LITTLE SHOP

 

LITTLE SHOP

(FOX, September 7-November 30, 1991)

 

Marvel Productions, Saban Entertainment, Saban International Paris, BIL Participations S.A., Gorfy Corporation N.V., Fox Children’s Productions

 
 
MAIN CAST:
Marlow Vella & Lisa Paulette (episode 1-4) and Jana Lexxa (singing) – Seymour Krelborn, various
Tamar Lee & Jennie Kwan (singing) – Audrey Mushnik, various
Harvey Atkin & Michael Rawl (singing) – Mr. Mushnik
Roland “Buddy” Lewis & Terry McGee (singing) – Audrey Junior
David Huband & Mark Ryan-Martin (singing) – Paine Driller, various
 
 

       In 1959, independent filmmaker Roger Corman had just completed a film for American International Pictures called A Bucket of Blood. Given only $50,000 and a five-day shooting schedule on some sets leftover from Diary of a High School Bride, Corman decided he was bored of straightforward horror and added some humor elements along with writer Chares B. Griffith. Visiting various beatnik coffeehouses helped them come up with the story: a dark satirical black comedy horror film about beatnik culture. Griffith, whose parents came from a vaudeville background, helped Corman around his unease at directing comedy for the first time. 

Seymour feeds Audrey Jr.

            For Corman’s next attempt at horror comedy, there has been several origin stories for its conception. One account was that it was a bet. Another was that because new residual rules for actors were coming into place on January 1, 1960 that would change how Corman did business and he wanted to beat the deadline with one last picture. Corman himself would say that it began as a joke; that while having lunch with the manager of the small rental studio where he worked out of, he was told that production on a film was wrapping and they were leaving the sets up for a time before taking them down. Corman, familiar with the sets and not having a lot of money on hand, decided almost as a joke that he would make a film utilizing them within two days. Re-teaming with Griffith, they hashed out a story and Griffith wrote the script.

            The Little Shop of Horrors was set in a flower shop in Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Bumbling shop clerk Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze) was attempting to keep his job by presenting his boss, Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles), a unique flower grown by combining seeds he acquired from a Japanese gardener. The plant, resembling a large Venus flytrap, was named Audrey Jr. after his crush, co-worker Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph). However, the flower was in poor shape and Seymour had only a week to revive it before losing his job. Discovering it thrived on human blood (and could talk, courtesy of Griffith), Seymour soon fell into an accidental murder spree that kept Audrey Jr. fed and growing almost larger than the shop, attracting new business for Mushnick in the process. The film was populated by a host of eccentric characters, including regular customer Siddie Shiva (Leola Wndorff), whose relatives seemed to die every day; new customer Burson Fouch (Dick Miller), who enjoyed eating plants and decided to make Mushnik’s his regular spot; sadistic and lousy dentist Dr. Farb (John Herman Shaner); and Seymour’s hypochondriac mother, Winfred (Griffith’s grandmother Myrtle Vail).

Seymour, Mushnik and Audrey look on as Junior grows.

            The film was shot similarly to a sitcom, with three days of rehearsals and two days of actual filming utilizing multiple cameras on fixed sets with no dynamic lighting. Because of rules at the time, it worked out cheaper in Corman’s favor to pay the actors on a weekly basis than on a daily one, so he hired them all for the week. Exterior shots were then done over two weekends by Griffith and Welles, and Haze would later recall that there were some reshoots. The film was very similar to Blood: utilizing minimal sets, Corman’s regular stock actors, and the structure of the story of a dim-witted character failing upwards with murderous results. Miller, who played the lead in Blood, turned down the starring role for the smaller role he ended up having. A pre-fame Jack Nicholson also appeared as a masochistic dental patient.

The film's poster.

            Corman had trouble finding distribution for his film as some felt the characters of Mushnik and Shiva were anti-Semitic (Welles himself was Jewish and created his character’s accent). It was finally released by his production company, The Filmgroup, nine months after its completion. After being screened out of competition at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, AIP distributed the film as the B movie for their release of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, gaining it extra attention. The film slowly gained popularity through television airings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a cult classic. 

The stage version of Audrey II and Seymour.

