LITTLE DRACULA

 

LITTLE DRACULA
(FOX, Fox Family, September 3, 1991-October 13, 1999)
 
Steven Hahn Productions, Sachs Family Entertainment, Bandai Entertainment

 

 

MAIN CAST:
Edan Gross – Little Dracula
Joe Flaherty – Big Dracula
Jonathan Winters – Igor, Granny
Kath Soucie – Mrs. Dracula, Millicent, Spirits of the Netherworld Operator
Melvyn Hayes – Deadwood
Joey Camen – Werebunny
Brian Cummings – Garlic Man
Neil Ross – Maggot
Danny Mann – No Eyes, Twin-Beaks

 

Little Dracula is a British series of children’s books that centered on the daily adventures of Dracula’s son, nicknamed Little D. Along with his father, Little D lived in Castle Dracula in Transylvania with his mother, Mrs. Dracula, little sister, Millicent, and his Granny. Other residents included Igor, Dracula’s all-purpose servant who had a removable eye; Slave, a zombie servant that was frequently used and abused by everyone, especially Igor; Handy, a disembodied sentient hand; and their pets, Cat, Batty and later Rover, a werewolf cub. During the day, the nearby villagers were out and about, but at sunset they would retreat to their homes and the night belonged to the Draculas.

One of the series' two-page spreads.

The books were written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Joseph Wright. They took some inspiration from Charles Addams’ The Addams Family strips and its adaptations by blending macabre imagery with humor and enough silliness to be kid-friendly. For instance: liberal use of blood as beverages or condiments; skulls doubling as bowling or croquet balls; emptying the contents of a severed human head into a frying pan for breakfast; eating a sandwich made from a severed human leg; getting blood delivered like bottles of milk; Little D sawing his sister in half and later gluing her back together; an iron maiden complete with skeletal occupant as a Christmas gift, etc. All of this was conveyed through Wright’s highly-detailed artwork, infusing safe-yet-grotesque sight gags into every picture. Each book would open with a two-page spread of the Dracula castle grounds showcasing the occupants and other beings doing various activities within and without. A number next to some characters would correspond to a list identifying who each character was; including random characters that played no part in the actual story such as a werewolf and Frankenstein’s monster.

The first Little Dracula book.

The first book in the series, Little Dracula’s First Bite, debuted in 1986 and was published by Walker Books. Seven books followed through 1992; however, the Fiendishly Funny Joke Book was done by the different creative team of Alan Durant and Paul Tempest. Candlewick Press would pick up the international rights to the series and release the books in North America, and four of the books would see reissues as late as 2001.

Little D with Igor, Deadwod, Dracula, Millicent, Mrs. Dracula, Werebunny, Batty and Granny.

In the 1990s, it was decided to adapt Little Dracula into an animated series. Produced by Steven Hahn Productions in association with Sachs Family Entertainment, the cartoon took deep inspiration from the books. However, since the books were very short, didn’t have too much depth to their stories, and weren’t many of them, some liberties were taken to flesh them out further in order to fill an entire season of television episodes. Little D (Edan Gross) still lived in the caste with Big Dracula (Joe Flaherty, as a nod to his Count Floyd character from SCTV), Mrs. Dracula (Kath Soucie), Millicent (also Soucie), and his Granny (Jonahtan Winters, sounding fairly close to his Maude Frickert character). On his birthday, Little D was gifted the Scepter of the Draculas, which could create a doorway to anywhere or open any locked door, an amulet that would allow him to communicate with anyone, and a hat that would allow him to go out into the sunlight unharmed. Little D combated his difficulty with flying by designing a flying car, the Dracster (a vampire-themed play on dragster).

Igor presenting the Draculas with his Santa-catching trap.

Igor (also Winters), on top of being Dracula’s servant and Little D’s keeper, was also the live-in mad scientist who cooked up bizarre inventions for the Draculas. That included a special top hat that allowed Little D to go outside in the daytime. Slave was renamed Deadwood (Melvyn Hayes), likely to avoid the controversy of the Draculas being slave-owners. He was often Igor’s guinea pig or tool. He would often make sarcastic comments about situations or predicaments, but nobody ever seemed to hear him clearly. Handy helped out around the castle and was excellent at sleight-of-hand magic. Along with their established pets Battie and Wolfie (renamed from Rover), Cat was replaced by a fuzzy spider.

Little D taking Werebunny for a ride in the Dracster.

Newly-created for the series was Little D’s best friend, Werebunny (Joey Camen); a blue-furred half werewolf, half bunny with a single eye. There was also Twin-Beaks (a play on “Twin Peaks”, voiced by Danny Mann), a two-headed vulture that often hung out in the dead trees by the castle and whose heads tended to bicker with each other. Both attended the same Ghoul School as Little D…in Twin Beaks’ case because their right head was held back for 17 years. As Little D was unable to fly just yet, he turned his car, the Dracster, into a flying car to compensate for it.

