BIG WOLF ON CAMPUS

 

BIG WOLF ON CAMPUS

(YTV, Fox Family Channel/ABC Family Channel, April 2, 1999-April 27, 2002)

 

Telescene (season 1-2), CinéGroupe (season 3), Saban Entertainment

 
 
MAIN CAST:
Brandon Quinn – Thomas P. “Tommy” Dawkins
Danny Smith – Merton J. Dingle
Rachelle Lefevre – Stacey Hanson (season 1)
Aimée Castle – Lauren “Lori” Baxter (season 2-3)
 
 

Tommy Dawkins (Brandon Quinn) was having a pretty good life. He was a star player on the Pleasantville High football team, he was well-liked, and the girl of his dreams--head cheerleader Stacey Hanson (Rachelle Lefevre)--was finally taking an interest in him. Unfortunately, his life was turned upside-down when a wolf bit him on a camping trip and turned him into a werewolf. Forming an unlikely friendship with social outcast and goth Merton Dingle (Danny Smith), who happened to possess as much knowledge about the macabre as he did movie trivia, they worked together to try and remove Tommy’s curse (or convince Tommy to turn him into one) while also dealing with supernatural trouble that found its way to Pleasantville.

Tommy's original werewolf look.

Big Wolf on Campus was essentially an expansion of the concept seen in the 1985 film Teen Wolf with a mixture of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, unlike the film, Tommy hid his lycanthropy from everyone and seemed to possess his abilities when he wasn’t transformed; including super strength, increased speed and agility, rapid healing and enhanced senses. Tommy would come to be revealed as an aberration, as most werewolves succumb to the dark side of their curse that Tommy had somehow managed to repress (however, that dark side was still there and managed to be brought out by certain circumstances). Despite protecting the town from various creatures and entities such as blood bank-robbing vampires, a pack of evil werewolves, ghosts, a mummy, a cyclops and zombies, most people considered the werewolf as big or equal a threat. Further, Tommy often found his dates with Stacey being interrupted by his need to “wolf out”, leading her to think he was constantly ditching her. Stacey also ended up being targeted by some of those entities who found her just as appealing as Tommy.

Tommy finally getting some time alone with Stacey.

Other characters included Tommy’s family: His father, Bob (Alan Fawcett), the mayor of Pleasantville and the biggest proponent for taking the werewolf down, his mother, Sally (Jane Wheeler), a local reporter, and his brother, Dean (Jack Mosshammer), a couch potato who never left his chair (although his television knowledge came in handy at times); Merton’s family, although only his sister, Becky (Natalie Vansier), was ever seen and was embarrassed to be related to him; Tim (Domenic Di Rosa) and Travis (Rob deLeeuw) Eckert, two dimwitted bullies that dubbed themselves “TNT” and dedicated themselves to finding the Pleasantville Werewolf; and Hugo Bostwick (Richard Jutras), the overzealous security guard of the high school. Tommy and Merton would frequently meet in Merton’s basement, which he converted to his “lair” containing all of his accumulated occult items and various screenplays he was working on. They would also hang out at The Factory, a teen hangout where kids could dance, bowl and eat.

Promo shot of Stacey, Tommy and Merton.

Big Wolf on Campus aired on YTV in Canada and Fox Family Channel in the United States, debuting on April 2, 1999 and running for a total of 3 seasons. The show was created by Peter Knight and Christopher Briggs, who after a successful stint writing for Sweet Valley High and Breaker High decided to approach Saban Entertainment with some show ideas for their impending takeover of The Family Channel. Due to its similarity to Teen Wolf, Saban actually contemplated just securing the rights to the film and its characters, but ultimately settled for the cheaper option of just making their own original interpretation. To further save money, the production was filmed in Canada, to take advantage of various incentives Canada offered. It was produced by Telescene, and then CinéGroupe when the former went bankrupt. Knight and Briggs served as creative consultants, producers and wrote several episodes; however, Briggs would depart during the first season over frustration with the power struggles behind the scenes as they found themselves constantly being undermined because of their comparative youth and perceived inexperience. Briggs would return as a consultant and writer for the third season.

Death comes for us all.

Other writers included Gregory Thompson, Aron Abrams, Dan Kopelman, Michael MacKenzie, Dana Reston, Michael Shipley, Jim Bernstein, Rick Nyholm, Kirk Savell, Jonathan Goldstein, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Jeff Rothpan, David Hamburg, Mitchell Goldsmith, Ari Posner, Rick Parks, Scott Jackson, Sam Wendel, Robert L. Baird, Kelly Senecal, Michael Bornhorst, David Feeney, Brian Gewirtz, Arnold Rudnick, Rich Hosek, Barry Julien, David Wolkove, Sandy Brown, Pang-Ni Landrum, Maggie Bandur, Matthew Salsberg, Michael Benson, Marc Abrams, Beth Seriff, Geoff Tarson, Lars Guignard, Ron Nelson and Louis Pearson. Baird and Senecal served as story editors for season 2 with Salsberg taking over in season 3, and Julien as executive story editor. The series’ music was composed by James Gelfand in season 1 and Simon Carpenter for the remainder. The theme was written and performed by Smith with arrangement by Robert Marcel Lepage, which was then rearranged from season 2 onwards by Carpenter. Most of the series’ episode titles were puns or parodies of film titles.

