Portland kitten gets 17 seconds of fame, joins ever-growing pantheon of cat video stars

Smitty, a now-six-month-old tabby who lives in a Congress Street apartment not far from Local 188, may not ride a Roomba around the kitchen, but he has received his 15 minutes — er, 17 seconds — of fame for his interaction with another piece of human technology.

In this brief, but still wonderfully entertaining video posted by my friend and MaineBiz staffer Darren Fishell, young Smitty plays the role of Kat Kong, picking a fight with a toy helicopter. (Click above if the player below is being glitchy.)

As you can see, in this case, the chopper doesn’t have to fly to the top of the Empire State Building — or even take off — to fend off the giant kitten.

Not long after Darren posted this epic battle to YouTube, it got picked up and posted by Jezebel, then made the rounds on social media. It’s grown to almost 60,000 views now as I post this. Not quite Sad Cat Diary status, but it’s early yet.

In its caption for the video, Jezebel casts young Smitty, a former barn cat, as a furry John Connor in a Terminator-like prelude to our imminent oppression at the hands of machines:

It’s a claw-tinary tale about man vs. machinery. One day, we will all be this kitten, and that helicopter will be Skynet. It was nice knowing you, fellow flesh-and-bloodies.

Anyone with a smartphone, myself included, is well on the path to this future. Such drama in just 17 seconds.

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.