RICK MORANIS IN GRAVEDALE HIGH

RICK MORANIS IN GRAVEDALE HIGH

(NBC, September 8-December 1, 1990)

Hanna-Barbera, NBC Productions

MAIN CAST:

Rick Moranis – Maxwell Schneider

Roger Rose – Vinnie Stoker

Frank Welker – Frankentyke, J.P. Ghastly III, Clawford, Elephant Boy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Barry Gordon – Reggie Moonshroud, Seymour

Jackie Earle Haley – Gill Waterman

Ricki Lake – Cleofatra

Maurice LaMarche – Sid, Chef Sal Monella, Big Frank

Shari Belafonte – Blanche

Kimmy Robertson – Duzer

Georgia Brown – Headmistress Crone

Brock Peters – Boneyard

Jonathan Winters – Coach Cadaver

Eileen Brennan – Miss Dirge

Tim Curry – Mr. Tutner

Sandra Gould – Miss Webner

            Seeking to make use of Rick Moranis’ high profile from both the Ghostbusters movies and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, NBC and Hanna-Barbera teamed up to create an animated vehicle for him to star in.

Riding the "Ghoul Bus" with Vinnie, Cleofatra, Clawford, Boneyard, Max, Duzer, Reggie, Gil, JP,
Frankentyke, Coach Cadaver, Headmistress Crone and Mr. Tutner.

            Developed by David Kirschner, Ernie Conteras and Glenn Leopold, Gravedale High featured human teacher Max Schneider (Moranis) unwittingly taking a job at Gravedale High--a school for monsters--in the city of Midtown. Max’s appearance was a caricature mix of Moranis and the dorky characters he tended to play in movies, complete with thick black glasses and a bowtie. Although he was the only human teacher in the school, he wasn’t the only human in the series; lot of the gags were centered around the effect the students had on the human citizens of Midtown.

Rick Moranis as Max Schneider.

Max’s class was (de)composed of the latest generation of Universal and mythological monsters: Vinnie Stoker (Roger Rose), named for Dracula author Bram Stoker, was a 1950s greaser vampire who was able to go out during the day; Frankentyke (Frank Welker), a combination of Frankenstein's Monster and Bart Simpson; Reggie Moonshroud (Barry Gordon), a geeky werewolf who shed when he was nervous and the best friend of Vinnie; J.P. Ghastly III (Welker, impersonating Peter Lorre), a wealthy gnome-like monster; Gil Waterman (Jackie Earle Haley), a surfer dude lagoon monster; Cleofatra (Ricki Lake, who had her own weight issues), an obese and nerdy mummy; Sid (Maurice LaMarche), who was based on the Invisible Man and was the class clown that frequently spouted pop culture references; Blanche (Shari Belafonte), named for the synonym for turning pale as well as a play on Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire, was a southern belle zombie who loved to shop (mall zombie, get it?); and Duzer (Kimmy Robertson), a Valley girl parody of Medusa without the petrifying gaze.

Gil rocks out on the spider web drums.

Joining the main students was an entire school and faculty of various kinds of monsters familiar from classic movies and stories. Headmistress Crone (Georgia Brown) was a witch-like monster with a hand of iron to symbolize how she ran the school. In her company was her green cat, Clawford (Welker). Boneyard (Brock Peters), despite looking human, was never regarded as such. His appearance was reminiscent of the Tall Man from the Phantasm films and he performed various tasks around the school. Miss Dirge (Eileen Brennan) was a teacher who resembled the Bride of Frankenstein and had a crush on Max. Mr. Tutner (Tim Curry) was a mummified history teacher with bad breath, and Miss Webner (Sandra Gould) was a spider-like teacher with multiple arms. Coach Cadaver (Jonathan Winters) was a walking cadaver with a detachable brain who served as the main antagonist of the show; having an intense hatred of humans and how well-received Max was by the rest of the faculty.

Sid amongst the creepy school surroundings.

Gravedale High debuted on NBC on September 8, 1990. The series featured all the tropes one would expect from a horror-themed cartoon; cemeteries, creepy sets, a large hearse-like gothic school bus, spider web accents and even coffins as lockers. It would often play off monster-themed puns and parodies of pop culture like many other similarly-themed programs from Hanna-Barbera’s varied library. Even the theme song by the Tyrell Music Group, written by John Parker, Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, Stephanie Tyrell and Steve Tyrell, had creepy undertones to it.  The series was written by Kirschner, Contreras and Leopold, along with Bruce Reid Schaefer, Paul Dell, Tod Himmel, Bill Matheny, Chris Schoon, Christian Schoon, Robert Tarlow and Steven Weiss, and Jim Stenstrum, Rick Schneider, Brian Hogan, Marcus Nickerson, Mike Goguen and Julie Gimeno were the character designers. Animation duties were handled by Wang Film Production Company.

McDonald's Happy Meal toys.

Unfortunately, the series failed to find an audience and was cancelled after a single season. Despite being short-lived, the show did inspire some minor merchandising. McDonald’s released a set of four toys based on Vinnie, Frankentyke, Cleofatra and Sid for their Happy Meals in 1990. Toys R Us also launched a special promotional tie-in where whenever someone would bring in a special code to a store they would receive a green Frisbee with Max’s image and the show’s title on it.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Lang Day’s Gurney Into Night” (9/8/90) – Max takes Sid to the hospital for a tonsillectomy, but Sid forces the doctors to chase him as he doesn’t want the procedure.

“Do the Rad Thing” (9/15/90) – Gill meets professional surfer Kahuna Bob while teaching Frankentyke how to surf.

“Cleo’s Pen Pal” (9/22/90) – Cleofatra sends fan mail to actor Billy Headstone.

“Monster Gumbo” (9/29/90) – Blanche’s secret family recipe for Monster Gumbo helps Max’s class win a charity competition, making it the target of gumbo chef Big Daddy.

“The Dress-Up Mess-Up” (10/6/90) – Duzer “borrows” the money for Max’s birthday present to buy a dress and win a pageant, but the dress gets ruined before she can return it for a refund.

“The Grave Intruder” (10/13/90) – Duzer turns the school paper into a tabloid and begins making up stories about the students and faculty.

“Fear of Flying” (10/20/90) – Nardo challenges Vinnie to an aerial version of chicken, but Vinnie is struck by lightning and the students must help him re-learn how to fly.

“He Ain’t Scary, He’s My Brother” (10/27/90) – Frankentyke’s brother Big Frankie visits the school, and Blanche, Cleofatra and Duzer all develop crushes on him.

“Frankenjockey” (11/3/90) – An escaped racehorse named Hoover runs into Frankentyke and develops a liking to him.

“Save Our School” (11/10/90) – Vinnie runs against Elephant Boy and Suey for class president while Belle Gardens plots to have the school demolished in order to erect a new hotel.

“Night of the Living Dad” (11/17/90) – Gill helps Frankentyke build a phony father to hide that his is human, but they accidentally destroy the brain for it and get an inferior replacement.

“Goodbye Gravesdale” (11/24/90) – Max’s class turns against him when they find a discarded acceptance letter to another school.

“Monster on Trial” (12/1/90) – Reggie gets into a minor accident during driver’s ed, and he and Max are thrown in jail on trumped up charges, leaving it up to the students to get them out.


Originally posted in 2014. Updated in 2021.

THE GHOST BUSTERS

THE GHOST BUSTERS

(CBS, September 6-December 13, 1975)

Filmation Associates

MAIN CAST:

Larry Storch – Eddie Spenser

Forrest Tucker – Jake Kong

Bob Burns – Tracy

Lou Scheimer - Zero

            Who ya gonna call? Sorry, that’s the OTHER guys.

The Ghost Busters and their dematerializer.

The Ghost Busters was a live-action series created by Marc Richards for Filmation Associates about a troupe of bumbling paranormal investigators. The show reunited F Troop co-stars Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker as Eddie Spenser and Jake Kong (whose first name was revealed outside of the series). Their primary weapon was a dematerializer, which would send any supernatural entity they encountered back to the afterlife. 

Yes, the gorilla drives the car.

They were also teamed up with Bob Burns as Tracy the gorilla. Since Filmation didn’t have the budget for an actor and a suit, they needed an actor with a suit. The Tracy suit was Burns’ own, as he always had the ambition to be a gorilla man like the kind seen in jungle movies. The original suit, dubbed Korgar, was made in 1963 by his wife, Kathy, with help from Don Post, Sr. A young Rick Baker, who would go on to become a world-famous make-up artist, made a friendlier head for the suit when Burns began doing commercials. Tracy was also the primary driver for their car, a 1929 Whippet. Originally a taxi in Argentina, it was kept running by employees of Filmation who happened to like working on cars.

This place just begs to be haunted.

Each show would feature the Ghost Busters stopping at a convenience store to pick up a tape recording hidden within an ordinary object by their unseen boss, Zero (executive producer Lou Scheimer), outlining their next job. Borrowing a gag from the original Mission: Impossible TV series, the tape would self-destruct after the instructions were given. However, they would never get rid of it in time and it would always explode in Tracy’s face. 13 of those sequences were filmed all at once to make full use of the location, Lechler’s Grocery and Hardware Store formerly located at 3956 Center Street in Piru, California, and save on the budget. 

Frankenstein and his monster.

