and uses her phone to digitize Hal and trap him inside the phone as well. Nature Cat watches in horror as Hal vanishes into thin air and realizes that he was right about Anti Daisy and her plans all along. As he wonders where his digitized friends are, Hal joins Squeeks inside cyberspace. One hour before the show starts, Sadie gets even more stressed by the preparations for the show, and Anti Daisy drives her crazy with the same perfectionist demands that caused the show's previous designer to quit her job. As the Nature Cat Band gets set up on the concert stage made by Anti Daisy, Sadie notices that Hal, Nature Cat, and Squeeks are all missing and takes her frustration out on her remaining friends: Tanya, Jack, and Daisy. Just then, Nature Cat arrives to warn her friends about Anti Daisy. Overhearing Nature Cat talk about her outside her office, Anti Daisy switches her magic phone with a normal phone recharging nearby to avoid getting exposed. Sadie is told by Nature Cat that Anti Daisy is evil, and when Anti Daisy steps out of her office, Nature Cat gets mad and confronts her directly about what he witnessed on the surveillance cameras inside a mysterious room. Daisy tears up at what happened. Tanya and Jack go into panic mode. However, Anti Daisy denies any involvement in the disappearance of Nature Cat's friends, and when Nature Cat tries proving her claims by using her phone to digitize a nearby dress mannequin, nothing happens. Anti Daisy says that Nature Cat's disappeared friends are all getting dressed for the music show, and when Sadie confronts Nature Cat about her false accusations, a heated argument breaks out between them.
Sadie accuses Nature Cat of being jealous that Anti Daisy hired her instead of Nature Cat and trying to ruin the concert tour for Anti Daisy, and then, Nature Cat gets mad and accuses Sadie of being blinded by Anti Daisy's constant flattery and praise. When Sadie goes too far in criticizing Nature Cat again, she feels instant regret over her harsh words and leaves while Nature Cat runs off in tears. Tanya, Jack, and Daisy watch Sadie and Nature Cat depart, but Anti Daisy speaks up about her new vision for the band, renaming them "Anti Daisy's Throwback Band" instead of The Nature Cat Band. She also says she'll take Nature Cat's place as the lead singer. However, when Tanya, Jack, and Daisy refuse the offer and say that they cannot perform unless they have their friends, Anti Daisy reveals that Nature Cat was telling the truth about her, and she uses her magic phone to digitize and trap Daisy, Tanya, and Jack. With most of the band members trapped in cyberspace and out of her way, Anti Daisy creates holograms of the band members to take their place on the concert stage to please the crowd, with new outfits that match her vision. When Sadie returns and sees Anti Daisy's realized vision for the band, where her friends would originally go on the concert stage, she then realizes that Anti Daisy only used her fashion skills to make her own vision a reality. She gets mad and demands to know where her friends are, and Anti Daisy reveals that she trapped them in cyberspace. Sadie becomes more mad and tells Anti Daisy to bring her friends back, and Anti Daisy decides to reunite Sadie with her lost friends—by trying to trap her in cyberspace with them. Trapped inside cyberspace, Squeeks and the others hope for Nature Cat and Sadie to stop fighting long enough to rescue them. Jack, unsatisfied with sitting around and waiting to be rescued, comes up with the idea of using the phone's connection to the internet to hack their way out. Back in the real world, Sadie uses various park equipment items to block the magic effects of Anti Daisy's phone, all of which prove to be useless. As Sadie gives up and escapes, Anti Daisy takes over as costume designer and manager for her own concert tour and evilly laughs out loud, knowing that she will win over both Sadie and Nature Cat. It is now evening. Meanwhile, in the park, Nature Cat notices that a large crowd has already gathered for the opening night of Anti Daisy's concert tour. As he feels guilt ridden over his earlier falling-out with Sadie, Sadie catches up with him and apologizes for letting her obsession with the concert tour get the better of her and losing sight of what's truly important. Nature Cat also apologizes for getting jealous of Sadie and her new job, having felt like he was losing a best friend that he knew to Anti Daisy, and the two reconcile with a hug. As they try to figure out how to save their friends, Sadie suddenly gets a phone call from Daisy. She instructs Sadie to install a virus on Anti Daisy's phone that should release them from cyberspace.
But, to Nature Cat's surprise, both Sadie and Nature Cat notice that Daisy's voice is coming from another area: somewhere aside from the phone. When the two animals open a nearby door, Sadie and Nature Cat find all of their friends inside, and the animals realize that Anti Daisy's phone simply teleported them into a plain, white, windowless room a few feet away from the park, much to their confusion. As Petunia Bunny gets transported into the room as well, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog decide to save the animals and stop Anti Daisy from her evil plans before she uses her phone to transport a large group of animals and crush them within the room's tight capacity. Hal warns Sadie that stopping the big show for Anti Daisy means no one will get to see her designs and hear her play, but Nature Cat barges in and says none of that matters without his close friends. Petunia Bunny pitches in, saying that she's enraged at Anti Daisy for what she has been up to. As Anti Daisy's concert gets underway in the park, the opening acts for Anti Daisy's concert are met with positive reception from the crowd, but Anti Daisy's terrible singing as the new lead singer of The Nature Cat Band is met with revulsion.
Before Anti Daisy can use her phone to transport a large portion of the crowd into her phone, Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog stop her concert performance in its tracks and demand that she relinquish (or hand over) her phone. Anti Daisy disapproves and tries to convince Nature Cat and Sadie that her vision of The Nature Cat Band will bring her all the popularity she wants, but Squeeks argues that her friends are all she could ever want. Daisy, Squeeks, and Hal transform into their Nature-tastic Four outfits (Plant Bunny, Water Mouse and Rock Dog), with Jack, Tanya, Sadie, and Petunia Bunny each receiving their own Nature-tastic Four outfits, and Nature Cat commanding the team.
After transforming, they all join hands and use the power of their nature powers to attack Anti Daisy, and their powers combine into an energy whip that Nature Cat uses to successfully destroy Anti Daisy's phone, causing the holograms of The Nature Cat Band to disappear. Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog are victorious. After being defeated, Anti Daisy feels betrayed and tries to attack again, but Sadie convinces Anti Daisy that she got carried away with her popularity and success on social media and her "B.Y.B.B." philosophy. Anti Daisy acknowledges that, despite her three million followers on social media, she doesn't have a single true friend, and Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog offer her real friendship. With everyone safe, Anti Daisy wonders how she can continue the show after being defeated by Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog, so Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog take some advantage of this in order to salvage the concert tour that Anti Daisy originally planned, with the crowd of spectators happily cheering for Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog and demanding a performance of a lifetime. Anti Daisy is given her own electric guitar. Then, Petunia Bunny, Daisy, Hal, Squeeks, Nature Cat, Jack the rabbit, Anti Daisy, Tanya the orange cat, and Sadie Dog take to the stage and they perform "You Can Only Be You" for the crowd.