Toonsylvania facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Steven Spielberg presents Toonsylvania
Title card
Genre	Cartoon series
Created by	Bill Kopp Chris Otsuki
Written by	Bill Kopp Mike Peters Karl Teorge Chris Otsuki Vinny Montello Steve Ochs Martin Olson Keith Baxter Paul Rugg Russell Bell Pete Cunningham Kate Donahue Scott Kreamer Ken Segall
Directed by	Jeff DeGrandis Rich Arons Dave Marshall Charlie Bean
Starring	David Warner Wayne Knight Brad Garrett
Voices of	Nancy Cartwright Matt Frewer Jess Harnell Jonathan Harris Tom Kenny Valery Pappas Paul Rugg Kath Soucie Billy West
Theme music composer	Julie Bernstein Steven Bernstein Paul Rugg
Composer(s)	Michael Tavera John Given Christopher Klatman Thom Sharp Carl Johnson Nathan Wang Christopher Neil Nelson Gordon Goodwin Cameron Patrick Jonathan Green Charles Fernandez Billy Martin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21 (whole) 82 (segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bill Kopp Rich Arons Steven Spielberg
Producer(s)	Jeff DeGrandis
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	DreamWorks Television Animation
Distributor	DreamWorks Television
Release
Original network	Fox Kids
Picture format	1:33.1
Audio format	Dolby
Original release	February 7, 1998 (1998-02-07) – January 18, 1999 (1999-01-18)

Toonsylvania is an animated television series, which ran for two seasons in 1998 on the Fox Kids Network block (usually placed in a block called "The No Yell Motel" that contained other scary kids shows such as Goosebumps and Eerie, Indiana) in its first season, then was moved to Monday afternoons from September 14, 1998 until January 18, 1999, when it was cancelled. It was executive produced in part by Steven Spielberg, as DreamWorks' first animated series.

The show had recurring cartoon series that appeared in each episode. (Unlike Animaniacs, Toonsylvania did not have a wide range of characters and almost every episode had the same content.) The main segments were "Frankenstein", "Night of the Living Fred", "Attack of the Killer B Movies" and "Melissa Screetch".

Plot summary

A typical episode of Toonsylvania starts with a cartoon series called "Frankenstein" (a parody of Mary Shelley's novel of the same name), about the adventures of Dr. Vic Frankenstein (voiced by David Warner), his assistant Igor (voiced by Wayne Knight) who always sets out to prove that he is a genius like his master, and their dim-witted Frankenstein Monster known as Phil (voiced by Brad Garrett). Before the second cartoon, there is an animated vignette where Igor is on the couch with Phil and tries to fix the TV remote, but in every episode there is a new problem with it (a running gag akin to the couch gags seen on The Simpsons).

After that, there is a cartoon series called "Night of the Living Fred", about a family of zombies. This segment was created by cartoonist Mike Peters. Sometimes, a parody of a B-list horror movie would air instead of a "Night of the Living Fred" cartoon.

After that, there is a short segment called "Igor's Science Minute", where Igor gives a science lesson (be it a musical piece or a spoken piece) that always ends in disaster.

The final segment is "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals", where Phil the Frankenstein Monster does something bad and Igor punishes him by reading a horror tale involving a bratty girl named Melissa Screetch (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) who does not heed the warnings of adults (usually given by her mother) and suffers the consequences for it one way or another.

Second season changes

In season two, Bill Kopp and Jeff DeGrandis left the show and were replaced by Paul Rugg. The series' format changed into more of a sitcom style, with Igor, Dr. Vic Frankenstein and Phil interacting with a variety of new characters, including a snooping next-door neighbor Seth Tuber (voiced by Jonathan Harris), who was based on Norman Bates from Psycho. He interacted with his "immobile" mother by putting his hand over his mouth and talking into it. There was also a typical Transylvanian angry mob that was, in fact, a cheerful group of Beatles-esque hipsters. Most of these new characters were voiced by Paul Rugg, who also improvised many of their lines.

The only other backup segments to re-materialize in season two were the B-movie parodies (though some episodes of "Night of the Living Fred" aired) and Melissa Screetch in a new segment called "The Melissa Screetch Show". Whenever Melissa was disappointed with a friend or a family member, she would go home and cover herself under her bed sheets where she pretended to host a show. She then had her transgressor on as a guest star and often did away with them in an ironic manner.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (1998)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Music

The music for the series was written by Michael Tavera, Keith Baxter, Christopher Neal Nelson, John Paul Given, Christopher Klatman and Thom Sharp. The main title song was written by Steve Bernstein and Julie Bernstein with lyrics by Paul Rugg.

