Tales from the Cryptkeeper

Tales from the Cryptkeeper is an animated series aimed at children made by Nelvana Limited, PeaceArch Entertainment, kaBOOM! Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Animation. It was shown on TVO and ABC, and is still shown near Halloween on Teletoon. It was based on the live-action television show, Tales from the Crypt, which aired concurrently on HBO. Being directed at children, Tales From the Cryptkeeper was significantly milder than the live-action HBO version.

The series was cancelled on December 10, 1994. In 1999, the show returned to the air as New Tales from the Cryptkeeper. The animation was different from that of the previous episodes.

Cast

• John Kassir played the voice of The Crypt Keeper.
• Elizabeth Hanna as the Old Witch.
• David Hemblen as the Vault Keeper.

List of episodes

Season One (1993)

• 1. While the Cat's Away (September 18, 1993) – Two brothers plan to rob an abandoned mansion, where The Cryptkeeper has set up a monstrous security system to get rid of intruders.
• 2. Nature (September 25, 1993) – After two brothers torment ants at a picnic, they are shrunk by a mysterious ray and are forced to face the trials and tribulations of the insect world.
• 3. Pleasant Screams (October 2, 1993) – A teacher and one of his students find themselves trapped in the fantasies of another student whom they have tormented.
• 4. Gone Fishin'/A Little Body of Work (October 9, 1993) – In "Gone Fishin'" a boy tries to warn his uncle, a wasteful fisherman of the fish that are out for revenge. In "A Little Body of Work", two hoodlums challenge a boy to a race on the Mustang he's renovating, a car which, unbeknownst to them, has a mind of its own.
• 5. The Works...In Wax (October 16, 1993) – A boy discovers that statues in his favourite wax museum come to life.
• 6. The Sleeping Beauty (October 23, 1993) – In a terrifying retelling of the classic fairytale, a self-absorbed prince and his nerdy put-upon twin brother quest to wake the slumbering princess, whom, little do they know, is really a bloodthirsty vampire.
• 7. Cave Man (October 30, 1993) – The son of a scientist befriends a Neanderthal that has been encased in ice for millions of years, but the friendship turns sour when the caveman can't adapt to the modern world.
• 8. Hyde and Go Shriek (November 6, 1993) – A group of bullies fear for their lives when Wendell drinks a potion that turns him into a werewolf.
• 9. Fare Tonight (November 13, 1993) – Two paranormal enthusiasts create a homemade vampire detector and use it to hunt for bloodsuckers only to learn that one of them is right under their nose.
• 10. Gorilla's Paw (November 20, 1993) – In a classic retelling of W. W. Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw, an unpopular kid steals a gorilla's paw in order to be a part of a secret club, and discovers that the gorilla's paw can grant wishes with twisted results.
• 11. This Wraps It Up (December 4, 1993) – A girl becomes the object of her classmates' never-ending ridiculing because of her tallness. But when a mummy unleashes a curse on everyone, the kids turn to her to defeat the mummy and break the spell.
• 12. Grounds for Horror (December 11, 1993) – Summer campers befriend an invisible being who plays pranks on a strict no-nonsense counselor.
• 13. Ghost Ship (December 18, 1993) – Ben and his friend Mike go for a joyride on Ben's father's new yacht and sink it, leaving the two stranded in the ocean until a phantom ship haunted by pirates comes to their rescue.

Season Two (1994)

In this season, the Cryptkeeper was continually feuding with his rivals, the Vaultkeeper and the Old Witch, who were continually trying to steal the show from him (as they didn't have one of their own), only to have their plans backfire on them. This season also saw the Cryptkeeper in different locales than his mansion, as he tried to elude his rivals.

