Customer Reviews

Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Volume One

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast seems to be an acquired taste, with silly and dry wit that I find quite palatable. It's theme is a very bad talk show which Space Ghost hosts, along with his old enemies Zorak, Brak, and Moltar.

Back in 1966, Space Ghost was a real cartoon (that I used to watch) that aired for 2 years, only 42 episodes, but introduced many of the characters that show up on Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast; like Gloop and Gleep, Lokar, and Jace & Jan in this first release on DVD.

It was cheesy back then, and SGCTC takes cheese to a whole new level. SG is the worst talk show host ever, asking most guests if they have enough oxygen and what their superpowers are. The guests are real, appearing on a TV screen in SG's "set". Some of the guests, like Hulk Hogan, Terry Jones, Sandra Bernhard, and Carol Channing (to name only a few) seem to have a good time with the odd interview setup. Others show obvious discomfort at what the show will do with their words, like Donny Osmond, David Byrne, and especially guitarist Slash.

In between interviews, SG gets into childish arguments with Zorak, and some pretty silly things happen. If you like oddball humor like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Beavis & Butthead, you will probably like SPCTC. Here is a quick mention of what you will find on these first sixteen episodes.

Disc One:

Elevator - guests Judy Tenuta, Timothy Leary, and very briefly Ashley Judd. This first episode is the worst of the lot, they seemed to be feeling around for how to make this quirky idea work.

Spanish Translation - guests Susan Powter, Kevin Meany, and briefly The Bee-Gees. Funny lines, (SP) "I have many super powers and a colossal bulk that frightens evil villains!" and (Kevin) "Walking around the universe with tight pants on, it's not right!" Plus, there is an advertisement for 'Zorak and Moltar Sing Your Favorite Lullabies.' Hilarious!

Gilligan - guests Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, and Russell Johnson. This is the episode Zorak announces, "I am the lone locust of the apocalypse, think of me when you look to the night sky!" and SP confronts Moltar, and tells him, "Prepare your heinie for another blast from the spank ray!"

CHiPS - guests Joe Franklin and Bill Carter. SP discusses late night talk shows. Funny line, to Bill Carter regarding Zorak; "Have you ever seen evil so personified as you do in his skeletal shell?" Joe Franklin and SP have a very funny introductory exchange.

Bobcat - guests Bobcat Goldthwait and The Ramones. Bobcat is hilarious in his interview, bringing up things like, "Barney's gonna make more kids snap than bugs bunny." and musing about ending world violence for a half an hour by using a ball peen hammer on the cast of Blossom. This is also the episode we find out SP's real name is Tad Ghostal.

Punch - guests Cindy Guyer, Jerky Boys, and Dian Parkinson. Zorak wants to hear about Dian's affair, and SP says, "The Fair! I love fairs! Lights, pony rides, cotton candy, Lobster Boy..."

Banjo - guests Schooly D and Weird Al Yankovic. SP grows Sea Monkeys and names one Banjo. Zorak has a book of incantations and takes over SP's mind.

Batmantis - guests Adam West, Lee Merriwether, and Eartha Kitt. This is a great episode, one of my favorites, in which Zorak turns into Batmantis, declaring to everyone, "I shiver with power, I ache with disease, I am Batmantis."
At the end, they have a bake sale, in which Moltar announces, "I hate oatmeal cookies, they make me go."
The guests are relaxed and seem to have fun with their interviews.

Story Book House - very feeble episode in which Kirk The Storyteller and Carl The Cartoonist read and draw previously watched episodes. Skip this one.

Disc Two:

Girlie Show - guests Fran Drescher, Carol Channing, and Alice Cooper. SP does a tribute to women, falls in love with Fran, and is shocked that Alice is not a woman. Gloop and Gleep make a brief appearance. This episode is one of my favorites.