Tommy looking dapper in his refined wolf make-up.

Three episodes into the series, Tommy’s werewolf appearance was changed as Quinn proved to be allergic to the glue used. He went from having a wolf-like face with scraggly hair and pointy ears to just having the ears, fangs, and more hair that expanded to his face in mutton chops leading to an incomplete mustache. This look would come to be enhanced and refined as the series went on. The special make-up effects were done by Twins F/X 11 Inc., Erik Gosselin, Karl Gosselin, Marie-France Guy, Marti Jutras, Frédérick Guilbert, Pascal Hérbert and Caroline Aquin. Special effects were rendered by Big Bang Animation (1997) Inc. for the first two seasons, Covitec for the third.

Meet the new girl: Lori.

Stacey was written out of the show after the first season as having gone off to college early. This was done because Knight felt that the character was poorly fleshed out and needed a reset. This allowed him to add Lori Baxter (Aimée Castle), a transfer from Pleasantville Catholic school who was kicked out for vandalism when helping Tommy and Merton deal with a ghost of a football star destroyed a tribute to him. She became the second person to know about Tommy’s secret, as well as his on again/off again girlfriend (they often found being together was distracting from their mission, and while Tommy wanted to stop working together, she wanted to end the relationship to keep up the fight). As a trained kickboxer, she often helped him battle the bad guys. Additionally, the characters of Hugo and Tommy’s parents largely disappeared due to budgetary constraints and wanting to focus more on the essential characters.

Corey Haim (top) and Corey Feldman really sucking (blood) in their guest-spots.

While it maintained a “villain of the week” type format for its entire run, it did have several recurring villains: Butch (Adam MacDonald), a bully and escapee from old 1950s educational films; the Evil Werewolf Syndicate, who wanted to make Tommy one of their own and use him to create more werewolves (since Tommy was turned by an Alpha and became an Alpha himself); and the personification of Death (Lawrence Bayne). Notably, the Coreys guest-starred in two episodes: Corey Haim as a vampiric version of himself, and Corey Feldman as Haim’s friend who came to town looking for him and to make Merton’s movie.

Frank Stein's monster.

Because of declining budgets, power struggles and issues such as Telescene’s bankruptcy and Saban selling out to Disney, it was a struggle to get each additional season into production. After 65 episodes, enough to reach syndication levels, the series came to an end as it just wasn’t making enough money to justify keeping it going. However, the production was given enough notice to deliver a proper finale and give their characters a send-off. The series remained on Fox Family’s successor, ABC Family (now Freeform), until September when it was removed for Disney’s own programming. To date, only the first season has seen home release on a VHS box set dubbed in French. Starting in 2020, Canadian media company Encore+ Media released the entire series to YouTube.

 

 
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Pilot” (4/2/99) – Tommy is attacked by a wolf on a camping trip and becomes a werewolf.
 
“The Bookmobile” (4/9/99) – Tommy has his chance to get rid of his curse, but the arrival of a bookmobile leading to mysterious disappearances takes precedence.
 
“Butch Comes to Shove” (4/16/99) – A character from a 1950s educational film exits into Pleasantville and decides to bring Stacey back with him.
 
“Cat Woman” (4/30/99) – A foreign exchange student comes to the school who gets along with Tommy very well, much to Stacey’s annoyance.
 
“Witch College” (5/7/99) – When a sorority sets their sights on Stacey, she suddenly becomes a real witch.
 
“The Pleasantville Strangler” (5/14/99) – Hugo and Merton accidentally release the spirit of a serial-killer who can possess anyone.
 
“Stage Fright” (5/21/99) – A crazed cable man comes to town and punishes those who steal their cable by sending them into the shows they watch.
 
“That Swamp Thing You Do” (5/28/99) – A teacher who fell into the swamp 25 years ago returns as a mutated monster searching for his old fiancée.
 
“Muffy the Werewolf Slayer” (6/4/99) – A new girl gets information on the werewolf from Merton while Tommy is dealing with a soul-sucking salesman.
 
“Stalk Like an Egyptian” (6/11/99) – Tommy and Merton accidentally resurrect a mummy on a field trip who becomes a teenager and wants to make Stacey his queen…forever.
 
“Flugelhoff!” (6/18/99) – A lychanthropist arrives in town claiming he can cure Tommy.
 
