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Monster Squad is a live-action Saturday morning series that was broadcast over NBC for one season in 1976. Its plots were reminiscent of the Batman TV series.

Before working on The Love Boat, Fred Grandy starred in this show as Walt, the night watchman at a wax museum. He gave life to the statues of Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man, enabling them to fight crime.

Not to be confused with the movie The Monster Squad.


Tropes featured include:

  • And I Must Scream: In "Ultra Witch", the titular villain used a ray gun to transform Dracula, Frank N. Stein and Bruce W. Wolf into cardboard cutouts that couldn't move or speak, but were still conscious.
  • Antagonist Title: Every episode's title was also the name of the episode's villain.
  • Bee Afraid: Obviously, applies to bee-themed supervillain Queen Bee. More specifically, she uses a swarm of South American Killer Bees in her plot to take over the world.
  • Birthday Episode: "The Skull" has our heroes celebrate Frank N. Stein's birthday.
  • The Blank: The eponymous villain of the episode "No Face" lived up to his name, as he had no face of his own without the makeup he used to impersonate Chief Running Nose and the mayor.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: The Weatherman ends up freezing Bruce W. Wolf solid and threatens to shatter him to pieces. Thankfully, Bruce is thawed out before the villain gets the chance.
  • Mission Control: Walt's role is to stay behind and keep radio contact with the Monster Squad, though he usually leaves mission control to join the monster heroes in the climactic battle.
  • Monster Mash: The premise of the series is that three wax figures based on Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man (here referred to as "The Werewolf") have come to life and become crimefighters.
  • Monster of the Week: Every episode has our heroes fight a different supervillain.
  • Mummy: The plan of the titular villain of "The Skull" involved reviving a mummy to use as his minion.
  • Objectshifting: The episode "Ultra Witch" had the titular villain use a ray gun to transform Dracula, Frank N. Stein and Bruce W. Wolf into cardboard cutouts. Worse still, the victims are still able to feel and think, but can't move. After Walt turns the monsters back to normal, Ultra Witch tries to use the weapon on him, only for a mirror to reflect the beam back at her and turn her into a cardboard cutout instead.
  • Repulsive Ringmaster: The Ringmaster, obviously. In his episode he uses his circus to trap and hold 20 thousand orphans for ransom.
  • Terrible Trio: Most of the show's villains have only two henchmen, making them this trope.
  • Tickle Torture: "The Tickler" has the titular villain use giant feathers in an attempt to tickle our heroes to their doom. It's as silly as it sounds.
  • Two Beings, One Body: Rather than being Multi-Gendered Split Personalities, Albert/Alberta is revealed to be two people grafted together using a device called "The Great Divider".
  • Vampire Vords: Befitting a Monster Mash kiddie comedy, Dracula speaks this vay.
  • Villainous Glutton: In the episode "The Ringmaster", one of the titular villain's minions was an obese woman named Bonnie Bon who was constantly devouring junk food.
  • Werewolves Are Dogs: Bruce has a lot of dog-like idiosyncrasies (he's seen snoozing on a rug at the start of the first episode, for example), and has a Celeb Crush on Lassie.

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