Hungry - guests Michael Stipe, Lassie, and Sirajul & Mujibur. Space Ghost is "Hungry like a muscled up GIJoe fresh from the chopper!" so they order a pizza with sun-bloated Orange Roughy topping. Zorak brings his nephew on the show, and Space Ghost thinks he's an action figure, and tells Zorak "You'd better slap a muzzle on that scaled down piece of evil!" Zorak devours his nephew.

Fire Drill - guests David Byrne and Donny Osmond. Zorak and SP get off on saying "Your bringing me down, man!" Both guests were uncomfortable doing the interview, which made the show even funnier.

Sleeper - guests Hulk Hogan and Slash. Hilarious episode, Hulk is very at home with his interview, and Slash actually talks to someone off camera about getting out of the interview. At the beginning, SP, Zorak, and Moltar are sitting in the cafeteria making up Haiku poems.

Jerk - guests "regular guy" Palmer Mills and Sandra Bernhard. Funny episode in which SP decides to take calls on the set, and use a live audience, who winds out being entirely made up of Zorak's relatives. One of the calls is from SP evil twin Chad, and Zorak makes a brief appearance. Brak introduces the show. My favorite part is when SP tells a telemarketer to "Blow off, wage slave!"

Urges - guests Catherine Bach and Matthew Sweet. It's mantis mating season, and while Zorak watches the locust channel, Moltar watches the lava channel. Zorak winds out "digging on a dude", which saves him from being eaten by a female.

Explode - guests Terry Jones and Glen Phillips. Very funny episode with lots of Monty Python humor, including a spicy "Spam" interlude. SP announces, "I am beefy tonight, very beefy indeed." Terry Jones is hilarious.

That's it, a rundown on each episode. The commentaries are not much, rather boring actually; but at the end of Disc Two is a very funny "Jingle Bells" performed by Zorak. Brak isn't on the show in these episodes, only making a couple of short appearances. If you like odd humor, or watched the show on Cartoon Network and liked it, then you should buy this collection. If you are unsure, probably rent it first because this humor is not for everyone. I, however, totally love it. Enjoy!

First of all, I love the episodes on this DVD. Some of the guests are game and hilarious (Wierd Al, Terry Jones), others appear confused by the whole experience (David Byrne, Adam West), while others seem just plain aggravated (Alice Cooper, Donnie Osmond). Oddly enough, the show works on all these levels. My favorite episodes have to be the Batman and Gilligan episodes, which feature stars of the respective TV shows. It's a lot of fun watching their reactions to SG's inane questions. The animosity between Space Ghost, Moltar, and Zorak is hilarious as well.

The absence of six episodes does hurt the DVD a bit. The whole thing seemed a little light for a two-disc set. I also found the commentaries somewhat awful. It sounds like six people all trying to talk at the same time. Aside from some artwork, there are really no extras here (a Zorak music video is from an episode that should have been included anyway). I would have liked to see more about how the show is actually created and how the interviews actually work.

But the real meat here is the show itself, and what is here is top-notch. Both fans and the uninitiated will enjoy this disk.

I have loved Space Ghost Coast to Coast from the very beginning. Watching the pompous and pretentious ego of Space Ghost constantly being pummeled by Moltar and Zorak, all the while being intellectually outwitted by his guests (including even Bob Denver) is an absolute joy to those of us that hate the inanity of modern talk shows. Taken as a whole, the different personas on Space Ghost Coast to Coast synergistically combine to produce the simultaneously best and worst talk show in history.

The episodes for this DVD set were carefully picked, and contain some of the greatest moments in talk show history. Among my favorites are: 'Batmantis', in which Zorak dresses as a superhero and the Ghost interviews two former Catwomen from the old "Batman" TV show; 'Birthday', where the Ramones torment Space Ghost by eating his cake; and 'Bobcat', in which Bobcat Goldthwaite unsubtly betters the Ghost.

As for weaknesses, the DVD set has few. I personally would have liked to have seen more Brak, but that's just personal taste. The only really glaring issue with the set is the lack of extras. There are episode commentaries on a couple of the episodes, which are great, but that's about it. Still all in all this is a DVD set that no lover of Space Ghost or lunacy in general should be without. I anxiously await future volumes.

While Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a great show, this DVD is just plain disappointing. Missing are 6 episodes from the first two seasons. In my opinion, all of these ridiculous "Volume" DVDs should be boycotted by all fans. When you are a diehard fan of a show, you want all the episodes, not just some of them. Hold out on this DVD, perhaps Cartoon Network will release "Season" DVDs (the same thing happened with the "Friends" DVDs: came out with a volume, then seasons). This DVD is a waste of money.

What if the Tonight Show were hosted by a washed-up superhero?

That's the quirky idea behind "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast," which unforgivingly lampoons talk shows and empty celeb worship, with the pompous superhero Space Ghost and his ex-nemeses in the spotlight. It takes a few episodes for the idea to really start working, but then it's absolutely hilarious.

Middle-aged Space Ghost lives on the Ghost Planet, where he guards lava-man Moltar and sadistic mantis (or locust) Zorak. And he has a talk show, which he tries to keep relatively calm, but which is frequently disrupted by Zorak's evil ramblings, Brak's demands for attention, and Moltar getting bored and flipping channels.

All his guests are non-animated real-people: Michael Stipe, Terry Jones, Fran Drescher, Lassie, three stars from "Batman," the Ramones, Weird Al Yankovic, David Byrne, Matthew Sweet, Slash, Alice Cooper, Donny Osmond, and a ten-second cameo by Ashley Judd at the end of the first episode (which is arguably the best thing about it).

Along the way, chaos is spread on the set as Space Ghost deals with a giant sea-monkey running amuck, tries to keep Zorak from conquering Rome, tries to convince Adam West to turn into Batman, must rescue Moltar from the evil YOUR MOTHER, falls in love with Fran Drescher, tries to do a monologue, and tries to order a pizza. All while interviewing his celebrity guests: "How many clouds does Earth have?"

"Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" starts rather weakly; the first few episodes are straightforward parodies with no surreal twists. Then the makers got into their niche, and began sprinkling the short program with surreal subplots like Zorak using a spell to make Space Ghost ask stupid questions on the air ("Would you like to see me eat a live mollusk?"). Not to mention utterly random stuff ("The Tingler is loose in the theater!").

At that point, the short episodes become thoroughly entertaining, with the flat Hanna Barbera animation in stark contrast to the live guests, who are a mixed bag. Some (Michael Stipe, David Byrne and especially Slash) seem very uncomfortable, but since the interviews are meant to be awkward, it's not a big deal.

Others (Weird Al, Eartha Kitt, Matthew Sweet, Carol Channing) seem to be enjoying themselves, and even join in on the insanity ("Citizen Joe, we're thrilled to have you on!" "Pleasure!" "Planet." "Gooey." "Deer Tick." "Who knows?").

Space Ghost himself is pretty funny -- pompous, vain about his GI-Joe body, a bit of a snob (he spends half an episode abusing Palmer Mills), and somewhat insane("I am a talk show host. I can say lots of things: Tuna fish, parentheses, coochie-coochie girl Charo. Zingnut ranch!"). Zorak is... well, Zorak. He's evil, malicious, and quite funny.

"Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" may never win a LuLu, but it was a hysterically funny show that only lagged toward the beginning. Definitely worth watching.

Not just the best late night show, but THE best show!

Highly addictive sci-fi talk show, with space ghost and his enemies interviewing celebs, and occasionally getting by his enemies!

This is the longest running comedy show not just on adult swim but even before adult was invented. Back in the 90's the show was edited which didn't include profanity, or sexual talk.

