History WesternAnimation / CasperTheFriendlyGhost

* Boo Moon

Tho grownups might look at him with fright\\

* BrooklynRage: Spooky is much more "tuff" than spooky (since he looks about as cuddly as Casper), is somewhat of a hothead, and even his "Boos" look more he's flipping out. He speaks with a Brooklyn-style FunetikAksent: his girlfriend Pearl is "Poil" and his [[NiceHat derby hat]] is a "doiby".

--> "''Casper, the friendly ghost\\

* Which is Witch

* Casper's Birthday Party: Last Casper theatrical cartoon.

* [[WitchSpecies Magical Species]]: In the Harvey comics and most of the cartoons, ghosts and witches and devils (as well as [[WingedHumanoid butterfly-winged good fairies]] and [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monsters from ''Monster Land'' or giants]]) are nothing more than different magical species.

* MarilynManeuver: Little Red Riding Hood from "Once Upon A Rhyme". Happens due to motion as she jumps down from a wall to the other side of it.

* PantyShot: "Once Upon A Rhyme"'s Little Red Riding Hood, her white undies are shown briefly in a blink-or-miss-it scene when she jumps down from a wall.

* FiveRaces: The [[ComicBook/HotStuffTheLittleDevil devils]] are the Stouts, the [[WendyTheGoodLittleWitch fairies and witches]] are the Fairies, the [[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnomes]] are the Mundanes who live to invent and build things, the [[WizardClassic wizards]] who occasionally [[HermitGuru mentor]] Casper or Wendy are the High Men, and the [[WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost ghosts]] are the Cute despite their [[PeekABogeyman scare superpower]].

Casper, a ghost who [[IJustWantToHaveFriends wants to be friendly but scares people away]], debuted in a 1946 WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoon|s}} released by Creator/FamousStudios for Paramount Pictures, [[AdaptationDisplacement adapted from a children's story]] co-created by Creator/JoeOriolo. Casper appeared in 55 animated shorts and became Paramount's most popular character after ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}. In 1958, Paramount sold the character to Creator/HarveyComics, where he frequently crossed over to ComicBook/RichieRich stories.

** In "Spunky Skunky", an outcast skunk attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff, but convieniently falls into a can of white paint--he lives, but he thinks he's become a ghost.

* ReluctantMonster

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''), an AllCGICartoon (''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool: The Series''), 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 and another, ''Film/CasperASpiritedBeginning'' that introduces the BigBad Kibosh. 2009 saw Casper and his two friends Wendy and Hot Stuff return in a DarkerAndEdgier reboot named ''ComicBook/CasperAndTheSpectrals''. In 2020, Casper is scheduled to appear on the fourth and final season of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyStreetKids''.

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''), an AllCGICartoon (''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool: The Series''), 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 and another, ''Film/CasperASpiritedBeginning'' that introduces the BigBad Kibosh.

* ClothingDamage: Hot Stuff, in the third issue of Casper and the Spectrals, had all of his clothes burned by lava leaving him totally naked.

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

* HeroicSacrifice: In Casper and the Spectrals [[spoiler: Hot Stuff sacrifices himself to save Wendy, however his body is healed by fire in the comic's ending ]]

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

* PowerTrio: In ''Casper and the Spectrals''; Casper (ego), Wendy (superego) and Hot Stuff (id).
* SceneryCensor: In ''Casper and the Spectrals''' ending, Hot Stuff is naked with his private bits 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.
* ShamelessFanserviceGuy: 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.

* SmellySkunk: "Spunky Skunky" is centered around Casper befriending a skunk who is spurned from playing baseball with some local animals, prompting him to try to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, only to fall into a white can of paint and think he's become a ghost. Capser rolls with it just so he can have a friend, but the act is up when the skunk falls into water and washes off the paint--and realizes that Casper is a ghost and flees. Later on, the skunk tries to save his other friends from a hungry wolf, and Casper of course arrives to save the day, earning the skunks friendship back (and also earning the respect of the others, who wear clothespins on their noses for the skunks sake when they play baseball).

** However, there are several shorts in the series where they actually ''did'' try to get away from the formula. "Ghost of Honor" is an episode where Casper visits the Paramount Cartoon Studio and ends up [[ShowWithinAShow 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]].

[[quoteright:344:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Casper-Friendly-Ghost-3.jpg]]

* BroughtDownToNormal: In "Not Ghoulty", Casper is tried in a ghost court for unghostly conduct (i.e. saving a baby from a burning building) and the judge removes his ghostly abilities until he scares someone again. This does not work out in Casper's favor, as his newfound friends, unaware of his powers being lost, get mad at him when he keeps screwing up good deeds he was a natural at before (i.e. a shopkeeper asks Casper to phase through a locked door to open it, but Casper can't, so he accidentally smashes through the shop window to unlock it). Fortunately, Casper turns the tables on the other ghosts--[[HorrifyingTheHorror he poses as a Ghost Exterminator and scares the crap of them]], [[LoopholeAbuse restoring his powers.]]

* CaptainErsatz: Casper has inspired more than a few knockoff comics featuring friendly ghosts as the lead character, including Timmy the Timid Ghost, Marvel's Homer the Happy Ghost, and Fawcett's downright plagiaristic Spunky the Smiling Spook, who has the ''exact'' same design as Casper.

* 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.

* FreakyFridayFlip: In Hot Stuff and Casper # 1 Casper, Wendy and Hot Stuff switch bodies due ta malfunction of Wendy's magic wand.

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''), an AllCGICartoon (''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool: The Series''), 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.