Monday, September 20, 2010

MEDIA MONDAYS: Nostalgia Edition

Nostalgia:
Cartoon Planet/Space Ghost Coast To Coast


At some point this weekend I slipped into an extremely nostalgic mood. I was reminiscing on old music, movies, and tv shows I used to love. So of course this pair of shows sprung immediately into my mind. The concept of each of them was pure un-adulterated genius! First lets take "Cartoon Planet" which I believe was the predecessor of SGCTC. You take clips of an old Hannah-Babera cartoon(Space Ghost circa 1960s), a cast of hilarious voice actors, infuse clips of other(Hannah-Barbera) cartoons, musical numbers, recurring bit pieces and the end result is a timeless variety show that was light years, and eons before its time. Everything was intentional from Space Ghosts flying in backwards to Brack's one liners and even the memorable "Bloop Bloop" sound effect of Zorak's blink(shotout to Lynea for perfectly imitating that sound in gifted class) it was all for the purpose of comedy. It was sheer brilliance, in a random wait did that just happen hold on they are ridiculous this is so funny kind of way.

Now lets examine Space Ghost Coast To Coast,which I believe to be the spin off of Cartoon Planet. We carry over Space Ghost and Zorak, lose Brack but pick up Moltar. The concept of the show is no longer a variety program, and is now an Intergalactic talk show. Space Ghost is of course the host, Zorak is the band, and Moltar is the producer/director/engineer. Now you would probably expect SG to be limited to interviewing his fellow cartoons, but you would be wrong! The show (when it had them) featured actual human guests, and needless to say hillarity would ensue. This show like its predecessor was far too ahead of its time. It's perfection in concept and execution are something that will stick with me forever though. Perhaps Adult Swim will give this show another shot, as it originally aired in the early inception of the programming block, if not then we will always have the memories. "Bloop Bloop"
Salaam!



The Cast:


Space Ghost



Zorak



Brack



Moltar





Clips:

Cartoon Planet



Space Ghost Coast To Coast

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