“Invisible Merton” (6/25/99) – Merton’s nemesis comes back to town, armed with magic that makes Merton invisible.
 
“The Wolf is Out There” (7/2/99) – While Tommy tries to battle his wolf cravings and expanding waistline, the mayor ups the battle against the town werewolf.
 
“Interview with a Werewolf” (7/9/99) – Merton gets set up on a date with a woman who sucks the youth right out of him.
 
“Fangs for the Memories” (7/23/99) – Retrieving the blood Tommy donated so as not to spread his curse becomes complicated when vampires raid the blood banks.
 
“Time and Again” (7/30/99) – Merton is thrilled with his new watch that can reverse time; unfortunately, each use drains more and more of his intelligence away.
 
“Big Bad Wolf” (8/6/99) – Tommy and Merton recite an Indian chant that brings Tommy’s dark side out.
 
“Scary Terri” (8/13/99) – Mistaking his friendship for affection, psychic Terri seeks revenge on Tommy when she finds him with Stacey.
 
“Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow” (8/20/99) – A new substitute teacher claims to be the one who turned Tommy and seeks to bring out his bad side.
 
“The Exor-Sis” (8/27/99) – Merton’s sister ends up with a locker that contains an inter-dimensional portal.
 
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” (9/3/99) – When Tommy saves a man from the Grim Reaper, the Reaper comes for Tommy.
 
“Game Over” (9/24/99) – Tommy’s beating a high score on an arcade game unleashes a villain that seeks to destroy him and Merton.
 
Season 2:
“Hello Nasty” (3/18/00) – Tommy, Merton and their new friend Lori must take on the ghost of a football player responsible for the team’s 61-year-old curse.
 
“Frank Stein” (3/25/00) – A quiz bowl turns Merton into a target for a strange man who wants his brain.
 
“Commie Dawkins” (4/1/00) – A Russian man follows Tommy and Merton through a wormhole and changes the outcome of the Cold War.
 
“The Girl Who Spied Wolf” (4/8/00) – Lori discovers Tommy’s identity just as the Evil Werewolf Syndicate tries to force him to join them.
 
“Apocalypse Soon” (4/15/00) – Tommy and his friends have to prevent a wrestler’s next potentially world-ending win.
 
“The Sandman Cometh” (4/22/00) – Tommy and Merton have to deal with a Sandman who seeks to enslave people through contact with a special sleep sand.
 
“The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth” (5/6/00) – Tommy and Merton learn they picked the wrong side in a battle between a teen and a demon.
 
“Imaginary Fiend” (5/13/00) – Donating his old toys causes Merton’s imaginary friend to get free.
 
“101 Damnations” (5/20/00) – Tommy finds a stray puppy that turns out to be the legendary Cerberus.
 
“Mind Over Merton” (6/3/00) – After being rejected by a genius society Merton creates a potion to make him smarter, which unfortunately helps Tim and Travis figure out who the werewolf is.
 
“Blame it on the Haim” (6/10/00) – Corey Haim comes to town to shoot a vampire flick, but is it possible he’s actually a real vampire?
 
“Pleased to Eat You” (6/17/00) – Becoming Homecoming King causes Tommy to neglect Merton and allow him to fall into a new crowd that doesn’t have his best interests at heart.
 
“The Manchurian Werewolf: Part 1” (7/15/00) – The Evil Werewolf Syndicate brainwashes Tommy and causes him to bite Lori.
 
“Manchu: Part Deux” (7/22/00) – Tommy and Merton must prevent Lori from becoming a werewolf.
 
“Mr. Roboto” (7/29/00) – A cyborg infiltrates the school and implants students with mind-control devices.
 
“Rob: Zombie” (8/5/00) – Lori breaks up with Tommy and convinces Merton to revive her dead boyfriend.
 
“Fear and Loathing in Pleasantville” (8/19/00) – A demon terrorizes the populace to feed on their fear.
 
“Faltered States” (8/26/00) – Merton becomes a test subject at a lab to impress a girl, only to end up turned into a caveman.
 
“Butch is Back” (9/2/00) – Butch emerges from another film and captures Lori.
 
“Voodoo Child” (9/8/00) – The new school nurse offers to let Merton become a voodoo apprentice.
 
“She Will, She Will Rock You” (9/9/00) – The new transfer student turns Merton into stone.
 
“Clip Show: The Kiss of Death” (10/7/00) – Tommy, Merton and Lori go over all of their good deeds to keep Death from claiming Tommy.
 
Season 3:
“Stone Free” (10/27/01) – Tommy and Lori must save Merton from being a stone golem, but the cure may be worse than the disease.
 
“Everybody Fang Chung Tonight” (11/3/01) – Merton’s radio show attracts a vampire and her clan who just happen to feed on werewolf blood.
 
