This is the blog of Artist/Scientist/Programmer/Chef/Designer Zavier Henderson.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Coasting to coast on Space Ghost

I have always admired cartoons where I can tell the creators had fun making it. The first show that gave me this perspective was Chowder; the show that constantly broke the 4th wall and made its creator a character in the show (I will be writing posts about this show more later).

Recently I have been exploring the history and culture behind Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. Today I was feeling pretty under the (-11 degree F) weather. So I decided it was the perfect occasion to stream the first gem to come from Cartoon Network studios. If you couldn't tell from the title the show I am talking about is Space Ghost Coast to Coast. If you don't know what this show is, I recommend you just watch it. It is a comedic cartoon "talk show" hosted by Space Ghost, a Hanna-Barbera character from the 60's.

 This show is fucking hilarious, words alone cannot do it justice. It's what inspired Eric Andre to make his show the way he does. And I also was the start of the late night adult animation block Adult Swim. All the footage is either interviews made for the show or entirely re-purposed. The non-existent budget for the show starting off made it that much more entertaining.

Inventive animation blows my mind. This is the reason, like most others, that Kill la Kill is one of my favorite shows (again more on that later). Something that blew my mind was Space Ghost Coast to Coast Season 2 Episode 1. In this episode Space Ghost emcees Cartoon Networks "World Premiere Toon In" in which he interviews five different creators and teases tiny snippets of pilots to the shows they made. These interviews are then judged by the council of doom to choose a winning director. The winner ends up being a young Craig McCracken. At the end of the show after Craig scores major points with the council by dissing Space Ghost repeatedly and is the only one to take the swimsuit competition seriously, he is announced the winner. They then show a complete segment of a Powerpuff Girls Pilot. 
I am glad I grew up with Chowder but I can only imagine how fun it would have been to see this air on TV. It would have blown my mind more than it does today, and I probably would have been into making my own pilot concepts at an earlier age. I highly recommend this show, even though it is Adult Swim it was very tame because at the time this was all that was around for this style of content. The comedy just gets me every time, and each new episode I watch makes me more into the show. Thanks to Mike Lazzo, without him this show, and probably most shows on the network wouldn't exist. Here is your chance to fall in love with the history of this network, the full series is streaming here on Adult Swim.      
     

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