The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an American animated television spin-off series and a sequel of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Contents
Production
At the time that principal filming wrapped on Casper, a sequel was proposed and a treatment was written, but a combination of less-than-stellar box office gross (although the film grossed $100 million in the US, the budget was more than half of that total and analysts predicted much higher earnings for the film) and the fact that both Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman were attached to other projects after Casper and would not be available until more than a year later caused the idea to be scrapped. The producers then decided to abandon the live-action sequel ideas and instead develop a cartoon series to continue the story.
In March 1995, it was reported that Harvey Entertainment had partnered with Universal Pictures to jointly finance a new Universal based animation studio with the intention of adapting Harvey's library of characters and IPs for television. The first two projects to be developed by the studio were announced to be a new Richie Rich TV series and a new TV series based around Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The show aired on Fox Kids television from 1996–98 for 4 seasons. 52 episodes were produced, but only the first 46 appeared on Fox, with the remaining debuting on Fox Family Channel. Many of the same people who worked on this show also worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain (the latter of which was a spin-off from the former; coincidentally, the former had also debuted on Fox).
The new Casper broke from earlier versions, following a sitcom-style pattern of one-liners and pop culture gags in a manner similar to the Casper feature. The show would also frequently break the fourth wall. The show used old Casper supporting characters such as Casper's cousin Spooky, Spooky's "ghoulfriend" Pearl (or "Poil" as rendered by Spooky's Brooklyn accent), and Nightmare the Ghost Horse who, unlike in the original cartoons and comics, does not talk. The show also introduced new characters, including Casper's loud and strict teacher Ms. Banshee.
Characters
Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson) is a young ghost who lives in his family home of Whipstaff Manor in the care of his three trouble-making uncles, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, and has to put up with their antics.
The Ghostly Trio (Stretch voiced by Joe Nipote, Stinkie voiced by Joe Alaskey, and Fatso voiced by Brad Garrett in seasons 1-2 and Jess Harnell in seasons 3-4), consisting of Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie, are Casper's uncles, who enjoy scaring humans and constantly mistreat and abuse Casper.
Dr. James Harvey (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a psychiatrist, and is shown to be an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University who loves his daughter Kat, although he sometimes appears to be neglectful of her emotional needs.
Kathleen "Kat" Harvey (voiced by Kath Soucie) is the 13-year-old daughter of Dr. Harvey who is portrayed as the stereotypical teenager, who has a sense of humor and hates having to put up with the Ghostly Trio because they do not get along with her.
Spooky (voiced by Rob Paulson) is Casper's mischief-minded cousin who looks up to the Ghostly Trio as his heroes and while having no true dislike for Casper, despises his cousin's lack of interest in scaring humans. As such, Spooky is always trying to out-scare Casper and become the best in class, but he usually fails.
Pearl (voiced by Miriam Flynn) or "Poil" is Spooky's absent-minded girlfriend, who is almost always oblivious to current situations and takes things too literally. She adores Spooky and everything about him, is good friends with Casper, and does not care as much for the Ghostly Trio as Spooky does.
Miss Banshee (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the teacher of Casper, Spooky and Poil. True to her name, Miss Banshee can scream loud enough to be heard. Miss Banshee enjoys being a teacher, but dreams of being a professional opera singer. The Ghostly Trio has a crush on Miss Banshee and constantly compete for her affections, though she is unimpressed with their efforts.
Episodes
Voice cast
Malachi Pearson
Kath Soucie
Joe Nipote
Rob Paulsen
Brad Garrett
Jess Harnell
Tress MacNeille
Jim Cummings
Miriam Flynn
Joe Alaskey
Dan Castellaneta
Additional voices
Susan Tolsky
Benny Grant
Pat Fraley
Jeff Bennett
Charlie Adler
Zelda Rubenstein
Jack Angel
Debi Derryberry
Nancy Cartwright
Joe Lala
Michael Finnegan
Ben Stein
Sherry Lynn
Jonathan Harris
David Coburn
Frank Welker
E. G. Daily
Christine Cavanaugh
Tony Jay
B. J. Ward
Gail Matthius
Heidi Shannon
Edward Hibbert
Jodi Carlisle
Gregg Berger
Steve Mackall
John Astin
Sherri Stoner
Ginny McSwain
Paul Williams
Crew
Ginny McSwain - casting director and voice director (seasons 1–2)
Kelly Ward - voice director (seasons 3–4)
Home media
From 1996 through 1998, Universal Studios Home Video released episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3 onto VHS.
In 2007/2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released two volume collections entitled The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 1 and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 2 on DVD in Region 1. Volume 1 consists of the first 5 episodes of the animated series, while volume 2 contains the last 5 episodes of season 1.
No further plans have been made by Universal to release any further DVDs of the show.