Space Ghost Coast To Coast

''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network 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 and sequel 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 the first 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.

Four spin-off series, '' Cartoon Planet'', ''The Brak Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force,'' 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 ''The Eric Andre Show''.

Premise

''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' uses a subverted talk show format hosted by Space Ghost as he interviews live-action guest stars, whom Space Ghost believes to be fellow superheroes, appearing 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 because the guests' answers are often changed to humorously match Space Ghost's questions in post-production. Later episodes feature guests being 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 forced unpaid labor for Space Ghost, ostensibly as punishment for their crimes committed on the original series. 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

Early seasons feature music played by Zorak and his band "The Original Way-Outs". The original theme song, "Hit Single", was composed by free jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock and performed by Sharrock on guitar, Lance Carter on drums, Eddie Horst on bass, and Alfreda Gerald on vocals. Sharrock and Carter recorded songs for the show that 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 feature a new closing theme by Man or Astro-man?, and in later seasons the opening theme and titles were nearly abandoned. Alternate songs are sometimes used as theme music, including the ''CHiPs'' theme song for the episode titled "CHiPs". An hour-long musical season finale featuring the bands Yo La Tengo and Cornershop was planned for the 1998 season but never produced.

Production

Original run

''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, 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-offs ''The Brak Show'', ''Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'', and ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', as well as ''Sealab 2021'' — all of which were created by ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' staff.

2001 revival

In 2001, Cartoon Network announced that ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' would be revived for another run, but on their late night programming block Adult Swim. The network aired the first two episodes on May 7th and July 22nd of 2001, prior to the launch of Adult Swim. And on September 2, 2001, new episodes and re-runs moved to Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim during the block's premiere. 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'' aired its fifth and final season.

2006 GameTap revival

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.

After 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 22, 2021, in promotion of an Adult Swim tie-in with Carl's Jr.

Characters

* George Lowe

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