The sinister Garlic Man.

Other new characters were antagonists for the show. Dracula’s sworn enemy was Garlic Man (Brian Cummings), who wanted nothing more than to destroy him (since vampires hated garlic, after all). He had a garlic head and a stench to match. Whenever he was defeated, Garlic Man would be reduced to a garlic clove, but be could be resurrected via a ceremony of planting it and reciting a chant. He was served by two lackies: the aptly-named No Eyes (Mann), who also had an interchangeable mechanical hand, and the boil-covered Maggot (Neil Ross).

The Man With No Eyes and Maggot saluting their boss (while dealing with his stench).

Little Dracula debuted on FOX on September 3, 1991 as part of the Fox Kids programming block. The series was written by Pamela Hickey and Dennys McCoy, with Frank Ward and Trish Stewart serving as special consultants. Character and background designs were handled by John Norton, Gary Selvaggio, Craig Clark, Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, Jeff Myers, Debbie A. Silver, Sung-Woo Hong, Emily Schwappach Michels, John Petrovitz and Vadim Sokolov. The series’ music was done by The Music Team, Andrew Dimitroff and Stephen C. Marston, and animation duties were handled by Island Animation, Inc. (now part of Dong Woo Animation).

Little D with his scepter and protective hat.

Little Dracula had an interesting run. It aired from Tuesday through Saturday its debut week, and was then replaced by Beetlejuice on weekdays and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures on Saturday. The next episode wouldn’t air until Halloween that year. The remaining seven episodes wouldn’t run until the series was rerun on Fox Family Channel (now Freeform) in 1999. Although it was never seen in North America again, second season of 13 episodes was commissioned overseas by Fance’s M6 network. Co-produced in France and Germany by IDDH and Renaissance-Atlantic Films, it aired exclusively in Europe under the title Draculito, Mon Saigneur.

An equally short-lived toyline was co-produced by DreamWorks, who handled the North American release, and Bandai, who handled other territories. Two versions of Little D, Deadwood, Garlic Man, Igor, Maggot, The Man With No Eyes, Twin Beaks and Werebunny were released, along with the Dracster, the Garlicmobile, the Drac-Moto and the Coffin Car. Additionally, Little D’s scepter and amulet were offered as roleplay toys. Harvey Comics published a 3-issue mini-series seeing Little D on the trail of whoever staked his parents so that they can remove the stakes and bring his parents back to un-death. Like the books, the first issue featured a two-page introduction spread of Dracula’s castle. The comic was done by Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak, Jorge Pacheco, and In Color.

The Harvey Comics version of the two-page introduction spread.

Between 1993-94, Abbey Home Media released episodes of Little Dracula across four VHS collections in PAL regions. Little Dracula’s Fangtastic Video featured “Little ‘D’ Goes Hawaiian”, “Bat Boys” and “Easy Biters”; Little Dracula’s Video Full of Frightfull Suprises featured “Little D’s Surprise”, “Deadwood’s Complaint” and “The Chamber of Unspeakable Terrors”; and Little Dracula’s Video With a Bite had “Little D’s First Bite” and “The Curse of the Ghastly Minimum Wage”. “Little D’s Surprise” was also featured on The Biggest Ever Saturday Morning Heroes Video by Tempo Video, which also included episodes of The Adventures of T-Rex, James Bond Jr., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Captain N: the Game Master, and Transformers. The original FOX-run episodes have been uploaded by viewers to YouTube.

 

 

EPISODE GUIDE:
“The Curse of the Ghastly Minimum Wage” (9/3/91) – Little D unwittingly becomes an employee for a new burger joint in town created solely to get rid of Dracula.
 
“Little D’s First Bite / Ghoul Days” (9/4/91) – It’s Little D’s first day of school, and Garlic Man enrolls Maggot in order to steal the Scepter of the Dracula’s from him.
 
“Little D’s Surprise” (9/5/91) – It’s Little Dracula’s birthday, and he’s finally of age to embrace his heritage—if he can master the flying that he’s neglected practicing.
 
“The Bite Before Christmas” (9/6/91) – While the Draculas anticipate the arrival of Santa, Garlic Man decides to disguise himself as Santa in order to infiltrate their castle.
 
“Little ‘D’ Goes Hawaiian” (9/7/91) – Sick of the Transylvanian weather, Dracula decides to take everyone on a vacation to Hawaii.
 
“Little D’s Halloween” (10/31/91) – The Draculas dress as ordinary people to accompany Little D on his first time trick-or-treating in the village with Garlic Man in hot pursuit.
 
“Bat Boys” (9/12/99) – Little D battles Garlic Man and his minions in a game of baseball with his schoolmates.
 
