Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures is a British-American fantasy comedy web series created by PJ Liguori, Sophie Newton, Louis Grant and Jamie Swarbrick (working collectively under Liguori's username of KickthePJ) and directed by PJ Liguori. The series was produced by New Form Digital and was first aired digitally via Vimeo On Demand. Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures set a single-day sales record for Vimeo's On-Demand service, according to CEO Kerry Trainor. The episodes were previously available on Vimeo via paid subscription and as of November 2019, they are available on Amazon Prime.
The puppets and costumes are provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Contents
Plot summary
In the British-American web series, Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures is a hotel establishment run by a man named Oscar Tangolius for a gallery of monstrous residents. When Oscar leaves on important "Cosmic Council" business for a week, he entrusts the establishment and the care of its customers to his nephew Oliver, resulting in chaos.
Characters
Oscar Tangolius (portrayed by Conor Jatter in the pilot, Andrew Ableson in the series) - The proprietor of Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. According to Oscar, his hotel is reachable through the Forever Train, Red’s Taxi Service, and something else "equally bizarre and weird." When the series was first seen as a pilot, Oscar had a different appearance where he sported a longer beard and puffy hair.
Oliver (portrayed by Chris Kendall) - The nephew of Oscar who works as his assistant. While Oscar was away for a week, Oliver runs the hotel in his absence. In the pilot, Oliver was a medical student who specializes in magical creatures.
Recurring characters
These characters have a major role in more than one episode.
Octochef (portrayed by Mamrie Hart) - A pink giant octopus that works as the hotel's chef. The costume was designed by Melissa Doss and Robert Bennett, while the face makeup was provided by Nix Herrera.
Red (portrayed by Mitchell Davis) - A red man with long horns who runs Red's Taxi Service, which brings guests to the hotel. In the pilot, Red had shorter horns.
Mo Nay (portrayed by PJ Liguori) - A talking portrait that resides in the hotel and is friends with Oliver.
One-off characters
These characters have a major role in only one episode, although they may appear in minor or background roles in prior or subsequent episodes.
Party Nightmare (portrayed by Jake Roper) - A disco-themed horse-headed human with a demon face within its mouth who can throw parties. Duncan Daydream was once an ordinary clown until he was transformed into the Party Nightmare upon being bitten by a pony. Anyone shot by his gun parties to the death. The costume was designed by Robert Bennett, with special animatronics provided by John Criswell.
Wiggles the Clown (portrayed by PJ Liguori) - A clown that resides at Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. He was the one who told Oliver about Party Nightmare.
Murray (portrayed by Thomas Ridgewell) - A balloon security guard.
Stan (portrayed by Bertie Gilbert) - A balloon security guard.
Jonathan Dullhead #1 (portrayed by Joe Bereta).
Jonathan Dullhead #2 (portrayed by Elliot Morgan).
Rose (portrayed by Meghan Rienks) - An anthropomorphic rose.
Crazy Wizard (portrayed by Klarity) - A wizard who is crazy.
Maus (portrayed by Jack Howard) - An anthropomorphic mouse who works as a bellhop.
Shark Kid (portrayed by Dean Dobbs) - An anthropomorphic hammerhead shark.
Snow Creature (portrayed by Nix Herrera) - An unspecified humanoid Arctic creature with heads for hands that lives in the hotel's walk-in refrigerator.
Awards and nominations
In 2015, Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures was nominated at the Shorty Awards in the Best Web Series category. At the 2016 Streamy Awards, the series received four nominations and won three awards.