Cartoon Planet
"Cartoon Planet" logo for TBS.
Genre	Animated
Running time	approx 60 Minutes (1995-1997) / approx 30 Minutes (1996-1999)
Creator(s)	Keith Crofford and Mike Lazzo
Starring	George Lowe C. Martin Croker Andy Merrill
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	Cartoon Network
Original run	1995–2005
No. of episodes	22 (re-packaged)

Cartoon Planet was an animated variety show that premiered in 1995 on Superstation TBS, and afterwards from 1996 to 1999 on Cartoon Network. A spin-off of the successful Space Ghost: Coast to Coast talk show, the premise was that Space Ghost had recruited his imprisoned archnemesis Zorak and the then virtually-unknown Brak to assist him in hosting a variety show. Image File history File links Cartplan. ... An animated series or cartoon series is a television series produced by means of animation. ... Keith Crofford is the vice president of Adult Swim, the adult-oriented block of programming on Cartoon Network. ... Sources Wired 12. ... George Lowe is an American voice actor. ... Clay Martin Croker is an American voice actor. ... Andy Merrill (born November 27, 1966 in Newark, Ohio) is a voice actor. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... TBS also stands for Tokyo Broadcasting System, a Japanese television network. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. ... Space Ghost at his desk Space Ghost: Coast to Coast is a spoof talk show on the cable TV channel, Cartoon Network. ... The title card from an episode of Space Ghost Space Ghost was one-half of the animated television series Space Ghost and emo Boy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions; it first aired on September 10, 1966 on CBS. In the series, the hero, Space Ghost, battled villains in outer space. ... Zorak is a cartoon character and former villain who first appeared in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost. ... Cover of The Brak Show DVD The Brak Show is one of Cartoon Networks 15-minute animated series that airs during Adult Swim. ...

It originally began in an hour-long format, and included entire cartoons from Ted Turner's film library, including old theatrical shorts, and Hanna-Barbera produced action shorts, including original 1960s Space Ghost episodes. Eventually, it was repackaged into 22 half-hour "episodes" which retained clips from cartoons that were used in the various skits, but omitted the entire cartoons that were formerly shown. Ted Turner Robert Edward Ted Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. ... Cartoon Network Studios, formerly known as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The title card from an episode of Space Ghost Space Ghost was one-half of the animated television series Space Ghost and emo Boy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions; it first aired on September 10, 1966 on CBS. In the series, the hero, Space Ghost, battled villains in outer space. ... Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes, or sketches, commonly between one and ten minutes long. ...

Show production

The dancing "Cartoon Planet" mascot/logo.

Cartoon Planet guised itself almost like a hokey after-school show: the clichéd "mailbag", in which Space Ghost displayed difficulty with reading; classic cartoon interludes; and strange conversations among the hosts. The humor was a toned-down version of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, but still bizarre, such as when the cast would break out into song with strangely edited music videos. These songs spawned three soundtrack albums: Modern Music for Swinging Superheroes in 1996 (a non-commercial promotional album, now out of print) Space Ghost's Musical Bar-B-Que: Featuring 25 Hickory-Smoked Harmonies in 1997, and Space Ghost's Surf & Turf: With 22 Tiki-Torched Tunes (both commercial albums published by Rhino Entertainment) in 1998. The latter two albums contained much of the material from the first album, along with several new tracks. The albums consisted of songs and dialogue skits with new background music not used in the show. Image File history File links Planetman. ... Image File history File links Planetman. ... Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label. ...

Zorak

Regular segments featured on the show included Brak's School Daze, Zorak's Horror Scopes, Poet's Corner, Brak's Monday Ratings Report, The Top 5 Cartoon Countdown (discontinued in 1997 after the show's slot on Saturday mornings was shortened from an hour to a half hour), Vacation Spots Around the Universe (pieced together from clips of Ultra 7 episodes), Messages from Outer Space (also pieced together from the aforementioned Ultra 7, and starring the nefarious Hot Dog Men), Mailbag Day, readings from the Cartoon Planet Storybook, messages from Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty's local access horror movie host from SCTV; the segments were originally shown on Hanna-Barbera's The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley), Learning to Talk Italian, Nuggets of Joy from Zorak, Zorak's Helpful Hints, and Cooking with Brak. Image File history File links Zorak2. ... Image File history File links Zorak2. ... Ultra Seven (ウルトラセブン - Urutora Sebun) is a fictional superhero featured in tokusatsu TV shows. ... Count Floyd Count Floyd is a TV character played by comic actor Joe Flaherty. ... Joe Flaherty Joe Flaherty (June 21, 1941) is an American Jewish Canadian comedian. ... SCTV can refer to a number of things, including the following: SCTV (Indonesia) from Surya Citra Television, headquartered in Indonesia. ... SCTV DVD cover, showing Ed Grimley (second from right-top) Edward Mayhoff Ed Grimley was a character introduced on the television series SCTV and later used in Saturday Night Live. ...

