Space Goofs
Encyclopedia
Space Goofs
Space Goofs (France
/Quebec
title: Les Zinzins de l'espace, UK title: Home to Rent, German title: Ein Heim für Aliens, Italian title: Space Goofs - Vicini Troppo Vicini, international title: Stupid Invaders) is a French
animated series produced by Gaumont Film Company
, Gunther-Waul Productions and Xilam
for France 3
that first aired in 1997. It was airing, in Quebec
, on Télétoon
. In the UK, it premiered on Channel 4
under the name Home to Rent and it also premiered under its original moniker on Nicktoons UK
on 5 November 2005 at 9:30am. It also aired as part of the Fox Kids
lineup on Fox
in the United States
.
The series also served as the basis of an adventure game titled Stupid Invaders.
s from the planet Zigma B, Etno, Gorgious, Stereo, Candy and Bud go on a picnic together in space. However, their spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and they fall to planet Earth. They realise that if any human finds out that they're aliens, they could be experimented on, so they take shelter in a house for rent.
The aliens have two goals: return to their home planets and chase away anybody who tries to establish themselves in the house.
An adventure game
based on Space Goofs titled Stupid Invaders was released in 2000 by Ubisoft
. The plot centers around the aliens and their attempts to return to space. All the main characters of the series are playable through the course of the game. The game is notable for deliberately rejecting or distorting some cliched aspects of the adventure genre; standard adventure game tactics such as picking up, talking to or interacting with anything encountered will often result in instant (albeit highly comical) death for the player character and the need to reload, for example, often with no warning.
Stupid Invaders was developed by Xilam
for Windows
and Mac OS
, and ported to the Dreamcast by Titanium Studios.http://www.titaniumstudios.com/games/games.html
Space Goofs (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
/Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
title: Les Zinzins de l'espace, UK title: Home to Rent, German title: Ein Heim für Aliens, Italian title: Space Goofs - Vicini Troppo Vicini, international title: Stupid Invaders) is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
animated series produced by Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
, Gunther-Waul Productions and Xilam
Xilam
Xilam is a French production company that specializes in animated series feature films. Originally founded as Gaumont Multimédia, the company adopted it's current name in 1999...
for France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
that first aired in 1997. It was airing, in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, on Télétoon
Télétoon (Canadian TV channel)
Télétoon is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel that specializes in animation programming. Télétoon is owned by Teletoon Canada Inc; a 50/50 partnership between Astral Media and Corus Entertainment...
. In the UK, it premiered on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
under the name Home to Rent and it also premiered under its original moniker on Nicktoons UK
Nicktoons UK
Nicktoons is a British digital television channel launched on 22 July 2002. It is a cartoon based sister channel to Nickelodeon. The channel airs cartoons, these are commonly known as Nicktoons, as well as other cartoons known as non-Nicktoons. Unlike the United States version, it has been...
on 5 November 2005 at 9:30am. It also aired as part of the Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
lineup on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The series also served as the basis of an adventure game titled Stupid Invaders.
Plot
Five extra-terrestrialExtraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
s from the planet Zigma B, Etno, Gorgious, Stereo, Candy and Bud go on a picnic together in space. However, their spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and they fall to planet Earth. They realise that if any human finds out that they're aliens, they could be experimented on, so they take shelter in a house for rent.
The aliens have two goals: return to their home planets and chase away anybody who tries to establish themselves in the house.
Characters
- Etno Polino: Short and purple with red lips and a big nose, Etno is the brains of the group. A scientific genius, he creates all sort of machines. In the original French version, he speaks with an English accent. Etno's voice was done by Maurice LaMarcheMaurice LaMarcheMaurice LaMarche is an Emmy Award winning Canadian-American voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama as Kif Kroker, as Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters, Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Big Bob Pataki in Hey...
