Creepy Crawlers (TV series)

Last updated
Creepy Crawlers
Genre Science fiction
Adventure
Comedy
Based on"Creepy Crawlers" by Mattel
Voices of Steve Bulen
Joey Camen
Cam Clarke
Art Kimbro
Johnny K. Lamb
Heidi Lenhart
Tony Pope
Jan Rabson
O.R. Yarbles
Music byShuki Levy
Kussa Mahchi
Country of origin United States
France
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes23
Production
Executive producersJoel Andryc
Eric S. Rollman
ProducerSam Ewing
Running time30 minutes
Production companies Saban Entertainment
Saban International Paris (seasons 2)
Abrams/Gentile Entertainment
Original release
Network Syndication
ReleaseOctober 4, 1994 (1994-10-04) 
March 30, 1996 (1996-03-30)

Creepy Crawlers is an animated television series from 1994, produced by Saban Entertainment, that aired in syndication in the United States. [1]

Contents

Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Saban Entertainment. [2] [3] [4]

Premise

The show is about Chris Carter, a self-described "normal kid" who is interested in magic. While working at the Magic Shop of bitter discredited stage illusionist Professor Googengrime, Chris designed and built a device he called "The Magic Maker", ostensibly for use in some unspecified magic trick. A particular once-every-thousand-years planetary alignment, the Magical Millennium Moment, rained down cosmic energies on the shop one fateful night, which somehow made the Magic Maker capable of creating strange, man-sized bug/magic trick composite mutant creatures. The three creatures formed that night, Hocus Locust, Volt Jolt and T-3 (dubbed "Goop-Mandos" by Googengrime), despite looking bizarre, turned out to be friendly, and joined forces with Chris, but Googengrime kept the Magic Maker when Chris and the Goop-Mandos escaped from the shop. Each episode thereafter concerned Googengrime's latest attempt to gain power and conquer the world with a Magic Maker-created "Crime Grime" monster, and Chris and The Goop-Mandos' efforts to stop him, and retrieve the Magic Maker from his evil clutches.

As the series went on, more Goop-Mandos were created. In addition, a young girl named "Sammy" Reynolds became a close ally of the group.

Some sitcom style humor was derived by the concept that the Goop-Mandos were required to recharge after missions by hanging upside-down in the large closet in Chris' room. This concept was derived from a small oozing hourglass-like device housed in the lower torso of each Goop-Mando Action Figure. Although the Carter parents never made an appearance on the show (their voices were heard off-screen in a few episodes), Chris' older brother Todd, a vain and surly "valley dude", was constantly suspicious of the extracurricular goings-on around the house. Furthermore, when the Goop-Mandos needed transportation to a battle site, they would often confiscate Todd's custom dune buggy, using doses of "Goop" to transform it temporarily into the Goozooka "Crawler Cruiser" assault Vehicle. The villains used a similar vehicle called the Bug-Eyed Bomber.

At the Opening of Season Two, Professor Googengrime created a formula, Super Goop, to try to destroy the Goop-Mandos, but it backfired, furthering their mutations. The Goop-Mandos changed colors, gained new abilities and became much stronger.

Characters

The Goop-Mandos

The Crime Grimes

Other Interested Parties

Cast

Crew

Origin and development

The Creepy Crawlers TV Show was based on ToyMax's Creepy Crawlers Activity toy. A line of 12 action figures were made by ToyMax in conjunction with the show, as well as the Goozooka Assault vehicle. A "Creepy Crawlers Action Figure Playset" was depicted in the 1994 ToyMax toy booklet, but was apparently not produced. Each figure came with a metal mold for use with the Creepy Crawlers toy oven, to make custom accessories for the figure using Plasti-Goop.

The Creepy Crawlers TV show debuted in first-run syndication in the Fall of 1994. The show was produced by Saban Entertainment, known for their Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and other live-action adventure programs. Creepy Crawlers was sponsored heavily by several ToyMax products, including Incredible Edibles and DollyMaker, and other Saban programs such as VR Troopers . The show aired sporadically on weekends through the spring of 1996, airing a total of 23 episodes during its two-year run.