“Easy Biters” (9/14/99) – Igor changes Little D’s bike into a motorcycle, leading to him and his friends crossing paths with a bad motorcycle gang looking for a challenge.
 
“Deadwood’s Complaint” (9/17/99) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
 
“The Chamber of Unspeakable Terror” (9/17/99) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
 
“The Bite at the Ghoul Schol Corral” (10/3/99) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
 
“Midnight Madness” (10/11/99) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
 
“Deadly Screentest” (10/13/99) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

FALL SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULES

The fall is here, and that typically meant: NEW TV SCHEDULES! These are the Saturday morning schedules that kicked off the new season across the decades:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF POWER RANGERS

 
            In 1975, Shotaro Ishinomori created a Japanese media franchise for Toei Company called Super Sentai. Shows made within it were of the tokusatsu genre, which featured live-action characters and colorful special effects geared towards children. The protagonists of these programs were a team of people who transformed into superheroes with powers via wrist-worn or hand-held devices, complete with color-coded outfits, signature weapons, sidearms, specialized vehicles and enhanced fighting skills. Their foes were typically monstrous supervillains from other worlds seeking to take over the Earth with their army of soldiers and a monster that could become a giant, necessitating its defeat via a mecha piloted by the heroes. Himitsu Sentai Gorenger was the first, running from 1975-77, followed by J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai in 1977. A partnership with Marvel Comics to produce a live-action Spider-Man would see the introduction of giant robots into the franchise.

The Sentai that would become Power Rangers.

            In 1984, while on a business trip to Japan, Haim Saban was introduced to Super Sentai through Choudenshi Bioman. Fascinated with the concept as well as its popularity, and feeling like it had great potential for American audiences, he and partner Shuki Levy quickly produced a pilot called Bio-Man in 1986. Unfortunately, the networks didn’t see the same potential they did and the pilot was hopelessly shopped around and rejected for five years. It wasn’t until Margaret Loesch became the head of Fox Kids that the idea gained any traction. Loesch was familiar with Super Sentai as the former head of Marvel Productions, who were at one point trying to do the same thing as Saban with a series called Sun Vulcan based on the 5^th entry in the Super Sentai series, Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan. While Loesch was amenable, her boss was not and reluctantly allowed financing for a pilot, which Saban based around the latest Sentai season, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. The pilot was received well enough to get a 40-episode order for the series that would become Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Teenagers with attitude: the original cast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

            Mighty Morphin would set the standards by which all Power Rangers shows would follow. Saban’s crew would pour through countless hours of the Sentai to find any footage that wouldn’t betray its Japanese origins, then intercut them with all-new American footage. Saban would also acquire the hero and monster suits from Toei. The series was set up that galactic wizard Zordon (Daivd J. Felding & Bob Manahan) recruited five teenagers with attitude to bestow powers up to deal with the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa (Machiko Soga & Carla Perez with Barbara Goodson) from her 10,000-year confinement. The series made its debut on August 28, 1993, and was a smash success despite criticism over its violent content. The actors became overnight celebrities, and the toys produced by Bandai flew off shelves. Mighty Morphin ended up being aired 6 days a week on the Fox Kids programming block, and additional episodes beyond the original 40 were ordered. This eventually prompted Saban to commission Toei to film more scenes that they could use as they exhausted the original broadcast footage. Additionally, the franchise received a theatrical movie spin-off, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, which featured specially-designed suits and utilized no Japanese footage for the first time.

New mostly-teenagers with attitude: the final cast of Power Rangers Turbo.

            Once their Sentai supply had run dry again, Saban opted to embrace a Sentai tradition of having the Rangers get new powers each season. This transition was handled by de-aging the Power Rangers and having a team of Aliens from the planet Aquitar temporarily take their place during the second half of the third season. Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers utilized footage from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. The Rangers were restored and given new powers in Power Rangers Zeo, adapting Chouriki Sentai OhRanger. A second film, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, was used to establish the next set of powers in Power Rangers Turbo, adapting Gekisou Sentai Carranger. The membership roster would also undergo some changes as actors left over pay disputes or just being ready to move on, or were simply replaced to help renew audience interest and inject new life into the franchise.

Power Rangers heads to space.

            Power Rangers in Space, adapting Denji Sentai Megaranger, was set to be the final series in the franchise as ratings had significantly declined during Turbo. However, as In Space’s ratings dramatically improved, it was decided to keep the franchise going while adopting another Sentai tradition: a continually changing cast. Along with the new powers, each new season would feature all-new characters and fictional cities for them to protect. In Space was used to end what has become known as the Zordon Era, culminating in the character’s death used as a catalyst to eliminate all of the foes plaguing the Rangers up to that point. It would also begin the tradition of the team-up episode, where past incarnations of Rangers would meet up with the current for an adventure (although it should be noted that Zeo did crossover with the Alien Rangers).

The cast of Wild Force.

