Am I Neil Diamond or what?

April 16, 2009 7:58 AM

Long before there was Adult Swim, there was Cartoon Planet, an odd little show that showed Turner-owned cartoons with surreal vignettes featuring Space Ghost, Zorak and Brak in-between. Soon the old cartoons were dropped in favor of more strangeness from SG and his crew, ostensibly in the form of an afterschool special with regular features like mailbag, story time and educational bits like Learning to Talk Italian. Over time, the sketches got odder and odder.

And perhaps best of all, there were the Brak songs! I'm a Cucumber, I Love You Baby ("Somebody left the cake out in the rain ... I was gonna eat that cake, but now it's all wet and I don't think I want any!"), Don't Touch Me, Crazy Lovesick Fool. Unfortunately there are no DVD plans in the works, "presumably due to licensing issues."

posted by jbickers (72 comments total)

What does it smell like, Space Ghost?
posted by fusinski at 8:03 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

I love beans.
posted by orme at 8:04 AM on April 16

SG: You are EVIL!
Z: No I'm not.
SG: You are EVIL!
Z: No I'm not.
SG: YOU ARE EVIL!
Z: Yes, yes I am.
SG: *ZAP!*
posted by greekphilosophy at 8:09 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Brak: "Hey Space Ghost? You know what?"
SG: "What?"
Brak: "That's what! Hahahahahaha! That's what! Get it?"
posted by arachnid at 8:20 AM on April 16

Previously.

I have to be honest, I always preferred the shenanigans of SGC2C to Cartoon Planet. I liked Brak better when he was an occasional guest character than a mainstay. Spinoffs are rarely as good as the original, and watching Brak for more than 30 seconds at a time felt like watching an SNL-spinoff movie that wasn't "Wayne's World" (how that movie managed not to utterly suck is beyond me).

I love me some Zorak, but give me Moltar over Brak any day.
posted by explosion at 8:26 AM on April 16

I am a proud owner of the limited edition "Modern Music for Swinging Superheroes" CD.
posted by jozxyqk at 8:30 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

SNL-spinoff movie that wasn't "Wayne's World"
or "The Blues Brothers". Seriously, are there any other SNL spinoffs that are any good at all?
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:41 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Man, I loved the hell out of that show. Thanks for the post!
posted by solipsophistocracy at 8:47 AM on April 16

Space Ghost rocked, I can't believe the people they got on that show.

explosion is dead right that Zorak > Brak. Brak got old quick.
posted by afu at 8:49 AM on April 16

God, I hated the fuck out of these skits growing up.

Witless, artless, boring, childish, amateur, cheap. Why the hate did not overtake it like a tsunami the minute it first aired always mystified me.

And it's because people enjoy knuckle-dragging shlock like this that shows like "SUPERJAIL", one of the best animated series created in recent years, doesn't get renewed.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 8:50 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Brak: One day I was drivin' down the Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck, and I wrote this song.

I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I said
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!
I'm drivin' down Highway 40 in my bi - oh, it's over.
posted by tzikeh at 9:09 AM on April 16 [4 favorites]

gorgor: contrasting Cartoon Planet with Superjail is a perfect case study in why I can't take Adult Swim anymore. CP, SGCTC, Home Movies, etc. emphasized literate silliness in a way that always reminded me of Monty Python; today's Adult Swim is much more mean-spiritied, sort of like one hours-long animated goatse. With rare exception (Squidbillies, particularly) it feels like it's written by, and for, 13-year-old bullies.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is another good example - watch the first episode, then a recent one, to see the stark contrast.

All that said, Superjail is visually stunning.
posted by jbickers at 9:14 AM on April 16 [6 favorites]

I went out last night
To get me a biiiiite,
Was about a quarter to two.....
posted by gurple at 9:19 AM on April 16

Brak (who was from a planet "that's Polynesian in nature") was wonderful in his prime, though.

This one time I hired a monkey to take notes for me in class. I would just sit there with my mind a complete blank while the monkey scribbled notes on pieces of paper.

At the end of the week the teacher said "Class, I want you to write a paper using your notes" so I wrote "HELLO, MY NAME IS BINGO! I LIKE TO CLIMB ON THINGS! CAN I HAVE A BANANA? EEK EEK!"

I got an F.

When I told my mom about it she said "I told you, never trust a monkey!"

The end.

Cartoon Planet's silliness was a good brand of silly. It wasn't stupid shocking or overly hip-ironic. It was just... silly. Maybe appreciated better with the chemicals of your choice, but I had both CDs and they still show up in my shuffle every now and then, and I smile and nod along to "Something that Rhymes with Bones".

