"Space Ghost: Coast To Coast" 30th Anniversary

[wonderfly]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Adult Swim Celebrates 30th Anniversary of “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” With Youtube Marathon"​

"April 15th, 2024 was not just the last day you have to file your taxes; it’s also coincides with the 30th anniversary of “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast”! Adult Swim revealed yesterday they are celebrating by bringing the show back to Adult Swim’s evening line-up (airing episodes this Monday through Thursday at 1 am Eastern Time), and also by broadcasting a 24/7 marathon of the series on Youtube!

Adult Swim shared a post on "X" in honor of the occasion:"



Read the full article here.

Also, here's the Youtube livestream:



When do you remember first watching Space Ghost?!?

 

[Fone Bone]

I wish it was still on Max. I would love to do a rewatch at my own pace.

 

[Classic Speedy]

First time I watched Space Ghost was in October 1996 when my family got a satellite dish. I don't remember what my very first episode was, but I do recall seeing a rerun of "$20.01" early on, and "A Space Ghost Christmas" a couple months later (the version with "Lovesick" and "Jacksonville"). Was an immediate fan.

 

[wonderfly]

I had a roommate at the time who was really into "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (I mean, I was into it as well, but he was REALLY into it). So when Joel Hodgson (of MST3K) was a guest on "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" in early 1996, that's when I first fully remember tuning in. I probably "spotted" (briefly watched) an episode or two before that, but that's the first time really truly watching.

Also, I didn't get cable until the Fall of 1995, when I moved out after graduating high school (moving into an apartment with my friend). My memories of discovering channels on cable goes something like this: First we watched ridiculous amount of Comedy Central (for MST3K), then we discovered MTV (for "The Maxx" and "Aeon Flux"), then the Sci-Fi Channel (for the Anime broadcasts, and lots of Godzilla movies, as I recall), and finally we discovered Cartoon Network. Man, watching cable was really something back then.

Later in 1996, I also discovered "Cartoon Planet" and I was there for the start of Toonami in early 1997 (back when it revolved around reruns of Thundercats and Voltron). I was in college by that point, a bunch of us would gather around to watch early Toonami (with Moltar as the host) in our dorm rooms. I've made this comment elsewhere, but Cartoon Network back then was really much more of a "Gen X" viewing experience. It didn't get handed over to Millennials until around 1999/2000, when the "Cartoon Cartoon" originals took over the channel and when anime took over Toonami. I still loved Cartoon Network throughout the 2000's, just saying, it was different from what they were originally doing in the 90's.

 

[prpis]

My first experience with SG was when I was around 2 years old in 1998, maybe even before then. I watched much of the first season then, and cartoon planet. I was enamored. I used to mimic zoraks rapid blinks a lot from the episode Urges.

 

[Yojimbo]

I remember tuning just to see what Zorak was going to do and say. He just cracked me up. Loved it the guests like Conan O'Brien showed up.

 

[Space Cadet]

I think it was either 1995 or 1996 when I first encountered the show late at night. I knew of Space Ghost the original cartoon but I remember thinking this show was so weird and yet I loved it, even as a little kid. I would catch episodes on-and-off over the years and while I wasn't a hardcore fan, I very much appreciated the show and its humor. The show was clearly the seed that would eventually morph into AS years later.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

It's saddened me to read about what's happened to the people responsible for the show after it ended. Mike Lazzo had a healthy career over at Cartoon Network and [adult swim] and seemingly has retired comfortably, but C. Martin Croker consistently had paychecks missing and couldn't afford insurance in the last years of his life, while Andy Merrill was laid off and is now an Amazon delivery person. What's more, supposedly he was denied the opportunity to host Toon in With Me on MeTV, despite his own impressive pedigree.

I hate that such an important show, to television and myself, has such a bittersweet legacy. Because the show is still great. I genuinely think that Space Ghost and Outkast are Atlanta's two greatest contributions to pop culture (I guess Gone with the Wind should be up there, too) and it still remains audacious and hilarious years later. Who would have thought that a couple of channel schedulers messing around with tapes of an old Hanna-Barbera toon would start a whole empire?

 

[Checkerboard]

Happy anniversary, watching the geounblocked marathon right now! This "show" was way ahead of its time.

 

[Nobodyman]

I can't remember my very first time watching SGC2C as I would have been too young to remember. I do recall catching the show on occasion, watching episodes like Batmantis, Banjo, $20.01, Freak Show, and others, having no idea at the time who most of the guests were, but still finding the show entertaining regardless.

As I got older, I got more invested and tried to catch the show more regularly. I distinctly recall staying up late and watching new episodes from seasons 5 and 6 (the golden seasons IMO) and loving how so many episodes had their own distinct flavor to them. The eeriness of Warren, the sheer insanity of Girl Hair, the wickedly funny and experimental Fire Ant. Oh, and then there was that Denis Leary episode that they always seemed to play ad nauseum.

And of course there's the somewhat controversial Snatch episode, which I can't begin to tell you how disappointed 11-year-old me was when that colonial man showed up and it became clear I was very likely never going to see the ending to the episode. And, based on what I've found online, it still seems unlikely. Even if the writers and winner of the bid were willing to part with the script, it seems it's been forever lost to the world. But other lost media has been recovered before, so hope springs eternal.