“I Dream of Becky” (11/10/01) – Becky unleashes a genie from a lamp and gets three wishes, unaware that they come at a price.
 
“Stormy Weather” (11/17/01) – Tommy and Lori are suspicious of the first candidate for Merton’s new superhero club.
 
“Hellection” (11/24/01) – Tommy loses the class president election to a girl who made a deal with a demon to win.
 
“Being Tommy Dawkins” (12/1/01) – Trying to escape an ex-convict leads Merton to a portal that lets him enter Tommy’s body.
 
“Save the Last Trance” (12/8/01) – Merton’s new girlfriend ends up being a real witch.
 
“Anti-Claus is Coming to Town” (12/15/01) – Tommy and his friends must help keep a Santa impersonator from ruining Christmas.
 
“N’Sipid” (1/12/02) – Becky is kidnapped by aliens posing as a boy band.
 
“Very Pale Rider” (1/19/02) – Merton is put into his favorite role-playing game.
 
“Play it Again, Samurai” (1/26/02) – While Tommy does community service, Merton falls in love with a 900-year-old Japanese princess.
 
“Dances Without Wolves” (2/2/02) – Tommy finds himself in an alternate universe where he never became a werewolf, but unfortunately his rival has and has given in to his dark side.
 
“Baby on Board” (2/11/02) – An alien encounter leaves Merton pregnant!
 
“The Boy Who Tried Wolf” (2/18/02) – Just as a werewolf comes to town, Tommy accidentally bites Merton turning him into an evil werewolf.
 
“The Mertonator” (2/25/02) – A killer cyborg from the future that resembles Merton is after Tommy.
 
“What’s Vlud Got to Do With it?” (3/4/02) – A werewolf princess falls in love with Tommy.
 
“There’s Something About Lori” (3/11/02) – A factory phantom believes Lori is his long-dead love.
 
“Switch Me Baby One More Time” (3/18/02) – Lori ends up switching bodies with a girl that’s jealous of her.
 
“What’s the Story, Morning Corey” (3/25/02) – Corey Feldman comes to town to produce Merton’s script and to meet up with his old friend, Corey Haim.
 
“Thanks” (4/1/02) – Tommy and Merton are interested in the same girl, unfortunately she’s a supernatural assassin with the kiss of death.
 
“The Sum of All Fears” (4/8/02) – The stars of the show count down the fans’ favorite moments.

JOANNA CAMERON DEAD AT 70

 

You can read the full story here.

She starred as Isis on The Secrets of Isis and on Shazam! (1975).

THE NIGHTMARE ROOM

 

THE NIGHTMARE ROOM

(The WB, August 31, 2001-March 16, 2002)

 

Parachute Entertainment, Tollin/Robbins Productions, Warner Bros. Television

 

 
MAIN CAST:
James Avery – R.L. Stine

 
            With his hit franchise Goosebumps winding down along with the expiration of his contract with Scholastic, author R.L. Stine was looking to the future. Parachute Publishing, a book packager co-founded by his wife Jane Stine, and HarperCollins secured a deal for him to produce two new book series: Goosebumps Gold and The Nightmare Room. Ultimately Gold, which would have been a limited run series of sequels to prior stories, was dead on arrival due to legal disputes between Scholastic and Parachute.

There's something creepy about Dylan's doll.

            The Nightmare Room was similar to the Goosebumps books in that it was an anthology series of kids being terrorized. The key difference was that the books were made for an older audience and featured darker content and unhappy endings as a result. Each book also had an introduction to the characters and story as if Stine were addressing the reader directly. Another unfortunate difference between the series was that this one only lasted for 15 entries. Despite HarperCollins’ aggressive marketing for the books, sales never quite reached that Goosebumps level. Stine posited in interviews that Nightmare Room ended up being overlooked because it was too similar to Goosebumps and came too soon after that series’ end.

A lie brings Sting crashing through the walls!

            Also looking to recapture Goosebumps’ success on television, a new series based on Nightmare Room was put into production by Parachute, Tollin/Robbins Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Like its predecessor, the series was a live-action anthology that took the majority of its stories straight out of the books, with the exception of four episodes that were based on an idea from a particular book rather than the whole thing. Along with subtle changes made to compensate for the shift in medium and to keep the book’s audience guessing, each adapted episode also featured at least one character whose gender was swapped. Appearing on the show were some notable and recognizable names, including Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show), Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street franchise), Keiko Agena (Gilmore Girls), Sam Jones III & Allison Mack (Smallville), Frankie Muniz & Justin Berfield (Malcolm in the Middle), Tippi Hedren (The Birds), Danielle Fishel & Betsy Randle (Boy Meets World), Drake Bell (Drake & Josh), Angus Scrimm (Phantasm series), Brenda Song (Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior), Steve “Sting” Borden, Lindsay Felton (Caitlin’s Way), Shia LaBeaouf & A..J. Trauth (Even Stevens), David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London), Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory), David Carradine (King Fu), and twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody).

