Space Ghost | |
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Genre | |
Created by | Alex Toth |
Directed by | |
Voices of | |
Music by | Ted Nichols |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Production | |
Producers | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | September 10, 1966 – September 16, 1967 |
Related | |
Space Ghost is an American Saturday-morning superhero animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast on CBS from September 10, 1966, to September 16, 1967, and continued reruns until September 7, 1968. [1] The series was composed of two unrelated segments, Space Ghost and Dino Boy in the Lost Valley. [2] The series was created by Alex Toth [3] and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Sometimes, it is alternatively called Space Ghost & Dino Boy to acknowledge the presence of both shows. [4]
The Space Ghost segments were seen again in the 1976 series Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr. (which replaced the Dino Boy segments with the Frankenstein Jr. ones from fellow Hanna-Barbera show Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles ), which aired on NBC from November 27, 1976, to September 4, 1977, after NBC put The Kids From C.A.P.E.R. on hiatus. [5] [ better source needed ]
Space Ghost, along with teenaged sidekicks Jan and Jace and their pet monkey Blip, fight villains in outer space. Usually, Space Ghost's sidekicks would get captured or trapped by the villains, and Space Ghost would have to defeat the villains and save the day. His enemies included Zorak, Brak and his brother Sisto, the Creature King, [6] the Black Widow/Spider Woman, Moltar, and Metallus.
Voice cast
Dino Boy is a young boy called Todd who parachuted out of a crashing plane with his parents still on board. He lands in an unknown South American valley where dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and cavemen have somehow survived extinction and now live alongside some strange creatures and various tribes like the Moss Men, the Rock Pygmies, the Worm People and the Vampire Men, amongst others. Dino Boy then meets the caveman Ugh (who saves Dino Boy from a Smilodon when he first arrives) and his pet baby Brontosaurus Bronty who become his friends in the episodes to come. The cartoon also features a woolly mammoth named Tusko whom Ugh would enlist in certain episodes to help him, Dino Boy, and Bronty out. [7]
The series came about because of then head of CBS daytime programming, Fred Silverman, had enjoyed superheroes such as Superman and wanted to incorporate classic superhero iconography with the emerging interest in space travel and the Space Age for the Saturday morning lineup under a broader initiative of "superhero morning" which also included Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman . [8] [9] The shift towards more action oriented animated formats proved a challenge for Hanna-Barbera as up to that point the studio's Saturday morning output had consisted primarily of short form funny animal comedies such as The Yogi Bear Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show . [9] Many of the scripts for Space Ghost and future action adventure shows would be written by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. [9] Brainstorming sessions for the series would typically involve Silverman and William Hanna throwing out character descriptions and concepts while Joseph Barbera and Alex Toth translating them as rough sketches and doodles. [9]
With the exception of the final two half-hour shows (the "Council of Doom" episodes), each episode featured two Space Ghost segments with one Dino Boy segment between them.
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "The Heat Thing" "The Worm People" "Zorak" | September 10, 1966 | |
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2 | "The Lizard Slavers" "The Moss Men" "The Web" | September 17, 1966 | |
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3 | "Creature King" "The Treemen" "The Sandman" | September 24, 1966 | |
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4 | "The Evil Collector" "The Fire God" "The Drone" | October 1, 1966 | |
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5 | "Homing Device" "The Mighty Snow Creature" "The Robot Master" | October 8, 1966 | |
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6 | "The Iceman" "The Wolf People" "Hi-Jackers" | October 15, 1966 | |
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7 | "The Energy Monster" "Valley of the Giants" "The Lure" | October 22, 1966 | |
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8 | "The Cyclopeds" "The Ant Warriors" "The Schemer" | October 29, 1966 | |
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9 | "Lokar - King of the Killer Locusts" "The Bird Riders" "Space Sargasso" | November 5, 1966 | |
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10 | "Brago" "Giant Ants" "Revenge of the Spider Woman" | November 12, 1966 | |
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11 | "Attack of the Saucer Crab" "The Rock Pygmies" "Space Birds" | November 19, 1966 | |
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12 | "The Time Machine" "Danger River" "Nightmare Planet" | November 26, 1966 | |
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13 | "Space Armada" "The Vampire Men" "The Challenge" | December 3, 1966 | |
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14 | "Jungle Planet" "The Terrible Chase" "Ruler of the Rock Robots" | December 10, 1966 | |
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15 | "Glasstor" "The Sacrifice" "The Space Ark" | December 17, 1966 | |
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16 | "The Sorcerer" "The Marksman" "The Space Piranhas" | December 24, 1966 | |
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17 | "The Ovens of Moltor" "The Spear Warriors" "Transor - The Matter Mover" | December 31, 1966 | |
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18 | "The Gargoyloids" "Marooned" "The Looters" | January 7, 1967 | |
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19 | "The Meeting" "Clutches of Creature King" "The Deadly Trap" | September 9, 1967 | |
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20 | "The Molten Monsters of Moltar" "Two Faces of Doom" "The Final Encounter" | September 16, 1967 | |
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The final two half-hour shows only feature Space Ghost as he takes on the Council of Doom. Additionally, they feature cameos from other characters (The Herculoids, Moby Dick, the Mighty Mightor, and Shazzan) that would appear in their own Hanna-Barbera series broadcasts on CBS the following (1967–68) season.
