Category Beyond the Background

Beyond the Background: Stereo, The Rejected Space Goof

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It’s time for another installment of Beyond the Background, where the lesser known, less celebrated, discarded and ignored characters finally get their moment in the spotlight.

Remember Space Goofs? For the uninformed, Space Goofs (also known as Home to Rent in the UK, Les Zinzins de l’espace in France and Quebec, Ein Heim für Aliens in Germany and Stupid Invaders internationally) was a French/German/American animated series produced by Gaumont Multimedia, and Xilam for France 3 that first aired in 1997. It also debuted at the same year in Germany on ProSieben. It also aired in Quebec, on Télétoon. In the UK, the 1st season premiered on Channel 4 under the name Home to Rent and the 2nd season premiered under its original moniker on Nicktoons UK on 5 November 2005 at 9:30 a.m. It also aired as part of the Fox Kids lineup on Fox in the United States.

The premise was simple: 5 colorful, silly looking aliens from the planet Zigma B crash into an asteroid while on an intergalactic picnic and crash land on Earth, where they take up residence in an empty house for rent. The aliens have two goals: Return to their home planet and chase away anybody who tries to move into the house, and wackiness ensued. The 5 E.T.s consisted of Etno Polino, Bud Budiovitch, Candy Caramella, Gorgious Klatoo and the subject of today’s article, Stereo Monovici.

He’s 2, 2, 2 Goofs in 1!
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The show’s theme song was performed by rock legend Iggy Pop. Now, there’s some musical cred.

Each Space Goof had his own unique color and personality: purple alien Etno was the leader and brains of the team, a scientific genius who invented useful devices (you could tell he was really smart because he spoke with a James Mason sound-alike voice which was provided by Maurice “The Brain” LaMarche), orange alien Bud was the glassy-eyed, brain-addled TV addict, fat blue alien Gorgious (named after his penchant for gorging himself, not for his looks) was the loud, loutish, bullying, obnoxious glutton (sort of an interplanetary Eric Cartman), polka-dotted apron wearing green alien Candy was the prim, fussy, prissy, uptight neat-freak in touch with his feminine side, typically dressing up as a woman when the Goofs needed to go in disguise (Fun Trivia Fact: In the Latin American version of the show which aired on Jetix, Candy’s gender was switched to female). Stereo, the red alien, was the bookworm of the house, burying himself in books and boning up on facts, mainly dropping tons of useless information. Oh, and also he had 2 heads, which often argued with one another. The show ran for 2 seasons.

Afterward, the Fab Four and a Half appeared in an adventure game called Stupid Invaders (I love that title!), produced by Ubisoft, and more recently plans for a Stupid Invaders movie were announced. So far, all we’ve gotten of this movie is this trailer:


Did anyone notice something missing from that trailer? Something slightly askew? A missing component? Where was Stereo?? It seems that he/they was/were discarded by the show’s producers. Some theorized that Stereo was dropped because kids found him/them too scary. That was just a rumor, of course. Stereo is not scary, THIS is scary:

STRANGER DANGER! Kill it with fire!!!!
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No, the real reason for Stereo’s absence was because Stereo was removed from season two of the show because several viewers and even Xilam Studios described him as “a very weak character” and Stereo was removed from the series altogether in season two. Now, as a double-bodied oddity myself (I’m a twin, for those who don’t know), that burns my ass. Stereo was no weaker than any of the other characters on the show; trying to imagine Space Goofs/Stupid Invaders without “him” is like trying to imagine the Beatles without Ringo. Sure, Ringo has become famous for being the butt of jokes (including his own), but even if he was “just the drummer”, he’s still a Beatle, darn it, and you can’t imagine the band without him. Stereo’s the same way; “weak character” or not, he/they is/are still a Space Goof, he/they have been with the show since day 1, and with 1 Goof (or 2, depending on how one counts Stereo) missing it’s just not the same. Hopefully, whenever this movie gets made, the producers will listen to fans’ requests and bring Stereo back.
In the meantime, when asked about Stereo’s deletion, the other Space Goofs claim that while Stereo wouldn’t mind being reinstated, he’s not too upset about it, in fact, he’s found a new sense of inner peace and serenity ever since the ‘big event’. You see, after years of bickering, Stereo has finally found his “One”, and has recently joined in civil union…with himself.
 Stereo
  “I wish I knew how to quit me!”
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“ROBOT CHICKEN ALREADY DID THAT JOKE! ROBOT CHICKEN DID IT! ROBOT CHICKEN DID IT!”

Beyond The Background: Scooby’s Family Tree

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Welcome to another segment of Beyond the Background. All of us are familiar with Scooby Doo and his many television incarnations over the past 3 decades, so today, we’ll be looking at some of Scooby’s relatives who have appeared over the years, and I won’t be talking about this relative:

…And cue the angry mob.

Angry Mob

“BURN, BABY, BURN!!!”

Now that that’s out of the way, the reason why we’re not profiling Scrappy Doo is because Scrappy, whether you love him or hate him, is far too well known and prominent in the Scooby Doo universe to be profiled here. Instead, we’ll be looking back at some of Scooby Doo’s relatives who aren’t Scrappy.

First, there’s Scooby Dum. Scooby Dum is Scooby’s country cousin who first appeared on The Scooby Doo Show (ABC, 1976-1978) who’s chief trait is, wait for it, acting stupid! Dum lives with Ma and Pa Skillet, in the Okefenokee swamp of southern Georgia. He appeared in a couple of episodes of the show, and was added as a teammate of the Scooby Doobies team of Laff-A-Lympics. After Laff ended after 2 seasons, Scooby Dum retired from show business and sought out the help of a speech therapist to cure him of his habit of punctuating his every sentence with the ejaculation “Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum!”