       Power Rangers continued on unchanged until Wild Force, which adapted Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger. In 1996, Saban Entertainment took their relationship with Fox Kids to the next level and merged with their parent company, Fox Children’s Productions, to form Fox Kids Worldwide. It became Fox Family Worldwide after acquiring International Family Entertainment the following year, owners of The Family Channel which became Fox Family Channel. Unfortunately, Fox Kids began to struggle as affiliates moved away from the block and Fox Family Channel lost a significant number of its audience after all their changes. In 2001, Disney purchased Fox Family Worldwide, acquiring Saban and all of its properties—such as Power Rangers—in the process. Disney finished out the second half of Wild Force with full intentions of ending the series right there, but were convinced to keep it going after being assured they could save a fortune by moving production to New Zealand. MMPR Productions, the subsidiary of Saban set-up exclusively to manage the franchise, was dissolved and replaced by BVS Entertainment.

RPM, the end of the Disney Era.

           Power Rangers Ninja Storm, adapting Ninpu Sentai Hurricaneger, became the official beginning of what’s known as the Disney Era of Power Rangers; which aired on various Disney-owned networks. It stood on its own, featuring no crossover with Wild Force due to the expense of transporting the actors over, and had a dramatically more comedic tone than previous entries. While fans initially didn’t know what to make of it, they eventually came around and the season was often regarded as the best of the franchise. Disney continued producing several more seasons of Power Rangers until wanting to get out once again with the conclusion of Jungle Fury, which adapted Juken Sentai Gekiranger. Obligations to Bandai led to the production of one additional season, RPM, adapting Engine Sentai Go-Onger. Disney’s final contribution to the franchise came with re-releasing the first 32 episodes of Mighty Morphin with a new intro and new special effects, known as the “Reversioned” episodes.

Saban returns: Power Rangers Samurai.

            In 2010, Haim Saban bought back the Power Rangers franchise from Disney to begin the second Saban Era (also known as The New Saban Era, the Saban Brands Era, the Nickelodeon Era or the Neo-Saban Era). Production resumed with Power Rangers Samurai, adapting Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, under new Saban subsidiary Saban Brands. A deal was also reached with Nickelodeon to air the series on their network, with reruns of older seasons airing on Nicktoons. Samurai became the first time since the Zordon Era that the same cast appeared for multiple seasons, as the show was split into two due to Nickelodeon airing restrictions and given the adjusted title Power Rangers Super Samurai. This would happen for every entry in the New Saban Era. In 2017, Saban made their third crack at a film franchise with Power Rangers; a darker, fully-Americanized reboot of the series. Unfortunately, it ended up being a box-office bomb and sequel plans were abandoned.

Beast-morphin into the Hasbro Era.

            In 2018, Saban and Bandai announced that they would be ending their long-standing partnership and that Hasbro would become the master toy licensor for the franchise starting the following year, with an option to buy the franchise outright. Hasbro exercised that option and bought Power Rangers and other Saban assets in May of 2018. Power Rangers Beast Morphers, adapting Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, became the first entry of the Hasbro Era, produced by Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures. Production moved to Entertainment One for Power Rangers Dino Fury, which adapted Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger with additional props and costumes from Ressha Sentai ToQger. Upon expiration of the agreement with Nickelodeon in 2021, airing of the franchise moved to Netflix exclusively for the second season.

Comic Fury, the end of an era?

            Because Dino Fury was so well-received, Hasbro opted to give it a third limited season of 10 episodes. It was renamed Cosmic Fury for marketing purposes and now included elements from Uchu Sentai Kyuranger. Cosmic Fury would be the first series to utilize mostly American footage and all-new suits, and the first to feature a full-time female Red Ranger. Additionally, a 30^th anniversary special featuring a mix of both generations of the original Mighty Morphin cast called Power Rangers: Once & Always was produced and aired in 2023. It had no Sentai footage at all outside of a flashback sequence and remade previously used stock footage in CGI. After 30 years, Hasbro decided to bring the current production of Power Rangers to an end in favor of a complete reboot of the series in association with Paramount. Once production wrapped on Cosmic Fury, the crew left New Zealand behind after 20 years to head into the unknown future of Hasbro’s Power Rangers.