And don't get me started on MINKY BOODLE.
posted by Spatch at 9:21 AM on April 16 [4 favorites]

Witless, artless, boring, childish, amateur, cheap. Why the hate did not overtake it like a tsunami the minute it first aired always mystified me.
And it's because people enjoy knuckle-dragging shlock like this that shows like "SUPERJAIL", one of the best animated series created in recent years, doesn't get renewed.

It's funny, because I feel the exact opposite. Superjail looks like somebody tried to crib Gary Panter's sketchbook while on acid, and while there are a few visually stunning moments in it, it falls back on trite cliches (Tex Avery's "A MAY-UN!" joke, most of the fighting sequences). Cartoon Planet aired when there was NO original programming on Cartoon Network, and consequently used recycled artwork to its advantage. I think the writing is solid, mainly because of Andy Merrill's (and later on SGCTC, Evan Dorkin's) contribution.

I stumped my daughter once by asking her if Brak was a little boy or a grown up. She still can't decide.
posted by Bernt Pancreas at 9:22 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

I dunno, I liked Cartoon Planet better than SGC2C. For how random Cartoon Planet could be, it nowhere near matched the randomness of the talk show, which had an entire episode where they showed a warning message on the screen while the played music. They seemed like they didn't know what to do with their popularity, and they just got stranger and stranger. It was supposed to be avant-guarde, but often it just turned out annoying. (This tendency persists in the Adult Swim flash cartoon stable to this day.)

It is a shame they dropped Moltar, but Brak has his moments. (See "I'm not animated to explode," and the one where Brak reveals why he's so stupid, which references a 60's Space Ghost episode.) Besides, we're talking about a children's show, albeit a really cool one. And Moltar got that Toonami gig for a couple of years. (Moltar was 10 times cooler than "Tom." Oh, remember Toonami? It died last year.)
posted by JHarris at 9:23 AM on April 16

Witless, artless, boring, childish, amateur, cheap. Why the hate did not overtake it like a tsunami the minute it first aired always mystified me.

Why, there's so much wrong with this statement, I hardly know where to start! For instance -

And it's because people enjoy knuckle-dragging shlock like this that shows like "SUPERJAIL", one of the best animated series created in recent years, doesn't get renewed.

Oh ho, your statement was all a comical jest of reversals! I see that now.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:23 AM on April 16 [3 favorites]

SGC2C Flipmode. Knifin Around. That is all.
Cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut
posted by cavalier at 9:25 AM on April 16 [6 favorites]

Hmm, just remembered... back in Space Ghost Coast to Coast's heyday, the Cartoon Network website hosted personal homepages for most of the characters. I suppose they're long gone by now though.
posted by JHarris at 9:25 AM on April 16

Hm, jbickers, something to consider. However (apart from its obvious superiority in writing to CP), I always found that half of Monty Python's appeal was in its physical comedy / comedic acting, which cannot be achieved with a collection of 25 still images repeated ad nauseam. In my pursuit of visually adequate shows I've not seen nor know WTF is SGCTC, but will check it out on the strength of "literate silliness" (really? "What / That's what" is literate silliness? color me bamboozled)
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:25 AM on April 16

I was shocked, after having not seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force in about 4 years when I sat down and watched a recent episode that was about cutting people's dicks off to create a rocket ship made out of dicks.

I also felt a little ambushed, because I was watching it with my fiance's dad.

Give me Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast any day over that.

Remember the episode Where there's a leaky pipe in the studio and Space Ghost/Busta Rhymes can't stop laughing?

Oh man, that was life changing.
posted by orville sash at 9:27 AM on April 16 [3 favorites]

One of my roommates, senior year of college, came back from a break with a tape of Cartoon Planet episodes that his mom had taped for him. Watching that tape over and over with my roommates represents the pinnacle of my college experience, possibly of my life.

Not actually, no. But sort of, actually.

Don't call me a sandwich!
posted by gurple at 9:32 AM on April 16

cavalier: Knifin Around
Arguably the best episode. The transition to the recut Bjork interview still cracks me up.

"You're wife's on the phone"
"Listen to me, I have a hit song about a knife, and yes, I'm married. And that is why i want you to hang up, right now."
posted by stachemaster at 9:37 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: "Is there a problem officer?"
posted by willmize at 9:41 AM on April 16

I want artists and musicians (and even corporations) to get paid fair royalties, really I do. But it kills me when things I love like "Cartoon Planet" (and a legit copy of "Hardware", dammit) become lost works.
posted by JoanArkham at 9:44 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Zorak: My favorite episode of the Golden Girls is the one where they all took contaminated Geritol and died.