In 1982, the film was adapted into an Off-Broadway horror comedy rock musical with direction and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. The musical took some liberties with the original story: the setting was moved to New York’s Skid Row; Mrs. Shiva, Burson Fouch, the detectives that investigated the various deaths and Seymour’s mother were omitted and Seymour (given the new surname Krelborn, played by Lee Wilkof) became a ward of Mr. Mushnik (Hy Anzell); Audrey (Ellen Greene) was put into an abusive relationship with the dentist, now renamed Orin Scrivello (Franc Luz), to give Seymour more of a motive to kill him; a chorus of street urchins modeled after girl groups of the 1960s was added; Audrey Jr., now named Audrey II (Ron Taylor voice, Martin P. Robinson puppeteer), was remade as an alien intent on taking over the world; and the show ended with a much darker ending emphasizing class struggles and moral values. By the time the show closed in 1987, it was the third-longest running musical and the highest-grossing production in Off-Broadway history.

 

One of the show’s original producers, David Geffen, decided to adapt the stage show into a new musical feature film. Frank Oz was tapped to direct and worked on the story to make it more fitting for film. The film starred Rick Moranis as Seymour, Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Mushnik, Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, and Levi Stubbs as Audrey II, who was now operated by an entire team of puppeteers, along with Greene reprising her role as Audrey. A few of the songs were removed from the production, and the masochistic dental patient was added back in, played by an ad-libbing Bill Murray. Although the original dark ending from the stage show was adapted, it didn’t test well with preview audiences and was replaced with a new, happier one. Little Shop of Horrors was released by Warner Bros. on December 19, 1986, underperforming the studio’s expectations with only a $39 million box office. However, home video sales made the film a smash hit. 

The main cast: Audrey Jr., Seymour, Mr. Mushnik, Audrey and Paine.

In 1991, a new adaptation came in the form of an animated series produced by Saban Entertainment and Marvel Productions. This version, developed by Mark Edward Edens and Ellen Levy, combined elements from the original and musical productions while making changes of their own. Seymour (Marlow Vela, Lisa Paulette and Jana Lexxa singing) was now 13-years-old and a wannabe nerd (he had all the right qualities, except the smarts). Seymour frequently broke the 4^th wall to relay his inner thoughts and commentary on situations to the audience. Seymour’s mother’s hypochondria was changed to her being a health nut, constantly working out and sticking Seymour with healthy foods. Seymour still had a crush on Audrey (Tamar Lee & Jennie Kwan), who was now the daughter of his boss, Mr. Mushnik (Harvey Atkins & Michael Rawls), at the Little Shop of Flowers (changed from Mushnik’s Flowers). Audrey barely acknowledged his existence, focusing entirely on finding her future career (the first episode said she had a lifelong dream of being a firefighter, but she pursued a different occupation in every episode). The dentist character was reimagined as school bully Paine Driller (David Huban & Mark Ryan-Martin), who wore orthodontic headgear (his father was also a dentist). It was Paine’s bullying that sent Seymour to the city dump where he stumbled upon the 200-million-year-old petrified seed that would sprout into Audrey Jr. (Roland “Buddy Lewis” & Terry “Proffet” McGee). Junior was more of an omnivore than a strict carnivore, eating basically any type of food or object. He was also a rabble rouser, constantly attempting to make plants rise up against humanity and reassert their place on the food chain once held during his time via his new “plant magnetism” ability. And he was a lot nicer to Seymour, often trying to help him out—especially in regards to Audrey—in his own, crude ways. Junior retained his hypnosis abilities from the original film, and had a penchant for plant puns. A character resembling Nicholson made small appearances in various episodes, as did the flower-eating Fouch.

Mushnik's Flowers is now Little Shop of Flowers.

Little Shop debuted on FOX as part of the Fox Kids programming block on September 7, 1991. It was written by Edens, Mel Gilden, Robert Tarlow, Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, Steve Cuden, Barbara Slade, Matthew Malach and Hope Juber, with Edens serving as story editor. Noticeably absent from the show—and the title—was any kind of horror. Since this was meant for children, the episodes largely dealt with the antics of Seymour and Junior and tried to convey morality lessons amidst the absurdity. The characters broke out into song several times an episode, and with this being the 90s it wouldn’t have been complete without at least one of them (in this case, Junior) breaking out into a rap. Haim Saban and Shuki Levy handled the series’ music, while the raps were produced by Romeo Williams, John D. Mitchell and Ron Kenan. The characters were designed by Joe Horne, Darrel Bowen and David Mucci and animation duties were handled by  KKC&D. Corman himself served as a creative consultant and his distribution company, Concorde-New Horizons Corporation (now New Horizons), also handled the show’s distribution. Noticeably, while the characters and the objects they interacted with were fully colored, the backgrounds instead were only loosely done so with swatches of colors similar to the style of old UPA cartoons.

