Gravedale High
Gravedale High is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC Productions. The series premiered in the fall of 1990 on NBC and lasted thirteen episodes.
The show was developed as an animated vehicle for Moranis, building on his star appearances in the series of Ghostbusters and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film franchises.
Storyline
The show revolves around the misadventures of human teacher Max Schneider who has unwittingly taken a job at Gravedale High, a school for monsters, near the city of Midtown. Schneider, the only human in the school, presides over a group of ghoulish teenagers that are latest-generation versions of classic movie monsters.Most are either disruptive, uninterested, and/or unduly self-preoccupied in school, and the class is generally considered disreputable if not uncontrollable, the implication being Schneider was hired to teach the class because no monster teacher would take the job.
The actual "town" of Gravedale is occasionally seen and consists primarily of various cemeteries including the Eastside Cemetery and the Midtown Mausoleum. It can thus arguably be considered a "suburb" of Midtown, although few humans seem to know of its existence. In addition to the students' homes, it is known to include a doctor's office and a literal body shop where people can purchase parts to assemble monsters. The existence of a charitable organization known as the United Monster Fund indicates Gravedale is part of an entire monster subculture.
Characters
Main characters
- Maxwell Schneider - A human teacher in his late 30s to early 40s. Slight frame and very thin physique. Very much the grown up nerd and very proud of being a teacher who can make a difference. Dresses in a plain preppy business suit attire. He always wears a polka-dotted bow tie and thick dark horn-rimmed glasses, and he has wavy auburn hair and warm brown eyes. His personality is quirky but very steady ; friendly, fun, open-minded, and one of the hardest-working teachers on the Gravedale High staff. He'd be just like one of the monsters, if he wasn't already human. A dedicated instructor who truly cares for each of his students.
- Vinnie Stoker - A vampire who is a Fonz-esque version of Count Dracula. His name is an homage to Bram Stoker and the common habit in fiction of giving vampires names that begin with V. He dresses like a 1950s greaser and often arrives late to class, which stems more from his lack of interest in academia than nocturnal habits. This is source of much debate between Schneider and Vinnie, who spends a lot of his time keeping Vinnie's boots off his desk. Vinnie is lazy by nature, but will do "studious things" or hard work if it serves his best interest.
- Frankentyke - A child reminiscent of both Frankenstein's Monster and Bart Simpson. His short stature is the antithesis of the classic image of a hulking, frightening monster. As seen in Night of the Living Dad, his father is a human scientist who evidently created him; he apparently has no mother.
- Reggie Moonshroud - A geeky red-haired werewolf, Reggie is prone to shedding a great deal when nervous, and can sometimes howl, but overall has his emotions under control. As a nod to Richie Cunningham from Happy Days, he and the Fonz-like Vinnie are best friends, which was also a play on the show's antithesis of the classic monster movie genre, which often depicts werewolves and vampires as mortal enemies.
- J.P. Ghastly III - A wealthy blue-skinned gnome-like monster. Sid once referred to him as a "quirk." His monster classification is unidentified. There is a bit of rivalry between him and Vinnie.
- Gill Waterman - A lagoon creature and surfer dude. His name is a pun on both concepts, and he frequently uses, and overuses, surfer lingo. Best friends with Frankentyke. Gill likes to surf, idolizes famed surfer Kahuna Bob, and has a voracious appetite. As seen in Night of the Living Dad, Gil's parents dress in Southern aristocracy attire, but Mr. Waterman shares his son's fondness for surfer lingo.
- Cleofatra - An obese and somewhat nerdy mummy in contrast to the emaciated appearance generally associated with mummies. Her name is usually abbreviated as "Cleo." Best friends with Duzer. Cleofatra has a crush on TV monster celebrity Billy Headstone who is the star of the daytime soap opera "Trudy and the Beast".
- Sid - A student based on the Invisible Man. Sid is the class clown and does various impersonations, in contrast to the idea of the "invisible" one of the class being unnoticed. Oddly, Sid, like many cartoon anthropomorphic animals, apparently does not wear pants, unless his pants are invisible as the rest of his wardrobe is not. Sid's parents are also talented impersonators as seen in the episode "Night of the Living Dad."
- Blanche - A zombie Southern belle who loves to shop, making her a literal "mall zombie." Her name and personality comprise a pun on "blanche" as a synonym for "turn pale," 'carte blanche', and Blanche DuBois. Blanche frequently dates J.P., although it is implied she finds his money the most attractive trait. Blanche is a shopaholic who is frequently teased by her classmates about how many credit cards she's maxed out. She is a bit of a clothes horse. She does sew her own clothes and can cook, though she doesn't like domestic duties, her ambition being to marry the richest monster in the world; J.P.'s ambition, in turn, is to be the richest monster in the world.
- Duzer - A snake-haired gorgon Valley girl and parody of Medusa minus the petrifying gaze. Her response to anyone who annoys her is "Get a life!" which is ironic in that many Gravedale students and staff members are in fact already dead. She is very pretty, vain, competitive, bossy, and likes to be the center of attention with all the boys, particularly Vinnie, who she seems to have an unrequited crush on. In the first episode, Duzer replies that she can't do anything with her snake hair and Cleo offers to help her "get her hair ready for Vinnie." Duzer states that she doesn't have a crush on Vinnie Stoker. Frankentyke swipes her diary off her desk and reads out loud a passage about that reveals otherwise. Schneider enters the classroom just as Duzer gives chase and states that Frankentyke took her diary. Tyke throws the evidence out the window. Vinnie flies into the window with said diary and tries to read it before Duzer yells at him "If you read that, you're dead." Afterwards nothing was mentioned about the relationship in the animated series.