SG: Zorak, that was never an episode!

Zorak: Well, it should have been!
posted by mrmojoflying at 9:47 AM on April 16

Actually, there was a time span in the [as] programming block just as recent as about two or three years ago during the really later/early hours where they would show a fifteen or thirty minute block of these. I wish they would do that again on a regular basis.
posted by GavinR at 9:49 AM on April 16

IIII"M a cucumber
I'm a cucumber
I'm a cucumber
Please don't take me to the pickle FAAAAARM!
posted by Mastercheddaar at 9:49 AM on April 16

Frisky Dingo was the smartest and funniest bit of writing to come out of Adult Swim in some time. Despite the X-Tacles spin-off failing, I hope those guys make something new soon.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:57 AM on April 16

Oh, and the defining moment of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast came when the Ramones were on and Space Ghost asked them what they liked to do and they said they liked to party and Space Ghost said "Really? With party hats and cake?" and then we cut to the Ramones wearing party hats with a cake in the foreground. And if I recall correctly, the party hats were superimposed on them.

Not even Robot Chicken could come up with brilliance like that.
posted by Spatch at 10:04 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Remember the episode Where there's a leaky pipe in the studio and Space Ghost/Busta Rhymes can't stop laughing?

Yeah, that's the one when I realized, oh shit, they know that I'm high right now.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:08 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Jharris

Yes! The spaceghost site was my favorite thing on the internet! Brak's section in particular.
"HEY LADY... *pic of woman with spaghetti on her head* ...THANKS LADY"
sooo good.

Thank god for the internet wayback machine

posted by fuzzypantalones at 10:16 AM on April 16

SGC2C won me over completely with its Jeff Foxworthy interview, in which Space Ghost quips something to the effect of "you know, Jeff, the difference betyween your show and my show is that my show is still on the air..."
posted by Graygorey at 10:17 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

oops. the link
posted by fuzzypantalones at 10:19 AM on April 16

"Long before"??? Holy crap I'm getting old.
posted by spicynuts at 10:33 AM on April 16

And it's because people enjoy knuckle-dragging shlock like this that shows like "SUPERJAIL", one of the best animated series created in recent years, doesn't get renewed.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 11:50 AM on April 16 [+] [!]

What is the appeal of Superjail? I like the theme song but the show itself pretty much carries itself the way Happy Tree Friends does-- from what I've seen it's just mindless violence and puerile jokes.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 10:38 AM on April 16

Never cared all that much for SPCTC, but loved LOVED the Brak Show...though it was uneven, and the avant-garde "commentary" track on the DVDs is meh. Still:

I'm hot for you baby!
I'm a big 'ol beet!
I'm red but not embarrassed!
And I am good with meat!
I'm hot for you BAYBAY!
posted by emjaybee at 10:38 AM on April 16

Yea, Coast-to-Coast was like the high-water mark of this sort of inspired lunacy.
posted by Mister_A at 10:39 AM on April 16

I still have some framed autographed pictures of SG, Brak, Zorak and Moltar here. Actually my second set. (The first set got destroyed by bleach, so the ex wrote a funny email about how depressed I was and how I wasn't eating or anything, and they sent a second funnier set). Those boys were pretty cool back then.
posted by Samizdata at 10:49 AM on April 16

MINKEY BOODLE!
posted by greekphilosophy at 10:51 AM on April 16

I consider the "Fire Ant" episode of Space Ghost to be the finest thing ever produced for television.

Gonna follow him home.

Kill his whole family.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:55 AM on April 16

I'm partial to the "Sharrock" episode with Thurston Moore where pretty much the whole episode is them sitting there listening to Sonny Sharrock's music.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:03 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Weird little fact. The opening sequence of the show, with Andy Merrill dancing around in a Space Ghost costume, originally used an instrumental version of the They Might Be Giants song "No One Knows My Plan." They changed it to a somewhat more generic song after a while. It seems to be impossible to find surviving copies of the old intro.
posted by JHarris at 11:04 AM on April 16

I got to interview Andy Merrill a few years ago for my radio show. One of the things I asked him about was the inspiration for "I'm a sock that's dirty," a song that I have sung to my children for years - all of my kids know all the words to it.