• 14. Game Over (September 10, 1994) – Two boys pay for skipping school to play video games when the characters come to life.
• 15. Cold Blood, Warm Hearts/The Spider and the Flies (September 17, 1994) – The Cryptkeeper and the Old Witch meet at the beach to swap stories: in "Cold Blood, Warm Heart", a man and a woman find that they have a lot in common while investigating rumors of a monster dwelling in a lake; in "The Spider and the Flies", when spiders infest their town, two siblings find out that a mysterious exterminator is not what he seems to be.
• 16. The Avenging Phantom/Myth Conceptions (September 24, 1994) – In "The Avenging Phantom," a young boy named Jimmy wishes he can get revenge on his tormentors like his comic book superhero, "The Avenging Phantom," and gets his wish, but with dire consequences. In "Myth Conceptions", an archaeologist discovers the tomb of Medusa and learns the hard way why others before him have died trying to find it.
• 17. All the Gory Details (October 1, 1994) – A pair of newspaper reporters try to track down an old mad scientist.
• 18. The Weeping Woman (October 8, 1994) – Camille and Mildred from "Fare Tonight" return, this time, to investigate the sightings of a woman's ghost who haunts a local inn.
• 19. Dead Men Don't Jump (October 15, 1994) – The Witch, The Cryptkeeper, and The Vaultkeeper return to tell the tale of a boy who challenges a monster to a basketball game that could mean the end of his life if he loses.
• 20. The Haunted Mine (October 22, 1994) – A boy goes to visit his aunt, which leads to a trip inside an abandoned mine filled with unusual shapes and a dark secret.
• 21. Growing Pains (October 29, 1994) – The Old Witch takes over telling this episode's story after turning the Cryptkeeper into a scarecrow. In this installment, a plant enthusiast named Wendell (from "Hyde and Go Shriek") falls for Rose, a new girl at school with a rather "weedy" family secret.
• 22. The Brothers Gruff (November 5, 1994) – A boy named Eddie is followed home by a troll after crossing a bridge. Now it's up to him and his friend Sheldon, who knows almost everything about monsters, to defeat the troll when it kidnaps Eddie's older brother.
• 23. Uncle Harry's Horrible House of Horrors (November 12, 1994) – During a trip to the carnival, a boy's birthday is being spoiled by his skeptical uncle, but the latter of whom soon has his views of the supernatural challenged when they take a ride through a frighteningly realistic haunted house.
• 24. Hunted (November 19, 1994) – A heartless hunter in the Amazon is soon the hunted when a shapeshifting monster named Onnaya starts pursuing him after freeing the captured animals.
• 25. Chuck (and Melvin) and the Beanstalker (December 3, 1994) – Chuck and Melvin (the narcissistic prince and his brother from "The Sleeping Beauty") return; this time in a horrifying retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" where they must steal the treasure of a giant Cyclops named Beanstalker.
• 26. Transylvania Express (December 10, 1994) – Two surfer dudes, none other than Mike and Ben, accidentally get on a train headed for Transylvania, where they must fight back against vampires.

Season Three (1999) (New Tales From The Cryptkeeper)

Season three was the first (and last) season to not air on ABC. Instead, Tales From the Cryptkeeper aired on CBS in 1999. Due to the adoption of a content ratings system and new FCC regulations over more educational content in children's cartoons, the CBS version now has a TV-Y7 rating and an E/I badge (signifying that the show has educational content) at the beginning of the episode. Also, each episode has a moral that the characters learn the hard way, thanks to The Cryptkeeper interacting with the characters (such as posing as a store clerk in one episode) in the beginning of the episode.

• 27. Sharon Sharalike (September 9, 1999) – A selfish teenage girl steals her little sister's doll and soon learns that the doll doesn't like it when its owners don't share.
• 28. Imaginary Friend (September 16, 1999) – Two teen boys torment a nine-year-old who has an imaginary friend who gets back at the boys for their actions.
• 29. Waste Not, Haunt Not (September 23, 1999) – Two boys improperly dispose of toxic waste from their science project into a bog, which creates a bog monster.
• 30. Unpopular Mechanics (September 30, 1999) – Randall "The Vandal" is a kid inventor who has a gift for mechanics, but uses his talent for destructive pranks—and when he invents a remote control that can cause machines to go haywire, he gets his comeuppance when the appliances say, "No more!" and attack him.
• 31. Competitive Spirit (October 7, 1999) – Victor tricks his rival into thinking a ghost exists in the mountains, but a real mountain spirit comes after the boy for his deceptive ways.
• 32. Trouble in Store (October 14, 1999) – Two boys get locked in a store during closing hours and discover that the mannequins don't take kindly to those who steal from their "home".
• 33. So Very Attractive (October 21, 1999) – An insecure girl buys a beauty cream from an abandoned drugstore that makes her an irresistible force to everything—including animals and the dead.
• 34. Drawn and Quartered (October 28, 1999) – An aspiring artist finds a magic pencil that brings his drawings to life to get back at the bullies who torment him.
• 35. All Booked Up (November 4, 1999) – A boy who hates to read gets trapped in a library where he goes inside the dark world of classic literature.
• 36. Town Gathering (November 11, 1999) – A girl known for her pranks must convince her mother that a group of businessmen are actually aliens bent on eating the townspeople.
• 37. It's for You (November 18, 1999) – A boy gets his own phone line for Christmas and abuses his privilege by making prank calls, until he makes one to a mysterious old woman who begins to stalk him over the phone.
• 38. Monsters Ate My Homework (November 25, 1999) – A boy tells his teacher that monsters ate his homework to avoid getting into trouble. All goes well until real monsters come after Evan for his homework.
• 39. Too Cool for School (December 2, 1999) – Two girls mess around with the objects in the school science lab, and inadvertently create some half-dinosaur/frog creatures after refusing to clean up frog eggs and a serum containing dinosaur DNA off the floor.

Syndication

In August 2012, Fearnet began airing reruns in their "Funhouse" block, airing Saturdays and Sundays.

DVD releases

Season Releases

In 2007, kaBOOM! Entertainment of Toronto, Canada, released the Complete First Season on DVD.^[2]

References

External links

• Nelvana: Tales from the Cryptkeeper
• Tales from the Cryptkeeper at the Internet Movie Database
• Tales from the Cryptkeeper at TV.com