SPACE GOOFS

 

SPACE GOOFS
(France 3, September 6, 1997-May 12, 2006 FR
FOX, September 6, 1997-March 28, 1998 US)
 
Gaumont Multimedia (season 1), Xilam (season 2)

 

 

MAIN CAST:
Eric Le Roch (season 1) (French) – Candy H. Caramella
Charlie Adler (English) – Candy H. Caramella, various
Éric Métayer (season 2) (French) – Candy H. Caramella, Bud Budiovitch
Peter Hudson (season 1) & Bernard Alane (season 2) (French) – Etno Polino
Maurice LaMarche (English) – Etno Polino, various
Marc Bretonnière (French) & Jim Gomez (season 2) (English) – Bud Budiovitch
Jeff Bennett (English) (season 1) – Bud Budovitch, Stereo Monovici
Patrick Préjean (French) & Michael Sicoly (English episode 1-15) – Gorgious Klatoo
Danny Mann (English) – Gorgious Klatoo, Stereo Monovici (season 2), various
Antoine Tomé (season 1) & Patrick Guillemin (season 2) (French) – Stereo Monovici

 

            While on their way to a picnic, five extraterrestrials from the planet Zigma B. crashed into an asteroid and ended up stranded on Earth. Fearing they’d be experimented on or eaten if captured by the resident humans, they took up refuge in a house up for rent. There they wait in the hopes that someone from their planet will come looking for them while also keeping anyone from entering their home and discovering them.

The aliens: Bud, Stereo, Gorgious, Candy and Etno.

            The group was comprised of the diminutive green-skinned Candy H. Caramella (Eric Le Roch & Charlie Adler), an uptight neat freak who always wore a polka-dotted apron; the big-nosed and red-lipped purple-skinned Etno Polino (Peter Hudson & Maurice LaMarche), who was the leader and brains of the group constantly developing machines to help them get home that either malfunction or are ruined by outside interference; tall orange-skinned Bud Budovitch (Marc Bretonnière & Jeff Bennett), who was lazy, naïve and addicted to television; fat blue-skinned Gorgious Klattoo (Patrick Préjean, Michael Sicoly & Danny Mann), who was eternally grumpy and hungry; and the two-headed red-skinned Stereo Monovici (Antoine Tomé & Bennett), the bookworm of the group whose heads were generally full of useless information and were constantly arguing with each other. Jean Yves Raimbaud designed the main characters, with Hugo Gittard providing additional character designs.

Bats take over the house.

            Episodes generally revolved around someone coming to or moving into the house and the aliens attempting to evict them without being discovered (ranging from the realistic, like a scout troop, to the fantastic, like fellow aliens, to the mythic, like Santa Claus). Sometimes, their attempts to keep people away would end up attracting them instead. Occasionally, this intrusion would result in the house undergoing some kind of transformation such as becoming a prison or being integrated into a theme park. As part of keeping their cover, the aliens would change their physical appearance by getting into a device called the SMTV, which resembled a mad scientist’s salon chair. A running gag featured their changing into two nonsense forms before getting a useful one. Other problems arose from within as the aliens dealt with their own idiosyncrasies, Etno’s inventions, or an Earthling running off with one of their many spaceship attempts.

Super brothers cause a super mess.

            Space Goofs (originally titled and known in some international markets as Home to Rent, based on the sign hung on the gate of the aliens’ house), debuted on France 3 in France, as well as on FOX as part of the Fox Kids programming block, on September 6, 1997. The series was created by Raimbaud and Philippe Traversat, and developed by Isabelle De Catalogne and Samuel Kaminka. The series was written by Raimbaud, Catalogne, Kaminka, Jim Gomez, Bob Camp, Nicolas Gallet, Jean Louis-Capron, Kelly Armstrong, Bob Jaques and Regis Hochman, with Camp, Gomez and Mauro Casalese also credited for dialogue and Camp and Gomez serving as the voice directors. Animation was handled by Big Star Enterprise, Anivision and Sunwoo. Iggy Pop was shown the pilot and agreed to compose the theme song, with Ramon Pipin and Hervé Lavandier handling the rest of the music.

Earthlings have invaded Zigma B!

            The series was produced by Gaumont Multimedia, whose animation division was founded by producer Marc du Pontavice. Shortly after production on the series ended, Gaumont decided to close their animation division and du Pontavice purchased their assets to open a new studio, Xilam, with his wife, Alix. Xilam continued to produce programs for Gaumont until the latter opted to focus entirely on video game publishing before shutting down in 2004. Xilam, with the aid of Igel Media, purchased the rights to Gaumont’s shows outright and put both Space Goofs and Oggy and the Cockroaches back into production.

            The second season of Space Goofs made its French debut on May 20, 2005, debuting internationally a few months later. Only Préjean was retained in the French cast, with Éric Métayer taking over Candy and Bud and Bernard Alane taking over Etno. Gomez, as well as being the only voice director, also assumed the role of Bud on the English side. Stereo was eliminated from the cast as the studio determined he didn’t offer much in story contributions. On the show, it was said he had somehow managed to return home and would appear twice in the season, now voiced by Mann. Season 1 director Thomas Szabó joined the writing staff, along with season 2 director Olivier Jean-Marie, Pierre Colin-Thibert, François Rosso, Franck Ekinci and Olivier Derynck, with Gallet being the only holdover. Thierry Gérard came on as a character designer while Big Star was joined by Tae Soo Kim on animation.

            One of the first Space Goofs projects Xilam took on was the development of a video game called Stupid Invaders. Published by Ubisoft on December 15, 2000, the game featured the aliens being targeted by the mad scientist (Mann) from “Zero Stuff”, who had hired hitman Bolok (Billy West) from “The Pro” to capture the aliens and their ship. Most of the people involved with the production of the show worked on the game, with the only differences being the fact it was rendered using 3-D models and had an increase in toilet and adult humor and mature themes (such as Candy considering a sex change, keeping in line with the fact he often wore women’s clothing, took on a female disguise, and flirted with men). As part of that humor, it tended to take adventure game cliches and turn them on their head; such as interacting with anything or anything resulting in an instant comical death without any kind of warning. The game was dedicated to Raimbaud, who had died from cancer in 1998. A film of the same name was also planned, but aside from a short preview posted online the project never materialized.

One of many crossovers with fellow Gaumont/Xilam production, Oggy and the Cockroaches.

    The characters from the series appeared in other Xilam productions in small cameo roles. The characters and the house made several appearances in Oggy and the Cockroaches, complimenting their own appearances on Space Goofs. A picture of Candy was seen on the cover of a manga in Shuriken School: The Ninja’s Secret. Candy also appeared as a character’s transformation in an episode of The Daltons. Promotions for the show included toys from restaurants Taco Bell, Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. and Long John Silver’s, as well as Dairy Queen and a miniature pinball game from Cost Cutters Hair Salon in relation to reruns airing on Fox Family Channel (now Freeform). There was also a set of figurines featuring the main aliens and several of the humans they encountered.

Promo art for season 2, featuring the aliens and their house.

20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Saban Entertainment released three VHS compilations comprised of 3 episodes in two of them and 4 in one. Four different episodes were included on an Italian VHS compilation. Five episodes were included in a DVD compilation in France, and 8 across four DVDs in North America by Carlton Entertainment. Xilam started an official Instagram page for various images and YouTube channel where the episodes are hosted.

  

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1 (English airdates):

“Once Upon a Time…Part 1 / Once Upon a Time…Part 2” (9/6/97) – Aliens on a picnic end up stranded on Earth and try to survive until they can be rescued. / Government agents discover the aliens and attempt to get the government to take action against them.

 

“Venus Junior / One Minor Technicality” (9/13/97) – Etno attempts to bring more aliens to Earth in order to get a ride home, but those that arrive turn out to be useless. / The aliens build a rocket to escape an asteroid bound for Earth, but a local boy ends up foiling their plans.

 

“Toon In, Drop Out Part 1 / Toon In, Drop Out Part 2” (9/20/97) – Two cartoon characters end up taking residence in the aliens’ house. / The aliens attempt to evict the cartoon characters.

 

“TV Connection / Showdown in Tiny Town” (9/27/97) – Bud ends up trading places in the TV with a cartoon racoon and never wants to leave. / After watching a Western, Bud shrinks himself down to visit the Western-themed bug town he built around his model railroad.

 

“Old MacDonald Had a House / Bats in the Belfry” (10/4/97) – The aliens attempt to make the house unappealing to potential tenants, but end up attracting a farmer instead. / A gang of bats takes over the house and the aliens can’t get them out.

 

“You Can’t Go Home / Clowning Around” (10/11/97) – The aliens attempt to cheer up an aging elephant so she’ll leave the ancient elephant burial ground that was where their house now is. / When clowns take over the house, Etno comes to believe they’re advanced humans.

 

“Scout’s Night Out / Pink Rhinoceros” (10/18/97) – Gorgious goes undercover to get rid of a group of Boy Scouts, but ends up having to undergo their trials to prove himself. / Getting rid of a rock band goes awry when Etno is forced to join them.

 

“Maybe Baby / Holiday Heave Ho” (10/25/97) – A baby ends up falling into the aliens’ house. / The aliens believe Santa Claus is a red blob from the horror movie they watched the night before and try to keep him out of their house.

 

“Short Changed / Backyard for Eternity” (11/1/97) – Two crooks use the aliens’ house as a hideout. / Bud ends up locking himself out of the house and spends all night trying to get back in.

 

“The Flying / Bad Luck Blues” (11/8/97) – Trying to get Bud away from the TV leads to him adopting a fly he nursed back to health. / A hard-luck case comes to the house and Bud attempts to bombard him with optimism.

 

“No Account Art / Granny Go Home” (11/15/97) – Gorgious has secretly been creating art in his room, which an art critic takes credit for himself. / An old lady and her dog come to the house and she causes a racket by playing the organ.

 

“Buy Now, Pay Later / Toy Trouble” (11/22/97) – A salesman rigs up situations to force the aliens to buy his useless products. / Local children mistake Candy for a doll and take him to their home to play with roughly.

