Zombie Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zombie Hotel is a American animated children's programme about a hotel run by zombies. The main characters are Fungus and Maggot, two small zombies who have to say they are human to get into their local school. They make friends with Sam, a boy whose mum is away most of the time. Sam soon finds out about their zombie powers and all three have to lie to their teachers in order to keep the hotel running.
[edit] Characters
MAGGOT: The courageous, bossy and hot-headed sister of the duo. Voiced by Susan Glover
FUNGUS: The hardworking, cool brother who loves doing impossible DIY. Voiced by Sonja Ball
SAM: Maggot and Fungus' human friend. Voiced by Justin Bradley
RICTUS: The children's father who runs the Zombie Hotel. He doesn't get along with his father.
FUNERELLA: Rictus' wife. She gets worried a lot, but loves her family. Voiced by Jane Woods
JEEBIES: The hotel's elderly butler. Voiced by Walter Massey
CHEF: A grouchy vampire who is the head chef in the hotel. Voiced by John Stocker
WILSON: Chef's assistant. He tends to lose his head a lot, literally. Voiced by Terrence Scammell
TUT: The mummy DJ who likes telling bad and unfunny jokes. Voiced by Julie Lemieux
DAME FEDORA: A ghostly resident at the hotel who never stops complaining. Voiced by Catherine Disher
THE COLONEL: A small-headed, but rotund bodied zombie who used to be in the military.
UNCLE VON: Maggot and Fungus' crazy scientist of an uncle. Voiced by John Stocker
FRANCIS: Von's creation and sidekick.
MISS HARBOTTLE: Maggot and Fungus' teacher. Voiced by Julie Lemieux
HARVEY JUSTINE: Harbottle's prescious adolescent nephew/son, who Maggot, Fungus and Sam have to often reluctantly babysit.
FUNGUS AND MAGGOT
Rictus and Funerella's children are eight-year-old twins, and as such, have inherited many of the same character traits.
Both of them are joyful, smart, clever, inventive, witty and full of imagination. They are on the same wavelength.
School days, when they are known as Lara and Marty, are for them marvellous for the chance it gives them to frequent the human world. For their classmates, they are odd, with funny looks and a strange lifestyle, that's all.
MAGGOT :
She's a little girl. She is capable of crying fits and sudden yet brief bursts of temper. She has a tendency to take charge and decide for others when they are too slow to her liking.
She likes grunge poetry, Belchy dolls and frog pies. She hates kisses, flowers and compliments. Her whims can sometimes be exasperating and she does have quite a bit of character; nevertheless, she adores her parents, her brother and Sam.
Contrary to Fungus, she hates school. In reality, what she truly hates is having lower scores than her brother. This however, gives her the perfect chance to spend more study time with her young human friend, so….
She also has a fabulous imagination and at times lightning flashes of intuition; perhaps is she a bit of a telepath?
FUNGUS:
He's a little boy who is way cool and never loses his stiff upper lip or his sense of humour based on stupid jokes. He does not fight to be the leader; he is more likely to follow the course of events his sister sets off.
He likes gore puzzles, impossible DIY projects. He is highly logical and calculating. He loves school where he excels. There is one problem however: he is convinced that he is always right. If someone tries to prove the contrary, he launches into dreadful bouts of pouting.
RICTUS AND FUNERELLA
The parents of our heroes are a zombie couple, head over heels in love with each other. Two wonderful and strange beings who do their best in their role of Hoteliers not like the others
As with any serious tradesman, their main worry is satisfying their clientele. Satisfying simultaneously monsters and humans though are often two contradictory tasks.
This difficulty is exacerbated because human culture remains a complete mystery for our two zombies.
Rictus and Funerella are sometimes unaware of the incidents that rock the hotel. Their naturally joyful disposition and utter kind-heartedness results in the fact that they never see the bad side of things, the dismaying turns that events tend to take, nor the gravity of situations.