            The Nightmare Room debuted on The WB on August 31, 2002. The first two episodes aired on Friday afternoon as part of the Toonami on Kids’ WB programming block, then aired on the Saturday morning Kids’ WB-proper starting on September 15^th for the remainder of its run. It was the first and only live-action show to be aired on both Kids’ WB and Toonami. Stine’s introductions were carried over in the form of a narration during the opening and at the end of each episode, making the show very similar to The Twilight Zone in that respect. Although the narrator credited himself as Stine, it was actually James Avery of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame. Stine did serve as an executive producer along with his wife. The series was written by Paul Bernbaum, Naomi Janzen, Scott Murphy, Richard Rossner, Lee Goldberg and Bill Rabkin, with Robin Bianchi and Becky Claassen serving as script supervisors. Costumes were designed by Robin Michel Bush, and the music was composed by Josh Kramon and Kristopher Carter.

            Without a book series to support it, The Nightmare Room came to an end with a single season of 13 episodes; but not before being nominated for an Emmy Award for sound editing in 2002. In 2013, Nightmare Room returned to television when it was rerun on the now-defunct horror channel Chiller. To date, only 8 episodes have been released between two DVDs in 2002 from Warner Archive: Camp Nowhere and Scareful What you Wish For. The series hasn’t been made available to stream from official sources, however episodes can be found online in various quality.
 
 
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Don’t Forget Me” (8/31/01) – Danielle and Peter’s family’s new house comes with ghosts in the basement seeking to lure in children, causing them to be forgotten by anyone.
 
“Scareful What You Wish For” (8/31/01) – A birthday magician’s spell ends up bringing Dylan’s favorite doll to life.
 
“The Howler” (9/29/01) – Three kids find a device that lets them communicate with ghosts, not knowing the ghosts want to possess their bodies.
 
“Tangled Web” (10/6/01) – When a teacher believes everything habitual liar Josh says, his lies start coming true.
 
“Fear Games” (10/13/01) – Five teenagers end up on a survival reality game show where they must deal with a psychotic witch haunting the island they’re on.
 
“School Spirit” (10/20/01) – A group of students in detention must help keep the memory of a teacher haunting the school alive.
 
“Full Moon Halloween” (10/27/01) – Five friends become suspicious that one of them is a werewolf when they hear one is loose in their town.
 
“Four Eyes” (12/1/01) – Jeremy’s new glasses apparently have given him the ability to see the aliens that have been secretly living among humans to plot their invasion.
 
“Locker 13” (12/8/01) – Luke’s worries about getting an unlucky locker are alleviated when he finds a good luck charm, at least until he learns he must pay for his good luck with his life.
 
“Dear Diary, I’m Dead” (2/2/02) – Alex discovers a diary that predicts the future…and his death.
 
“My Name is Evil” (2/23/02) – Getting made a fool of on his birthday begins good-natured Morgan’s slow descent towards evil.
 
“Camp Nowhere (Part 1)” (3/9/02) – Four campers find themselves at a summer camp that has been suspended in time by a Native America spirit.
 
“Camp Nowhere (Part 2)” (3/16/02) – The four campers try to figure out a way to deal with the spirit and free the camp and its inhabitants.

PETER SCOLARI DEAD AT 66

 

You can read the full story here.

Depending on your age, you probably knew him best as half of the Bosom Buddies, an opportunistic showbiz person on Newhart, or the TV patriarch of the Honey I Shrunk the Kids franchise. He also had a small voice acting portion to his career where he played a driver and Wilford Wolf in two episodes of Animaniacs (1993); John Hamner and The Shark/ Gunther Hardwicke in two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series; recurring character Preston Vogel in Gargoyles; Weird Guy and Mr. Perfect in two episodes of Pinky and the Brain; and Professor Higginson in What’s New, Scooby-Doo?

JACK ANGEL DEAD AT 90

 

You can read the full story here.

He played Flash, Hawkman, Samurai and several smaller characters in The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, Super Friends (1981), SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians; Donald Blake, Man Mountain Marko and Moe in Spider-Man (1981); Dr. Zachary Darret in Pole Position; Dr. Aeolis in Challenge of the GoBots; Miguel Alonso, Lord Carfax, Andrew, Miyan, Archbishop, Emmett Benton, Beldrix’ manager, Carfax guards and a conman in Jem; Professor Chin in Denver, the Last Dinosaur; Robert Mullins, Eucrates Cookson and Olook in Peter Pan and the Pirates; Rex-1 and LEX in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987); The Liquidator, Moloculo Macawber and a robber in Darkwing Duck; Cro-Magnum PI in Raw Toonage; Oniro and a computer in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm; Nick Fury in Spider-Man: The Animated Series; and Old Man Year Before That and Old Man Year Before Year Before That in ChalkZone.