Cast

• David Warner – Dr. Vic Frankenstein
• Wayne Knight – Igor, Igor's reflection
• Brad Garrett – Phil, Bunny Wunny (on "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals: Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador"), various
• Nancy Cartwright – Melissa Screetch ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" and "The Melissa Screetch Show" segments)
• Matt Frewer – Dedgar Deadman (season one)
• Jess Harnell – Dedgar Deadman (season two), Wink Dracula (on "Love Hurts"), Johnny Vermin (on "A Kiss Before Dying"), Igor's singing voice (on "Igor's Science Minute: The Periodic Table"), various
• Jonathan Harris – Seth Tuber (season two)
• Tom Kenny – Ace Deuce, various
• Valery Pappas – Stiffany Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Melissa Screetch's mother ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" segments), various
• Paul Rugg – Seth Tuber's mom (season two)
• Kath Soucie – Ashley Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Kyle Screetch ("Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" segments)
• Billy West – Fred Deadman ("Night of the Living Fred" segments), Newark (from the "B-movie" parodies), Toy Store Clerk/Mall Clerk (on "Darla Doiley: Demon Doll" and "Spawn of Santa"), Dr. Earl Schwartzberg ("Built For Speed"), various

• Charlie Adler – Customer (on "Darla Doiley: Demon Doll"), Dr. Vic's grandmother (on "WereGranny"), various
• Jocelyn Blue – Mama Bear, Gertrude (on "Family Plot")
• Corey Burton – Death (on the episode "Doom With a View"), Debbie the bank robber (on the episode "Spawn of Santa")
• Cam Clarke – Various
• Jim Cummings – Army general ("B-movie" segments), Santa Claus (on "Spawn of Santa"), Coach (on "Night of the Living Fred"), various
• Sandy Fox – Darla Doiley, Baby Bear, various
• Bill Kopp – various
• April Winchell – Liz (on "Love Hurts")

Crew

• Bill Kopp – Executive Producer, Writer ("B-Movie"), Creator, Voice Director
• Jeff DeGrandis – Producer, Director
• Steven Spielberg – Executive Producer
• Keith Baxter – Writer ("The Inferior Decorator"; also credited for lyrics for musical episodes of "Igor's Science Minute" and co-credited with Christopher Neil Nelson for music in "Igor's Science Minute")
• Lee Mendelson – Creative Consultant ("Night of the Living Fred")
• Vinny Montello – Writer (all episodes co-written with Steve Ochs unless otherwise noted):
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "The Importance of Being Urnie"
  • "Attack of the Iguana People"
  • "Built for Speed" [teleplay; story is credited to Frank Santopadre]
  • "Doom with a View"
  • "Love Hurts" [with additional writing credits to Bill Kopp]
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "Mall for One and One for Mall" [with additional writing credit to Mike Peters]
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "Dead Hard" [with additional writing credit to Bill Kopp]
  • "WereGranny"
• Steve Ochs – Writer (all episodes co-written with Vinny Montello unless otherwise noted):
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "The Importance of Being Urnie"
  • "Attack of the Iguana People"
  • "Built for Speed" [teleplay; story is credited to Frank Santopadre]
  • "Doom with a View"
  • "Love Hurts" [with additional writing credit to Bill Kopp]
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "Mall for One and One for Mall" [with additional writing credit to Mike Peters]
  • "Night of the Living Fred": "Dead Hard" [with additional writing credit to Bill Kopp]
  • "WereGranny"
• Martin Olson – Writer ("Spawn of Santa", "Phil Feel Smart", "Family Plot", "Night of the Living Fred: A Zombie is Born" [co-written by Mike Peters], "Phil's Brain", "Night of the Living Fred: Jurassic Putt", and "Night of the Living Fred: Bang!")
• Chris Otsuki – Creator ("Melissa Screetch"), Writer ("Igor's Science Minute" and "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals")
• Mike Peters – Creator ("Night of the Living Fred"), Writer ("Night of the Living Fred": "Football...and Other Body Parts", "A Kiss Before Dying" [co-written with Tracy Peters], "A Zombie is Born" [co-written with Martin Olson], and "Mall for One and One For Mall" [co-written by Vinny Montello and Steve Ochs])
• Karl Teorge – Writer ("Night of the Living Fred: Football...and Other Body Parts", co-written with Mike Peters)

Home video

On August 31, 1999, a VHS cassette of Toonsylvania was released, which contained selected episodes and was released with the season two opening (though all of the episodes were from season one). The episodes seen were "Darla Doiley, Demon Doll", "Voodoo Vacation", "Baby Human", "Dead Dog Day Afternoon", "Igor's Science Minute" ("Clone or Be Cloned", "The Brain", "Earthquake Boogie", and "Gravity and the Eiffel Tower"), "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals" ("The Boogeyman", "Stop Making Ugly Faces", "Here There be Monsters", and "Melissa Screetch: Earth Ambassador"), "Phil's Brain", "Football...and Other Body Parts", "Bang!", and "WereGranny".

Video game

A Toonsylvania video game was developed by RFX Interactive and released by Light & Shadow Production and Ubi Soft for the Game Boy Color in 2000.

Merchandise

Toonsylvania action figures and playsets were developed by Pangea Corporation and released by Toy Island. Burger King distributed toys based on Toonsylvania in their kids' meals for a short period of time.