When i bought this dvd i took a risk cause i never seen a episode before. The risk was well worth it. What you get is a 60's cartoon superhero who had his own late night talk show. The outcome is pure chaos. Spaceghost mocks, demands and asks the stupidiest questions of his guests that you can't help but to laugh yourself silly. With his bandlead always interupting with meanlessing threats and incohearant remarks this dvd is well worth picking up. I am gonna be buying Vol come noverber i suggest that you do the same

Space Ghost Coast To Coast aired on the Cartoon Network in 1994, and the concept was simple, yet brilliant. Space Ghost is the host of his own talk show, with classic enemies Moltar and Zorak helping out. I have been watching this show on and off ever since the beginning because it is simply hilarious, and a perfect parody of those annoying talk shows we all hate anyways. There are often humorous interviews with celebrities such as Bobcat Goldthwait, Judy Tenuta, Hulk Hogan, The Ramones and Adam West. The interviews are funny, with Space Ghost outwitted by his guests and also by Zorak and Moltar, who often interrupt with obnoxious outbursts that are to be expected from former enemies. To me Zorak is the best on here, with him eating his nephew Raymond and using a spell to control Space Ghost's mind.

This is a terrific show, and I can see no flaw in the material presented here. Included are 16 great episodes. Other reviewers say 6 episodes are missing and that is a shame because they would have fit nicely on this set. But I can't honestly complain because I am happy to own any of these great shows, which are 15 minutes long each. The only negative here is in the way of extras, which are really only some commentaries and a song performed by Zorak. A lot of people dont appreciate the lack of extras, and while it could have had more, the lack thereof doesn't subtract from the value I hold for this great show and DVD. It was great when I was a kid, and it is still great now. Just to mention a couple of my favorite episodes I would say Banjo (where space ghost raises a sea monkey named Banjo), Batmantis (where 2 formers actresses who portrayed catwoman and Adam West are interviewed) and CHIPs are among my favorites. I also thought the Story Book House episode was interesting as well. So I hope this helped persuade you to at least see this show if you haven't already. And if you like the show you owe it to yourself to buy this dvd. It is very reasonably priced and it is a great show to watch when you need to laugh.

Ah, "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast". While the original 1960s cartoon show was a bit before my time and of very little interest to me when I actually did see some reruns of it (contrary to the Beatles, who date back to the same era), the animated character Space Ghost failed to realize his ultimate destiny until the day this highly bizarre talk show was created. I find it difficult to believe it, but it will be ten years ago this coming June that I saw this show for the first time (ah, that magical summer of 1994)... This show imprinted itself as a necessary part of my existence from the very first episode I watched (I remember that fifteen minutes very well indeed, from the first of many hard laughs it gave me up to the immense dissapointment I felt upon discovering, with the rolling of the credits, that the show was only fifteen minutes in length).

SG:C2C is classic comedy and brilliant television, and I'm very happy to have this DVD collection in my possession. Covering the first two seasons of the show, six episodes from the range presented to us here are missing, but fortunately as my memory isn't THAT good I have no idea which ones were not included. Fortunately, the ones that we are given are classics, notably "Banjo", the one with "Weird Al" Yankovic, and "Fire Drill", with Talking Heads' David Byrne (not to be confused with the late David Byron of Uriah Heep) and Donny Osmond. Byrne's confusion and frustration at his treatment by his interviewer would make this one a classic all on its own, but those moments are just a small portion of what the whole episode has to offer (I won't even mention the wooly panda). But in spite of the fact that I've singled those two shows specifically out, they are by no means the best... each one has a tremendous amount of humor, absurdity, and craziness to offer its viewer not just once, but many times over and over (this is one show with a very high rewatchability factor, great for when you want to introduce it to unenlightened friends).

Better still is the price... you just can't beat it. There's nothing to complain about. Great shows for a very low cost, which will provide you with years of entertainment and laughs... What more is there to say? I'd like to keep some surprises as surprises for those of you just discovering what we've got here, so I think I'll wrap up with that, and let you fall into it the way I did (I only watched this show for the first time because the TV was on, I was reading something, and was too distracted to change the channel). Buy it today, and you'll be a much happier person.

Carry on Carry on,

MN

What a concept! A stupid, egomanic cartoon superhero talk show host who mistreats his famous real life guests. Top notch.