 

“Gnome Alone / Rip Van Etno” (11/29/97) – The aliens attempt to capture a gnome for a wish, but he takes advantage of them instead. / Bud accidentally knocks Etno out during his cockroach experiments, causing him to dream of waking up in a future world dominated by the insects.

 

“Rebel Without a Brain / Time for a Change” (12/6/97) – The aliens pose as a human family to help Bud through his rebellious phase. / Tired of dealing with tenants, the aliens transport the house back in time.

 

“Snoutra / Sweet Tooth Blues” (12/13/97) – Candy’s favorite singer and his family move into the house, leading to the others to become sick of his music. / Gorgious’ over-indulgence of junk food leads to him having nightmares.

 

“Flora and Feast / Dingo Bingo” (1/17/98) – Etno gives Candy alien plants for a contest, but he ends up accidentally turning it into a gluttonous monster. / Gorgious wins the lottery and ditches his friends.

 

“We Robot / Neighborhood Watch” (1/24/98) – Etno builds a robot to serve him and is guilted into allowing it to serve all of them. / The aliens’ neighbor discovers their existence and tries to prove it to the authorities.

 

“Mother from Another Planet / Spook to Rent” (1/31/98) – The aliens may be saved when Candy’s mother comes for a visit. / The ghost of the Flying Dutchman disturbs the aliens’ house while searching for something.

 

“20,000 Feet Under Home to Rent / Bongo Park” (2/7/98) – Etno gets the idea to flood the house to keep people away, but instead attracts two hydrologists. / A tycoon builds a theme park with a roller coaster running right through the house.

 

“Flashman vs. Zork / Pinball Planet” (2/14/98) – A superhero and his brother rival move into the house and begin fighting. / Gorgious accidentally unleashes three genies who threaten to destroy their home planet.

 

“Cassius Gorgious / Busy Bees” (2/21/98) – To get a boxer out of their house the aliens steal his beloved teddy bear—who turns out to be alive! / Attempting to remove a beekeeper from the house ends up making his honey business a success.

 

“Party Time in Hell / Our Ancestors the Humans” (2/28/98) – The Devil turns the house into the gateway to Hell. / The aliens escape into time to avoid alien tax collectors.

 

“Timber / Prison Pals” (3/7/98) – The aliens move their house to escape the city, but find no joy in the countryside either. / The aliens’ house is turned into a prison, leading to their being cut off from their refrigerator.

 

“The Pro / Dead Funny” (3/14/98) – A hitman moves into the house and destroys all of the aliens’ garden gnomes. / The aliens give Stereo a comedian for their birthday.

 

“Zero Stuff / Small You Said?” (3/21/98) – The aliens must stop a mad scientist from destroying a planet. / After tormenting small creatures, Gorgious finds himself one after accidentally being hit by Etno’s shrink ray.

 

“Count Gracula / First Love” (3/28/98) – The aliens enjoy Halloween until Gorgious discovers his strawberry jame has been taken, and a trail leads to a mysterious box in the basement. / Everyone but Candy falls in love with a woman who gets dumped by her boyfriend.

 

Season 2:

“Don’t Monkey With Me!” (5/20/05) – A monkey escapes from the zoo and hides out at the house, tormenting Gorgious the whole time.

 

“Operation Guinea Pig” (5/27/05) – Etno becomes jealous of Bud’s new intelligent guinea pig.

 

“Zero Gravity” (6/3/05) – Etno launches the house into space, but instead of taking them home they end up on the moon.

 

“Macho Kung Fu” (6/10/05) – Gorgious’ obsession with Kung Fu is bolstered when movie star Steve Wong moves into the house.

 

“Stupid Invaders” (6/17/05) – The aliens get new neighbors who are extremely annoying.

 

“Musical Chairs” (6/24/05) – A robot space cabbie only has room to take three of the aliens home, meaning one of them will have to stay behind.

 

“Space Cruiser to the Rescue” (7/1/05) – A lightning strike brings to life the main characters of the sci-fi show Bud was watching.

 

“Madame Zelza” (7/8/05) – A psychic places a curse on the aliens after Gorgious breaks her crystal ball.

 

“Get Off My Couch!” (7/15/05) – A psychiatrist moves into the house and gets to work on the aliens’ personalities.

 

“The ‘Thing’ From Beyond” (7/22/05) – An alien copycat lands in the aliens’ yard.

 

“Tired Big Time” (7/29/05) – An irritating sleepwalker moves into the house.

 

“Heavy Metal Madness” (8/5/05) – The aliens turn into a biker gang in order to out-stunt and evict the gang that moved into the house.

 

“Sir, Yes Sir!” (8/12/05) – Gorgious decides to help out the training officer that moves in, but his mission may end up being to eliminate Candy.

 

“Crash Test Dummy” (8/19/05) – A crash test dummy moves in and convinces Bud to take his place.