Contacts with the human world, outside of the Hotel, in town, are just as bewildering. They can't seem to understand why the baker throws such a fit when Rictus dives head first into the most beautiful cake on display, or that the Mayor's wife faints when Funerella blows her nose into her gala evening gown. They are completely oblivious of the human customs and are convinced that they are perfectly well behaved – when in reality, it's the absolute contrary.
Truth be told, their very abstract conception of life is the result of bursts of their deep, inner selves. They can suddenly be found frozen, their arms dangling, their eyes blank, not saying a word regardless of what is happening around them.
RICTUS
Rictus is a sweet soul, a debonair and placid man gifted with a rare capacity for adaptation. In any and all circumstances, even the most disconcerting, he maintains a stiff upper lip worthy of the Windsor's themselves. No matter what happens, there is always a solution that will satisfy everyone; one need only find it. He is the king of improbable compromise and twisted negotiations.
Attention though, this imperturbability can sometimes develop into a tornado in a blink of an eye. His shouting fits can arise for the most ordinary details, like the straw that breaks the camel back. It can also be for more serious causes stemming from being sick to death with everything in general.
FUNERELLA:
Funerella is a dynamic zombie who loves the unexpected. How could life at the Hotel be anything less than perfect! Always ready for anything, she storms into action at the least proposition. What if we were to transform the Hotel into an amusement park? You don't have time to finish your sentence before Funerella is already transforming the sitting room into a ghost train.
Waiting for the arrival of newlyweds? Funerella has already transformed a broom closet into the "bridal suite". Her impetuous enthusiasm obviously generates a mild uproar when it doesn't set off a serious cataclysm.
The "tornado" personality of Funerella is thankfully tempered by the placid nature of her husband. When he decides to have a fit, she, in turn, deploys unlimited kindness, sweetness and attentive car.
JEEBIES
Jeebies is the doorman, the butler, the waiter and the handyman of the Zombie Hotel.
Even though he is no longer a spring chicken (he will soon be celebrating his 368th birthday) he is the perfect man in the perfect place, stylish and zealous. A compulsive maniac of order and cleanliness, he is forever repeating ad nauseum, his motto: "A place for each thing, each thing at its place and everything perfect." When amongst his fellow monster colleagues, he displays his disgust and disdain for the human clientele. Deep down inside, however, these human beings truly fascinate him.
Rigorous beyond limits, his Achilles' heel is his propensity to lose his propensity to lose his limbs here and there. What could be more upsetting than this for someone who prides himself on tidiness?
To be sure that he finds all the bits of himself when he wakes up, Jeebies carefully dismembers himself at bedtime, putting conscientiously each piece, arms and legs in their designated spots in the registration desk. Ritually, he finishes with his head, which, invariably, bounces off the desk bell before landing in the designated drawer. A place for each thing…
Jeebies is a marvellous dancer and incapable of mastering his passion when it surges up tempestuously as soon as he hears a bit of music. If for example, Funerella starts to play the piano, he throws himself at the first lady in sight and launches them into a hair-raising tango or paso doble.
CHEF
The chef, who’s conveniently called Chef, and his assistant Wilson are both highly qualified professionals in the field of Zombie cuisine, combined with their own blend of black-magic and witchcraft style of cooking. Chef owns a cookbook of impossible recipes that demand equally improbable ingredients. Regularly, he sends Wilson off in search of these ingredients – in the guests' suitcases or in the neighbouring town.
Chef reigns as undeniable master of his kitchen. Intransigent, a dictator of the wooden spoon, he considers himself to be an artist of the stove top and like all artists, refuses for anyone to interfere with his creations. He will stubbornly refuse to replace the powdered dried cockroaches with cooking salt even after Funerella has explained that the future of the Hotel depends on it. Thankfully, and to the surprise of all, the clients – humans and monsters – unanimously declare that Chef's creations are truly delicious. Granted, the humans enjoy his cuisine because they ignore the ingredients of each dish and obviously the monsters appreciate his cuisine because they know very well that they are eating the most abominable things. To each his own…
Chef is a particular sort of vampire because, contrary to his fellow vampires, he is a red-blooded vampire. This particularity must be the result of his fiery personality. He is a ladies man through and through. He cannot help but flirt with all women, even the least affable. His attempts to lustily kiss the gentle ladies finish in horrendous failures. .
