It Smells Like Cartoon Planet!
One day I ran into this big shot TV guy I know
He says I'm really desperate, would you like to host a show? Cartoon Planet (1995-1997) was a
spin-off of
Space Ghost Coast to Coast, or, what happened when the creative team behind said show was given free rein with the Turner cartoon library.
Cartoon Planet was a mix of songs, sketches, and clips of older shows, described by head writer Pete Smith as "a cross between
The Sonny and Cher Show,
The Electric Company, and recess at the
Richard M. Nixon School for Wayward Boys". The show starred Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak in the same character interpretations shown in
Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Space Ghost as the egotistical blowhard host, Zorak his long-suffering (and evil) foil, and Brak as a loveable "half-lobotomized" simpleton. The characteristics of Brak in Cartoon Planet and banter between him and Zorak were the inspiration for their portrayal on
The Brak Show.
It lasted only 22 episodes and due to copyright hangups will never be released on DVD.
In 2012, Cartoon Planet was
relaunched on Friday night, playing some of
Cartoon Network's original "classic cartoons" as they call them, as a part of the network's 20th anniversary. Zorak and Brak return as hosts. It appeared to suffer a similar fate to the original, as
after 22 episodes it was put on hiatus to make room for
more Dragons Riders Of Berk and
Level Up reruns in its timeslot. It came back, however, in October 2012, just in time for Cartoon Network's 20th birthday.
The following shows are being rerun in the 2012 reboot:
- And Your Little Dog Too: Attempted on Space Ghost when Zorak tried to teach Brak how to be evil. It didn't work out so well.
- Anti-Humor: Whenever Brak would do stand-up, his jokes would end this way.
- Batman Cold Open: Several episodes would begin with a sketch, entirely without context, before displaying the short intro song and logo.
- The Calls Are Coming From Inside The House: Spoofed in a segment of "Brak's Tales of Suspense".
- The Cameo: Count Floyd from The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimleynote a late-1980s cartoon show that aired on NBC, featuring SCTV and SNL cast member Martin Short as his hyper, Man Child character going on bizarre adventures. To date, this is the only animated series — whether for kids or not — featuring a recurring character from Saturday Night Live and SCTV would show up via Stock Footage.
- Moltar appeared once in 'Mantis from Atlantis'.
- Credits Gag: The credits are unusual in that only the crew member's first names are used. Some of the names even featured gags; composer Eddie Horst was always listed as "Eddie the Horse", Mike Lazzo was listed as "The Mayor of Cartoon Planet" and Keith Crofford was listed as "The Chief of Police". Additionally: "Thanks For Watching the Credits".
- The Ditz: Brak.
- Foreshadowing: Adult Swim once aired a "Where Are They Now" style bump. The last one featured Brak, Zorak, and Moltar planning a revival of Cartoon Planet.
Cartoon Planet would come back on March 31, 2012. - Fourth Wall Mail Slot: In the "Mail Bag Day" segment.
- Fun with Foreign Languages: The "Learning to Talk Italian" segments.
- Go Karting with Bowser: Or, rather, hosting a TV show with Zorak.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: Some segments were included on The Brak Show DVDs, but the copyrighted footage/music was replaced. If a complete series set was ever made of Cartoon Planet, it's pretty much a guarantee that it will have to be edited for copyright reasons.
- Large Ham: Space Ghost.
- Lethal Chef: Brak, his segment "Cooking With Brak" usually gets cancelled because his recipes get everyone sick.
Brak: "Hey, what's the big deal? So a few people got a tummyache!"
Space Ghost: "Tummyache? The whole crew lost all feeling in their arms and legs!"
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to both Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Brak Show.
- Limited Animation: Lampshaded when Brak smugly declares "I'm not animated to explode!"
- Metaphorgotten: "Run it up the flagpole and see if it's a flag!"
- Musical Episode: While all three main cast members are prone to randomly bursting into song, episode 21 "The Miserables" is a compilation of all the various musical numbers from the show.
- No Indoor Voice: Brak, especially compared to Zorak.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Space Ghost is accompanied by Zorak, a mantis, and Brak, a tiki-headed cat...thing.
- Pun:
Brak: Hey Zorak, why do seagulls fly over the sea?
Zorak: I'll bite; why?
Brak: 'Cause if they flew over the bay, they'd be baygulls!
- Retool: The 2012 Revival. Space Ghost is no longer present, no cartoons pre-1990 are shown, and the skits and musical numbers no longer use Stock Footage.
- Running Gag: Zorak getting blasted by Space Ghost's power bands.
- Shout Out: A skit paroding the movie Aliens, where Zorak said that his tummy hurts, and Space Ghost continuously said "I want my mommy". The skit ended when Brak said, "Hey, let me know if an alien's gonna pop out of ya' stomach. 'Cause, you, know, I wanna be long gone when that happens.".
- Spin-Off: From Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
- Spoof Aesop: "There's an old arcadian proverb that says: You can lead a horse to prune juice, but you can't make him drink it. Nor would you want to."
- Squeaky Eyes: Zorak's eye blink sound.
- Stock Footage: From countless cartoons and shows, including the original Space Ghost, Ultra Seven, and The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley.
- Surreal Humor
- Talkative Loon: Brak again.
- Thanking The Viewer: After the Closing Credits, complete with a "See You Soon."
- Vanity Plate: Displayed the closing tag for Ghost Planet Industries, before it took on its current name, Williams Street.
- Western Zodiac: Featured/parodied in Zorak's "Horrorscopes".
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