Anyway, I naturally continued to watch the show once Adult Swim premiered and, while I really did enjoy Season 7, it always felt a little weird to me to have Space Ghost and the gang curse and get into "adult" situations (although maybe that's what the writers always wanted?) Then Season 8 just went way too off the rails for me, so I'm kinda glad the show ended after that.

So yeah, definitely an important show for me, which also indirectly led to the creation of my absolute favorite Williams Street show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A pity though that SGC2C, at present, isn't very available through legitimate means. As for me, I do own the first four seasons of the show on DVD, which is always nice to have, even if some content had to be altered due to licensing issues (the Ultraman footage from $20.01 for one).

Long live Tad Ghostal!

 

[JMTV]

Happy 30th Anniversary, Space Ghost Coast to Coast!

 

[Classic Speedy]

I can't remember my very first time watching SGC2C as I would have been too young to remember. I do recall catching the show on occasion, watching episodes like Batmantis, Banjo, $20.01, Freak Show, and others, having no idea at the time who most of the guests were, but still finding the show entertaining regardless.

As I got older, I got more invested and tried to catch the show more regularly. I distinctly recall staying up late and watching new episodes from seasons 5 and 6 (the golden seasons IMO) and loving how so many episodes had their own distinct flavor to them. The eeriness of Warren, the sheer insanity of Girl Hair, the wickedly funny and experimental Fire Ant. Oh, and then there was that Denis Leary episode that they always seemed to play ad nauseum.

And of course there's the somewhat controversial Snatch episode, which I can't begin to tell you how disappointed 11-year-old me was when that colonial man showed up and it became clear I was very likely never going to see the ending to the episode. And, based on what I've found online, it still seems unlikely. Even if the writers and winner of the bid were willing to part with the script, it seems it's been forever lost to the world. But other lost media has been recovered before, so hope springs eternal.

Anyway, I naturally continued to watch the show once Adult Swim premiered and, while I really did enjoy Season 7, it always felt a little weird to me to have Space Ghost and the gang curse and get into "adult" situations (although maybe that's what the writers always wanted?) Then Season 8 just went way too off the rails for me, so I'm kinda glad the show ended after that.

So yeah, definitely an important show for me, which also indirectly led to the creation of my absolute favorite Williams Street show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A pity though that SGC2C, at present, isn't very available through legitimate means. As for me, I do own the first four seasons of the show on DVD, which is always nice to have, even if some content had to be altered due to licensing issues (the Ultraman footage from $20.01 for one).

Long live Tad Ghostal!

Nice write-up, it pretty much mirrors my experiences with the show. I still consider the 1998 season the definitive batch of episodes- it's just one hit after another, and there were definitely more variations on the formula.

 

[Checkerboard]

the stream is still on lol, amazing!

 

[Silver-7]

really liking this increase in coast to coast's popularity, just hoping adult swim sees it and does something with it instead of burying it until someone digs it back out

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

really liking this increase in coast to coast's popularity, just hoping adult swim sees it and does something with it instead of burying it until someone digs it back out

Eh don't see a slightly more watched stream with people just revisiting this show maybe for the first time in ages really making them try and undig up a lot more SGC2C. Though I will give Adult Swim credit for at least bothering to do something with the show's 30th anniversary. I guess CN technically did do a bit of a marathon on the weekend for Powerpuff Girls 25th but yeah that feels like the only one they celebrate.

If we are talking SGC2C memories mine actually starts the summer of 1997 when I first got Cartoon Network at my family's house properly. I remember hearing about this sort of "taking from old action cartoons and repackaging to interview real people" series idea and hey wanting to explore all of what CN I decided to check it out. First episode I ironically saw was "Pilot" .... and I don't mean the first episode I mean the episode that was a behind the scenes look at the "original 'idea for the series Birdman Coast to Coast. And though due to being a fairly immature 11 year the more dry and slow segments didn't interest me... the moment that made me a fan of this series that had me rolling on the floor for like a minute straight (which is good as it was the commercial) was when Birdman had Avenger attack Lokar. I don't know just how that was presented and how it cut away I just found uproarious and yeah made me want to keep coming back even if it wasn't the show I thought.

By the time I was watching more regular Space Ghost that process remained true; I wasn't the biggest fan of the interview bits not knowing most of the people even being interviewed (that's why episodes like "Piledriver" I lit up because I actually knew who Raven Symone was being a fan of Hanging With Mr. Cooper at the time) but the strangness and uniqueness of the series, and running gags like Space Ghost blasting Zorak kept me hook through it's run even making me fans of Cartoon Planet and just of this style of series. And one I still am a fan of. For the 30th in fact I did something I haven't ever actually had time/focus to do until now; track down and watch every episode in order of the entire show. I had seen pretty much every episode (some I didn't remember really watching or if I did it was at least like 15-20 years ago) at least of the CN/AS run but I also watched even all the Game Tap episodes and yeah it's not quite the same level of the original but it's still solid and still had good bits. And you know though some later episodes leaned a bit too much on the crudeness this is one of the best examples of a cartoon going from more kid geared to more made for grown ups... probably helped because by "geared for kids" it meant that in the 1994-1998 episodes they didn't say any specific swear words or have any explicit imagrey though yeah if you even go back to the 1994 episodes they get away with a lot you wouldn't of expected of any cartoon show not the Simpsons/Beavis and Butthead at the time so major plus there.