space ghost coast to coast

The new Adult Swim In A Box is an embarrassment of riches - six boxed sets for six different shows and a bonus disc featuring five unreleased pilots -- more than 20 hours on 12 DVDs. I was especially happy to get season two of Sealab 2021, which I have never been able to catch regularly, and season one of Metalocalypse, which I have always enjoyed.

Getting season two of Robot Chicken, volume one of Moral Orel, volume two of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and volume three of Space Ghost Coast to Coast just seemed like a bonus. Well worth the suggested retail price of $69.98 for Adult Swim fans who haven't already purchased any of the included sets.

The pilots are a mixed bag, but mostly good. The Best of Totally for Teens is a live action parody of a moralistic teen variety show hosted by thirtysomethings trying to be hip. It's a promising premise, one that should maybe be revisited, but the pilot is a bit of a mess. It hits topics ripe for satire in the format like teen insecurity, drugs, and sex, and has the right look for Adult Swim.

We've only seen him cloaked in his black hood, both in the original Space Ghost cartoon and on his talk show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, but what does Space Ghost look like beneath that mysterious hood? Well, he looks like this. That's a model sheet drawn by original Space Ghost designer Alex Toth, who passed away last June. C. Martin Croker, who worked on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast from the beginning and voiced the characters of Zorak and Moltar, posted the image on his blog. Is it just me, or does Space Ghost look a little like Aquaman? Maybe they were actually brothers, and one day he tried to swim like Aquaman but drowned, later coming back to fight aliens and eventually host his own talk show.

Good news, fans of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast: I opened up iTunes and discovered that a few episodes of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast have been added to Adult Swim's iTunes store. The episodes are the usual $1.99 and include such classics as "Fire Ant" (which ends with Space Ghost distracted by an ant and ignoring guest Conan O'Brien completely) and "Kentucky Nightmare" where we learn things about bears and sharks we were never taught in school. The same shark featured in that episode would later turn up on 12 Oz Mouse.

Also, don't forget you can catch a couple episodes for free over on Adult Swim Fix. There's also this site called YouTube, which you might have heard of.

The Detour, Canadian television's late-night cartoon block, has picked up six more Adult Swim shows: 12oz Mouse, Robot Chicken, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Squidbillies, and Tom Goes to the Mayor. Didn't Space Ghost end a few years ago? I'm a bit surprised by that addition to the line-up. Anyway, these shows will join the returning Adult Swim programs, Aqua Teen Hunger Force; Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law; and The Venture Bros. Have fun with that, Canadians.