The series only lasted 13 episodes before it was cancelled. It remained on the network until the following September and later made its way to the Sci-Fi Channel’s (now Syfy) Cartoon Quest and The Animation Station programming blocks until 1997. It wouldn’t be until 2017 that episodes began to surface online; however, one is only available in a German translation. Meanwhile, the legacy of Little Shop of Horrors continues on. Since 2003, multiple revivals of the stage production have been made both in America and the United Kingdom. In 2012, the original ending for the 1986 film was made available on home media for the first time (technically second, but the original poorly-done attempt was pulled off the shelves at Geffen’s request). Warner Bros. had also announced a remake of the musical film was in development, however it has since been postponed indefinitely.

                      

 
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Bad Seed” (9/7/91) – Seymour grows a 200 million-year-old seed into Junior who, unable to go home, stays and helps Mr. Mushnik’s flowers grow.
 
“Real Men Aren’t Made of Quiche” (9/14/91) – Audrey decides to become a refrigerator repairman while Junior and Seymour work on making a human-plant hybrid.
 
“Back to the Fuchsia” (9/21/91) – Junior decides to go back in time to warn the plants about the rise of dinosaurs and maintain his place in the food chain.
 
“Unfair Science” (9/28/91) – Junior’s science project for Seymour ends up attracting the attention of Seymour’s favorite celebrity, who wants to steal it.
 
“Stage Blight” (10/5/91) – A failed playwright produced Junior’s play where Seymour finds himself as the romantic lead.
 
“I Loath a Parade” (10/12/91) – Junior falls in love with the Venus flytrap Seymour brings home.
 
“Air Junior” (10/19/91) – Junior makes Seymour’s new pair of shoes able to fly.
 
“Untitled Halloween Story” (10/26/91) – Angered over the tradition of pumpkin carving, Junior goes trick-or-treating with Seymour and Audrey to steal back all the jack-o-lanterns.
 
“It’s A Wonderful Leaf” (11/2/91) – A reaper shows Seymour a vision of the future while Junior dreams of running a flower hotel.
 
“Tooth or Consequences” (11/9/91) – Seymour learns that small lies can lead to big trouble.
 
“Walk Like a Nerd” (11/16/91) – Junior decides to give himself legs and ends up sharing Seymour’s body.
 
“Pulp Fiction” (11/23/91) – Junior organizes used paper products to revolt against the paper-making industry.
 
“Married to the Mush” (11/30/91) – Paine’s aunt dates Mr. Mushnik under the belief that he’s rich, which causes the ambitious Audrey to lose all hope and decide on becoming a housewife.

CREEPY CRAWLERS

 

CREEPY CRAWLERS

(Syndication, October 4, 1994-March 30, 1996)

 

Saban Entertainment, Saban International Paris, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment

MAIN CAST:
Joey Camen – Chris Carter
Patricia Ja Lee – Samantha “Sammy” Reynolds
Jan Rabson – Volt Jolt, Top Hat
Jonny K. Lamb – T-3, Rumble Bee, 2-Ugly, 2-Ugly 2
Tony Pope – Hocust Locust, Professor Guggengrime, Tom Lockjaw
Art Kimbro – Sting Ring
Cam Clarke – Commantis, Spooky Goopy, Todd Carter
Steve Bulen – Squirminator

            Creepy Crawlers began life as a Mattel product in 1964; a spin-off of their Vac-U-Form set released the year prior. The concept of the toy was to use metal molds and liquid plastic--called “Plastigoop”--to create a variety of bug-like creatures. After filling them with the Plastigoop, the molds were then placed in the “Thingmaker”--an open-faced electric hot plate oven that cured the Plastigoop--allowing the creations to be removed from the mold when cooled. After a few years on the market and the release of several different sets, safety concerns about the Thingmaker led to it being discontinued. A revamped version, the “Thingmaker II”, was released in 1978 with a new form of Plastigoop that was heated first and placed into plastic molds to cool. But as the goop didn’t work as well as its predecessor, the return was short-lived and the line cancelled again.

            Mattel had let their trademark lapse and ToyMax took over production beginning in 1992. They returned to the original concept of metal molds and cooking the newly-christened and expanded line of “Plasti-Goop” in a slotted oven called the “Magic Maker”. The oven was lightbulb-powered and a recolored version of the one previously released for Makit & Bakit suncatcher kits in the 80s. While ToyMax brought back a lot of classic molds, they expanded the Creepy Crawlers line to include a variety of licensed properties, like Power Rangers and Toy Story, as well as introduced new variations of Plasti-Goop like scented and glow-in-the-dark.