He couldn't remember it - he said it was just made up on the spot.
posted by jbickers at 11:09 AM on April 16

there were many really good SGC2C episodes, but the very best one was when the talk show was guest-hosted by Space Ghost's aging wrestler grandpa (played by "The Macho Man" Randy Savage) and had Rob Zombie and Raven Simone as guests. The first time I saw that episode I lost my shit so hard.
posted by xbonesgt at 11:45 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Knock knock.
Who's there?

Robert Stack's chihuahua.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:04 PM on April 16

Hoodley-Hoo!
posted by pandanom at 1:02 PM on April 16

bitteroldpunk: wow, that Sharrock episode is fucking killer. Sonny kicks some MAJOR ass. Is it just me, or is the outro Space Planet Anthem heavily referencing Albert Ayler's Ghosts?
posted by idiopath at 1:14 PM on April 16

Are people actually fans of Superjail? I caught an episode of it over Christmas and thought it made "Tim and Eric" and "Tom Goes to the Mayor" look funny.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:18 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

I blame SGC2C for Carrot Top's recurring appearances in my dreams. They are always terrifying.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 1:34 PM on April 16

What kind of hospital was that?
posted by solipsophistocracy at 1:35 PM on April 16

A shark on whiskey is mighty risky, but a shark on beer is a beer engineer.

I'm having a really hard time choosing a favorite episode of SGC2C. There's Kentucky Nightmare, Bjork, Warren ("I can burn you like the Crazy World of Arthur Brown!"), the David Byrne episode..I just can't pick a single favorite.

Cartoon Planet and SGC2C hit me just at the right time in my life. I was in grad school (which meant I was home during the day), and I was in my mid-20s (which meant that I was at the very peak of my Generation X retro-ironic stage). I have a lot of very sentimental memories about those two shows.

I also dug The Brak Show, but in a way, I'm glad it had such a short run. It always struck me as the most good-natured and silly of the early Adult Swim shows. I'd hate for it to have become as mean-spirited as any of the more recent stuff.
posted by MrBadExample at 1:41 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

This is a real conversation:

Me: "Hey, are you Mike Judge?"

Mike Judge [wary]: "Uhhhh... yeah. How did you recognize me? No one ever recognizes me."

Me: "Um, you were on an episode of Space Ghost."

Mike Judge [happy]: "Oh yeah! That show is awesome. It's really weird; they just had me sit in a studio with a black background and there was this guy with long hair asking me questions, and it was like, those are things Space Ghost would say, but he's nothing like Space Ghost."

That was the best day of my life.
posted by spiderwire at 1:59 PM on April 16 [11 favorites]

tzikeh, you forgot the "you say truck" part...

My favorite Brak show memory was driving through Ohio singing, "OHIO, round on the ends, hi in the middle!"
posted by fyrebelley at 3:01 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]

It's not really in the same league as the last "season" of SGC2C, but I always had a soft spot for Snatch.

"Gee, that's a great plan, Moltar, but if we could get to the beach, we wouldn't have to be metal-plated."
posted by solipsophistocracy at 3:15 PM on April 16

"♫ On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: HI MY NAME IS BRAK! ♫"
posted by ArgentCorvid at 3:59 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Ah Cartoon Planet. I miss it so. Hard to say who my favorite character was, really....

But in all honesty, my favorite skit was The Lead Bunny, which was more centered around Zorak:

Zorak: Do you think Madame Helga is ... available?
Space Ghost: Available? For what?
Zorak: Ohhh, you know, a little of this, a little of that...
Space Ghost: Oh, yeah, right! I'm guessing that Madame Helga just sits by the phone, hoping and praying that a conniving little green insect will give her a jungle!
Zorak: Yeahhhh, that's what I was thinking too! Mmmm..

Alas, I've never been able to adequately explain the appeal to anyone else.
posted by Brak at 4:13 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

JHarris, I was just trying to describe those SGCTC homepages to a friend the other day. How Moltar's site was all covered in garish flame imagery, for instance. I remember the day I went to the Cartoon Network website, and those pages had all disappeared. God, I was sad.
posted by Coatlicue at 6:27 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]

God, there are so many excellent bits mentioned here I'm going favorite-dizzy.

I think the thing that finally knifed my believe in God to bloody bloody super-death was when Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak failed to make series. Man oh man, buddy.
posted by JHarris at 6:38 PM on April 16

Goddamn I love me some Space Ghost, and Brak? Brak's unrestrained glee at almost everything fills me with joy.

Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak failed to make series

I don't understand. There was a Brak Show series that went on for a good long time!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:56 PM on April 16

Ah, my Zorak action figure sits up on my bookcase eying me sourly even as I type this; what a delight to be reminded of a time when CN (and TBS? I thought I'd seen Cartoon Planet before Cartoon Network ... which would make sense, I suppose, given that I believe they were/are all part of the same conglomerate) aired shows that were actually unique and silly and just plain fun. I still think of Cartoon Planet when I see wheels of cheese or hear references to Lima or big ol' pickup trucks and the like.

And then of course there was the Christmas special: Gabba gabba hey, gabba hey hey hey!

Good lord, did I love Cartoon Planet and envy the people who got to write for it.
posted by DingoMutt at 8:19 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Well, I liked the first season of The Brak Show and haven't seen any others, liked the first couple of seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and haven't seen any others, love the shit out of the compleat The Venture Bros., enjoyed a total of maybe ten minutes of the full history of Robot Chicken, and haven't seen anything else, so I guess, on the whole, I'm happy with my lot.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:36 PM on April 16

Oh my god my heart ACHES for SGC2C. I miss it; I always laughed until I cried and had to watch every episode at least twice.

Thanks for reminding me!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:59 PM on April 16

This is how much I love Tad. Also I'm giving my first professional presentation on SGC2C. In May in Tokyo. I should get a tattoo, I love him so much.

HI MY NAME IS BRAAAAAAAAK
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:38 AM on April 17

I enjoyed Brak muchly, but I have to admit, as his spinoff series reached maturity (and they replaced the voice of mother, merde!), the show tunes started to sometimes... grate. I always imagined the creator behind Brak took his inspiration from his 5 year old boy, except years later Brak was still there and I imagine his boy would have grown up.

HI MY NAME IS BRAAAAAAAK
posted by cavalier at 6:01 AM on April 17

The opening sequence of the show, with Andy Merrill dancing around in a Space Ghost costume, originally used an instrumental version of the They Might Be Giants song "No One Knows My Plan." They changed it to a somewhat more generic song after a while. It seems to be impossible to find surviving copies of the old intro.

The closing credits used "The End of the Tour" as well and if I recall correctly, TMBG were credited at the end with the note "They're nice."

And on the random remembering note, I remember the live-action clips they filmed of Merrill in the Space Ghost costume doing stuff around Atlanta, like taking the tram up Stone Mountain and getting stared at.
posted by Spatch at 6:38 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]

That Man or Astroman? outro for SGC2C was killer.
posted by whuppy at 9:22 AM on April 17

stavrosthewonderchicken: I don't understand. There was a Brak Show series that went on for a good long time!

What you're thinking of is "The Brak Show," a sitcom parody in line with the other early Adult Swim shows (although thankfully sillier and generally gentler). It was pretty good.

What I was talking about was "Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak," a kind of Cartoon Planet variety show, which had just two episodes, was much MUCH sillier, had amazing special guest stars (Freddie Prinze Jr.! The Chieftains! Both -singing with Brak!-), had much better (and far more) songs ("Barbeque", "O-HI-O", "Big Fat Squid in my Refrigerator", many more) and (if you can even believe this) actual production values, and cameos from other Hanna-Barbera characters like Wally Gator and Great Grape Ape. It expanded the Cartoon Planet universe wonderfully and was heavily promoted by Cartoon Network for a couple of weeks, but just kind of evaporated afterwards. That was awesome.

Its failure to go series was the first indication I had that Cartoon Network's awesomeness was beginning to wear off.

The only bits a five minute perusal of YouTube turned up:
Swollen Tick Family Restaurant
Highway 40 Revisited

(And just because its weird, The Barak Show.)
posted by JHarris at 10:33 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]

When we were in New Orleans several years ago, I insisted on taking an extremely roundabout way home just so we could cut through Hattiesburg. What was I doing in Hattiesburg, you might ask? Kickin' it.
posted by Eideteker at 5:46 AM on April 19

Oh, and my candidate for best episode ever? Retardos, #1, forever.

(Though I do love me some Banjo. BANJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why do we always hurt the ones we love?)
posted by Eideteker at 6:46 AM on April 19

I don't think anyone's brought it up yet, but if you go to the original Coast 2 Coast homepage at ghostplanet.com it redirects you to an Adult Swim video page with scads of clips, including a few full-length episodes.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:00 PM on April 19

What you're thinking of is "The Brak Show," a sitcom parody in line with the other early Adult Swim shows (although thankfully sillier and generally gentler). It was pretty good.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:37 PM on April 19