Of his vampire predilections, Chef has kept a vital need to drink raspberry juice as soon as the sun sets. A giant fence of raspberry canes has been planted in the neighbouring cemetery to assuage his urges. Also, like any self-respecting vampire he panics at the sight of garlic. To the dam of Chef, Wilson loves cooking with garlic and eats it regularly.
WILSON
Wilson has a problem that complicates not only his life but also that of those around him. He often suffers from headaches and has the unfortunate habit of alleviating the headache by putting his head under a domed plate cover in the closet. He then goes about his daily business, headless, until it feels better!
When he's not plaguing the kitchen, he's off searching through the other client's things. It's not really out of curiosity, more out of boredom or because Chef has ordered him to find a special ingredient.
The rest of the time, Wilson smiles beatifically, frozen to the spot, his arms dangling. The children sometimes wonder if he doesn't have zombie ancestors. In any case, he's rather nice and not too bothersome.
Wilson doesn't say much but that doesn't mean that he is simple-minded. He just doesn't have much to say….
TUT
Tut, the mummy, is a character apart, appearing in flashes throughout the episodes. Her mean and stupid tricks are running gags appearing here and there in the stories.
Her domain of nuisance is the prank. Mind you, these are not fusspot pranks, carefully created to make young girls giggle. No, these are bear-like farces that stain, from the fart-pillow to the bucket of guts perched above the doors and including loads of banana peels in the stairwell. Useless to say, these ferocious pranks contribute to the clients' memorable souvenirs of their stay at Zombie Hotel.
DAME FEDORA
Dame Fedora is a highly cantankerous phantom.
Forever complaining, nothing is to her liking, there is always something wrong. What she likes about the Zombie Hotel is the existence of poor Jeebies who is her personal victim. It is especially hard on the butler for he prides himself on making sure that everything functions according to the rules. Dame Fedora however, inexorably finds the flaw, an excuse to justify her need to complain. If ever there isn't a flaw, she makes one up with whatever is on hand.
Dame Fedora has another bête noire, the Colonel, a faithful client who is often staying at the Hotel at the same as she. She cannot stand his incessant ramblings and his invasive presence. She has already told him a hundred times that they do not belong to same world; that people of her social standing do not lower themselves to be seen with drunks, but there is nothing to be done. The Colonel is convinced that not only has he found his soul mate, but also that the way to win her over is to tell her, in minute detail, about all his glorious battles. In fact, he always talks about the same one that he starts over and over, for his narrative talents do not go very far. Dame Fedora maliciously enjoys making fun of the Colonel in public. The military man does not realise what she is up to and takes her jabs for compliments.
Socialite and fond of anything that is "in", Dame Fedora's believes herself to be a fine connoisseur of the latest trends in contemporary monster art or zombie haute couture. She has given up on ever finding anyone worthy of her company amongst her entourage.
Dame Fedora, as with any phantom worthy of this name, has the capacity to walk through walls.
THE COLONEL
The Colonel, as his name implies, is a former military man. Even if his grade is enough to explain his amazing narrow-mindedness, the roots of this character trait may also lie in a rather strange incident that occurred when he was on a mission in the South American jungle. You know how it is, just a minute of inattention and your head gets shrunk in less than a second! It is this adventure that he tells over and over to Dame Fedora.
He's a bit old fashioned and has his little rituals (jogging in his room at 6 o'clock in the morning, army cot folded impeccably, room tidied to within an inch of it's life). For these reasons, he gets along remarkably well with Jeebies. They both agree that everything is going down the drain, that weakness and laziness are today's twin rulers and that a good old fashioned war wouldn't hurt to get every body back on track….
Careful though, the man can be dangerous. Constantly on his guard, suspicious to the point of being paranoid, he has accumulated over the years, an impressive collection of weapons from all over the world in anticipation of any possible attack. From the blowgun with poisoned arrows to the newest model of bazooka, his travel tin trunk contains any and all weapons imaginable, and a few we can't even begin to imagine.