Clips of numerous cartoons from the Turner library would often pop up spontaneously during the various segments of the show, especially during the music videos. These included (but are certainly not limited to) Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Tex Avery cartoons, early Looney Tunes shorts, Two Stupid Dogs (Cubby making a cameo in one segment when Brak asks if there are any questions from the audience), shorts from the What a Cartoon Show (including the pilot for Dexter's Laboratory among others), The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and other classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Turner Broadcasting System logo The Turner Broadcasting System (often abbreviated to Turner or TBS) is the company managing the collection of cable networks and properties started by Ted Turner from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s. ... Tom and Jerry may refer to: Tom and Jerry are the main characters in Life in London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom by Pierce Egan Tom and Jerry (MGM), a series of theatrical animated cartoons produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, featuring a... A Popeye comic book cover shows Popeye, with his characteristic corncob pipe and single good eye, and his girlfriend Olive Oyl. ... Frederick Bean Fred/Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during the Golden Age of Hollywood. ... Looney Tunes opening title Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ... 2 Stupid Dogs was a short-lived US animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that ran from September 1993 to January 1995. ... What-A-Cartoon!, also known as World Premiere Toons or WAC for short, was the mid-1990s animation showcase that appeared on the Cartoon Network. ... Dexters Laboratory (Dexters Lab for short) was an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. ... The Flintstones, an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, is one of the most successful animated television series of all time. ... The Jetsons was a prime-time American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. ... Cartoon Network Studios, formerly known as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ...

On the Brak SHow Volume One there is a "best of" episode. This episode only contains the "in studio" footage.

Characters

• Space Ghost was the host, retaining the same personality as on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.

• Zorak was very cynical and resentful of his imprisonment and the resulting humilation of having to participate in such a silly show. He dispises Space Ghost

• Brak, by contrast, had a personality somewhere between childlike and stupid. (His loss of intelligence since the 1960s was explained as the result of radiation incurred when his ship drifted through the "Pirranhamyte Nebula" in one of the original episodes.)

Both Zorak and Brak were former members of the Council of Doom, a team of villains from the original Space Ghost action cartoon, and served as comic foils to Space Ghost. The title card from an episode of Space Ghost Space Ghost was one-half of the animated television series Space Ghost and emo Boy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions; it first aired on September 10, 1966 on CBS. In the series, the hero, Space Ghost, battled villains in outer space. ... The use of a character who, by contrast, brings out the comic qualities of another character (or of other characters). ...

Broadcast history

The show originally ran from 1995 to 1999. From September 24 to October 28, 2005, Cartoon Network briefly revived the show on its Adult Swim block, where it ran at 5:30 in the morning Eastern time. The series ran again on Adult Swim from July 8 to October 29, 2006 on Sunday mornings at 5:30 Eastern. September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years). ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... The Adult Swim logo Adult Swim, usually rendered [adult swim] on bumps, is the name for the adult-oriented television programming block on Cartoon Network in the United States and Australia, and Bravo in the United Kingdom, featuring absurdist and often ribald comedy in contrast to the more tame daytime... July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining. ... October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Opening title lyrics

Originally, Cartoon Planet opened with the principle characters supposedly explaining in song how the show came to be:

Space Ghost: One day I bumped into this big shot TV guy I know.

He said, "I'm really desperate. Would you like to host a show?"

I says, "I'm kind of busy here, saving the world from crime,

But if the money's right then buddy show me where to sign."

Zorak: Show him where to sign.

Space Ghost: I knew I'd need some co-hosts, or I would surely fail.

I remembered I had Brak and Zorak locked up in my jail.

Brak: Hello!

Space Ghost: I told them all about the show they were happy as can be.

Zorak: Yeah right.

Space Ghost: The show was Cartoon Planet and the rest is history.

Brak: Ree-ree-ree-ree-ree.

Space Ghost: Cartoon Planet starring me.

Zorak: And me.

Brak: And me.

For the closing credits a TMBG song, "The End of the Tour", was used.

When the show was repackaged in half hour format, the show opened to Andy Merrill, dressed in a Space Ghost costume, dancing, posing or otherwise performing as an instrumental version of the They Might Be Giants song "No One Knows My Plan" played and the Cartoon Planet title logo shrank and faded into the background. They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is an American alternative rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as the two Johns or John and John. Known for their experimental pop music, they have been popular on college campuses and earned a reputation for intellectual...

The closing sequence of this version featured Brak alone, singing mostly scat or other nonsense lyrics to the same tune as the opening, though at one point Brak adapts a snatch of the closing theme song of The Beverly Hillbillies, replacing a reference to Jed Clampett with a reference to Zorak. Scat singing is vocalizing either wordlessly or with nonsense words and syllables as employed by jazz singers who create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using only the voice. ... The Beverly Hillbillies was a TV sitcom about a hillbilly family living in Southern California in the 1960s. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Cartoon Planet

• Episode Guide at Brak's Scrapbook