 

He also provided voices for Meatballs and Spaghetti, Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Smurfs, Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983), The Dukes, Snorks, CBS Storybreak, Dino-Riders, Kid ‘n’ Play, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wizard of Oz (1990), Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Where’s Waldo?, Space Cats, ProStars, Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire, Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, All-New Dennis the Menace and Casper (1996).

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE CEREAL

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE CEREAL
 
General Mills
 
 

            Since the release of Ghostbusters II, fans had been eagerly awaiting the third installment of the franchise. For years news circulated about co-creator Dan Aykroyd’s script called Ghostbusters III: Hellbent, which would focus on a new group of younger Ghostbusters and take the team to a hellish version of New York. But while the studio was interested, his fellow castmates were not. 2009’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game would recycle many elements from that script, and became considered the equivalent of the third film as all of the principal cast returned to voice their respective characters (save Sigourney Weaver and a then-retired Rick Moranis). A true third film remained in various staged of development, even following the untimely death of co-creator Harold Ramis. Ultimately, a 2016 reboot was what made it to the screen, directed by Paul Feig and featuring an all-female starring cast. It received a lukewarm response from the fandom and general audiences.

            Then, news came of a new film connected to the original ones directed by Jason Reitman, the son of original director Ivan Reitman who would serve as a producer. Similarly to Hellbent, Ghostbusters: Afterlife would focus on a new group of kids that become embroiled in the world of supernatural after two of them moved into their grandfather’s old house in the Midwest and discovered a crop of old Ghostbusters gear. The film stars Mckenna Grace as Phoebe, Finn Wolfhard as her brother Trevor, Carrie Coon as their mother Callie, Paul Rudd as Phoebe’s Ghostbusters-knowledgeable teacher Mr. Grooberson, Logan Kim as Phoebe’s classmate Podcast and Celeste O’Connor as Trevor’s classmate Lucky. The surviving original cast sans Moranis (who came out of retirement too late to be included) make appearances in cameo roles. Originally meant to released on July 10, 2020, it was delayed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic before getting a final release date of November 19, 2021.

The family size edition.

            As part of the marketing promotion for the film, General Mills introduced a limited-edition cereal based on it that hit store shelves around April and May of 2021 in a regular and family size. This would be the first time a Ghostbusters-themed cereal has been seen in grocery stores since Ralston’s version ended production some decades prior (however, Funko did release two as part of their POP! Cereal Series in 2019). As the movie ties into the prior films, this cereal pays homage to the original with the inclusion of ghost-shaped marshmallows and red coloring for the fruity-flavored cereal pieces; however, the “no” logo was foregone in favor of generic rounded puffs. Additionally, there were blue marshmallows meant to represent the film’s new ghost, Muncher.

Trivia!

            The box for Ghostbusters: Afterlife Cereal featured elements representative of the new film decorating it. The primary no-ghost logo was the weathered and bolted logo used in the film’s marketing, and the Mini-Pufts that made their debut in a teaser are seen below the cereal bowl being blasted by a proton stream, as well as on the side and back of the box. In the original promo images for the box, the Mini-Pufts were absent, the stream was purple, and the Muncher marshmallows were colored green; a further homage to the original’s Slimer marshmallows. The back also featured Muncher, neon outlines of the equipment, Mr. Stay Puft and a terror dog, and trivia questions.

BUNSEN IS A BEAST

 

BUNSEN IS A BEAST

(Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, January 6, 2017-Februay 9, 2018)

 

Billionfold, Inc., Nickelodeon Animation Studio

 
 
MAIN CAST:
Jeremy Rowley – Bunsen Beast, Mr. Munroe, Jerk Von Handsome, Amazing Eric, various
Ben Giroux – Mikey Morrice Munroe, Bog Beast, various 
Kari Wahlgren – Amanda Killman, Beverly, Sophie Sanders, Mrs. Munroe, various

 
 
            Bunsen is a Beast was the fourth and final show created by Butch Hartman during his tenure at Nickelodeon. The series centered on a blue monster named Bunsen (Jeremy Rowley) who decided to attend the human Muckledunk Middle School in an effort to show that monsters and humans could peacefully co-exist. He was befriended by Mikey (Ben Giroux) who helped Bunsen try to navigate the human world while also being introduced to the Monster World. Plaguing them every step of the way was classmate Amanda Killman (Kari Wahlgren), who thoroughly believed that monsters were dangerous and did whatever she could to prove it from sabotaging their ambitions to slipping Bunsen some beets to force him to turn into a more monstrous form. Despite their constant clashes, Mikey and Bunsen do try to help Amanda out of jams she may end up in and Amanda had a secret crush on Mikey.