UNCLE VON
Uncle Von is a scientific genius.
Always on the quest for new experiments, he tries his hand at everything and fails it all. Francis, his creature, is the living proof; Francis was designed to be the ultimate monster but turned out to be the best mankind has to offer. In his efforts to create a monster worthy of this name, Uncle Von jumps on any chance to steal someone's brain; the first guest who appears will do just fine for an equitable swap with Francis's brain.
FRANCIS
Francis is Uncle Von's creature. To his creator's utter dismay though, the creature he conceived with so much hatred, turned out to be a paragon of kindness, refinement and subtlety. If this weren't enough, he is also extremely polite, manifests an exquisite courtesy, and he is exceptionally well cultivated. All of this in one creature would make you think that Francis could not only pass for human but would be considered the best of what humanity has to offer.
Uncle Von may not have succeeded in giving Francis a monstrous heart but unfortunately, his physical appearance satisfies his creator utterly: it's difficult to imagine anything more repulsive. Francis tries to befriend the temporary guests but to no avail.
SAM
Our two heroes hit it off quickly with Sam, a young boy never at a lost for stupid tricks (much like Tut whom he adores). Things happened naturally. Fungus and Maggot spontaneously revealed their true nature to their friend who wasn't shocked in the least. No disgust or surprise: "Zombies? Yeah, coool, he loves the horror movies on television. He's got all the time in the world to watch them as his mother is never at home. She spends all of her time working. They leave each other notes on the refrigerator and talk on the telephone. Family? He doesn't really know what that means; he'd probably really like a zombie family.
Ever since they met, Fungus, Maggot and Sam have been the best of friends, just like the three Musketeers except that the real ones were four in all. The young boy has a secret too. It's an abandoned train wagon, overgrown with vegetation, that he's fixed up and where he sleeps every now and again.
MISS JUSTINE, THE SCHOOLTEACHER.
Our heroes' schoolteacher is also the principal and sole lodger of the school.
Very intrigued by the physical appearance of Fungus and Maggot, the schoolteacher is forever trying to uncover their secret. She has no idea what it could be but she has a feeling that it's fishy. She never misses a chance to grill them, to rifle secretly through their things or, on inquisitive visits, to drop by the Zombie Hotel. She has yet to discover the least little thing but the children remain wary.
She's not a bad sort, not a "mean" character, just helplessly curious. She is the butt of jokes because her investigations invariably end in burlesque misadventures.
HARVEY JUSTINE:
Justine/Harbottle's prescious adolescent nephew, who Maggot, Fungus and Sam have to often reluctantly babysit.
He's similar too Sam in that he loves zombies. Though he doesn't yet realise that Maggot & Fungus aren't dressed up and wearing makeup like zombies...they're the real deal. Though he wouldn't be bothered once he finds out the truth behind his babysitters.
[edit] Episodes:
01 First day
Maggot and Fungus go to « human » school for the first time in their lives. The hotel residents are worried, but not as worried as Funerella who decides to check that everything is going well at school ... . In the meantime, the twins meet Sam, a little human who discovers their secret. However, there is also Basil, a tough guy to contend with, and he promises dark days ahead for these little “new guys”.
02 Love is in the air
Maggot and Fungus decide to kickstart the Colonel’s lovelife, to help him find the woman of his dreams. It seems that love is impossible between Dame Fedora and himself. On the advice of Sam, they go to a matrimonial agency … but behind the agency are two sharks determined to rip off the “old” colonel ... they are in for a big surprise!
03 Plumbing the depths
In order to repair the plumbing, cash is needed and in order to get some ready cash, the Zombies decide to have a garage sale. This works really well and they would certainly have enough to get the pipes back in order if certain other problems didn’t crop up: Dame Fedora has disappeared and a snoring Zombie of the worst possible sort has worked his way into the hotel. The school headmaster, who managed to buy a porcelaine dog containing Dame Fedora’s ghostly perfume at the garage sale, cannot comprehend why his school is suddenly accused of being haunted by a ghost who plays practical jokes.
