- Source: Toonsylvania
Toonsylvania is an American animated television series, which ran for two seasons in 1998 on the Fox Kids Network block (usually placed in a block called "The No Yell Motel" that contained other scary kids' shows such as Goosebumps and Eerie, Indiana) in its first season, then was moved to Monday afternoons from September 14, 1998 until January 18, 1999, when it was cancelled. It was executive produced in part by Steven Spielberg, as DreamWorks' first animated series.
The show had recurring cartoon series that appeared in each episode. Unlike Animaniacs, Toonsylvania did not have a wide range of characters and almost every episode had the same content. The main segments were "Frankenstein", "Night of the Living Fred" (most episodes on season one), "Attack of the Killer B Movies" (some episodes from season 1), "Igor's Science Minute", and "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals".
Plot summary
= Frankenstein
=A typical episode of Toonsylvania starts with a cartoon series called "Frankenstein" (a parody of Mary Shelley's novel of the same name) about the adventures of Dr. Vic Frankenstein (voiced by David Warner), his assistant Igor (voiced by Wayne Knight) who always sets out to prove that he is a genius like his master, and their dim-witted Frankenstein Monster known as Phil (voiced by Brad Garrett).
During the season two restructuring, Igor, Dr. Vic Frankenstein and Phil interact with a variety of new characters, including a snooping next-door neighbor Seth Tuber (voiced by Jonathan Harris), who was based on Norman Bates from Psycho. He interacted with his "immobile" mother by putting his hand over his mouth and talking into it. There was also a typical Transylvanian angry mob that was, in fact, a cheerful group of Beatles-esque hipsters. Most of these new characters were voiced by Paul Rugg, who also improvised many of their lines.
= Remote control gags
=Before the second cartoon, there is an animated vignette where Igor is on the couch with Phil and tries to use the remote control, only for a problem to occur (a running gag akin to the couch gags seen on The Simpsons) before the TV turns on to show the cartoon in question.
= Night of the Living Fred
=A segment about a family of zombies that consists of Fred Deadman (voiced by Billy West), his sister Ashley Deadman (voiced by Kath Soucie), his mother Stiffany Deadman (voiced by Valery Pappas), and his father Dedgar Deadman (voiced by Matt Frewer in season one, Jess Harnell in season two). This segment was created by cartoonist Mike Peters.
= Attack of the Killer B-Movies
=Sometimes, a parody of a B-list horror movie would air instead of a "Night of the Living Fred" cartoon. Most of them involve Ace Deuce (voiced by Tom Kenny), Professor Man (voiced by Billy West), Professor Man's daughter (voiced by Kath Soucie) whose name and occupation keeps getting changed, Ace's friend Newark (voiced by Billy West), and the general (voiced by Jim Cummings) of an army fighting different monstrous threats.
= Igor's Science Minute
=A short segment where Igor gives a science lesson (be it a musical piece or a spoken piece) that always ends in disaster.
= Melissa Screetch
=When Phil does something bad, Igor punishes him by reading a horror tale from the book "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals". It involves a bratty girl named Melissa Screech (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) who does not heed the warnings of adults like her mother (voiced by Kath Soucie) and suffers the consequences for it one way or another. After the story is told, something tied in with the story happens with Igor and Phil. This segment was created by Chris Otsuki.
During season two, Melissa Screetch starred in a new segment called "The Melissa Screetch Show". Whenever Melissa was disappointed with a friend or a family member, she would go home and cover herself under her bed sheets where she pretended to host a show. She then had her transgressor on as a guest star and often did away with them in an ironic manner.
Production
= Second season changes
=In season two, Bill Kopp and Jeff DeGrandis left the show and were replaced by Paul Rugg. The series' format changed into more of a sitcom style.
The only other backup segments to re-materialize in season two were the B-movie parodies (though some episodes of "Night of the Living Fred" aired) and Melissa Screetch in a new segment called "The Melissa Screetch Show".
Series overview
Episodes
= Season 1 (1998)
=Note: All episodes in this season were directed by Jeff DeGrandis.
= Season 2 (1998–99)
=Music
The music for the series was written by Michael Tavera, Keith Baxter, Christopher Neal Nelson, John Paul Given, Christopher Klatman and Thom Sharp. The main title song was written by Steve Bernstein and Julie Bernstein with lyrics by Paul Rugg.
