Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original 1960s series, "Space Ghost", which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" is a reboot of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork. For its first three seasons, the series is presented as a serious  talk show with subdued jokes, but later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor. "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" is one of the early original series fully produced by Cartoon Network. It premiered on April 15, 1994, and originally ended on December 17, 1999. The series was revived on May 7, 2001, and was moved to the then-new Adult Swim late-night programming block on September 2, where new episodes premiered until April 12, 2004. Two final seasons were released exclusively on GameTap from 2006 to 2008. Over 11 seasons, 108 episodes aired. The series helped to  launch the careers of animators Adam Reed, Matt Thompson, Andy Merrill, Jim Fortier, Pete Smith, Michael Ouweleen, Erik Richter, Dave Willis, and Matt Maiellaro. Three spinoff series, "Cartoon Planet", "The Brak Show", and "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law", are based on "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast". The series has also inspired or influenced other animated series for Adult Swim, including "Sealab 2021" and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". Format. "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" uses a subverted talk show format as its template. Live-action guest stars, whom Space Ghost believes to be fellow superheroes, appear on a monitor beside Space  Ghost's desk. In early episodes, Space Ghost begins his interviews by asking guests about their superpowers. His interactions with guests can be awkward and even hostile since the guests are not always aware of the nature of the program on which they are appearing, and their answers often do not match Space Ghost's questions. (The questions have been changed in post-production.) In later episodes the guests are allowed to interact directly with the characters. Space Ghost's bandleader, an evil, talking mantis named Zorak, and his director-producer, a red-helmeted lava man named Moltar, work for  Space Ghost ostensibly as punishment for their crimes. They frequently disrupt the show and make no secret of how much they hate him. Zorak is more openly hostile towards Space Ghost while Moltar is primarily focused on ending each show quickly. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim often aired two 11-minute episodes back-to-back with advertisements to make a 30-minute programming block. In its first few years, Cartoon Network showed episodes of the original 1960s and 1980s "Space Ghost" cartoons (sometimes with an added laugh track) after each 11-minute episode of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". Music . In the early seasons of the show, music was played by Zorak and his band "The Original Way-Outs". The original theme song, "Hit Single", composed by free jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, was performed by Sharrock on guitar, Lance Carter on drums, Eddie Horst on bass, and Alfreda Gerald on vocals. Sharrock and Carter recorded several songs for the show, several of which were later compiled on the album "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". As a tribute to Sharrock, who died in May 1994 shortly after the show first aired, the episode "Sharrock" featured fifteen minutes of unedited takes of  music recorded for the show. Seasons 4–6 featured a new closing theme by Man or Astro-man? and in later seasons the opening theme and titles were nearly abandoned. Various other music was sometimes used as the theme song, including the "CHiPs" theme song for the episode titled "CHiPs". An hour-long musical season finale for the 1998 season was planned, featuring the bands Yo La Tengo and Cornershop, but was never produced. Production. "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" was created by Mike Lazzo after he was asked to develop a cartoon to appeal to adults. The series' original title  stemmed from early 1993 when Andy Merrill and Jay Edwards were brainstorming names for a marathon of the 1960s "Space Ghost" for Cartoon Network, trying to find things that rhyme with "Ghost". Because of budget limitations, Edwards and Ned Hastings recycled clips from the original series and reorganized them on an Avid non-linear editor for a "talk show" style program. The characters' crudely animated lips, awkward movements that resembled "paper dolls glued to Popsicle sticks", and continuity errors became part of the joke. The series premiered on April 15, 1994, having aired initially at 11:00 p.m. ET on Friday  nights, with an encore showing of the episode on Saturday night. Later, the program was moved to various late-night time slots, usually on weekends. January 1995 saw a special episode included on the Turner-distributed VHS release of "The Mask" after the film, where Space Ghost and Zorak promote the show and interview Jim Carrey and the film's director, Chuck Russell. In February 1995, an episode of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" was simulcast on Cartoon Network, TBS, and TNT for the "World Premiere Toon-In" special debut of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons" series. In the  special, Space Ghost interviews a few of the new directors, while the Council of Doom members are the judges of the cartoon clips. The first run ended on December 17, 1999, with the episode "King Dead". But in 2000, Cartoon Network premiered pilots for the show's spin-off "The Brak Show" as well as "Sealab 2021"; "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law"; and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"all of which were created by the people who worked on "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". On September 2, 2001, new episodes of the series, along with re-runs of the existing episodes, moved  to Adult Swim, a late-night programming block, launched by Cartoon Network that night. The series ended its television run in 2004 with its 93rd episode, "Live at the Fillmore". "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" would be the only Cartoon Network original series that moved to Adult Swim with new episodes, until 2017, when "Samurai Jack" released its fifth and final season. In 2006, the series returned as a five-minute web series on Turner Broadcasting's GameTap online service, in which Space Ghost interviewed celebrities from the video game industry and GameTap's artist of the month. The series  officially concluded with the final webisode on May 31, 2008. On April Fools' Day 2014, Adult Swim broadcast an unannounced "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" marathon with new material in the form of commercials featuring Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar in a voice-recording booth ad-libbing lines from episodes. The series has seen occasional marathons on Adult Swim since, including one on October 22nd, 2021 in promotion of an Adult Swim tie-in with Carl's Jr. International broadcast. In Canada, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" previously aired on Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block, and on the Canadian  version of Adult Swim. Home media. The fourth and fifth volumes were only available for purchase through the now-defunct Adult Swim online store. The final six episodes of the television run have never had an official release on DVD. Nearly every episode was available to buy through a "build your own DVD" feature Adult Swim had on its website. Thus the final season episodes, early episodes that were left off the first volume, and unedited shows that had been altered on the official releases were now available to own, but only in DVD-ROM form. In 2006, episodes were  made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The series, along with other Adult Swim shows such as "Robot Chicken", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", "Samurai Jack", and "Rick and Morty" was released on HBO Max on its May 2020 launch. Legacy. Alex Toth, the original creator of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, was rumored to have not been pleased with the parodical usage of his characters, but through written letters, this rumor was disproven with Toth admitting he appreciated all adaptations of his work. In 1995, a spin-off show called "Cartoon Planet" premiered on Cartoon Network as well as one of  Cartoon Network's sister networks, TBS. This show featured Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak hosting a variety show on the Cartoon Planet. From 1997 to 2003, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" comics was published in anthology comics "Carton Network Present", "Cartoon Network Starring" and "Cartoon Cartoons" by DC Comics. In 2000, the show either spun off or directly inspired the four original cartoons that constituted Adult Swim's comedy block—"Sealab 2021"; "The Brak Show"; "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law"; and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (also known by various alternative titles). Although "Harvey Birdman" used traditional animation to flash animation, the  rest used the same limited animation style as "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", and all four shows were created by the original writers and staff for the series. "The Brak Show" included the characters Brak and Zorak, recurring characters on "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". Various "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" clips and shorts have been made after the series. In a 2012 interview, Eric Andre mentioned being a big fan of the show, stating it was a major influence on him while developing his own series for Adult Swim, "The Eric Andre Show". Before shooting Andre would rewatch several  episodes of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" in a row in order to "absorb as much "Space Ghost"" as he could. Andre would also ask executive producer and Adult Swim president Mike Lazzo several questions about the series, as he was an executive during its production run. To Andre's surprise Lazzo had no interest in "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", saying "Space Ghost is dead to me". "Space Ghost" is mentioned in the opening lyrics of cello rock band Rasputina's song "The Olde Headboard", which is featured on their 1998 album "How We Quit the Forest". Space Ghost  Coast to Coast is featured in the Danger Doom song "Space Ho's". Four rocks found on the planet Mars were named after Space Ghost, Zorak, Moltar, and Brak. In January 2009, IGN named "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" as their 37th favorite animated TV show in their Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows article. In 2013 IGN placed "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" as number 18 on their list of Top 25 animated series for adults. Rapper SpaceGhostPurrp named himself after the titular character and used the character's image for the cover of his "NASA" mixtape. Space Ghost  appears on the 1998 series "Donny & Marie" to promote the CD "Space Ghost's Surf & Turf". Space Ghost can be seen in the beginning of "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" in the movie theatre next to other Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, and Cartoon Network characters, such as Zorak and Brak. He was also in a promo advertising the movie. Space Ghost appears on the 2002 "The Brak Show" episode "Runaway" and the 2003 episode "Enter the Hump". In the cold opening for the 2003 "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" episode "The Dressing", Space Ghost's body is seen on the floor dripping  with blood, and Dr. Weird is seen putting Space Ghost's head over his own. Seth Green makes an appearance as well, from footage of an unaired "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" episode (entitled "One Way Out"). Space Ghost appears in a 2004 promo for the animated series "Tom Goes to the Mayor", where he interviews Tom and the Mayor. Space Ghost appears in the 2004 Adult Swim special "Anime Talk Show". Space Ghost makes a cameo in the 2006 "Robot Chicken" episode "Suck It". Space Ghost makes a cameo in the 2007 film "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie  Film for Theaters". Space Ghost has been in commercials for Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, AT&T, Nestea, Esurance, and Vitamin Water and has appeared in bumps and promos for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. In 2007, Cartoon Network Spain produced an adaptation of the series which aired as part of the Adult Swim block on TNT Spain. It replaced the guests with Spanish celebrities. Space Ghost, Moltar, Zorak, Brak, and Mojo Jojo from "The Powerpuff Girls" appear in a 2002 interview with professional soccer player Hugo Sánchez on the Latin America Cartoon Network channel, and again in 2003 interviewing Óscar Pérez  Rojas (which also features Eustace from "Courage the Cowardly Dog"). Space Ghost appears in the 2011 Adult Swim pilot "Earth Ghost", a reworking of a 2007 live-action pilot "Lowe Country." Space Ghost appears in the 2011 "" episode "Bold Beginnings". Issue 40 of the comic book "Scooby-Doo Team-Up" features a non-satirical Space Ghost in his traditional role as a space-traveling superhero, albeit one who captures Moltar and Zorak with the help of Scooby-Doo. Sidekicks Jan and Jace say that the two villains are clever and that once, to keep him from interfering in their plans , they even "hypnotized him into thinking he was a talk show host! Fortunately, he snapped out of it after eight seasons." On hearing that, Space Ghost frowns and says, "I don't want to talk about it." In the late 1990s, Cartoon Network's website hosted a Flash game called "How Zorak Stole X-mas". In the game, the player controls Space Ghost, who zaps Zorak with his power bands, dodges Zorak's thrown eggs, and prevents Zorak from escaping with Christmas presents. Another game, "Blast Zorak", had the player use Space Ghost to blast Zorak as much as possible  before the time runs out. British indie band Glass Animals references "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" on their 2020 album "Dreamland" with a song of the same name.