Toonsylvania

Toonsylvania
Genre Cartoon series
Created by Bill Kopp
Chris Otsuki
Written by Bill Kopp
Mike Peters
Karl Teorge
Chris Otsuki
Vinny Montello
Steve Ochs
Martin Olson
Directed by Jeff DeGrandis
Starring David Warner
Wayne Knight
Brad Garrett
Voices of Nancy Cartwright
Matt Frewer
Jess Harnell
Jonathan Harris
Tom Kenny
Valery Pappas
Paul Rugg
Kath Soucie
Billy West
Theme music composer Julie Bernstein
Steven Bernstein
Paul Rugg
Composer(s) Michael Tavera
John Paul Given
Christopher Klatman
Thom Sharp
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 21
Production
Executive producer(s) Bill Kopp
Steven Spielberg
Producer(s) Jeff DeGrandis
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) DreamWorks Animation
Release
Original network Fox
NDR (Dekania)
Picture format 1:33.1
Audio format Dolby
Original release February 7, 1998 – January 18, 1999

Toonsylvania is an animated television series, which ran for two seasons in 1998 on the Fox Kids Network block[1] (usually placed in a block called "The No Yell Motel" that contained other scary kids shows such as Goosebumps and Eerie, Indiana) in its first season, then was moved to Monday afternoons from September 14, 1998 until January 18, 1999, when it was cancelled. It was executive produced in part by Steven Spielberg, as the first DreamWorks' animated series.[1] The show had recurring cartoon series that appeared in each episode. Unlike Animaniacs, Toonsylvania didn't have a wide range of characters and almost every episode had the same cartoon segments.

Synopsis

A typical episode of Toonsylvania starts with a cartoon series called "Frankenstein" (a parody of Mary Shelley's novel of the same name), about the adventures of Dr. Frankenstein (voiced by David Warner), his assistant Igor (voiced by Wayne Knight) who always sets out to prove that he's an genius like his master, and their dim-witted Frankenstein Monster known as Phil (voiced by Brad Garrett). Before the second cartoon, there is an animated vignette where Igor is on the couch with Phil and tries to fix the TV remote, but in every episode there's a new problem with it (a running gag akin to the couch gags seen on The Simpsons).

After that, there is a cartoon series called "Night of the Living Fred", about a family of zombies. This segment was created by cartoonist Mike Peters. Sometimes, a parody of a B-list horror movie would air instead of a "Night of the Living Fred" cartoon.

After that is a short segment called "Igor's Science Minute", where Igor gives a science lesson (be it a musical piece or a spoken piece) that always ends in disaster.

The final segment is "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals", where Phil the Frankenstein monster does something bad and Igor punishes him by reading a horror tale involving a bratty girl named Melissa Screetch (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) who doesn't heed the warnings of adults (usually given by her mother) and suffers the consequences one way or the other for it.

Second season changes

In season 2, Bill Kopp and Jeff DeGrandis left the show and were replaced by Paul Rugg. The series' format changed into more of a sitcom style, with Igor, Dr. Frankenstein and Phil interacting with a variety of new characters, including a snooping next-door neighbor Seth Tuber (voiced by Jonathan Harris), who was based on Norman Bates from Psycho. He interacted with his "immobile" mother by putting his hand over his mouth and talking into it. There was also a typical Transylvanian angry mob that was in fact a cheerful group of Beatles-esque hipsters. Most of these new characters were voiced by Paul Rugg, who also improvised many of their lines.

The only other backup segments to re-materialize in season two were the B-movie parodies (though some episodes of "Night of the Living Fred" aired) and Melissa Screetch in a new segment called "The Melissa Screetch Show". Whenever Melissa was disappointed with a friend or a family member, she'd go home and cover herself under her bedsheets where she pretended to host a show. She then had her transgressor on as a guest star and often did away with them in an ironic manner.

Episodes

Season one

Season two

Music

The music for the series was written by Michael Tavera, Keith Baxter, Christopher Neal Nelson, John Paul Given, Christopher Klatman and Thom Sharp. The main title song was written by Steve Bernstein and Julie Bernstein with lyrics by Paul Rugg.

Cast

Additional voices

Crew

Availability

On August 31, 1999, a VHS video of Toonsylvania was released, which contained selected episodes and was released with the season two opening (though all of the episodes are from season one). The episodes seen are "Darla Doiley, Demon Doll," "Voodoo Vacation," "Baby Human," "Dead Dog Day Afternoon," "Igor's Science Minute (Clone or Be Cloned, The Brain, Earthquake Boogie, and Gravity and the Eiffel Tower)," "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals (The Boogeyman, Stop Making Ugly Faces, Here There be Monsters, and Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador)," "Phil's Brain," "Football...and other Body Parts," "Bang!," and "WereGranny". The video is currently out of print and Universal Television, the current rights holder, has yet to announce any plans to put the series on DVD.

The show was available on Netflix's Latin American (Mexico and Brazil) feed from 2014 to 2015. All of the episodes—uncut, uncensored, and translated in Spanish, English, and Brazilian Portuguese—were included.

Video game

A Toonsylvania video game was developed by RFX Interactive and released by Light & Shadow Production and Ubi Soft for the Game Boy Color in 2000.[2][3]

Merchandise

Toonsylvania action figures and playsets were developed by Pangea Corporation and released by Toy Island and Burger King distributed toys based on Toonsylvania in their kids' meals for a short period of time.

References

  1. 1 2 "Steven Spielberg Presents...Nickelodeon?". Animated World Network. January 1998. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ Lopez, Miguel (August 3, 2000). "Toonsylvania Review". Gamespot. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Light & Shadow publiziert mit Ubi Soft" (in German). GamesMarkt. March 14, 2000. Retrieved September 3, 2016.

External links

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