Other students
- Alpha-Mae Centauri - A centaur.
- Blobby - A student reminiscent of The Blob.
- Busby - A human fly.
- Elephant Boy - A literally elephant-like parody of the Elephant Man. He speaks with a cultured British accent. One of two students who seriously campaigned for Class President.
- Iggy - A hunchbacked student that resembles the stereotypical "Igor" type of mad scientist assistant. Iggy has a zipper along the length of his scalp implying he is both hunchback and a Frankenstein-type monster. He tends to forget his brain and is often scolded by Headmistress Crone for this.
- Moorehead - A Metaluna Mutant that is a student in Coach Cadaver's class.
- Nardo - A gargoyle jock who is Vinnie's rival in sports. He is also a student in Coach Cadaver's class.
- Natasha Neckinski - A vampire girl with a European accent in contrast to the thoroughly Americanized Vinnie.
- Rover - A dog-boy who speaks in a manner similar to Scooby-Doo.
- Seymour - A cyclops.
- Suey - A pig-girl. Like Elephant Boy, she seriously campaigned for Class President. The two performed a Romeo and Juliet-like recital at a talent show, suggesting they are dating.
Teachers
The bespectacled Mr. Schneider has his hands full with his new students, but he has Gravedale's spooky staff to help him out. Like Schneider, each teacher oversees a specific class of students. Gravedale High's staff include:- Headmistress Crone - The strict principal who runs the school with an iron albeit easily detachable left hand. As her name implies, she is a witch-like monster. Her grandfather Cretin Crone founded the school and later passed it on to his son Addlepate. She can be ruthless to trouble-making monsters and faculty who do not toe the line, but is generally an able administrator. Although Headmistress Crone considered herself taking a risk hiring a human teacher, she knew she made the right decision when Schneider disciplined the unruly "misfit" class and now works to give him support.
- * Clawford - Headmistress' Crone's undead cat who is periodically seen hunting and being outwitted by a hunchbacked rat called Belle.
- Boneyard - A lanky white-haired staff member dressed like an undertaker. He does various odd jobs at Gravedale High including bus driver, driver's ed teacher, and Gravedale Gazette printing press operator. He somewhat resembles the Tall Man from the Phantasm films and is a little reminiscent of Digby O'Dell from The Life of Riley.
- Coach Cadaver - A strict hot-headed zombie who works as a gym teacher. He is categorized by Crone as a "human-hater." Coach Cadaver dislikes Schneider's students as well as Schneider himself. His attitude is generally disliked by the Gravedale faculty as opposed to Schenider's easygoing demeanor.
- Miss Dirge - A teacher that resembles the Bride of Frankenstein. She shows a mild romantic interest in Schneider as she admits some monster women find human men attractive. Her name is a play on dirge or mournful funeral song.
- Chef Sal Monella - An unspecified monster that works as a chef in the school cafeteria. Sal takes pride in his filthy kitchen. His name is an obvious pun on salmonella.
- Mr. Tutner - A 5,000 year old mummy history teacher with bad breath who wears sunglasses, a coat, and a tie. Like Cleofatra, Mr. Tutner is pudgy, the opposite of mummies associated with sickliness and emaciation. He gets along well with Schneider and tried to compete for a charity fundraising award by attributing his long life to pyramid power as seen in "Monster Gumbo."
- Miss Webner - As the word "web" in her name suggests, she is a spider-woman having six arms and two legs.
Episodes
Cast
- Rick Moranis - Max Schneider
- Shari Belafonte - Blanche
- Eileen Brennan - Miss Dirge
- Georgia Brown - Headmistress Crone
- Tim Curry - Mr. Tutner
- Barry Gordon - Reggie Moonshroud, Seymour
- Sandra Gould - Miss Webner
- Jackie Earle Haley - Gill Waterman
- Ricki Lake - Cleofatra
- Maurice LaMarche - Sid, Chef Sal Monella
- Brock Peters - Boneyard
- Kimmy Robertson - Duzer
- Roger Rose - Vinnie Stoker
- Frank Welker - Frankentyke, J.P. Ghastly, Clawford, Elephant Boy, Rover, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- Jonathan Winters - Coach Cadaver
Additional voices
- Charlie Adler
- Lewis Arquette
- Susan Blu
- Sorrell Booke
- Pat Buttram
- Ruth Buzzi
- Hamilton Camp - Tucker
- Dena Dietrich
- Joan Gerber
- Phil Hartman - Billy Headstone
- David Lander
- Mitzi McCall
- Edie McClurg
- Tom McHugh
- Howard Morris
- Robert Ridgely
- Richard Sanders
- Russi Taylor
- B.J. Ward
- William Woodson - Judge Killjoy
Crew
- Gordon Hunt - Recording Director
- Jamie Thomason - Talent Coordinator
- Kris Zimmerman - Animation Casting Director