As a kid, every time we went to a party or other activity that meant we would be home late to me meant that I’d get to watch Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast. This was before Adult Swim was a thing and I had no idea why they aired it or why I found it interesting. I recognized Space Ghost from the re-runs of the 60s show that Cartoon Network used to re-run and well, thanks to this little experiment of reusing the Hanna-Barbera cartoon into something new created one of the best Blocks on television and it’s all thanks to this little talk show.
The show is so random, you can tell how and why it inspired the whole Adult Swim block, in fact you can see parts of many shows that came after like Aqua Teen Hunger Force among others. I prefer the early episodes of the show, later on it did do things a bit different. I love how experimental it is, some episodes might be misses and just suck but it’s a worthy gamble since the experimental nature of the show gives us some amazing episodes and that’s what makes the show worth watching. The 12 minute length works wonderful for the show as the longer episodes are not as good.
Zorak is great as is Moltar, they really work well with the Space Ghost and are easily the better characters. I thought Brak was in the show more but I guess I confused it with Cartoon Planet which I also watched. Ghost Planet is a great setting and well the later seasons feel more and more like Adult Swim for better or worse. I preer the earlier seasons though I love how it birthed Adult Swim. The thing is the show got edgier, and it was a smart show before that didn’t need the extra edgyness even if still awesome..the profanity just feels bit out of place here. As mentioned the longer episodes are not great. Glad Space Ghost C2C makes cameos in other Adult swim properties like even the ATHF Colon movie.
The show eventually ended but it was a video game streaming service of the 2000s called GameTap that revived it for a few more seasons. Sort of, they feel more like shorts or specials and they’re kind of bad, especially the episodes that are only 2 minutes long and the E3 specials really stick out like bad advertisement. The later longer episodes that are like 5 minutes are much better and improvements. Sadly that’s all he’s really appeared in, never gotten much more specials after that and SPace Ghost deserves it, doesn’t need to be another season, just acknoledgement to the history of AS. And not just killing him in other shows.
The music of the show is very good and in general they got the tone so right. Now to talk about the guests they’re all over the place, sadly not all interviews are great and most of the guests I was most looking forward to seeing were not the best. It’s usually celebrities I didn’t care about that really did it for me. The best guests are the ones that are trying to make sense of what’s happening but the show takes those clips and makes a complete chaotic interview out of it. The more “real” interviews are never as good and neither are the ones were they abuse on the context changing.
The longer episodes really miss the mark on what made the show funny. Now there are some very experimental episodes and I am glad they did them but those can also be some of the worst episodes there are. They either tried too hard or the formula just didn’t work, but I guess they saw that so that’s why I don’t mind them as much since this whole show is rather experimental.
Counting the legacy the show had and all the influences, I’m still surprised at the lack of love people have for the characters. They’re mentioned occationally but not on the same level as say other Adult Swim icons and I think Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast deserves better. So this is my little tribute to the best Talk show in the universe.
we miss Space Ghost. Luckily there is indeed more Space Ghost as it spun-off Brak Show, and Cartoon Planet which is a more kid friendly version but still amazing take on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast formula. There are also quite a few episodes that are not part of the official episode count but can be good like The Mask advertising one which you should also check out. Overall a classic show.