Cast
David Warner – Dr. Vic Frankenstein
Wayne Knight – Igor, Igor's reflection
Brad Garrett – Phil, Bunny Wunny (in "Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador"), Andromeda King (in "Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador"), various
Nancy Cartwright – Melissa Screetch ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" and "The Melissa Screetch Show" segments)
Jim Cummings – Army general ("Attack of the Killer B-Movies" segments), Coach ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Mr. Big (in "Attack of the Iguana People"), Santa Claus (in "Spawn of Santa"), various
Matt Frewer – Dedgar Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segment; season one)
Jess Harnell – Dedgar Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segment; season two), Wink Dracula (in "Love Hurts"), Johnny Vermin (in "A Kiss Before Dying"), Igor's singing voice (in "The Periodic Table"), various
Jonathan Harris – Seth Tuber (season two)
Tom Kenny – Ace Deuce ("Attack of the Killer B-Movies" segments), various
Valery Pappas – Stiffany Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Melissa Screetch's mother ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" segments), various
Paul Rugg – Seth Tuber's mom (season two), various
Kath Soucie – Ashley Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Professor Man's Daughter (Attack of the Killer B-Movies" segments), Mrs. Screetch ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" segments), Kyle Screetch ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" segments), Female Tooth Fairy (in "Teeth for Two"), Andromeda Queen (in "Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador")
Billy West – Fred Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Newark/Hoboken ("Attack of the Killer B-Movies" segments), Toy Store Clerk/Mall Clerk (inn "Darla Doiley: Demon Doll" and "Spawn of Santa"), Male Tooth Fairy (in "Teeth for Two"), Dr. Earl Schwartzberg (in "Built For Speed"), various
= Additional voices
=Charlie Adler – Customer (on "Darla Doiley: Demon Doll"), Dr. Vic's grandmother (in "WereGranny"), various
Steve Bean -
Jocelyn Blue – Mama Bear (in "Melissa and the Three Bears"), Gertrude (in "Family Plot")
Corey Burton – Mr. Death (in "Doom With a View"), Debbie the bank robber (in "Spawn of Santa")
Cam Clarke – Waiter (in "Blind Date of Frankenstein")
Kate Donahue -
Sandy Fox – Darla Doiley (in "Darla Doiley: Demon Doll"), Baby Bear (in "Melissa and the Three Bears"), various
Josh Gilbert
Bill Kopp – various
Vince Montello -
Byrne Offutt -
April Winchell – Liz (in "Love Hurts")
Crew
Bill Kopp – Executive Producer, Writer ("B-Movie"), Creator, Voice Director (season one)
Jeff DeGrandis – Producer, Director
Steven Spielberg – Executive Producer
Keith Baxter – Writer ("The Inferior Decorator"; also credited for lyrics for musical episodes of "Igor's Science Minute" and co-credited with Christopher Neil Nelson for music in "Igor's Science Minute")
Kate Donahue - Voice Director (season two)
Lee Mendelson – Creative Consultant ("Night of the Living Fred")
Chris Otsuki – Creator ("Melissa Screetch"), Writer ("Igor's Science Minute" and "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals")
Mike Peters – Creator ("Night of the Living Fred"), Writer ("Night of the Living Fred": "Football...and Other Body Parts", "A Kiss Before Dying" [co-written with Tracy Peters], "A Zombie is Born" [co-written with Martin Olson], and "Mall for One and One For Mall" [co-written by Vinny Montello and Steve Ochs])
Kris Zimmerman - Voice Casting
Home media releases
On August 31, 1999, a VHS cassette of Toonsylvania was released, which contained selected episodes. The episodes seen were "Darla Doiley, Demon Doll", "Voodoo Vacation", "Baby Human", "Dead Dog Day Afternoon", "Igor's Science Minute" ("Clone or Be Cloned", "The Brain", "Earthquake Boogie", and "Gravity and the Eiffel Tower"), "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" ("The Boogeyman", "Stop Making Ugly Faces", "Here There Be Monsters", and "Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador"), "Phil's Brain", "Football...and Other Body Parts", "Bang!", and "WereGranny".
In 2014, Netflix in Latin America streamed the entire series.
Video game
A Toonsylvania video game was developed by RFX Interactive and released by Light & Shadow Production and Ubi Soft for the Game Boy Color in 2000.
Merchandise
Toonsylvania action figures and playsets were developed by Pangea Corporation and released by Toy Island. Burger King distributed toys based on Toonsylvania in their kids' meals for a short period of time.
See also
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
References
External links
Toonsylvania at IMDb
Toonsylvania cartoon list at the Big Cartoon DataBase