History WesternAnimation / CasperTheFriendlyGhost

* {{Crossover}}: Spunky the Donkey, who originally appeared in several of the Creator/FleischerStudios ''WesternAnimation/ColorClassics'' and a Famous ''WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoon|s}}'', appears (curiously, without his mother, Hunky) in at least two of Casper's shorts, over a decade after his previous roles.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The "Casper and the Spectrals" comic book reboot.

* NoNudityTaboo: In Casper and the Spectrals' ending Hot Stuff doesn't care about being naked in public, even with wendy looking at him, The little rascal even was surprised everyone was looking at him.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: All the demons from Harvey Comics. being ComicBook/HotStuffTheLittleDevil the main example.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: The trope is literally mentioned in casper's and the Spectrals ending, when Hot Stuff was naked.
* PointyEars: Hot stuff along with every devil.

* SceneryCensor: In Casper and the Spectrals' ending Hot Stuff is naked with his private bits bieng covered by specifically placed objets.
* ScienceIsBad: In "Casper and the Spectrals", the main trouble was partly caused by a human scientist.
* SealedEvilInACan: Volbragg in the "Casper and the Spectrals" comic book reboot.

* StrictlyFormula: Nearly all of the cartoons are virtually interchangable from each other save for some superficial settings. One FamousStudios animator, Lee Mishkin, even had a quote about it:

** However, there are a handful of shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula, with varying degrees of success. "Ghost of Honor" is a very meta episode where Casper visits the Paramount Cartoon Studio and ends up being the inspiration for his own cartoons in the first place, and "Ghost Writers" is a very meta episode parodying the series, centered on two of the cartoons writers brainstorming typical ideas for Capser cartoons. "Not Ghoulty" has Casper robbed of his powers and his newfound friends turning on him due to them trying to have Casper help them, only for Capser to keep screwing up because he can't use his ghost abilities anymore. One of later shorts tad the Ghostly Trio dosing Casper with something to make him more antagonistic (and thus more "ghostly" and interested in scaring people), but it [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]] and Casper spends most of the short viciously pranking the Ghostly Trio[[note]]The end reveals that it didn't actually work, and Casper was teaching the Trio a lesson[[/note]].

** However, there are a handful of shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula, with varying degrees of success. "Ghost of Honor" is a very meta episode where Casper visits the Paramount Cartoon Studio and ends up being the inspiration for his own cartoons in the first place. "Not Ghoulty" has Casper robbed of his powers and his newfound friends turning on him due to them trying to have Casper help them, only for Capser to keep screwing up because he can't use his ghost abilities anymore. One of later shorts tad the Ghostly Trio dosing Casper with something to make him more antagonistic (and thus more "ghostly" and interested in scaring people), but it [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]] and Casper spends most of the short viciously pranking the Ghostly Trio[[note]]The end reveals that it didn't actually work, and Casper was teaching the Trio a lesson[[/note]].

* NoNudityTaboo: Hot Stuff does't care too much about being naked in public, even with wendy looking at him.

* PointyEars: Hot stuff along with every devil.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: The trope is literally mentioned in casper's and the Spectrals ending, when Hot Stuff was naked.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: All the demons from Harvey Comics. being ComicBook/HotStuffTheLittleDevil the main example.

* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: The trope is literally named in casper's and the Spectrals ending, when Hot Stuff was naked.

** However, there are a handful of shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula, with varying degrees of success. "Ghost of Honor" is basically a very meta deconstruction of the series. "Not Ghoulty" has Casper robbed of his powers and his newfound friends turning on him due to them trying to have Casper help them, only for Capser to keep screwing up because he can't use his ghost abilities anymore. One of later shorts tad the Ghostly Trio dosing Casper with something to make him more antagonistic (and thus more "ghostly" and interested in scaring people), but it [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]] and Casper spends most of the short viciously pranking the Ghostly Trio[[note]]The end reveals that it didn't actually work, and Casper was teaching the Trio a lesson[[/note]].

* SceneryCensor: In Casper and the spectrlas' ending Hot Stuff is naked with his private bits bieng covered by specifically placed objets.

** However, there are a handful of shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula, with varying degrees of success. One of them had the Ghostly Trio dosing Casper with something to make him more antagonistic (and thus more "ghostly" and interested in scaring people), but it [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]] and Casper spends most of the short viciously pranking the Ghostly Trio[[note]]The end reveals that it didn't actually work, and Casper was teaching the Trio a lesson[[/note]].

