Ratz

Ratz was the culmination of an earlier project called Rat's, initiated by the studio Jingle and directed by Jean-Yves Raimbaud in collaboration with cartoonist Ptiluc, but this initial project could not be completed because the studio went bankrupt.

Before becoming Ratz, the series was retitled Rapido for an unaired pilot episode that featured a chunkier animation style.

In the original unaired Rapido pilot, the characters were voiced by different actors than in the final series: Ron Pardo voiced Rapido instead of Terrence Scammell, and Scott McCord voiced Razmo instead of Rick Jones.

In the pilot version, Razmo originally had a Deep South American accent, which was later changed to a slight Brooklyn accent for the final English version.

The French duo Éric et Ramzy, who voice Rapido and Razmo, later reunited for another animated series called Moot-Moot in 2007, also directed by François Reczulski.

The series blends traditional 2D animation with cel-shaded 3D animation, notably used for the ratboards, the rats' jet-engine-powered mousetrap-like vehicles.

The episode 'Un ami qui vous veut du bien' contains the most celebrity references in the series, name-dropping or referencing Sylvester Stallone, Luciano Pavarotti, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, George Michael and Jackie Chan.

Several episodes parody famous films, including a Titanic iceberg joke referencing Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, a Godfather-style horse's head scene in the first episode, an Exorcist-style head-spinning gag, and Alien-inspired shadow silhouettes of a xenomorph.

The single 'Pas de panique à bord', released in January 2004, reached number twelve on French music charts in its first week, selling over 70,000 copies.

The show is notable for portraying rats positively, which is unusual for Western and North American fiction that typically depicts rats as selfish or villainous characters.

Toy company Smoby released a Ratz merchandise line in Fall 2004, including velvet-furred dolls, working play sets and plushies, but discontinued it by 2006.