Gravedale High | |
---|---|
Also known as | Rick Moranis in Gravedale High |
Genre | Animation |
Created by | David Kirschner |
Developed by | Ernie Contreras Glenn Leopold |
Written by | Ernie Contreras Ted Himmel Glenn Leopold Bruce Reid Shaifer |
Starring | Rick Moranis as Max Schneider |
Voices of |
Shari Belafonte Eileen Brennan Georgia Brown Tim Curry Barry Gordon Sandra Gould Jackie Earle Haley Ricki Lake Maurice LaMarche Brock Peters Kimmy Robertson Roger Rose Frank Welker Jonathan Winters |
Theme music composer | Tyrell Music Group |
Country of origin | USA |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
David Kirschner Paul Sabella |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Television) NBC Productions |
Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | September 8 – December 1, 1990 |
Gravedale High (also known as Rick Moranis in Gravedale High) is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC Productions (the latter company owns all rights to the series). The series premiered in the fall of 1990 on NBC and lasted thirteen episodes.
The show was developed as an animated vehicle for Moranis who had star appearances in the Ghostbusters movies and the film series Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.
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 (many of which had appeared in movies from Universal).
Most are either disruptive, uninterested, and/or unduly self-preoccupied in school, and the class is generally considered disreputable if not uncontrollable (not unlike "the Sweathogs" in Welcome Back, Kotter), 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 (which is run by a medical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as seen in "Fear of Flying") 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 (dedicated to helping schools like Gravedale High "around the world") indicates Gravedale is part of an entire monster subculture.
Other recurring students include:
There are also some unidentified students resembling the monsters from The Brain from Planet Arous, The Crawling Eye, and other films.
The bespectacled Mr. Schneider has his hands full with his new students, but he has Gravedale's spooky staff (where some of them initially do not trust Schneider due to his human status but develop a camaraderie with him as the overall story arc develops) to help him out. Like Schneider, each teacher oversees a specific class of students. Gravedale High's staff include: