Editor's Note: This article by Libby Cudmore is republished today in light of the 30th anniversary of the April 15, 1994 release of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
When I got my first email from school, I used it, like many girls do, to flirt with guys.
The only difference was that I was using my access to the burgeoning information superhighway to send an email to Moltar, the director of Space Ghost Coast to Coastwho spent his days in a lava cave observing French fries reruns and connecting guests to the main floor monitors to be interrogated by Space Ghost, former superhero turned talk show host. I know it was him. It was his official email, on Cartoon Network's official website. I asked him to go to prom. He said yes. He even invited me to his lava cave to see French fries when I asked him, but he didn't even know how to drive yet, so traveling to space was out of the question. That Moltar was a good guy.
It's hard to remember a moment without adult-oriented animation, but MTV was successful with Aeon Flux (1991) and Beavis and Butthead (1992). At Cartoon Network, which was then using classic cartoons for its programming blocks aimed at children, executives asked producer Mike Lazzo to create a cartoon that would appeal to adults. With Andy Merrill, who would later voice Brak and other guests, and Jay Edwards, Lazzo came up with the nickname “Coast to Coast” from an initial discussion when trying to rhyme words with “Ghost” to create a marathon. from the original. Hanna-Barbera cartoon for the network.
Space Ghost Coast to CoastCartoon Network's first original series, it premiered on April 15, 1994 and aired five years before ending on December 17, 1999. It was revived for the newly created Adult Swim block, with new episodes produced through April 12. of 2004.
Like all the best television shows. Mystery Science Theater 3000anything in Manhattan Neighborhood Network — space ghost It was one of those strange sleepless discoveries that, at the time, must have seemed like a fever dream. For just 15 minutes, Space Ghost, now worn and sarcastic, harassed and harassed guests ranging from Björk to Timothy Leary to Ben Stiller. My Man Moltar ran things in the control room, and Zorak, now confined in a prison capsule with a keyboard, played for the guests with his band, the original Way Outs. Programming was sporadic; It may or may not be Friday night. What he was sure he could show a friend to show him he wasn't rambling could be an infomercial or another Hanna-Barbera rerun. Did I imagine Space Ghost hosted a talk show?
For a time, interviews were recorded with other, more normal questions, and the Space Ghost questions were built around them to create a wonderfully distorted conversation. He falls in love with Judy Tenuta and marries Björk. The Ramones steal the party cake. He and George Clinton debate hoods and the “Dance of Sadness,” and he lays down perhaps the greatest response of all time: “No one caresMoby” about the house music sensation.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Creator Joel Hodgeson appeared as a guest and, following his departure from the show, co-wrote the episode “Urges”. And don't forget that his old crime-fighting buddies, Jan, Jace and Blip, come to watch some episodes. Former villain Brak was later added to the cast, and early episodes feature Brak and his twin brother, Sisto, making a Beavis and Butthead-style mockery of Space Ghost from their own living room.
In 1995, Space Ghost had a second show, a variety show called cartoon planet, a candy-colored hallucinogen wrapped in classic cartoons, dubbed educational shorts, and a series of sketches including “Brak's School Daze” and “Zorak's Horror Scopes.” Moltar was not forced to perform on camera, although it can be assumed that he was producing from the lava cave.
cartoon planet It also highlighted songs performed by the cast, including “Cartoon Planet Theme Song”, “Brak's Hawaiian Vacation”, and “It's Not Easy Being Evil”. Rhino Records produced two soundtrack albums, Space Ghost Surf and Turf and Space Ghost Musical Bar-B-Que. But because of the clips, licensing issues have plagued the show and there are currently no plans to release it on DVD.
And the villain Brak finally got his own show. The brake show, in 2000, which featured the childish Brak, along with his best friend Zorak, living a teenage life in a strange suburb. Moltar had his own position.Ghost Cartoon Planet hosting career Toonami anime block until 1999.
For a 15-year-old boy with no social interest, a typical Friday night was talk about soup (John Henson was the host; my sister Hilary and I fought over who she was going to marry. Please don't tell Moltar.) cartoon planet and then Space ghost from coast to coast, then get up in the morning to MST3K. Like many television shows of that era, it created a fanbase that felt exclusive; Quotes became code for being an informed nerd.
But the great success of SGC2C was wildly unexpected and paved the way for the type of surreal adult animated programming that became Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad by Aqua Teen Hunger Force They made their first appearance in “Baffler Meal” as mascots of the fictional fast-food franchise “Burger Trench,” tasked with overcoming teenage hunger. Of all the characters that appeared in space ghost – Chad Ghost, Lokar, Banjo, the giant Sea Monkey: these three captured the affection of the public (probably on drugs), and with a redesign and a house in southern New Jersey, Aqua Teen Hunger Force It debuted in December 2000 and aired until 2015, one of the network's longest-running original shows.
Similarly, his friend Tad Ghostal's eventual success inspired other former superheroes to don tights and masks again in their second careers, including Harvey Birdman, lawyer and Marine Laboratory 2021which used classic Hanna-Barbera animation characters in strange modern settings.
Unfortunately, by the time prom came around, Moltar and I had amicably parted ways. But like most nerds whose adolescence peaked in the late '90s, my friends and I still quote Space Ghost Coast to Coast. And sadly, C. Martin Croker, who voiced Moltar and Zorak, died abruptly on September 17, 2016, aged 54. No cause of his death was given, but the following week, early in Toonamihost TOM (voiced by Steve Blum) received a transmission stating that Moltar would return to his home planet, followed by a photo of Croker, captioned 1962-2016.
space ghost It was weird for the sake of it, but unlike later adult animation like Family man, he was never cruel or rude. Kids could enjoy it as much as their parents, finding its sweet spot among college kids in their late teens and early 20s, for whom it served as a kind of secret club. If you missed it, there was no YouTube to find it, and it would be years before you could trade downloads on Limewire or Kaaza, instead of recording the odd episode on a blank VHS to show your friends who hadn't yet discovered the glories. . You had your favorite episodes and the ones you wouldn't see until the DVD release. After Croker's death, Cartoon Network made all the episodes available for free on their website and I was surprised how many I remembered.
As The Simpsons before that, Space Ghost Coast to Coast celebrated animation as an art form for everyone, taking it out of the realm of childhood but never making it something exclusively for adults. It was a haven for weirdos and night owls, a perfect storm of late '90s sarcasm, twisted nostalgia, and surreal delights.
As for Moltar and me, well, we will always have French fries.
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