History Series / TheGreatSpaceCoaster

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the works of Creator/JimHenson.

* GrumpyBear: Gary Gnu always seemed to be grumbling about something or other during his segments and rarely expressed anything else. Given all the grief he had to endure from Goriddle and the other characters, is it any wonder why he's so irritable?

*** In later seasons more sketches were added including:

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: ''All of them''. To be fair, the opening title 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]]!"

* CousinOliver: Later in the series' run, Baxter adopted a small group of baby aliens that looked like pastel otters. The Huggles were introduced in an attempt to reach out to younger audiences.

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

The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of performers who either came from, or went onto, Franchise/{{The Muppets}}. The premise follows 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, piloted by Baxter, a life-sized [[NonIronicClown circus clown]] puppet who is actually on the run from his villainous 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; Edison, a robot-like elephant with an echoing voice who loves gardening; and Knock Knock, a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

The series was co-created by Kermit Love and Jim Martin, and featured a number of performers who either came from, or went onto, Franchise/{{The Muppets}}. The premise follows 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 villainous 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; Edison, a robot-like elephant with an echoing voice who loves gardening; and Knock Knock, a sophisticated woodpecker who lives in a tree.

* SpecialGuest: Charlotte Rae, Mark Hamill, Marvin Hamlisch, Marilyn McCoo, among others.

[[quoteright:222:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/great_space_coaster_1298.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:222:[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy "Shut up Ricky, just shut up right now! Unless the next words out of your mouth are directions how to get back to the fish skeleton, I'm gonna punch you right in the stomach!"]]]]

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 from, or went onto, Franchise/{{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.

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 ([[ScrewedByTheLawyers 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 preservation of these old episodes is time sensitive, as the tapes they're on are deteriorating due to age, meaning that most of the show could potentially be gone for good. 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.

* SpeciesSurname: Gary Gnu and Goriddle Gorilla.

** He pranked the sweet old lady bird, Knock-Knock, by nailing her door shut, not knowing she was claustrophobic. The others rushed to save her and found her passed out from panic.

** "Of course! ''[[BlatantLies I promise!]]''

** He surprised his friends with gifts and tried to bill them later.
** He pranked old lady bird Knock-Knock by nailing her door shut, not knowing she was claustrophobic.

* {{Jerkass}}: Goriddle Gorilla, to a degree.
** Overlaps with YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb. Plots often involve his having a get-rich-quick idea or a backfired prank that leads to a good ethical lesson for grade schoolers.

* CousinOliver: Later in the series' run, a small group of sickeningly cute baby aliens known as The Huggles were introduced in an attempt to reach out to younger audiences.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* 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]]!"

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: From an early episode, one of Gary Gnu's no g'news reports of was of a showgirl who had a ''serious'' smoking problem: not only did she continually smoke a cigarette as she was preparing for a show, but we she has an ashtray overflowing with smoldering butts, her dressing room floor covered in a layer of butts, and not only does she put out her current cigarette just seconds before the curtain call, she starts hacking and choking after she begins singing. Such a thing would be met with outcry today.

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

* TalkingAnimal

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

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 preservation of these old episodes is time sensitive, as the tapes they're on are deteriorating due to age, meaning that most of the show could potentially be gone for good. 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.