The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an animated television spin-off of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics character of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
This series was proposed be a live-action sequel, at the time that principal filming wrapped on Casper, and a treatment was written, but a combination of less-than-stellar box office gross (although the film grossed $100 million in the US, the budget was more than half of that total and analysts predicted much higher earnings for the film) and the fact that both Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman were attached to other projects after Casper and would not be available until more than a year later caused the idea to be scrapped. The producers then decided to abandon the live-action sequel ideas and instead developed this cartoon series to continue the story.
The show aired on Fox Kids television from 1996-1998 for 3 seasons. 52 episodes were produced, but only the first 46 appeared on FOX, with the remaining debuting on FOX Family Channel. Many of the same people who worked on this show also worked on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain (the latter of which was a spin-off from the former; coincidentally, the former had also debuted on FOX).
The new Casper broke from earlier versions, following a sitcom-style pattern of one-liners and pop culture gags in a manner similar to the Casper feature. Apparently the update worked, as Casper hit the top of the ratings chart for children's animation in its first of two seasons on the air. The show would also frequently break the fourth wall. The show used old Casper supporting characters such as Casper's cousin Spooky, Spooky's "ghoulfriend" Pearl (or "Poil" as rendered by Spooky's Brooklyn accent), and Nightmare the Ghost Horse who, unlike in the original cartoons and comics, does not actually talk (though voiced by Frank Welker). The show also introduced new characters, including Casper's super-loud teacher Ms. Banshee.
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