 

“Which Witch is Which?” (8/26/05) – A witch casts a spell on Candy to cheer him up after the others forget his birthday.

 

“Other World Champs” (9/2/05) – The aliens sub in for injured basketball players playing in their house, but soon find themselves in need of a fifth player.

 

“Bollywood Aliens” (9/9/05) – Etno falls in love with the Indian princess that moves in, but the others want to get rid of her to protect themselves.

 

“The Tunnel” (9/16/05) – Roleplaying to get rid of a criminal ends up going to far when Bud forgets the plan and goes along with the crime.

 

“Meet My Cousin” (9/23/05) – An alien criminal poses as Candy’s cousin so he can stay with them and begins gradually taking over the house.

 

“Who’s Who?” (9/30/05) – Gorgious’ toenail clippers causes Etno’s latest device to create duplicates of Etno.

 

“Pygmy Planet” (10/7/05) – Etno accidentally summons a tiny planet with a couple of miniature trouble-making aliens.

 

“You Drive Me Crazy!” (10/14/05) – The others try to help out Candy when he keeps failing his driving test.

 

“A Dog’s Life” (10/21/05) – With Candy refusing to cook, the others turn themselves into dogs to be fed by the house’s latest resident.

 

“Manga Mania” (10/28/05) – The aliens turn themselves into Franco-Belgian cartoon characters in order to get rid of an anime panda ducking his fans in their house.

 

“@spacegoofs.com” (11/4/05) – The aliens find themselves addicted to the internet.

 

“Journey to the Center of the Earth” (11/11/05) – A documentary about volcanos inspires the aliens to go to the center of the planet for fuel for Etno’s new rocket.

 

“Abracadabra” (11/18/05) – The aliens join a magician’s magic act.

 

“Mummy’s Boy” (11/25/05) – A mother and son moving into the house reinvigorates Etno’s drive to get everyone back home.

 

“Soap Chick Number One” (12/2/05) – Bud tries to steal the only collectible soap chick he’s missing from the house’s new tenant.

 

“Arctic Intelligence” (12/9/05) – Bud accidentally freezes the city and forces the aliens to remain as penguins, which makes them ideal specimens for a scientist to study.

 

“The Alien” (12/16/05) – An alien applies to b a flight tester for the others, but his appearance leads the aliens to believe he’s a human in disguise.

 

“Be My Baby’ (12/23/05) – A stork hatchling imprints on Etno.

 

“S.O.S.” (12/30/05) – Etno’s space message is received by two alien hunters to capture him and demand to know where the others are.

 

“The Collector” (1/6/06) – A collector moves into the house who may have the aliens’ original spaceship in his possession.

 

“Be My Friend” (1/13/06) – A man with pungent overgrown hair may provide fuel for Etno’s latest spaceship.

 

“Time Traveler” (1/20/06) – Etno uses a device to rapidly evolve a tadpole.

 

“Back to School Blues” (1/27/06) – Etno decides Bud should attend the classes of the teacher and students who have just moved in.

 

“Remote Control Home” (2/3/06) – Etno installs a robot to keep the others in line, but Gorgious breaks her and causes her to take over the house.

 

“Invisible Invaders” (2/17/06) – A real estate agent harasses the aliens to get their house.

 

“Inside Gorgious” (2/24/06) – Etno shrinks himself to go inside Gorgious and remove a virus infecting him.

 

“Gorilla Island” (3/3/06) – Lightning causes the aliens to crash into the city zoo whose gorilla occupants take over their house.

 

“Welcome!” (3/10/06) – The aliens finally return home only to be greeted by everyone who has taken one of their previous spaceships.

 

“Dr. Artichoke & Mister Candy” (3/17/06) – Etno has Candy taste a syrup left by Dr. Jekyll to complete his vitamin encyclopedia, and it ends up turning him into a monster at night.

 

“Buffalo Blues” (3/24/06) – The aliens go back in time in order to get rid of their Native American resident.

 

“24H” (3/31/06) – Bud ends up stuck as a human when he accidentally breaks the SMTV and has 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.

 

“The Alien King” (4/7/06) – A spaceman believes he’s landed on an alien planet when he lands at their house and declares himself their ruler.

 

“Doodle” (4/14/06) – Bud raises an old childhood doodle while the others try to find the original artist.

 

“Gorgious the 1^st” (4/21/06) – A tough-talking mouse fulfills Gorgious’ desires and names him boss of the house.

 

“Space Sailors” (4/28/06) – The aliens try to get away from humans by sailing away only to have a castaway and his wooden girlfriend immediately move into the house.

 

“Fairy Tale” (5/5/06) – The Big Bad Wolf moves into the house and tries to eat the aliens.

 

“The Alien Show” (5/12/06) – The aliens go on a reality show to win a flying saucer and end up plotting against each other.