Space Ghost & Dino Boy were released on multiple VHS tapes in the 1980s put out by Worldvision Home Video and later re-released by GoodTimes Home Video under the Kids Klassics label. The episodes on the VHS tape for Space Ghost were "The Heat Thing", "Zorak", "The Creature King" and the Dino Boy episode "The Worm People". Worldvision released another VHS tape, Space Ghost and Dino Boy: Ghostly Tales; this contained the episodes "The Robot Master", The Energy Monster", "Hi-Jackers", "The Lure", and "The Schemer". The Dino Boy episodes were "Marooned" and "The Red Ants". [10] These same episodes were released in the UK by The Video Collection.
Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released Space Ghost & Dino Boy: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on July 17, 2007. [11]
The DVD edition presents the episodes on two double-sided DVDs, but alters the order from the original air-date order. This episode order is also present on Blu-ray and digital sell-throughs.
A Blu-ray set of the series was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (under the Warner Archive Collection label), on October 13, 2020. The release is a two-disc set containing all 20 episodes. [12]
The TV series was adapted into a comic strip by Dan Spiegle, distributed by Gold Key Comics. [13] He has also appeared in comics published by Marvel Comics, Comico and Archie Comics.
In 2016, Space Ghost and his allies and Dino Boy played a major role in the DC Comics series Future Quest , that also featured characters from various animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera such as Jonny Quest , The Herculoids , Birdman and the Galaxy Trio , Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles and Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor . [14]
In October 2023, it was announced a new Space Ghost comic is currently in the works from Dynamite Entertainment. [15] The first issue was published in May 2024. [16] According to Comicscored.com, the Space Ghost series received a "Very Good" rating, with a Comicscore Index of 85 based on 94 ratings from critics. [17]
A manga adaptation by Kentaro Nakajo was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday by Shogakukan in 1967. The manga was compiled into one volume. [18]
In 1994, nearly three decades after the finale of the original series, Mike Lazzo pitched the idea of an adult animated parody talk show using the Space Ghost character to Cartoon Network. Voice actors George Lowe, C. Martin Croker, and Andy Merrill joined the project, which Cartoon Network would soon air as Space Ghost Coast to Coast . The series premiered on April 15, 1994, and originally ended on December 17, 1999. [19] The series was revived on May 7, 2001, and was moved to the new Adult Swim late-night programming block on September 2 of that year, where new episodes premiered until April 12, 2004. Two final seasons were released on GameTap from 2006 to 2008. 10 seasons, 108 episodes aired.
The show gained spin-offs in the form of The Brak Show (2000–2007) and Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000–2015), and has been cited as inspiration for a variety of Adult Swim programming in the years since its debut. In a 2014 interview, Eric André spoke about the show's influence on The Eric Andre Show , saying, "Before we started shooting, I rented as many seasons I could get my hands on and did a Space Ghost marathon by myself in my house, just so I could absorb as much Space Ghost as I could." [20]
Space Ghost proved considerably popular on its initial run and is credited with spurring a wave of similar superhero themed action-adventure shows across all three major networks between the years of 1967 through 1969. [9]
Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. The title of the series varied from season to season, as did the superheroes on the team. Nine seasons, comprising a total of 93 episodes, were produced.