Bunsen keeping an eye on Mikey.

            Other characters included Beverly (Wahlgren), Amanda’s right-hand preschooler henchwoman that helped in her schemes; Sophie Sanders (Wahlgren using a Valley girl accent), Mikey’s crush; Wolfie (Kevin Michael Richardson), Bunsen’s best beast friend; Miss Flapp (Cheri Oteri), Bunsen’s teacher; Commander Cone (Jerry Trainor), a miserable ice cream vendor; Darcy (Cristina Milizia), a home-schooled socially awkward friend of Mikey and Bunsen’s that sometime tagged along with them; and Mikey and Bunsen’s parents (voiced by Rowley & Wahlgren and Jennifer Hale & Jeff Bennett, respectively).

Amanda glowers on as Bunsen and Mikey stand with their classmates.

            Bunsen is a Beast debuted on Nickelodeon with a preview on January 16, 2017 before officially beginning on February 20^th. The genesis for the series stemmed from a picture of a boy and a beast Hartman drew in 2009, which he considered for later use in a children’s book of some kind. After four years on his desk at Nickelodeon, executive Russell Hicks took notice of it and said he should pitch it for a show. The series was developed with the overlying message that “no matter who you are, you can always find a place to fit in.” This was the first of Hartman’s series to be completely animated in Flash as Nickelodeon was parsing down on the more expensive hand-drawn animation, and the first to be produced in the new dominant widescreen format. Hartman also changed up his art style for the characters’ designs, trying to give it a bit of a different feel than his previous programs. Additional characters were designed by Faruk Cemalovic, Dany Demysh and Phillip Williams. The series was written by Hartman, Ray DeLaurentis, Will Schifrin, Becky Wangberg, Bob Colleary, Grant Levy, Dominik Rothbard, Ellen Byron, Lissa Kapstrom and Max Beaudry, with DeLaurentis serving as story editor. Hartman also wrote the lyrics to the theme composed by Guy Moon, who handled the rest of the series’ music. Animation duties were handled by Elliott Animation, Inc.

            The day after the February premiere, Nickelodeon uploaded a video to their YouTube channel featuring a crossover between Hartman’s shows: The Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen. It was followed-up by a digital comic written and drawn by Hartman with Benji Williams, Marcus Velazquez and George Goodchild depicting Hartman having to be rescued from the shows’ respective villains. Another crossover would take place within Bunsen’s show as The Fairly Oddparents’ Cosmo (Daran Norris), Wanda (Susanne Blakeslee) and Timmy (Tara Strong) appeared in the episode “Beast of Friends” under the premise that Bunsen and Cosmo had met at a convention and been friends ever since.

Bunsen and his best buds.

            After nearly 2 decades at Nickelodeon, Hartman decided to leave the company and pursue new challenges. Bunsen ended up being the shortest of his shows; having been planned for and running for only a single season. Apparently, Nickelodeon had no intention of continuing his shows without him as they also stopped production on The Fairly Oddparents. The series’ first 16 episodes aired on Nickelodeon, but then moved over to Nicktoons for the remainder of its run.  It received a nomination for an Annie Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting” in 2018.

Bunsen when he gets extra beastly.

           A point-and-click video game based on the show, Beast Day Ever, was released on the Nickelodeon website three days before its February premiere. Another game, Arm-A-Gettin’, followed and was a full-motion collect-a-thon. A third game, Are You a Beast or a Human?, was a simple pictorial survey to indicate what kind of being you were. Bunsen would also be made a playable character in Super Brawl World, one in a series of crossover fighting games featuring various Nickelodeon characters, with Mikey as a support character. The entire series was made available for purchase on YouTube and for streaming on Paramount+.
 
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Hide and Go Freak / Bunsen Screams for Ice Cream” (1/16/17) – Amanda disguises herself as a beast to expose Bunsen and learns not to cross his house. / Amanda uses an ice cream truck to lure Bunsen out of school and get him expelled.
 
“Bunsen is a Beast! / Body and the Beast” (2/20/17) – Amanda spikes Bunsen’s drink with beets, turning him into a people-eating monster. / Mikey and Darcy must help Bunsen find his body before it grows a new head and destroys the world.
 
“Bearly Acceptable Behavior / Beast Busters” (2/21/17) – Amanda tries to get herself attacked by the bear Bunsen brings to class. / Mikey and Bunsen must save Amanda from the sneeze beasts that escaped from Bunsen’s nose.
 
“Spelling Beast / Mikey is a Beast” (2/22/17) – Proving bees are experts at spelling bees gets Bunsen turned into a bee. / Bunsen becomes the mascot for Mikey’s hero, but Mikey soon finds himself left out.
 
“Fright at the Museum / Handsome Beast” (2/23/17) – Finding Bunsen’s uncle in a museum, they try to sneak him out for a decade-overdue date with Bunseun’s aunt. / A body spray turns Bunsen into a human hunk that Amanda falls for.
 
“Tooth or Consequences” (2/25/17) – Amanda vows to catch the tooth fairy to keep Bunsen from becoming rich with all the teeth he loses.
 
“Beast of Friends” (3/4/17) – Bunsen is set to introduce Mikey to Cosmo on their Friend-iversary, but Amanda follows them and teams up with Mr. Crocker.
 
“Thunder and Frightening / Eyes on the Pies” (3/11/17) – Amanda seeks to use Bunsen’s fear of thunder to chase him out of school. / The hiccups causes Bunsen to lose his memory.
 
“Happy Beastgiving / Beastern Standard Time” (3/18/17) – For a beast holiday, Mikey helps Bunsen deliver dream gifts to people around town. / Daylight savings time throws off Bunsen’s internal clock.
 
“Unhappy Campers / Hall of Justice” (3/25/17) – Bunsen uses a camping trip to help Mikey get over his fear of the woods. / Amanda attempts to sabotage Mikey and Bunsen when they’re named the new hall monitors.
 
“Astro-Nots” (4/14/17) – A tour of MASA ends up with Mikey and Bunsen being accidentally blasted off into space.
 
“Cookie Monster / Braces for Disaster” (6/3/17) – When Amanda eats Bunsen’s cookies she turns into a monster. / Amanda’s braces suddenly produce a mink every time she says “beast”.
 
“Hug It Out-ch! / Guinea Some Lovin’” (6/10/17) – Amanda is trapped in Bunsen’s hugging chair and won’t be freed until she’s happy. / Amanda seeks to spoil Bunsen’s new love affair with a guinea pig.
 
“Mikey-plication / The Case of the Cold Case” (6/17/17) – Bunsen clones Mikey so that they’ll have more time for their band. / Mikey and Bunsen set out to prove that Commander Cone didn’t steal Amanda’s phone case.
 
“Bunsen’s Beast Ball / Bromeo and Juliet” (6/24/17) – Amanda swaps out Bunsen’s beast ball to keep him and Mikey from having fun. / Bunsen tries to get the lead in the school play to kiss Sophie, and Amanda sets out to spoil his chances.
 
“Beast Halloween Ever” (10/14/17) – Mikey’s excited to introduce Bunsen to Halloween while Amanda plots to steal everyone’s candy.
 
“Bunsen Saves Christmas” (12/18/17) – When Amanda ends up on the naughty list, she stuffs Santa into a gift box and steals all the toys.
 
“Beastie Besties / By Hook or By Schnook” (12/19/17) – A beast ceremony turns Amanda into Bunsen and Mikey’s best friend. / Amanda sends Bunsen and Mikey on a fake treasure hunt with a bogus map.
 
“Boodle Loo / The Boy Who Cried Wolfie” (12/20/17) – Mikey and Bunsen search for Bunsen’s invisible dog after Amanda lures him away. / Bunsen’s beast fest friend comes for a visit and discovers he likes Mikey…for dinner.
 
“Adventures in Beastysitting / Wilda Beast” (12/21/17) – A package switch leads to Mikey and Bunsen having to deliver a beast baby. / Bunsen’s cousin visits and develops a crush on Mikey, which makes Amanda jealous.
 
“Bad Chair Day / Stupor Bowl” (12/22/17) – Miss Flap changes the seating assignments, splitting Bunsen and Mikey up. / Bunsen becomes hypnotized by swirling toilet water and Amanda uses this chance to convince him to return home.
 
“Remote Outta Control / Network Newbs” (12/26/17) – Bunsen eats Amanda’s universal remote, causing her to be attacked by her smart house. / Mikey and Bunsen compete with Amanda for a segment on the local news.
 
“Amanda Gets Schooled / Beast in Show” (12/27/17) – Mikey and Bunsen help Amanda avoid summer school. / Amanda tries to beat Bunsen in the local dog show with her robot dog.
  
“Snooze Alarm / Split Decision” (12/28/17) – Mikey tries to keep Bunsen up past his hibernation time before he goes to sleep for 50 years. / Bunsen and Mikey find they have trouble deciding what to use their gift card on, which gets more complicated when Bunsen splits and disagrees with himself.
 
“Hair Today Gone Tomorrow / Ice Cream” (12/29/17) – Mikey and Bunsen use Boodles’ fur to turn themselves invisible and sneak into a movie. / Mikey and Bunsen try to help Commander Cone find his dream job.
 
“Friend of Phony / Beauty or the Beast” (2/10/18) – A gameshow about their friendship threatens to end Mikey and Bunsen’s. / When Bunsen keeps interrupting their date, Sophie forces Mikey to choose between them.