It seems that every Saturday Morning Cartoon must have at least one anthropomorphic character, and Socks the Flying Cat is ours.  Not even the talented Frank Welker, who supplied the voice of Socks, was able to shed light on the many questions fans have about Socks.  At AniConDa '01 (The Dallas Animation Convention), Frank was part of a panel discussion about character voice work (also on the panel was his costar from the series June Foray).  When asked whether or not he could answer some of the questions so many people have about Socks' background, he replied, "I wish I could tell you, but I never got any answers to the same question.  In order to get into the character's head, I had to create a biography for the character where I imagined he came from another planet, wrapped in a red cloth which he later turned into a cape.  Then I imagined how I would talk if I were a cat who landed on Earth and discovered I could fly.  I watched the Disney movie The Cat From Outer Space several times as research."

Hmm...

Interesting facts about Socks the Flying Cat:

• In 1996, Socks was such an icon in American pop culture that the network came up with a way to get more mileage out of him.  They wanted the show's creators (Any Nation Animation) to make more Socks-centric episodes for the upcoming season.  Any Nation didn't want to take the attention away from the other characters, and a butting of heads ensued.  The eventual decision was that a new hour-long format would be created called The Bill & Hill Adventure Hour, split into two halves.  The first half was a normal half-hour adventure as usual, and the second half-hour featured two eleven-minute episodes starring Socks the Flying Cat.  There was occasional crossover from the first half-hour's characters, but mostly they just starred Socks and a completely unrelated bunch of characters.  The Bill & Hill Adventure Hour debuted in 1997 and only lasted that one year.  Fans didn't care for the different animation style, the storylines, or the new characters, and ratings in the second half of the Adventure Hour were never as strong as the network hoped.
  
  
• Socks has an "S"-shaped birthmark on his back, rarely visible beneath his cape, but found on all the plush Socks the Flying Cat dolls.
  
  
• In 1999, during the dot com boom, SocksAndSuch.com ( the now defunct on-line leggings retailer) licensed Socks the Flying Cat as their spokesanimal.  He appeared on their website, their merchandise, and of course in their memorable Super Bowl commercial.   With every order of forty dollars or more, SocksAndSuch.com gave away a free mousepad.  SocksAndSuch no longer exists, but the mousepads do (check out the Collectibles Page for information on how you can get one).