Episodes

Season One (1994–95)

#TitleAir DateSummary
1The Night Of The Creepy Crawlers10/04/1994The show's pilot introduces Chris, Professor Googengrime, and the Goop-Mandos, and sets events in motion that will affect the show's entire run.
2Sugar Frosted Crawlers10/11/1994Googengrime sets up shop in an abandoned cereal factory, and is soon flooding the market with the only breakfast food containing a living prize inside: Squirminators.
3Who's Afraid Of Bees?10/18/1994The Reynolds family moves in next door to the Carters, bringing interesting developments for the new neighbors, and an inadvertent Rumble Bee that is mistaken Sammy for Chris.
4Chris Explains It All10/25/1994Recaps the action of the previous three episodes.
5Power Play11/01/1994A supercharged Shockaroach goes on an electricity-consuming rampage, coinciding with brother Todd's heavy metal "Battle of The Bands" competition.
6Vanishing Act11/15/1994Chris and Sammy's "first date" at the "Razzle & Dazzle" Magic Show, which turns out to be a trap by Googengrime. Meanwhile, across town, the Goop-Mandos (literally!) makes a new friend from the Magic Maker: Sting Ring.
7One Creepy Brother11/22/1994Todd Carter becomes involved in the struggle between Googengrime and Chris. Unfortunately, it is on the wrong side of the conflict, due to Googengrime's newest creations: the Spider Patrol.
8I Was A Teenage Crawler12/06/1994A huge chemical explosion at the pesticide factory leaves Chris slowly mutating into a Goop-Mando with grasshopper-like qualities, just in the middle of his first high school prom.
9Mauler Amuck12/27/1994T-Flea goes missing at a Goop-Mando team training session, while Googengrime loses control of Spooky's first Crime Grime creation: the rampaging 2-Ugly.
10The Glob01/24/1995After accidentally creating Commantis by inserting a Shogun movie into the Magic Maker, Googengrime uses a film festival of horror flicks to produce a writhing gelatinous slime that devours all forms of entertainment.
11All The Way To China01/31/1995The new Super Squirminator tunnels to the Earth's core in search of Magma-Goop, wreaking geological disaster, and leading the heroes on a subterranean chase after Sammy's little brother Nick, who has disappeared down the hole.
12Double Trouble02/07/1995Good and evil agendas clash at the County Museum, as an exhibit of Houdini's Magic Trunk leads to a T-Rex skeleton attack and a high-speed chase on the freeway, as well as 2-Ugly's little brother, 2-Ugly 2.
13Attack Of the Fifty Foot Googengrime02/14/1995Googengrime fires Spooky for his perpetual bungling and then (thanks to a lab accident), grows to be 50-feet tall so he can steal the observatory's telescope lens.
14Return Of The Crime Grimes02/21/1995In this season closer, Colonel Ka-Boom jails Chris for Goop-Mando conspiracy, Googengrime conquers the city with the unleashed aid of every Crime Grime creature at once, and the Magic Maker is recovered by the side of good, in a colossal final battle that sets everything right. Or does it..?

Season Two (1995–96)

#TitleAir DateSummary
15Dawn Of The Super Goop09/16/1995Instead of destroying the Goop-Mandos, Googengrime's new weapon augments their powers and color schemes to uncontrollable levels. Now, they must regain their self-confidence without Chris (due to his injury) to stop a "Super Crime Grime", Frankenfly from draining electricity in the city.
16Deja Goop09/23/1995Googengrime dabbles in voodoo, placing Hocus Locust under his power, and at odds with the rest of the Goop-Mandos during a visit to an amusement park.
17A Real Numb Skrull09/30/1995Googengrime builds a better monster and commands the gigantic enforcer, Skrull to destroy his "former" servant, Spooky.
18Camp Nightmare11/04/1995Chris wins a trip to a summer camp in an R/C plane-flying contest, but Googengrime turns up to shake down the rich campers by holding them for ransom.
19Bugzilla11/11/1995Chris and the Goop-Mandos must face Googengrime's latest colossal Crime Grime: the rampaging Bugzilla.
20T-4-201/06/1996Googengrime plots to gain control of Goop-Mando strongman T-3, but instead winds up creating T-3's younger brother, the four-headed "T-4".
21Cold Snap01/13/1996When Googengrime releases his cold-weather monster "Ice Scream" on the city, Chris and the Goop-Mandos counteracts with the new heat-infused "Fire Eyes" to help them defeat it.
22Revenge Of The Mutant Stink Bugs01/20/1996Googengrime creates a swarm of giant stink bugs and unleashes them against the town so the heroes would surrender. Then, Chris, Sammy, and the Goop-Mandos mixes up a chemical formula to eliminate the stink bugs' odor.
23The Incredible Shrinking Creepy Crawlers03/30/1996Googengrime concocts a new miniaturization goop to shrink every building in the city as part of his Monopoly-based scheme, as well as shrinking both Chris and Commantis.

See also

Notes

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