Little Shop
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- For other uses, see Little Shop (disambiguation).
Little Shop was an animated television series about a teenager and a giant indoor plant that ate everything in sight. It was created by Frank Oz and debuted in 1991. Little Shop was based on the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors (itself based on the off-broadway production of the same name, which was, in turn, based on the 1960 Roger Corman movie). Little Shop was originally intended to be the title of 1986 film's sequel.
Following the success of the 1986 theatrical film, Frank Oz developed an idea for a prequel with Seymour as a junior high school student. After Warner Brothers turned down the concept, the idea was made into an animated children's cartoon with the following voice-over cast:
- Seymour - Jana Lexxa
- Audrey - Jennie Kwan
- Mr. Mushnick - Michael Rawl
- Audrey Junior - Terry McGee
- Paine - Mark Ryan
Despite the gruesome theme of murder and abuse presented in previous versions of the story, Little Shop was aimed at children and thus not violent. The plant, now called Audrey Junior as in the 1960 film, doesn't normally eat humans and blood, but meat in general. There was, however, a running gag which involved Audrey Junior eating the piano teacher in every episode in which the teacher appeared, and then belching out the teacher's scarf. The main characters were schoolkids, and the cruel dentist was now a brace-faced neighborhood bully. Audrey Junior was also given eyes. While based mainly on the 1986 film, the plant did retain its ability to hypnotize people, as it did in the 1960 original, as well as the ability to telekinetically manipulate meat - an ability he dubbed his "animal magnetism". Audrey Junior was also on Seymour's side, though more often than not, would help Seymour without Seymour's knowledge (often because its actions were generally cheating—sometimes by using its hypnotic abilities). While Seymour was well aware that Audrey Junior could talk (and rap), no one else seemed to know.
The series was a musical, like the 1986 film, and featured a couple of musical numbers per episode. In keeping with the "black" persona of the carnivorous plant in the musical film, who was voiced by Four Tops lead Levi Stubbs, had thick lips, spoke with dialect, and sang bluesy and early rock-like numbers, Audrey Junior in the series rapped during his numbers, and too spoke with a more modern, hip-hop dialect.
The 30-minute program aired on FOX from September of 1991 to September of 1992. It was paired with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series.
