Top 10 Cartoons with Ghosts/Monsters
With Halloween comes the memory of many Halloweens past. Like the time Greg dressed up as a bed, or like when Brent and Dave threw turnips at people, or like when Erin was a paper-bag, or even my very first Halloween (I was Dracula if Dracula wore a picture of himself on his shirt). Good times. But Halloween also reminds me of things that aren’t actually Halloween-based, but connected to the spookiest of holidays regardless. Things like the haunted pump house behind my first elementary school. But, more importantly, like the following cartoons!
While these shows DID have Halloween episodes, that’s not even what I’m going for. No, each of these shows was just spooky without having to take place on Oct. 31st. Here, of course, is our top 10 of those very shows! Read on!
10. Ghostbusters: Now, before you get into a fit – “how the hell could James make Ghostbusters #10?!” realize this – it isn’t THE Ghostbusters. It’s A Ghostbusters. The Filmation one. The bad one. The one where the team was a guy, a gorilla, a girl, and a ghost. Their car had a face and could talk. Basically, with the gags and ability to “catch” ghosts, this was just a spin on “Scooby-Doo.” Only, without Scooby.
9. Ahh! Real Monsters! The title of this show is pretty much the best part. Not that the show is bad, but that is a good title for a show. It has a random exclamation, and then, instead of just having “monsters” they involved REAL monsters (possibly an homage to our #1). Those guys were real, and they let you know it. Plus, the guy that had to hold his own eyes up constantly with his hands was a neat idea.
8. Tales from the Crypt-Keeper: The little-kid version of the “Tales from the Crypt” series, this show was basically the exact same, only tamer. Crypt-Keeper tells stories, they are scary, they end. ‘Cept, on the kid version, the stories aren’t scary. Some are okay. There’s a good one called “A Monster Ate My Homework” which is a really neat concept actually. But no – this show was made good by the Keeper himself. He’s so very pun-filled, and creepy. His random sub-plots were far more enjoyable than the actual show.
7. Gravedale High: Possibly the best concept for a show, ever. Rick Moranis is a substitute high-school teacher. He shows up for a new job one day, and finds out that the school is one for the children of classic movie monsters. Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the mummy, the Blob, all their kids go there. But, they don’t get shrunk. Actually, I think there was an episode that they did…
6. Teen Wolf: Yes, the Michael J. Fox classic about a puberty-stricken werewolf had a cartoon series. I don’t think it lasted very long, but it was really awesome. The greatest advantage this had was that, unlike other “movie-to-show” shows, this one actually had good characters outside of the star. The rest of the were-family really stole the action from Alex P. Keaton-wolf. And that’s quite the feat. Back to the Future was a good cartoon too.
5. Scooby-Doo: I don’t like modern Scooby-Doo. Hell, I can’t even stand the old ones anymore. They’re, like other HB shows, really poorly made. However, this one is a classic. And yes, I mean actual classic. Scooby-Doo is one of the most parodied things EVER. Whenever the words “mystery” or “old-man” are said, I think of Scooby-Doo. The same goes for “junkies.” It’s not even the fact that the plot never changed, I just wish they were made better. Oh Scoobs. Yer better to a 5 year old. *sigh*
4. Mighty Max: Named after, and starring, those boy-versions of “Polly Pocket,” Mighty Max kicked some serious ass. Basically, a combination of the Scooby-Doo monster-mystery, the Indiana Jones action, and the Discovery Channel information, Mighty Max had it all. PLUS, Max’s voice was that of Raphael. If you closed yer eyes, it was a Ninja Turtle fighting a Mummy. That would be a wicked show, actually. Raph Vs. Random monsters… hmm… are you listening Fox Box?
3. My Pet Monster: Here we go – getting to the REALLY good stuff. My Pet Monster was one of my favorite shows in my more formative years. It was also a wicked toy. I miss shows that were basically made as giant commercials for a toy. Either way, this one was one of the best. The star actually was a frickin’ toy for crap’s sake! All the characters on this show were great. Monster was wicked, the kid (Max) was pretty good (a big feat – usually the main kid was average at best), the guy with the poodle was wicked, but the show could only have one “fan-favorite”, and on this show that role was taken by Beaster! A bigger, meaner version of Monster, this guy kicked ass, but was basically just a fore-runner for Rocksteady/Bebop. I want one of those damn toys… never had one… and that is my saddest memory of all.
2. Beetlejuice: This was one of those shows you had to actually watch in order to get. You can’t really explain why it was awesome. It was just a weird, gross show about weird, gross characters. If you MUST have highlights though, you need not look farther than the neighbors of the Ghost with the Most. You have Jacques, the work-out skeleton; that tap-dancing spider (I forget her name, but she was pretty good/annoying); an of course, the Monster Down the Street, the Texan blob of hair with an annoying dog. Basically this show taught us all to hate everyone and be mean/gross to them almost all the time. A good lesson for anyone, and one I still hold dearly.
1. the REAL Ghostbusters: The Big Kahuna of ghost-shows, the REAL Ghostbusters (not like that shitty fake one mentioned at #10) was a truly great show. I was asked just yesterday what exactly made this show so great. Well, there are a number of things actually. Here’s just a few:
- Peter Venkman
- Slimer
- Ecto 1 (second best car ever – second only to the Batmobile)
- Numerous appearances by the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man
- Peter Venkman
And yeah, that is just a few. Plus, the theme song was truly awesome. Basically a somehow MORE rockin’ version of the movie song. I dunno how they pulled it off, but they did. Ah Ghostbusters, we’ll not see glories like you again.
Or will you?! Yes! Both Ghostbusters AND Beetlejuice are gonna be on Teletoon this month (I believe starting on the 19th) every day right up to Halloween. I’m gonna fill a few tapes with these. Spooky tapes! Boooooo! (and yes, that ‘boo’ was given for at least 2 reasons).