They would then head to the location to engage the offending spirits after a series of chases and pratfalls. Further saving on the budget, the show utilized many of the same sets: a cemetery, a castle interior, and a painting of a creepy mansion on a hill, not to mention the Ghost Busters’ office. Many of the spooks were figures from popular culture or famous literature, such as Dr. Frankenstein (Bernie Kopell) and his monster (Bill Engesser); the Canterville ghost (Ted Knight); the Wolf-Man (Lennie Weinrib); Merlin (Carl Ballantine) and Morgan Le Fay (Ina Balin); and Dr. Jekyll (Severn Darden) and Mr. Hyde (Joe E. Ross), amongst others. A lot of well-known comedians were cast in the roles of the ghosts; many of whom had never done Saturday morning before. 

CBS Saturday morning line-up ad for the 1975-76 season.

The Ghost Busters debuted on CBS on September 6, 1975, entirely written by Richards and shot over the course of 11 weeks. The music was composed by Ray Ellis (as Yvette Blais) and Norm Prescott (as Jeff Michael). Despite it being a hit—particularly with older audiences—Filmation decided to end it after its single season of 15 episodes. They chose to put the money for a second season into the higher-rated Shazam/Isis Hour. Regardless, it managed to secure a loyal legion of fans that call themselves “Go-ers” after the catchphrase “Let’s go, Ghost Busters!” CBS also loved the show and continued to air it in reruns for an additional year. Episodes were released to VHS and the entire series to DVD in 2006 by BCI Home Entertainment.

 

The second, and better-known, Ghostbusters.

In 1983, Columbia Pictures was making a movie called Ghostbusters, conceived and co-written by Dan Aykroyd. Upon discovering the existence of the Filmation show in the middle of production, Columbia rushed to secure the rights to the name for their movie. When the movie proved successful enough for Columbia to consider an animated spin-off, Filmation attempted to take on the job; going as far as to produce initial design work for it. Columbia passed, and Scheimer took his concepts and developed an animated sequel to The Ghost Busters.

 

GhostBusters debuted in 1986 the same week as Columbia’s DiC Entertainment-produced series The Real Ghostbusters, featuring Eddie Jr. (Peter Cullen) and Jake Jr. (Pat Fraley), the sons of the originals, working with Tracy (Scheimer) and other friends against the sinister Prime Evil (Alan Oppenheimer) and his horde of ghosts. The cartoon ran for a single syndicated season of 65 episodes, spawning a toy line and a four-issue comic series by First Comics.

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Maltese Monkey” (9/6/75) – The Ghost Busters have to stop the Fat Man and Rabbit from summoning the ghost of gangster Big Al Caesar before they steal the stuff dreams are made of.

“Dr. Whatshisname” (9/13/75) – Dr. Frankenstein is back and wants Eddie’s brain to transplant into his monster.

“The Canterville Ghost” (9/20/75) – The Ghost Busters have to remove the cowardly ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville while the master criminal Mr. C seeks the priceless diamond he wears.

“Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” (9/27/75) – Seeking to remove the werewolf’s curse from Harry Albert, fortuneteller Sophia looks to steal the amulet Eddie recently found.

“The Flying Dutchman” (10/4/75) – The captain of the Flying Dutchman is looking for a new crew, and one of the Ghost Busters is perfect for the job.

“The Dummy’s Revenge” (10/11/75) – The Ghost Busters are targeted by the Phantom of Vaudeville and his dummy after they’re mistaken for three vaudevillians who wronged them.

“A Worthless Gauze” (10/18/75) – Looking for the secret of immortality pits the Ghost Busters against Egyptian Queen Forah and her mummy.

“Which Witch is Which?” (10/25/75) – A witch comes after Eddie for revenge against his ancestor, a spell-dissolver who brought ruin to witches in Salem.

“They Went Thataway” (11/1/75) – The Ghost Busters disguise themselves as cowboys in order to infiltrate the new gang Billy the Kid and Belle Star are rounding up.

“The Vampire’s Apprentice” (11/8/75) – The Ghost Busters take on Count and Countess Dracula.

“Jekyll & Hyde: Together, for the First Time!” (11/15/75) – Dr. Jekyll’s ghost seeks to use Eddie in order to rid himself of Mr. Hyde.

“Only Ghosts Have Wings” (11/22/75) – The Red Baron and Sparky return to engage their enemies, whom the Ghost Busters happen to resemble.

“The Vikings Have Landed” (11/29/75) – Erik the Red and Brunhilda challenge Lothar the Hun for the claim of their discovery of America.

“Merlin the Magician” (12/6/75) – The Ghost Busters must defend Merlin from his nemesis Morgan le Fey.

“The Abominable Snowman” (12/13/75) – Dr. Centigrade wants to put a warm-blooded heart into the Abominable Snowman and chooses Eddie’s.

Originally posted in 2014. Updated in 2020.