. As a coincedence, LaMarche was also the voice behind the character of "The Brain" from Pinky and the BrainPinky and the BrainPinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...
and AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, some fans say they chose LaMarche for the right reasons because of this role - Bud Budiovitch: Tall and orange with a three strands of hair, a long neck and big bloodshot eyes, Bud is lazy and naive. He acts as the teenager of the group which makes him somewhat adolescent. He is a television addict and spends most of the time sitting in front of it and drinking soft drinks. Like Etno, Bud is always the last one to panic in a situation. He always comes up with the best solution but most of the time no one will listen to him. Bud's voice was done by Jeff BennettJeff BennettJeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...
in Season 1, and Louis Garneau in Season 2. - Candy Caramella: Small and green with a wrinkled forehead and wearing a polka-dotted apron. Candy is the uptight neatfreak of the group. Candy's voice was done by Charlie Adler.
- Gorgious Klatoo: Fat and blue with a heavy chin and a protruding tooth, Gorgious is the grumpy and brutal one. He is very greedy and his hobby consists of bullying the others and eating. Gorgious' voice was done by Danny MannDanny MannDaniel "Danny" Mann is an American voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager. He is best known for his voice of Hector from Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Freeway, Cloudraker and Lightspeed in Transformers, Backwoods Beagle in DuckTales, Kaltag in Balto, Ferdinand from Babe,...
. - Stereo Monovici: Two-headed and red each head with a slightly long nose, Stereo acts as two people since each head has its own mind. "He" is pretty much the bookworm of the group, yet wastes his intelligence on the most useless information often. Stereo was removed from season two of the show because several viewers and even Xilam Studios described him as "a very weak character". Both heads are voiced by Jeff BennettJeff BennettJeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...
.
Season 1
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Season 2
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Reaction
- The series has been a hit in France, in particular due to its absurdAbsurdAbsurd or The Absurd may refer to:* Absurdity, general and technical usage - associated with extremely poor reasoning, the ridiculous, or nonsense....
, slapstickSlapstickSlapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
and tongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
slightly politically incorrectPolitical correctnessPolitical correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
humor.
Stupid Invaders
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
based on Space Goofs titled Stupid Invaders was released in 2000 by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
. The plot centers around the aliens and their attempts to return to space. All the main characters of the series are playable through the course of the game. The game is notable for deliberately rejecting or distorting some cliched aspects of the adventure genre; standard adventure game tactics such as picking up, talking to or interacting with anything encountered will often result in instant (albeit highly comical) death for the player character and the need to reload, for example, often with no warning.
Stupid Invaders was developed by Xilam
Xilam
Xilam is a French production company that specializes in animated series feature films. Originally founded as Gaumont Multimédia, the company adopted it's current name in 1999...
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
, and ported to the Dreamcast by Titanium Studios.http://www.titaniumstudios.com/games/games.html
France
- France 3France 3France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
- 1st season (1997-1998 on the Minikeums show and 2008 on the Toowam show)
- 2nd season (2004-2005 on the France Truc show)
- GulliGulliGulli is a French television network dedicated to children's programming. It is available through digital terrestrial television "TNT" in partnership with Lagardère Active, and France Télévisions with children's programmes from France 3. Gulli is also known as Cyperbot.-Programmes:Children can...
Quebec
- TélétoonTélétoon (Canadian TV channel)Télétoon is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel that specializes in animation programming. Télétoon is owned by Teletoon Canada Inc; a 50/50 partnership between Astral Media and Corus Entertainment...
as "Les Zinzins de l'espace" (cancelled)
UK
- Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(1997) (Home to Rent Series only) - Fox KidsFox KidsFox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
(1997–1999) - Nicktoons UKNicktoons UKNicktoons is a British digital television channel launched on 22 July 2002. It is a cartoon based sister channel to Nickelodeon. The channel airs cartoons, these are commonly known as Nicktoons, as well as other cartoons known as non-Nicktoons. Unlike the United States version, it has been...
(2005–2008) - Nickelodeon UKNickelodeon UKNickelodeon is a children's television channel available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk TV and UPC Ireland in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including on demand on BT Vision. The channel was launched on 1 September 1993...
(2008-)