Professor Guggengrime, failed magician turned super villain.

            To help promote the toy, ToyMax partnered with Saban Entertainment to produce an animated series centered around the concept. Introducing the audience to the world of Creepy Crawlers was Chris Carter (Joey Camen), a self-described “normal kid” who had an interest in magic. While working in the magic shop of disgraced former magician Professor Guggengrime (Tony Pope), Chris created the Magic Maker which, thanks to a special cosmic alignment known as the Millennium Moment, created living mutants through a bombardment of cosmic rays on some special goop that combined magic tricks with bugs. 

Chris and the Magic Maker with Goop-Mandos Commantis, Sting Ring, Hocus Locust, Volt Jolt and T3.

The first three creations were Volt Jolt (Jan Rabson), a combination of a light bulb and lightning bug that could generate electrical jolts; T-3 (Jonny K. Lamb), short for Tick Trick Tick, was the combination of a deck of cards and a tick that possessed incredible strength and could fire card-like darts, and also had a pet named T-Flea that dwelled under his shoulder pads; and Hocus Locust (Pope), the four-armed combination of a rope trick and a locust who could control the rope around his body, was the practical joker of the group and often fell into celebrity impersonations. Dubbed the “Goop-Mandos” by Guggengrime, he attempted to enslave them for his own purposes, but they escaped the shop with Chris. However, Guggengrime kept the Magic Maker. Eventually, their ranks were bolstered by the additions of Sting Ring (Art Kimbro), the mixture of inter-connecting rings and a wasp who could grant the others wings they could use to fly, and Commantis (Cam Clarke), a sword-wielding ventriloquist created from kung-fu, karate and samurai videos mixed with a mantis. A large part of the comedy from the show came from the fact that the Goop-Mandos had to recharge their abilities by hanging upside down in Chris’ closet while Chris tries to keep their existence a secret from his family; in particular, his older brother, Todd (Clarke), who was a vain and surly valley dude. Fortunately, he had the help of his neighbor, Samantha “Sammy” Reynolds (Heidi Lenhart), to try and keep his secret.

The Crime Grimes: Squirminator, Spooky Goopy with Top Hat and Rumble Bee.

With the Magic Maker in hand, Guggengrime created his own team called the “Crime Grimes” to try and conquer the world. His right-hand monster was Spooky Goopy (Clarke), a green skeleton with handcuff hands that wore a talking Top Hat (Rabson) he often argued with. Other monsters included Shockroaches, which were monstrous cockroaches; Squirminator (Steve Bulen), who was worm-like with a mace tail and had an army of squirmy worms; Rumble Bee, a crazed bee the size of a small car; 2-Ugly (Lamb), who could separate its head from its body and the head could move autonomously; and Bat out of Smell, a giant bat who could spew noxious breath. A mutual threat for both sides was Colonel Ka-Boom, a member of “Pentagon Special Services” that was dedicated to wiping out all of the mutants and often bordered on insanity in his methods to do so.

Guggengrime mixing up some trouble with the Magic Maker.

Creepy Crawlers debuted in syndication on October 4, 1994, with the main titles done by Art Leonardi. The characters were developed by Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, Inc., James Cross and Judy Martin. Writers for the show included Mark Seidenberg, Rich Fogel, Francis Moss, Ted Pedersen, Tony Marino, Steve Cuden, Cheryl Saban, Doug Booth, Francis Moss and Michael Maurer, with Joel Andryc serving as story editor. Haim Saban (as Kussa Mahchi) composed the music with Shuki Levy while Hahn Shin Corporation and Shanghai Morning Sun Animation handled the animation.

Volt Jolt and Commantis showing off their new Super Goop looks.

Creepy Crawlers was renewed for a second season. SEM Animation and Jade Animation assumed the animation duties for the season, and with them came some other changes to the show. Guggengrime created a new Super Goop formula meant to be used as a weapon to destroy the Goop-Mandos, but instead it just furthered their mutations giving them new looks and abilities. New Goop-Mandos also made their debut: T-4 (Lamb), an unintentional clone of T-3 created by Guggengrime who had four heads, was stronger but dumber than his predecessor, and Fire Eyes, created from various hot foots and a firefly to defeat Guggengrime’s ice monster. And speaking of monsters, Guggengrime created several in addition to his Crime Grimes: Spider-Patrol, a humanoid spider monster; Franken Fly, a combination of a housefly and Frankenstein’s monster; Skrull, a replacement for Spooky created from metal parts animated by the Goop; Sergent Spidey, a militaristic arachnid that could spit webs; Bugzilla, a wax statue of a giant black mantis movie monster animated by the Goop; and Ice Scream, a monster that could freeze an entire city by screaming.

