Critters of the Cinema

Critters of the Cinema is a company which provides animal talents to film, television, music videos, commercials, print work, parades and live stage events. The company was founded by Rob Bloch in 1981. Critters of the Cinema provided animal talents to several episodes of and  and to the seventh feature film,. 

Star Trek
Critters of the Cinema started to work on The Next Generation in when several horses were required for the cliffhanger  and its sequel. Bloch and fellow horse trainer John Hanna worked on these episodes and Hanna also appeared as a background actor, a buggy driver in the second episode.

Bloch and his crew chose the dog to play Maura in the sixth season episode. Friday previously worked on the television series Perfect Strangers and for four years on General Hospital beside other projects. For the episode, Bloch chose the two wolves and Teddy. They previously worked as the wolf "Two Socks" on the Academy Award winning drama Dances with Wolves in 1990.

Critters of the Cinema also took over from Gary Gero and Birds & Animals Unlimited when they "cast" a new Spot. Animal trainer Scott Hart worked with Somali cats on the episodes and. Bloch and his crew changed Spot's appearance when they chose orange tabby cats instead. ,, and became the lead "Spots" while  later joined the group. For Spot's appearance in Star Trek: Generations, Critters of the Cinema worked with Monster for some early scenes and with Brandy for the end scenes. The back-ups and Zoe also worked on this film. Star Trek: Generations is the only Star Trek project on which the company received screen credit for their work.

Karen Thomas-Kolakowski is the animal trainer who was responsible for the work with the cats on Star Trek: The Next Generation. For the final TNG episode she worked with the cats Bacall, Uma, Zeke, Bandit, Wendy, and Shelley, the fill-ins Aspen,, Buffy and Fido as well as their doubles , Sinbad, Sascha and Justin. All these cats can be seen as Data's cats in the anti-time future.

For Star Trek: Voyager, Critters of the Cinema worked on the pilot episode,. They provided horses for a location shooting as well as the two dogs seen in this episode. One of the dog trainers was Rose Ordile.

Other productions
Critters of the Cinema provided animal talents to dozens of film, television, commercial and print productions. Between 1995 and 1999 they worked on the comedy series Unhappily Ever After and in 1997 on the fantasy series Power Rangers Turbo. Other television work includes Dinosaurs, Home Improvement, Married with Children, Alf, Knots Landing, Hunter, Murphy Brown, Falcon Crest, The Garry Shandling Show, S Club 7 in L.A., CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Numb3rs, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, Threat Matrix, Providence, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Roseanne, Golden Girls, Mr. Belvedere, General Hospital, The Wonder Years, The Tracey Ullman Show, The Young and the Restless, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Remington Steele, Who's the Boss?, The A-Team, Tales from the Crypt, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Moloney, Players, Cracker, Boy Meets World, Sunset Beach, The Bold and the Beautiful, Everybody Loves Raymond, Suddenly Susan, The Lion's Den, Monk, and Sex and the City.

Film work includes the romance The Woman in Red (1984), the action adventure Romancing the Stone (1984), the comedy sequel Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), the horror film Re-Animator (1985), the drama The Men's Club (1986), the crime drama Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987), the comic adaptation Masters of the Universe (1987), the fantasy sequel Teen Wolf Too (1987), the horror sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the horror film Puppetmaster (1989), the horror film Howling VI: The Freaks (1991), the science fiction comedy The Meteor Man (1993), the thriller The Disappearance of Christina (1993), the drama Corrina, Corrina (1994), the crime drama Suicide Kings (1997), the crime comedy A Life Less Ordinary (1997), the family movie Stuart Little (1999), the comedy Drowning Mona (2000), the comedy More Dogs Than Bones (2000), the drama Coyote Ugly (2000), the comedy sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), the comedy 100 Girls (2000), and the crime thriller Red Dragon (2002).

Critters of Cinema also worked on commercials and print ads for Toyota, ShowBiz Pizza, Sony, Ray Ban, Hitachi, Bud Light, K-Mart, Lipton Iced Tea, Oldsmobile, Pepe Jeans, Dorito Chips, JC Penny, Toys'R'Us, Sprite, Avis, Pepsi, Epson Printers, Meow Mix cat food, yahoo.com, T-Mobile, Wrangler Jeans, Wells Fargo Bank, Kelloggs, Chevrolet, Pac Bell, McDonald's, Nissan, Viacom Cable, M&Ms, HBO, Chysler, Honda, HIS Jeans, Ford, Wrigley's Gum, and Fruit of the Loom. Animal talents also worked in music videos for, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and.