The Brak Show is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jim Fortier, Andy Merrill, and Pete Smith for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. The Brak Show serves as a spin-off of the animated television series Space Ghost Coast to Coast, for which the show's creators originally wrote, and featured recurring characters from Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet. Both programs used stock footage from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost, for which The Brak Show serves as a prequel. The protagonist is Brak, voiced by Merrill, who developed a quirky persona for the character.
Andy Merrill is an American voice actor best known for his portrayal of the character Brak on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Brak Show, and Cartoon Planet; as well as Oglethorpe on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animation created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and first broadcast in 1994. It takes the form of a surreal parody of talk shows, hosted by a reimagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. It incorporates surrealism and non-sequitur humor.
Space Ghost is a superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1960s for TV network CBS. He was designed by Alex Toth.
Cartoon Planet is an American television programming block that originally ran from 1995 to 1998 and 2012 to 2014 on Cartoon Network. A spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the series centered on Space Ghost recruiting his imprisoned evil nemesis Zorak and his loud and dimwitted archenemy Brak to assist him in hosting a variety show.
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, or simply Birdman or The Galaxy Trio, is an American animated television series made by Hanna-Barbera Productions that debuted on NBC on September 9, 1967, and ran on Saturday mornings until January 20, 1968. The program consists of two segments: Birdman, depicting the adventures of a winged superhero powered by the sun, and The Galaxy Trio, centered around the adventures of a patrol of interstellar superheroes. Each segment was a complete independent story, and the characters of each segment did not interact with those of the other, except for a bumper that has all four heroes defeating a prehistoric monster.
Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor is an American Saturday-morning animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that ran on CBS from September 9, 1967 to January 6, 1968, airing in reruns until September 6, 1969. Despite Moby's name coming first, he had only one short per half-hour episode, sandwiched between two with Mightor. The same structure was used the previous season for Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles.
The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated-cartoon television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967, on CBS. Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original airing of the show, although the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season, with The Herculoids ending its run on September 6, 1969. Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show. The plotlines are rooted in science fiction and fantasy.
Shazzan is an American animated television series created by Alex Toth and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired on Saturday mornings on CBS from September 9, 1967, to January 20, 1968, and continued in reruns until September 6, 1969. The series follows the adventures of two teenage siblings, Chuck and Nancy, traveling around a mystical Arabian world, mounted on Kaboobie the flying camel. During their journey they face several dangers, but they are aided by Shazzan, a genie with magical powers. 18 half-hour episodes were produced, made up of two 11-minute segments.
The Funky Phantom is an animated television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, in association with Australian production company Air Programs International for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The show was a clone of Hanna-Barbera's popular Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, with a trio of teenage detectives driving around the country and solving crimes. In this case, the "Scooby-Doo" role was taken by a Revolutionary War-era ghost, voiced by Daws Butler in a manner almost identical to that of Snagglepuss.
Samson & Goliath, also known as Young Samson, is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC, where it debuted on September 9, 1967. Primarily sponsored by General Mills, who controlled the distribution rights through its agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, Samson & Goliath was retitled Young Samson in April 1968 to avoid confusion with the stop-motion Christian television series Davey and Goliath.
Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It premiered on September 10, 1966 on CBS, and ran for two seasons on Saturday mornings.
Squiddly Diddly is an anthropomorphic animated squid, created by Hanna-Barbera, who was featured in his own cartoon segment on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show beginning in 1965.
Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired as one of the three segments of the syndicated show The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, the other two being Wally Gator and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. The segment stars the titular anthropomorphic lion and hyena duo in a series of goofy misadventures.
The Robonic Stooges is a Saturday morning animated series featuring the characters of The Three Stooges in new roles as clumsy crime-fighting cyborg superheroes. It was developed by Norman Maurer and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 10, 1977, to March 18, 1978, on CBS and contained two segments: The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives.
Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure is a 30-minute animated anthology wheel series produced by Hanna-Barbera which was broadcast in first-run syndication from 1980 to 1984.
The Great Grape Ape Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 6 to December 13, 1975. ABC continued to air it in reruns until 1978.
Space Ghost endured and is still popular today. In large part, this is due to the artistic input of comic book veteran Alex Toth...who, on staff with Hanna-Barbera as a designer and idea man, is generally credited with having created Space Ghost.
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