One of the VHS covers.

Despite the show already promoting a product, ToyMax was sure to try and capitalize even further by producing action figures based on it. The five Goop-Mandos and Chris were released along with the five Crime Grimes and Guggengrime, as well as a vehicle. Each figure came with a mold for the Magic Maker that would allow the creation of weapons and accessories. A playset was seen in the 1994 ToyMax booklet, but was never produced. Saban Home Entertainment released six episodes across three VHS collections.

ToyMax ended production of the Creepy Crawlers line in 2001. Jakks Pacific acquired ToyMax in 2002 and began re-releasing ToyMax’s products before producing all-new ones in 2006. Mattel announced a new version of the ThingMaker in 2016, which was a 3D printer for toys. However, after numerous delays the project was cancelled in 2019. In 2018, it was announced that Paramount Pictures had acquired the rights to make a film based on Creepy Crawlers, with Jakks chairman and CEO Stephen Berman serving as an executive producer.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“The Night of the Creepy Crawlers” (10/4/94) – Chris’ invention is hit by mysterious cosmic forces, allowing it to create a legion of heroic—and villainous—mutant creatures.
 
“Sugar Frosted Crawlers” (10/11/94) – Guggengrime relocates to an abandoned cereal factory and releases a cereal with one of his Crime Grimes inside.
 
“Who’s Afraid of Bees?” (10/18/94) – The Reynolds move in next door to the Carters and end up attacked by a swarm of gigantic Rumble Bees.
 
“Chris Explains It All” (10/25/94) – Chris recounts the craziness that has come to inhabit his life.
 
“Power Play” (11/1/94) – Todd’s battle of the bands competition is interrupted by the electricity-consuming Shockroach.
 
“Vanishing Act” (11/15/94) – The Goop-Mandos make a new ally while Chris and Sammy go on their “first date”.
 
“One Creepy Brother” (11/22/94) – Todd gets involved in the conflict and ends up going along with Guggengrime.
 
“I Was a Teenage Crawler” (12/6/94) – Prom is coming but Chris finds himself mutating into a human grasshopper.
 
“Mauler Amuck” (12/27/94) – T-Flea goes missing as Guggengrime loses control of 2-Ugly.
 
“The Glob” (1/24/95) – After accidentally creating Commantis with a Shogun movie, Guggengrime loads the Magic Maker with a bunch of horror films to produce an entertainment-eating glob.
 
“All the Way to China” (1/31/95) – Sammy’s little brother disappears into the hole created by Super Squirminator while looking for Magma-Goop in the Earth’s core.
 
“Double Trouble” (2/7/95) – Guggengrime gets his hands on Houdini’s magic dust and brings a T-Rex skeleton to life.
 
“Attack of the Fifty Foot Guggengrime” (2/14/95) – An accident turns Guggengrime into a giant.
 
“Return of the Crime Grimes” (2/21/95) – Guggengrime conquers the city after Colonel Ka-Boom jails Chris for Goop-Mando conspiracy.
 
Season 2:
“Dawn of the Super Goop” (9/16/95) – Guggengrime’s new weapon alters the Goop-Mandos and makes their powers uncontrollable.
 
“Deja Goop” (9/23/95) – Guggengrime uses voodoo to take control of Hocus Locust.
 
“A Real Numb Skrull” (9/30/95) – Guggengrime sicks his latest monster on his former servant, Spooky Goopy.
 
“Camp Nightmare” (11/4/95) – Chris wins a trip to a summer camp that Guggengrime decides to disrupt.
 
“Bugzilla” (11/11/95) – Guggengrime turns a wax museum monster into a real giant monster.
 
“T-4-2” (1/6/96) – Guggengrime tries to get control of T-3, but ends up creating his little brother T-4 instead.
 
“Cold Snap” (1/13/96) – The Goop-Mandos create a new heat-infused member in order to deal with Guggengrime’s cold-weather monster.
 
“Revenge of the Mutant Stink Bunks” (1/20/96) – Guggengrime unleashes mutant stink bugs on the town.
 
“The Incredible Shrinking Creepy Crawlers” (3/30/96) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.