History Series / TheGreatSpaceCoaster

* GeniusBonus: Roy had a wristwatch TV that played cartoons when he plugged in a cartridge. The surprising part is that the cartoons were often SFW Oscar-nominated shorts like "Munro" or "What on Earth!", National Film Board of Canada shorts, or the "La Linea" series from Italy.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the works of JimHenson.

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth - Roy, a keyboardist; Danny, a drummer; and Francine, a guitarist - who travel to an [[BabyPlanet asteroid-like planet]] out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized [[NonIronicClown circus clown]] puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ringmaster, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu; host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news; Goriddle Gorilla (a mischievous, gravelly-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts, and Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

* {{Crossover}}: Supposedly, Sid and Marty Krofft characters made guest appearances.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Goriddle sounds exactly like [[SesameStreet Hoots the Owl]], and Rory sounds an awful lot like [[Series/{{Dinosaurs}} Baby Sinclair]].

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Because this series is rather obscure, it's almost difficult to come by for people today to view it, even Jim Martin is amazed at the number of postings on YouTube. Unfortunately, because the series included a number of copyrighted songs, legal issues with music clearance and license is preventing the series from officially released on DVD. The only official home entertainment release of this show was a "Supershow" compilation VHS that was released in 1981 (which is presently posted on YouTube, in five installments).
** Additionally, in 2012 Jim Martin announced that many of the master tapes are starting to deteriorate, and launched an Indiegogo campaign to make digital copies of as many episodes as possible (with the goal to save at least one show). The campaign raised enough money to make digital copies of 20 episodes, with the currently ongoing eBay fundraiser having raised enough so far to preserve 7 more.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: ''All of them''. To be fair, the opening titles was just an animated sequence of Baxter picking up and transporting Roy, Danny, and Francine to the asteroid in the titular coaster set to the show's theme song. For the last two seasons, however, the opening titles added something of a DramatisPersonae overlay, and a Goriddle voice-over announcing, "It's ''The Great Space Coaster'', starring Goriddle Gorilla; Gary Gnu; Baxter; Roy, Danny, and Francine; The Great Space Coaster Gang (M.T. Promises, Big Jock Ox, Rory, et al); [[AndStarring and The Huggles]]!"

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[DropInCharacter Big Jock Ox and Rory]] were added the cast of puppet characters, after a separate pilot featuring them (also produced by Creator/SunbowEntertainment) failed. Likewise, another veteran Muppeteer, Richard Hunt, was originally going to perform Big Jock Ox, but instead, was handed to Kevin Clash (who also performed Rory as well).
** An early conceptual artwork shows Roy, Danny, and Francine riding in the Great Space Coaster with a bear-like creature; Jim Martin believes that the character of Baxter may originally have been conceived as a bear, which he says would have made since, because of the already-existing alliterative naming with Gary Gnu and Goriddle Gorilla (to wit, Baxter Bear).

* HeyItsThatVoice: Goriddle sounds exactly like [[SesameStreet Hoots the Owl]].

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to ''The Great Space Coaster''. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to release on DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full-fledged {{revival}}. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the official Facebook page]]. The initial Kickstarter effort, which originally set out with the goal to save at least one episode, made enough money to start the preservation process for 20 episodes. Currently, Tanslin Media is holding another preservation fundraiser featuring previous Kickstarter merch and rare show memorabilia through [[http://www.ebay.com/usr/tanslinmedia eBay]], which so far has raised enough funds to preserve an additional 7 episodes. Several fan-uploaded full episodes of the show can be found on Gnu, uh, Youtube.

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to ''The Great Space Coaster''. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to release on DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full-fledged {{revival}}. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the official Facebook page]]. Two episodes out of twenty have been preserved so far and several fan-uploaded full episodes of the show can be found on Gnu, uh, Youtube.

** Additionally, in 2012 Jim Martin announced that many of the master tapes are starting to deterorate, and laucnhed a kickstarter campaign to make digital copies of as many episodes as possible (with th goal to save at least one show).

!This series provides examples of:

->''Off we go!''