04 Zombie pride
In the run-up to Halloween, the pupils have to make a presentation on the mythical creatures that make this day famous. Ely, a friend of Maggot and Fungus, decides to use Zombies as his theme. Proud at first, Maggot is stupefied when Ely says that Zombies are smelly, nasty, feeble creatures. She decides to prove him wrong and introduces him to Wilson, who is delighted to promote his species. However, Ely then wants to meet the rest of the family ... is Maggot really defending the honour of his family or rather putting them in danger??
05 Brat-attack
A Zombie client arrives at the hotel with his offspring. With a malicious secret plan to buy the hotel, the client unleashes his bratty child on the Hotel and kids. The latter maliciously enjoys accusing Maggot and Fungus of hundreds of naughty things that he himself has committed. He even goes so far as to cause trouble for Fungus at school. How can they get rid of this little pest without upseting the client that the Zombie Hotel really needs?
06 There’s something about Zombies
Sam has to do a presentation on Ancient Egypt. However, Tut is incapable of remembering anything that could help him and the reading list is so large that Sam gives up hope. If only he could have the powers of a Memo Zombie-- capable of taking in 15 books a minute. Fungus thinks it’s a great idea. Sam should become a zombie like them ... except that it’s against family rules. Torn between wanting to make their friend happy and respecting family rules, the twins decide to make Sam believe that the transformation worked. In the meantime, Zombie hunters turn up at the hotel... Will Sam be able to save his “family”?
07 Vote for Zombie !
At school, it’s election time – for the class prefect. Challenging Chad, the handsome, Big Man on Campus, who is elected every year by an overwhelming majority, is a rival, Maggot. A ruthless electoral campaign is set up between the two competitors. After a few false starts, Maggot starts winning over her potential electorat. Chad, sensing the wind is about to change, makes a bet and hands over the election to ... Fungus. It doesn’t take long for competition to overflow into the hotel and become a war of the sexes. All this against the backdrop of Chef’s demanding Vampire father who starts to relish the tasty necks of the Fungus and Maggot’s classmates!
08 Happy people
Maggot and Fungus have to hand in an essay on their family history. In order to avoid telling the truth about the Zombies, they disguise the truth. However, the teacher realises this and suspects that something is up! She calls Funerella and Rictus into her office and announces that their children must be terribly unhappy because they feel the need to invent a parallel universe. She advises them to go on holiday together in order to get the family communication working again and even suggests a super campsite. She just forgets to mention that, by chance, she will also be there at the same time ... to spy on this family that intrigues her so much. Maggot and Fungus are furious, going on holiday with the parents is bad enough but with the teacher! Our little zombies pull out all the stops to avoid being caught out by the teacher whilst Chef, Wilson and the others have their own problems with the arrival of the school headmaster who has decided to spend his holidays at ... the Zombie Hotel.
09 Oh my Goth !
At school, a “goth” girl takes a shine to Fungus. His “look” and clothes are really out of the ordinary and soon Fungus can’t get rid of his new admirer. She’s cramping his style to be invited to Lucy’s (the cool, hip girl) pool party. To shake off his admirer, he decides to take a 180° turn and play squeaky-clean “upper-class”. This trick works until Rictus’ father, Angus, decide to intervene and save his grandson from the ill effects of humans! He crashes the pool party and mayhem ensues.
10 It’s not fair !
The Safety Inspector arrives to make sure the Hotel measures up to Zombie standards. He runs a “fresh air drill” (clean air is bad!), checks Dame Fedora’s shriek for effectiveness and makes sure the dining room chairs aren’t too straight. Meanwhile, Fungus, Maggot and Sam are the laughing stock of the school for their science project. Wanting to help. the kind-hearted Francis steals the other kids’ experiments so that Maggot/Sam and Fungus will win. It doesn’t take long for the police to track down the culprit and cause more mayhem at the hotel.
