The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an American animated television spin-off series and a sequel of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Production
At the time that principal filming wrapped on Casper, a sequel was proposed and a treatment was written, but a combination of less-than-stellar box office gross (although the film grossed $100 million in the US, the budget was more than half of that total and analysts predicted much higher earnings for the film) and the fact that both Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman were attached to other projects after Casper and would not be available until more than a year later caused the idea to be scrapped. The producers then decided to abandon the live-action sequel ideas and instead develop a cartoon series to continue the story.
In March 1995, it was reported that Harvey Entertainment had partnered with Universal Pictures to jointly finance a new Universal based animation studio with the intention of adapting Harvey's library of characters and IPs for television. The first two projects to be developed by the studio were announced to be a new Richie Rich TV series and a new TV series based around Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The show aired on Fox Kids television from 1996–98 for 4 seasons. 52 episodes were produced, but only the first 46 appeared on Fox, with the remaining debuting on Fox Family Channel. Many of the same people who worked on this show also worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain (the latter of which was a spin-off from the former; coincidentally, the former had also debuted on Fox).
The new Casper broke from earlier versions, following a sitcom-style pattern of one-liners and pop culture gags in a manner similar to the Casper feature. The show would also frequently break the fourth wall. The show used old Casper supporting characters such as Casper's cousin Spooky, Spooky's "ghoulfriend" Pearl (or "Poil" as rendered by Spooky's Brooklyn accent), and Nightmare the Ghost Horse who, unlike in the original cartoons and comics, does not talk. The show also introduced new characters, including Casper's loud and strict teacher Ms. Banshee.
Characters Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson) is a young ghost who lives in his family home of Whipstaff Manor in the care of his three trouble-making uncles, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, and has to put up with their antics. The Ghostly Trio (Stretch voiced by Joe Nipote, Stinkie voiced by Joe Alaskey, and Fatso voiced by Brad Garrett in seasons 1-2 and Jess Harnell in seasons 3-4), consisting of Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie, are Casper's uncles, who enjoy scaring humans and constantly mistreat and abuse Casper. Dr. James Harvey (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a psychiatrist, and is shown to be an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University who loves his daughter Kat, although he sometimes appears to be neglectful of her emotional needs. Kathleen "Kat" Harvey (voiced by Kath Soucie) is the 13-year-old daughter of Dr. Harvey who is portrayed as the stereotypical teenager, who has a sense of humor and hates having to put up with the Ghostly Trio because they do not get along with her. Spooky (voiced by Rob Paulson) is Casper's mischief-minded cousin who looks up to the Ghostly Trio as his heroes and while having no true dislike for Casper, despises his cousin's lack of interest in scaring humans. As such, Spooky is always trying to out-scare Casper and become the best in class, but he usually fails. Pearl (voiced by Miriam Flynn) or "Poil" is Spooky's absent-minded girlfriend, who is almost always oblivious to current situations and takes things too literally. She adores Spooky and everything about him, is good friends with Casper, and does not care as much for the Ghostly Trio as Spooky does. Miss Banshee (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the teacher of Casper, Spooky and Poil. True to her name, Miss Banshee can scream loud enough to be heard. Miss Banshee enjoys being a teacher, but dreams of being a professional opera singer. The Ghostly Trio has a crush on Miss Banshee and constantly compete for her affections, though she is unimpressed with their efforts. Amber Whitmire (voiced by Sherry Lynn) and the Jennifers (voiced by Debi Derryberry) are classmates and rivals of Kat at Friendship Junior High School who are portrayed as rich, mean, and spoiled queen bees. Jennifer #1 has dark brown hair and wears glasses and is the closest to Amber, Jennifer #2 has strawberry blonde hair, and Jennifer #3 has light brown hair and is the least intelligent of the three.
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (1996)
Season 2 (1996–97)
Season 3 (1997–98)
Season 4 (1998)
Voice cast Malachi Pearson Kath Soucie Joe Nipote Rob Paulsen Brad Garrett Jess Harnell Tress MacNeille Jim Cummings Miriam Flynn Joe Alaskey Dan Castellaneta
Additional voices Susan Tolsky Benny Grant Pat Fraley Jeff Bennett Charlie Adler Zelda Rubenstein Jack Angel Debi Derryberry Nancy Cartwright Joe Lala Michael Finnegan Ben Stein Sherry Lynn Jonathan Harris David Coburn Frank Welker E. G. Daily Christine Cavanaugh Tony Jay B. J. Ward Gail Matthius Heidi Shannon Edward Hibbert Jodi Carlisle Gregg Berger Steve Mackall John Astin Sherri Stoner Ginny McSwain Paul Williams Dorian Harewood Kevin Michael Richardson Edie McClurg Dana Hill Fred Willard April Winchell Danny Mann S. Scott Bullock Mark Hamill Nora Dunn Hinton Battle Robin Leach Maggie Roswell Edward Asner Greg Eagles Tim Curry Cam Clarke Sheryl Bernstein Gary Owens Dee Dee Rescher Patti Deutsch David Arnott Kenneth Mars Susanne Blakeslee Valery Pappas Billy West
Crew Ginny McSwain - casting director and voice director (seasons 1–2) Kelly Ward - voice director (seasons 3–4)
Home media From 1996 through 1998, Universal Studios Home Video released episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3 onto VHS.
In 2007/2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released two volume collections entitled The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 1 and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 2 on DVD in Region 1. Volume 1 consists of the first 5 episodes of the animated series, while volume 2 contains the last 5 episodes of season 1.
No further plans have been made by Universal to release any further DVDs of the show.
VHS United States Video name (volumes)Ep #Release dateEpisodes featuredVolume 16 "Spooking Bee"; "Fugedabouit"; "The Flew"; "Paws"; "The Alphabet Song"; "Is So Too"Volume 26 "Three Boos and a Babe"; "The Whipstaff Inmates"; "Elusive Exclusive"; "Poil Jammed"; "The Who That I Am"; "A Picture Says a Thousand Words"Volume 37 "Spooky and Poil Meet the Monsters"; "You Know You're Alive When..."; "The Ghostly Trio"; "The Trick's a Treat"; "Dead of the Class"; "A Spooky and Poil Moment"; "Y-Files"Volume 47 "A Christmas Peril"; "Ms. Banshee's Holiday Hits"; "Another Spooky and Poil Moment"; "Fright Before Christmas"; "Three Ghosts and a Baby"; "I Wanna Be Rude"; "Leave It to Casper"Volume 56 "Free Goldie"; "I'd Pick Your Nose"; "Birthday Boos"; "Four Funerals and a Wedding"; "I Can Be Anything"; "Family Reunion"Volume 66 "Rats!"; "Stinkie Time Theater"; "Great Ghouly Governess"; "Hat Sick"; "Cancion de Olor"; "The Boo-Muda Triangle"
DVD DVD nameEp #Number of discsTotal running timeRelease dateAdditional informationThe Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper: Volume 151107 minutes This single-disc volume one set contains the first 5 episodes of the animated series.The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper: Volume 251106 minutes This single-disc volume two set contains the last 5 episodes of season 1.
References
External links