Space Goofs () is a French animated television series created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud and Philippe Traversat, produced by Gaumont Multimedia (season 1) and Xilam (season 2) for France 3, and broadcast on that network from September 6, 1997, to May 12, 2006. The first season was also on Fox Kids in the United States from 1997âÂÂ2000, while the second season aired internationally.
The series also served as the basis of an adventure game, developed by Xilam themselves and published by Ubisoft for Windows and Dreamcast called Stupid Invaders in 2000 â which was dedicated to Raimbaud. In contrast to the original show, it featured plenty of toilet humor and slightly more crude, adult content. It also was the first work produced by Xilam to be made for an older audience â the others being the adult animated movies I Lost My Body and ', and the adult animated series Mr. Baby and Twilight of the Gods.
Five extraterrestrials from the fictitious planet Zigma BâÂÂCandy H. Caramella, Etno Polino, Bud Budiovitch, Gorgious Klatoo and Stereo MonoviciâÂÂgo on a picnic together in space. However, their spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and they fall to planet Earth. They realize that if any human finds out that they are aliens, they could be captured and experimented on by scientists, so they take shelter in the attic of a house that is up for rent.
The aliens have two goals: return to their home planet, and chase away anybody who tries to establish themselves in the house. To remain unknown from humans, the aliens use a device called the SMTV that lets them transform into almost any entity of their choosing, but always cycles through three other unrelated transformations (as a running gag) when used.
In the second season, Stereo is now no longer part of the main cast, with said character only being bought back for two episodes. An explanation was provided where Stereo has somehow managed to get back to Zigma B, so Candy, Etno, Bud and Gorgious continue to find a way back home.
<span style="color:#7060A0">Etno Polino</span>
<span style="color:#30A030">Candy Hector Caramella</span>
<span style="color:#FF6000">Bud Budiovitch</span>
<span style="color:#30A0C0">Gorgious Klatoo</span>
<span style="color:#FF0020">Stereo Monovici</span>
Almost every episode features a new visitor, ÃÂ la a "villain of the week" formula, who will come to the presumed "vacant" home. These visitors come in a weird variety of characters (mostly humans, but sometimes animals like pigs and birds, and even other aliens). While the credits do not specify who, additional voices include:
Some characters are voiced by the main cast. This is especially more prevalent in Season 2.
All episodes in this season were directed by Thomas Szabó and aired on Saturdays.
All episodes in this season were directed by Olivier Jean-Marie and aired on Fridays.
Series co-creator Jean-Yves Raimbaud first conceived Space Goofs, initially titled Maison ÃÂ louer (Home to Rent), as one of several personal projects before meeting Gaumont producer Marc du Pontavice at the 1993 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. du Pontavice took interest in the Home to Rent concept and saw potential for it to become an animated series. While discussing the show with du Pontavice, Raimbaud mentioned the American Nickelodeon series The Ren & Stimpy Show, a show that du Pontavice had never heard of before but was nevertheless impressed and captivated by its characters and groundbreaking animation. Ren & Stimpy would serve as a template to the direction and tone of Space Goofs. Raimbaud would become the first artist hired by du Pontavice.
By late-1994, du Pontavice traveled throughout the United States to present several project being worked on, including Space Goofs. All of the sets and concept art were developed by co-creator Philippe Traversat. du Pontavice eventually negotiated with CBS in Los Angeles to produce the show for the network. Although initially happy, du Pontavice eventually backed out of the deal when he learned that CBS planned to have total editorial control and impose its creators. Instead, he agreed with France 3 to produce the series. Bertrand Mosca, the then-general director of France 2, agreed to commit to the series against the advice from his colleagues, and he gives it the largest budget ever granted to a public service animated series.
Raimbaud would recruit several former Ren & Stimpy staffers as writers for the first season, including showrunner Bob Camp and writer Jim Gomez, who would also provide voice direction from Los Angeles. Gomez brought voice actors for the English dub of the show, such as Charlie Adler (Candy), Maurice LaMarche (Etno), Michael Sicoly and Danny Mann (Gorgious), Jeff Bennett (Bud and Stereo), and several others. In addition to the American series team, there was Olivier Jean-Marie in animation direction, Thomas Szabó in storyboarding, Nicolas Gallet in scriptwriting, Hugo Gittard in character design, and Hughes Mahoas in set design. Du Pontavice's wife, Alix de Maistre, was chosen by him to work as post-production supervisor on the first season. For the show's theme song, Raimbaud suggested David Bowie to sing it, of whom he was a big fan, but since Bowie was very busy, he came up with Iggy Pop instead. A remix of the theme song, made by 2 Lazy, was also released.
Carbunkle Cartoons founders Bob Jaques and Kelly Armstrong, who also worked on Ren & Stimpy, were also convinced to spend a year in Paris to write and train younger talent. The series team later discovered that Jaques and Armstrong were stealing some sheets of the sent material to disrupt production and force it to proceed as they wished. Jaques and Armstrong later left the series and refused to put their names on the series against the advice of their agent. In the United States, Space Goofs would air on Fox Kids on September 6, 1997, to August 29, 1998. The series was originally going to use the original Home to Rent title, but it was renamed Space Goofs at the last minute at the request of Fox.
In 2005, a second season was commissioned for the series, this time produced by Xilam Animation, a company of which du Pontavice and de Maistre have founded. Xilam was able to bring back most of the key voice actors with the exception of Jeff Bennett, resulting in Jim Gomez replacing him as the voice of Bud. Stereo would also be removed in this season as a main character, as Xilam considered him a weak character, with him only appearing in two episodes. Season 2 would be aired on France 3 from May 20, 2005, to May 12, 2006.
Space Goofs also debuted in the same year in Germany on ProSieben, and aired in Canada on Teletoon. In the UK, the first season premiered worldwide on Fox Kids on August 31, 1997 and 3 weeks later on Channel 4 on September 21, 1997, both under the show's original title of Home to Rent. The second season premiered under the series' final name on Nicktoons UK on November 5, 2005 at 9:30 AM. Furthermore, the first season aired as part of the Fox Kids lineup on Fox in the United States.
Of the more notable physical releases, three VHS tapes (entitled Alien Antics, Cartoon Tales and Animal Crack-Ups) of the series were released in the U.S. on August 11, 1998. The complete series (in 2 season sets) was also released in France on June 13, 2011.
A film adaptation for the show titled Stupid Invaders was planned, but was never released for reasons unknown â what only remained was a short video posted online. The cast of the original show reprised their roles for the main characters (sans Stereo). It was a CGI-animated adaptation of the show, where the four aliens (Etno, Candy, Gorgious and Bud) have ended up accidentally crash landing into someone else's house. Said house is revealed to be inhabited by an unnamed brunette girl, who gets curious upon her sight of the aliens.
The main characters make several cameos in some of Xilam's other TV shows. It should be noted most of these references took place in the mid-2000s, when the second season was airing.
An adventure game based on Space Goofs named Stupid Invaders was released in 2000âÂÂ2001 by Ubisoft. It featured crew members from its first season and the voice actors of its English dub as the five aliens, having to go back home in a surreal world, after an infiltration by a bounty hunter named Bolok (voiced by Billy West). Development of the game initially began at Gaumont through Gaumont Multimédia before the studio was shut down by Gaumont in 1999, and it was originally slated for release in December 1999.