11 Funerella’s deathday
Funerella’s deathday (Birthday) is approaching and Rictus is planning a surprise party. He runs himself ragged trying to keep the secret while Fungus and Maggot try to figure out how NOT to have their parents invited to the school concert. Things go badly when Funerella wonders why everyone is acting so strange and inadvertently sets in motion a series of events that cause the concert to be moved to the hotel. Now Maggot and Fungus must devise a plan to hide the residents from their classmates.
12- The Bogeyman cometh
The Bogeyman is the Zombie Santa Claus. Fungus still believes while Maggot thinks she’s too old for such nonsense. Fungus sets out to prove her wrong. When he does indeed capture the bogeyman, he’s forced to switch places with Bogeyman so that Maggot will see him. What Fungus did know is that the Bogeyman scares humans and when they revolt he finds himself running for his life.
13 Dead trendy.
Maggot/Fungus suffer at school for being so out of fashion until they wear magical clothes found in the Colonel’s closet. When they go to school, all the kids see Fungus/Maggot wearing the clothes they wish they had. Things go bad when everyone wants the clothes off Maggot and Fungus’ back. At the same time, Rictus and Funerella are trying to impress a TV crew doing a spot on the hotel. Thinking they want “normal” Rictus/Funerella strain while the TV crew wants hip and exotic.
14 Something old, something newt
While their grandfather is away, Maggot and Fungus are to take care of Robert, his little pet newt… But beware, there is one very important rule: he must never eat anything else but pondweed. What is going to happen when Robert munches a few cookies? Meanwhile, Jeebies and Dame Fedora decide to organize a contest: who will succeed in giving this couple of human lovers staying at the Zombie Hotel the scare of their lives??
15 Too many cooks
Sam is very sad: his mother, Araminta, has decided that Maggot and Fungus are just too weird to be her son’s friends… Maggot and Fungus are ready to prove her wrong with the help of the entire Zombie Hotel. Chef has lost his pet cockroach, Zachariah, and Funerella gives him leave to take a rest. Funerella decides to hire Araminta to cook for a week, which should make her realize that they are a perfectly “normal” family. Unfortunately, Araminta is a horrendous cook…
16 Hexed
Maggot is furious: Mrs Harbottle is really unfair: she tells Maggot to work harder at school but she says nothing to Eli… Maggot decides to bring Mrs Harbottle a present: perhaps it will make her more tolerant toward Maggot? Unfortunately, Maggot picks a book from the Zombie Hotel library, a book that happens to carry a curse: it makes you say the opposite of what you want to say! What’s more, Wilson has hidden his winning lottery ticket inside it!
17 Inspector Fungus
Fungus catches two intruders stealing in the Zombie Hotel in the middle of the night… Inspector Wolf congratulates him: Fungus would make a perfect inspector... Fungus loses no time and immediately opens his own private detective agency to solve all the school and Zombie Hotel mysteries such as Jeebies’ disappearance, for instance. But inspector Fungus starts to see mysteries everywhere and ends up spoiling surprises and wrongly accusing students at school… which puts Maggot in a bit of a fix.
18 School exchange
While Maggot and Fungus are getting ready to welcome two human children from a school exchange program, Tut and the Colonel decide to go to an exhibition on Ancient Egypt. There, they come upon two sarcophagi; could they be a couple of Tut’s cousins? They decide to check and bring the two sarcophagi back to the hotel. Unfortunately for the residents, they are none other than Tip and Tap, two monsters capable of morphing into anything they come across and who are dead keen on making the tomb of darkness legend come alive…
19 Movie madness
Miss Justine proposes that the students make a short film to bring to class on the following day. Sam, Maggot and Fungus are delighted: they’ve got just the characters for it. They’re going to make a film about zombies! Scenery, extras… they have everything at hand! Unfortunately, on that particular day, Chef happens to prepare some frog soup that gives everybody the hic-ups… not even the zombie physician knows anything about this disease. Interviewing the hotel residents is going to be somewhat difficult…
20 The wrong Von
the football game-winning goal… though he did it in spite of himself! He becomes a total star at school until Clyde, a new boy - always perfectly groomed - arrives in the school; the latter is quite a sensation and steals the show from Fungus… Furious, Fungus bids higher and pretends Uncle Von is a very famous scientist. Miss Justine takes his word for it and decides to invite Uncle Von to make a presentation at the school … Clyde is ecstatic: he will at last be able to prove that Fungus is an imposter. But this is underestimating what Uncle Von might come up with…