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[DropInCharacter Big Jock Ox and Rory]] were added the cast of puppet characters, after a separate pilot featuring them (also produced by Sunbow Productions) failed. Likewise, another veteran Muppeteer, Richard Hunt, was originally going to perform Big Jock Ox, but instead, was handed to Kevin Clash (who also performed Rory as well).

* ScrewedByTheCreator: Somewhat. The series was produced by Sunbow Productions, which was associated with Claster Productions, a distribution company that was a subsidiary of Hasbro. ''The Great Space Coaster'' was mainly a vehicle for Sunbow/Claster, to show they were capable of producing a successful TV series, and when Hasbro was pleased, Sunbow/Claster decided to cease production on the show, so they could focus on bringing some of Hasbro brands (like {{Transformers}} and MyLittlePony) to television.

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth, who travel to an [[BabyPlanet asteroid-like planet]] out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized [[NonIronicClown circus clown]] puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ringmaster, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu; host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news; Goriddle Gorilla (a mischievous, gravelly-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts, and Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

* DropInCharacter: In addition to The Huggles, other new characters were introduced at the beginning of Season Four, in an attempt to have boost up the slumping ratings.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Because this series is rather obscure, it's almost difficult to come back for people today to view it, even Jim Martin is amazed at the number of postings on YouTube. Unfortunately, because the series included a number of copyrighted songs, legal issues with music clearance and license is preventing the series from officially released on DVD. The only official home entertainment release of this show was a "Supershow" compilation VHS that was released in 1981 (which is presently posted on YouTube, in five installments).

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to ''The Great Space Coaster''. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to release on DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full-fledged {{revival}}. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the official Facebook page]]. Two episodes have been preserved so far with the help of the Museum of Classic Chicago Television and several fan-uploaded full episodes of the show can be found on Gnu, uh, Youtube.

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to ''The Great Space Coaster''. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to release on DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full-fledged {{revival}}. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the official Facebook page]].

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth, who travel to an asteroid-like planet out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized [[NonIronicClown circus clown]] puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ringmaster, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu; host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news; Goriddle Gorilla (a mischievous, gravelly-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts, and Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth, who travel to an asteroid-like planet out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized circus clown puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ringmaster, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu; host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news; Goriddle Gorilla (a mischievous, gravelly-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts, and Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth, who travel to an asteroid-like planet out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized circus clown puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ring master, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu (host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news), Goriddle Gorilla (a mischievous, gravely-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts), Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree), among others.

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to the program. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to put to DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full fledged {{Revival}}. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the official Facebook page]].

* CatchPhrase: "This is Gary Gnu, and ''The No G'News is Good G'News Show'', the ONLY TV g'news program guaranteed to contain NO g'news whatsoever!"
* CloudCuckoolander: Goriddle could fit the bill.

* {{Crossover}}: Supposedly Sid and Marty Krofft characters made guest appearances.

* Muppet
* RunningGag: Gary Gnu pronouncing N words with a hard G sound before it (ala, "No g'news is good g'news").

* ShowWithinAShow: Had several recurring segments, such as "Speed Reader".

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the works of Jim Henson.

* {{Crossover}}: Supposedly Sid and Marty Kroft characters made guest appearances.

As of 2012, Tanslin Media has obtained the rights to the program. Current plans include preserving the old episodes to potentially donate them to a museum/media center (as the use of licensed songs in the program would make all 250 episodes hard to put to DVD or streaming without significantly cutting them out) and the production of new online content featuring Gary Gnu with hopes to garner enough attention for a full fledged Revival. More information can be found on [[http://www.tanslinmedia.com/ the Tanslin Media site]] and [[http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster the offical Facebook page]]].

A syndicated children's series, featuring cartoons, live action segments, and puppets. The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of talent who either came, or went onto {{The Muppets}}. The premise followed three musicians from Earth, who travel to an asteroid-like planet out in space via the titular coaster, driven by Baxter, a life-sized circus clown puppet who is actually on the run from his mean ring master, M.T. Promises. Other bizarre characters include Gary Gnu (host of ''The Gary Gnu Show'', where no g'news is good g'news), Goriddle Gorilla (a mischevious, gravely-voiced gorilla who doesn't quite think before he acts), Knock Knock (a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree), among others.

* {{Crossover}}: Supposedly Sid and Marty Krofft characters made guest appearances.