Space Ghost (TV series)

Space Ghost is an American superhero animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It first aired on CBS from September 10, 1966, to September 16, 1967, and continued reruns until September 7, 1968. The series was composed of two unrelated segments, "Space Ghost" and "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley". The series was created by Alex Toth and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Sometimes, it is alternatively called Space Ghost & Dino Boy, to acknowledge the presence of both shows.
"Space Ghost".
Space Ghost, along with teenaged sidekicks Jan and Jace and their pet monkey Blip, fight villains in outer space. Usually, Space Ghost's sidekicks would get captured or trapped by the villains, and Space Ghost would have to defeat the villains and save the day. His enemies included Zorak, Brak and his brother Sisto, the Creature King, the Black Widow (a.k.a. the Spider Woman), Lokar, Moltar, and Metallus.
"Dino Boy in the Lost Valley".
Dino Boy is a young boy called Todd who parachuted out of a crashing plane with his parents still on board.
He lands in an unknown South American valley where dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and cavemen have somehow survived extinction and now live alongside some strange creatures and various tribes like the Moss Men, the Rock Pygmies, the Worm People and the Vampire Men, amongst others.
Dino Boy then meets the caveman Ugh (who saves Dino Boy from a "Smilodon" when he first arrives) and his pet baby "Brontosaurus" Bronty who become his friends in the episodes to come. The cartoon also features a woolly mammoth named Tusko who Ugh would enlist in certain episodes to help him, Dino Boy, and Bronty out.
List of episodes.
With the exception of the final two half-hour shows (the "Council of Doom" episodes), each episode featured two Space Ghost segments with one Dino Boy segment between them.
The final two half-hour shows only feature Space Ghost. Additionally, they feature cameos from other characters (the Herculoids, Moby Dick, the Mighty Mightor, and Shazzan) that would appear in their own Hanna-Barbera series broadcasts on CBS the following (1967–68) season.
Home media.
"Space Ghost & Dino Boy" were released on multiple VHS tapes in the 1980s put out by Worldvision Home Video and later re-released by GoodTimes Home Video under the Kids Klassics label. The episodes on the VHS tape for "Space Ghost" were "The Heat Thing", "Zorak", "The Creature King" and the "Dino Boy" episode "The Worm People". Worldvision released another VHS tape, "Space Ghost and Dino Boy: Ghostly Tales"; this contained the episodes "The Robot Master", The Energy Monster", "Hi-Jackers", "The Lure", and "The Schemer". The "Dino Boy" episodes were "Marooned" and "The Red Ants". These same episodes were released in the UK by The Video Collection.
Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released "Space Ghost & Dino Boy: The Complete Series" on DVD in Region 1 on July 17, 2007.
The DVD edition presents the episodes on two double-sided DVDs, but alters the order from the original air-date order.
Disc 1
Disc 2
A Blu-ray set of the series was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (under the Warner Archive Collection label), on October 13, 2020. The release is a two-disc set containing all 20 episodes.
Comics.
The TV series was adapted into a comic strip by Dan Spiegle, distributed by Gold Key Comics.
Talk show/Adult Swim era.
In 1994, years after the finale of the original series, Mike Lazzo pitched the idea of an adult animated parody talk show using the Space Ghost character to Cartoon Network. Voice actors George Lowe, C. Martin Croker, and Andy Merrill joined the project, which Cartoon Network would soon air as "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". The series premiered on April 15, 1994, and originally ended on December 17, 1999. The series was revived on May 7, 2001, and was moved to the new Adult Swim late-night programming block on September 2 of that year, where new episodes premiered until April 12, 2004. Two final seasons were released on GameTap from 2006 to 2008. Over 11 seasons, 108 episodes aired. The show gained spin-offs in the form of "The Brak Show" (2000–2007) and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (2000–2015), and has been cited as inspiration for a variety of Adult Swim programming in the years since its debut. In a 2014 interview, Eric Andre spoke about the show’s influence on the "The Eric Andre Show", saying, “Before we started shooting, I rented as many seasons I could get my hands on and did a Space Ghost marathon by myself in my house, just so I could absorb as much Space Ghost as I could.”
Later DC Comics era.
In 2016, Space Ghost and his allies and Dino Boy played a major role in the DC Comics series "Future Quest", that also featured characters from various animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera such as "Jonny Quest", "The Herculoids", "Birdman and the Galaxy Trio", "Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles" and "Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor".