What did I get in 1979, after years of watching Casper The Friendly Ghost in theatrical shorts and "The New Casper Cartoon Show?" "Casper And The Angels," that's what.
Now, I did like seeing Casper and Hairy Scary helping Minnie and Maxi go after criminals in outer space, plus Nerdly and Fungo's efforts to prove themselves. But only to a certain extent. To be honest, I feel Hanna-Barbera never should have taken Casper out of his comfort zone. It wouldn't have hurt for them to create new adventures that featured Wendy, Spooky, Nightmare, and The Ghostly Trio(that didn't happen until the mid-'90's). Heck, they could have even produced "The Casper And Billy Show." Billy, if you remember, was the little boy Casper met and befriended in a handful of shorts.
During the series' run, H-B also produced two holiday specials: "Casper's Halloween Special," and "Casper's First Christmas." Both of these had him and Hairy Scary minus the Angels. They may have been taking a breather from their Space Patrol duties, or perhaps these cartoons took place before they met Minnie and Maxi. Either way, these specials were much better than the series itself.
So this was one of the few times I believed H-B should have thought a little more before putting a show on the air.
Question 2: What were Casper and Hairy Scary's official positions on this series?
The show was too much "high concept" even in my young impressable age when the show premiered. "Star Wars"-mania was in full "force" at the time so Casper in outer space was the result.
I would have thought a "Scooby Doo" mystery solving clone might have been a better fit for Casper. Wendy the good witch, The Ghostley Trio, Nightmare the horse, and tuff ghost Spooky and his girlfriend "Poil" did not appear in "Casper and the Angels".
Heck, "The Jetsons'" Astro might had been a better fit to work with the Angels here...Astro would become a space police dog in the "Astro and the Space Mutts" segment of "Space Stars" later on.
Julie McWhirter (Dees) played Casper. John Stephenson played Hairy Scary (a new character not seen in the comic books). Diane McClennon played patrol officer "Angel" Minnie. Hal Smith played Nerdly. Jim MacGeorge played Fungo.
Laurel Page who voiced patrol officer "Angel" Maxi (who resembled Penny Marshall of "Laverne and Shirley") also voiced "Teen Angel" Taffy in "Captain Caveman and The Teen Angels."
"Casper's First Christmas" had appearances by Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy as well.
Hanna-Barbera animated another Harvey Comics character, "Richie Rich", with a long series run from 1979 to 1983 with more faithfulness to the comic books.
Arty, it was the other way around Angel-wise. Laurel Page was Minnie, and Diane McCannon Maxi.
And the Richie Rich cartoons premiered in 1980.
Trivia answer: Casper was considered as a "guardian angel" to the Angels team. Guess Hairy Scary was considered also as that...or considered as "Comedy Relief".
Absolutely right, Arty. Casper also called himself a Guardian Ghost.