* CanonImmigrant: Casper's uncles and Whendy The Good Little Witch appeared in only one theatrical cartoon each, but they did debut in the comics that were running alongside them. When an attempt by Famous to launch a series of made-for-tv Casper shorts came about in the 60's, they brought them over from the comics as main characters.

* [[EmbarrassingMiddleName Embarrassing Last Name]]: Casper's last name (yes, he has a last name) is ''[=McFadden=]''. Try saying that without laughing.

* OncePerEpisode: The Famous shorts became increasingly formulaic as time went on. Casper feels lonely, Casper tries to find a friend but everyone runs away from him, Casper finally finds someone who will overlook the fact that he's a ghost and be friends with him usually after he helps them get out of some kind of trouble. The friend is then menaced by a large baddie, at which point Caspar steps in and demands, "You leave my friend alone!" at which point the baddie runs off in fear. All ends well. Rinse and repeat. Famous Studios had a hard time coming up with original ideas for Popeye, too, incidentally. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'':

* SharedUniverse: Most of the characters of Harvey, including Casper, Hot Stuff and Wendy, live in the same universe. In fact, all the monster characters live in a place called "The Enchanted Forest".

** A Film/{{Ghostbuster|s}} makes a cameo in the live-action movie.

* ShoutOut: From the 1995 movie: [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} "Who ya gonna call? Someone else!"]]

* ShoutOut[=/=]HypocriticalHumor: From the 1995 movie: [[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} "Who ya gonna call? Someone else!"]]

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''WesternAnimation/CasperAndTheAngels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of Creator/JulieMcWhirter as Casper and Creator/JohnStephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Film/CasperMeetsWendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

* FunctionalMagic
* TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation

** However, there are a handful of shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula, with varying degrees of success. One of them had Casper accidentally turning evil and going after the Ghostly Trio.

** One early episode(possibly the first) actually did begin with Casper at his own grave.

* {{Crossover}}: Spunky the Donkey, who originally appeared in several of the Creator/FleischerStudios ''WesternAnimation/ColorClassics'' and a Famous ''{{Noveltoon|s}}'', appears (curiously, without his mother, Hunky) in at least two of Casper's shorts, over a decade after his previous roles.

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''WesternAnimation/CasperAndTheAngels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of Creator/JulieMcWhirter as Casper and John Stephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Film/CasperMeetsWendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

* WesternAnimation/TheresGoodBoosTonight: Second appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series. PublicDomain.

* A Haunting We Will Go: Third appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series. PublicDomain

* Casper's Spree Under The Sea: The first short of the solo Casper series.

* DrivenToSuicide: In his very first short "The Friendly Ghost", Casper is driven to despair at his inability to make friends, and willingly allows a train to run him over. Since he's a ghost, the train doesn't harm him--it just blows him away in the wind.

--->'''Norm:''' I don't get it. Start of the cartoon, Casper has no friends. End of the cartoon, he has friends. Start of the next cartoon, he has no friends again. What happened?
--->'''Cliff:''' I think it's obvious what happened. Casper was quenching his thirst for blood.

* TheVerse: Frequent {{Crossover}}s with other Harvey comics, even ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' (though he's never sure he didn't [[AllJustADream dream]] his Casper encounters). Some arcs have brought together ''all'' Enchanted Forest characters.
* WildTake: The Casper series has some of the weirdest, sometimes outright grotesque, wild takes of the Golden Age cartoons, and the original shorts have them at least once per short. The over-the-top runaway gags or transformations after the takes (a whale scared by Casper runs off on its ''tailflukes'', a zookeeper hides - then runs away - ''inside'' a lion, another group of zoo staffers combine together into a wheel when they see him, etc.) are the icing on the cake.

* SharedUniverse: Most of the characters of Harvey, including Casper, Hot Stuff and Wendy live in the same universe. In fact, all the monster characters live in a place called "The Enchanted Forest".

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''WesternAnimation/CasperAndTheAngels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of Creator/JulieMcWhirter as Casper and John Stephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Casper Meets Wendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

* CanonImmigrant: Casper's uncles didn't appear in the theatrical cartoons, but they did debut in the comics that were running alongside them. When an attempt by Famous to launch a series of made-for-tv Casper shorts came about in the 60's, they brought them over from the comics as main characters.

* MorallyBankruptBanker