“Yep. That there doctor fella sure did the trick! He threw a real heavy book at my head and said ‘Cut it out, ya freak!’ He’s a genius!”
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Next, there’s Scooby Dee, a distant cousin of Scooby Doo who first appeared  in the episode “Chiller Diller Movie Theater” and also has a couple of cameo appearances in the second season episode of What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, “Homeward Hound”, where she is one of many dogs seen at the dog show the gang is attending. She is seen walking past the screen in two separate scenes in the beginning. Scooby-Dee was meant to return to The Scooby-Doo Show as a girlfriend to Scooby-Doo, but the show ended before that could happen. Scooby Dee had no other performances other than a certain video tape that’s been circulating in the cartoon underground which features Dee partaking in a game of “fetch” with H-B veteran Doggie Daddy.

“You thought that Auggie Doggie didn’t have a mother? Doggie Daddy knows who Mama is! What happens in the dog house stays in the dog house!”

Next, there’s Yabba Doo, another cousin of Scooby’s who appeared in a recurring segment titled Scrappy and Yabba Doo on Scooby’s SatAM show for a single season.  His adventures took place out west, where he fought crime with his master, a bumbling deputy named Deputy Dusty, and his enthusiastic nephew Scrappy-Doo. In contrast to Scooby’s catchphrase of “Scooby-Dooby-Doo!”, Yabba’s was “Yippity-Yabbity-Doo!” (and not “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”).

“The ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’ catchphrase is copyrighted. Anyone who tries to steal it gets a meeting with Fred’s big wooden club!”
 
Yabba Doo and Dusty
Yabba Doo: Nope. Hanna-Barbera never called us again, but we ain’t bitter. Isn’t that right, Dusty?
Dusty: I don’t live with my mother! Oh, sorry, what was the question?
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Finally, there’s Dooby Doo, another one of Scooby’s extended relatives who is a lounge singer. He appeared in one episode of The New Scooby Doo Mysteries titled “The Dooby Doo Ado”. Currently, Dooby Doo is still working the lounge circuit as an opening act for an Elvis impersonator.
dooby-doo
“Eventually, I hope to hit it big and open for a Frank Sinatra impersonator.”
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So there you have it. A few of Scooby’s relatives who never quite reached the level of stardom as the Great Dane himself.

scooby-doo-clipart

“In case you were wondering what Scrappy is doing now, he’s back with his mom. I finally had to tell my sis Ruby Doo to get off her tail and do some parenting! The Scoobster is nobody’s full time nanny! Oh, and, ROOBY-ROOBY DOO!”

Beyond the Background: Rick Raccoon, The Forgotten Shirt Tale

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Welcome to a new segment on Twinsanity titled Beyond the Background, where we give obscure, forgotten or less celebrated characters a moment in the spotlight. In this edition, we’ll be going back to Saturday mornings in the 1980s. Do you remember the Shirt Tales? In case you don’t, the Shirt Tales was a SatAM cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera that ran from 1982 to 1984 and was based on characters from a line of popular greeting cards, not unlike the Care Bears. In fact, the Shirt Tales were quite a bit like the Care Bears, except that the Shirt Tales all wore T-shirts with cutesy messages on them instead of having symbols on their stomachs and the Shirt Tales used high tech to right wrongs and help kids and animals with their personal problems instead of using magic and sappy songs. Fans of the Shirt Tales cartoon undoubtedly remember the main team’s various members: Pammy Panda, Bogey the Orangutan, Tyg Tiger (with his signature “TOING!”- Seriously, what was up with that anyway?) and Digger Mole, but there’s 1 member of the team who seems to have slipped from some fans’ memories. I’m talking about the one time leader of the main Shirt Tales Rick Raccoon.

rick-raccoon-shirt-tales-3.74

“Remember me? The creators of Robot Chicken obviously don’t!”
 
During the shows’ first season, the Shirt Tales were like a well oiled machine. Tyg provided the muscle. Digger had his talent for, well, digging. Bogey provided the Humphrey Bogart impression shtick and Pammy provided the femininity. Rick, meanwhile, was the brains. The team leader, and also the only one permitted to drive the Shirt Tales Super Sonic Transport (STSST).

But between season 1 and season 2,something happened. In the shows’ 2nd (and last) season, Rick suddenly went from being the acknowledged leader of the team to having almost nothing to do. He was even forced to hand over the keys to the STSST. The leadership position was given to Pammy, while Tyg now drove the STSST. They would have let Pammy drive, but, you know, women drivers.

No official reason was ever given for Rick’s demotion. One source claims that between seasons, Rick was seen selling secrets to the Critter Sitters, but this is as yet unconfirmed.

During Shirt Tales’ season 2 episodes, Rick would usually have a very small role or be altogether missing. Rick’s friends, in an attempt to justify Rick’s still earning a paycheck to the higher-ups, tried to find things for him to do him to do, such as monitoring the team’s  missions, but Rick spent most of his time chillaxing in the team’s tree house HQ watching that hot new cutting edge MTV channel (this was 1984, you have to remember) and getting fat off of walnuts.  The Shirt Tales were even forced to bring in a 6th member, Kip Kangaroo, claiming that they wanted a new member to train and to pave the way for future generations, but actually, they just need someone else to chip in for the rent.

Kip Kangaroo

“Rent?!? Hey, man, no one told me about this! I’m just an intern!”
 
After the series ended, Rick tried to go freelance and head his own team, The Short Tales, just like the Shirt Tales, only they wore shorts, but this venture wasn’t nearly as successful. Somehow, people just weren’t keen on the idea of cute animals displaying messages across their asses. Of course, there’s always the chance that Rick can get his old job back if the Shirt Tales series is ever revived or rebooted. Hey, if Biker Mice From Mars can a reboot, anything’s possible!