21 Night of the undead babysitters!
Miss Justine needs a baby-sitter and that happens to suit Sam, Maggot and Fungus just fine since they want to earn money to go to the movies. Harvey, Miss Justine’s little boy, is delighted: he loves zombies! Everything goes rather well until Maggot and Fungus decide to take him to the hotel, where Harvey suddenly appears… Meanwhile, Rictus and Funerella decide to go and test the restaurant of one of their recently opened competitors, Flambini. Things go awry when Flambini mistakes Chef and Wilson for the new assistants he’s been waiting for…
22 Toying with magic
Tomorrow is the last day before the school holiday break: the kids can bring a toy to school! Fungus is delighted and decides to bring his Xylo-os. Maggot is upset: she doesn’t have a doll to bring… She goes back to the hotel with a sheepish look on her face and walks over to Uncle Von’s lab where she finds a beautiful doll in a glass cabinet. She can’t help herself and pinches it discretely. Unfortunately, it is a very, very special doll… whoever has her in his or her possession has full powers on the witch Isabel who has just arrived at our friends’ hotel…
23 Carrots, sticks and robots
Maggot and Fungus have a week off school. Miss Justine has asked her students to work on an expose about their parents’ profession. Fungus really gets into it and decides to test “in the field” the new high productivity method he has just discovered in a book: he constantly bursts out singing “productivity, increased productivity and less coffee breaks!” for anyone who cares to listen… Rictus and Funerella are delighted and take advantage of this to go away for a week on a lovers’ holiday. But when Fungus wants to revolutionize everything in the hotel, the staff threatens to go on strike.
24 A Zombie’s best friend
Maggot and Fungus are a little worried because their parents are coming to see the play the students are putting on at the school. Rictus and Funerella start to get friendly with Basil’s parents, the Mortimers, and are ready to let them come and stay at the hotel for a while so that Maggot, Fungus and Basil might get to know each other better. But the children are dead against this forced cohabitation! They decide to do everything in their power to make the Mortimers move out, right down to attempting to transform them into zombies with a little help from Uncle Von…
25 The hug bug
Maggot and Fungus are crushed by the news that Sam is going to move… His mother’s yoga teacher has declared that the house is unfavorably situated. And now Sam is going to have to change school! Seeing how sad the little zombies are, Francis promises to help them. He forages in Uncle Von’s lab and comes up with a recipe to make bubbles that make people happy as soon as they touch them. Uncle Von has a great time making bubbles that spread throughout the hotel: now everyone wants a cuddle! Sam, on the other hand, cannot understand why Maggot and Fungus are not more despondent about his leaving…
26 A class act
Francis finds a treasure in the cellar of the Zombie Hotel … Unfortunately, it is guarded by an evil spirit that takes possession of Francis’ body and transforms him into an Evil Francis. He persuades Uncle Von to help him conquer the world. The two accomplices make peanuts that transform anyone who eats them into a brainless robot for three days. Evil Francis wants to enslave the entire zombie population! But this is precisely the moment Funerella and Rictus have chosen to invite the most influential zombies around at the Hotel for an alumni gathering…
[edit] Awards
Selected: BAF 2005 (UK), Animadrid 2005 (Spain); Anifest 2006 (Czech Republic); Bimini Film Festival 2006 (Latvia); Cartoons on the bay 2006 (Italy); Annecy 2006 (France), View Finders 2006 (Canada); Seoul International Cartoon 2006 (Korea); Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart 2006 (Germany); Animacor Cordoba 2006 (Spain).
Won: Best TV series, FICCI 2006 (India); Animation Price (6-14 y.o), Luchon 2006 (France); Special award for a TV show, Annecy 2006 (France).
