Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy late-night talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. It is the first TV show to be produced by Williams Street (formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries), the company to start up Adult Swim in the early 2000s. In contrast to the original 1960s series, Space Ghost, which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a reboot and sequel of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork. Early seasons are more of a parody of late-night talk shows, while later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is the first original series fully produced by Cartoon Network. It premiered on April 15, 1994, and originally ended on December 17, 1999. The series was revived on May 7, 2001, and was moved to the then-new Adult Swim late-night programming block on September 2, where new episodes premiered until April 12, 2004. Two final seasons were released exclusively on GameTap from 2006 to 2008. Over 11 seasons, 109 episodes aired. The series helped to launch the careers of animators Adam Reed, Matt Thompson, Andy Merrill, Jim Fortier, Pete Smith, Michael Ouweleen, Erik Richter, Dave Willis, and Matt Maiellaro.
Six spin-off series, Cartoon Planet, Toonami, The Brak Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Perfect Hair Forever, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, are based on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. The series has also inspired or influenced other animated series for Adult Swim, including Sealab 2021 and The Eric Andre Show.
Premise
Space Ghost Coast to Coast uses a subverted talk show format hosted by Space Ghost as he interviews live-action guest stars, whom Space Ghost believes to be fellow superheroes, appearing on a monitor beside Space Ghost's desk. In early episodes, Space Ghost begins his interviews by asking guests about their superpowers. His interactions with guests can be awkward because the guests' answers are often changed to humorously match Space Ghost's questions in post-production. Later episodes feature guests being allowed to interact directly with the characters. Although he starts out more level headed and very much resembling his super hero ways, he becomes more and more eccentric, egomaniacal and idiotic with how he manages the show and treats his guests.
Space Ghost's bandleader, an evil, talking mantis named Zorak, and his director-producer, a red-helmeted lava man named Moltar, work forced unpaid labor for Space Ghost, ostensibly as punishment for their crimes committed on the original series. Because of their history as arch rivals of Space Ghost, they never get along with him even as co-workers and often make it very clear that they hate him and disrupt the show as retaliation for their forced labor. Zorak is especially the most hateful towards Space Ghost due to being his biggest arch rival whereas Moltar just puts up with being forced to do the show against his will, but will chime in to antagonize Space Ghost from time to time alongside Zorak.
Songs
Early seasons feature music played by Zorak and his band "The Original Way-Outs". The original theme song, "Hit Single", was composed by free jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock and performed by Sharrock on guitar, Lance Carter on drums, Eddie Horst on bass, and Alfreda Gerald on vocals. Sharrock and Carter recorded songs for the show that were later compiled on the album Space Ghost Coast to Coast. As a tribute to Sharrock, who died in May 1994 shortly after the show first aired, the episode "Sharrock" featured fifteen minutes of unedited takes of music recorded for the show.
Seasons 4–6 feature a new closing theme by Man or Astro-man?, and in later seasons the opening theme and titles were nearly abandoned. Alternate songs are sometimes used as theme music, including the CHiPs theme song for the episode titled "CHiPs". An hour-long musical season finale featuring the bands Yo La Tengo and Cornershop was planned for the 1998 season but never produced.