The Story of Tales From The Cryptkeeper: EC Comics, the HBO Show, the Game Show & Its Many Deaths
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the history of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper,' an animated series that aired in the 90s, known for its horror-themed stories with moral lessons. It traces the franchise's origins back to EC Comics, discusses the impact of the Comics Code Authority, and the series' various iterations, including an HBO live-action series and a game show. The script highlights the character's enduring popularity and its ability to adapt and resurrect across different media.
Takeaways
- 🎃 Halloween is a time to embrace fear and the fun of spooky creatures.
- 📺 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' was an animated series that ran for two seasons in 1993 and 1994, known for its horror-themed storytelling with educational undertones.
- 👻 The show was set in the fictional Gravenhurst and was hosted by the Crypt Keeper, who introduced stories with moral lessons.
- 🤝 In the second season, the Crypt Keeper was joined by the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch, adding a competitive dynamic to the show.
- 📚 The series was educational, using supernatural elements to engage the audience and teach life lessons.
- 🔄 The show was revived in 1999 as 'New Tales from the Crypt Keeper' with 13 more episodes, demonstrating the franchise's resilience.
- 🕰️ The Crypt Keeper's origins date back to 1938 with the founding of a comic book publisher, which later became part of DC Comics.
- 📚 The character first appeared in a 1949 comic book, and the series 'Tales from the Crypt' was born, influencing the creation of the Comics Code Authority due to concerns over content.
- 🚫 The Comics Code Authority led to the decline of the horror comic genre, including 'Tales from the Crypt', but EC Comics survived by shifting to humor with 'MAD' magazine.
- 🧩 The franchise expanded into various merchandise, including action figures, board games, and a pinball machine, capitalizing on its pop culture status.
- 🎬 An HBO live-action series of the same name was successful, leading to feature films and further cementing the Crypt Keeper's iconic status.
- 🏆 The live-action series won awards and was known for its adult content, in contrast to the animated series aimed at children.
- 🔄 The franchise faced multiple 'deaths' and revivals, including the animated series' cancellation and the end of the HBO series, but it always found a way to return.
- 📽️ Attempts to revive the series continued into the 2010s, with various projects being proposed but ultimately not coming to fruition due to rights issues.
Q & A
What is the main theme of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper'?
-The main theme of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' is to celebrate the things that scare us the most, using horror conventions to deliver a lesson in morality under the guise of fear and humor.
When did 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' originally air as an animated series?
-'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' originally aired as an animated series in 1993 and 1994, running for 26 episodes over two seasons.
Who were the main characters introduced in the second season of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper'?
-In the second season, the Crypt Keeper was joined by rivals the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch, who compete for control of the show.
What was the original purpose of the 'Crypt Keeper' character in the EC Comics?
-The original purpose of the 'Crypt Keeper' character in the EC Comics was to serve as the storyteller, tying the tone, subject matter, and character together in the horror-themed comic series.
What event led to the decline of the EC Comics and the first death of 'Tales from the Crypt'?
-The publication of 'Seduction of the Innocent' by psychiatrist Frederick Wortham, which blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency and illiteracy, led to Senate hearings and the self-imposition of the Comics Code Authority, resulting in the decline of EC Comics and the first death of 'Tales from the Crypt' in 1955.
How did 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' adapt to television censorship for a younger audience?
-'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' adapted to television censorship by moving away from its heritage of blood and gore, incorporating humor, curiosity, trust, and the risk-reward of breaking rules to engage its audience.
What was the connection between 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' and the HBO series 'Tales from the Crypt'?
-The HBO series 'Tales from the Crypt' was an adult-oriented live-action series that pulled most of its story ideas directly from the EC Comics, which also inspired the creation of the 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' animated series for a younger audience.
What merchandise was produced in connection with 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper'?
-Merchandise produced in connection with 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' included action figures, freaky balls, a board game called 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper Search for the Lost Tales', and various other licensed items.
How many times has the 'Tales from the Crypt' franchise been revived or adapted after its initial decline?
-The 'Tales from the Crypt' franchise has been revived or adapted multiple times, including the animated series 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper', the HBO live-action series, feature films, and a game show called 'Secrets of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House'.
What was the educational aspect of the 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' animated series?
-The 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper' animated series was considered not only instructional but legitimately educational, using supernatural situations and moral lessons to engage and teach its audience.
Why was there a legal concern over the rights to characters for a potential new series by M. Night Shyamalan?
-There was a legal concern over the rights to characters for a potential new series by M. Night Shyamalan because the rights were still held by Tales from the Crypt Holdings, which ultimately led to the project not reaching production.
Outlines
🎃 The Evolution of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper'
This paragraph delves into the origins and evolution of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper,' an animated series that aired in the 1990s. It discusses the show's unique position within the realm of horror-themed children's programming, its educational aspects, and the character dynamics introduced in the second season. The paragraph also traces the history of the 'Crypt Keeper' back to the 1938 establishment of a comic book publisher, the creation of EC Comics, and the impact of the Comics Code Authority on the industry. The narrative touches on the cultural significance of the show and its connection to the HBO series 'Tales from the Crypt,' which featured more adult-oriented content.
🧩 The Resilience and Adaptability of the Crypt Keeper
This section highlights the various iterations and resurrections of the 'Crypt Keeper' character and franchise. It discusses the transition from the original comic book series to an animated children's show, the impact of the HBO series, and the subsequent merchandise and tie-in products that capitalized on the character's popularity. The paragraph also addresses the challenges faced by the franchise, including the initial decline of the comic book industry and the eventual cancellation of the animated series. It concludes with the character's return in different formats, such as a game show host and a continuation of the animated series, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the 'Crypt Keeper.'
📚 The Educational and Cultural Impact of 'Tales from the Crypt Keeper'
The final paragraph examines the franchise's return to educational programming with 'New Tales from the Crypt Keeper' and its certification as an educational show. It discusses the self-imposed television content rating system and the industry's response to societal concerns about violent programming. The paragraph also touches on the various attempts to revive the 'Tales from the Crypt' brand in different formats, including a potential new series and the release of feature films. It concludes with the current availability of the series on various platforms and reflects on the franchise's ability to reinvent itself while maintaining its core identity.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Halloween
💡Tales from the Crypt Keeper
💡Censorship
💡Narrative Format
💡Moral Lessons
💡Gravenhurst
💡Vault Keeper
💡Seduction of the Innocent
💡Comics Code Authority
💡HBO
💡Pop Culture Phenomenon
Highlights
Halloween is a time to embrace fears and the fun of creatures in the darkness.
Tales from the Crypt Keeper is an animated series that ran for two seasons in 1993 and 1994.
The show was a horror-themed cartoon that delivered moral lessons under the guise of horror conventions.
Set in the fictional city of Gravenhurst, the show was hosted by the Crypt Keeper who introduced stories and reinforced moral lessons.
In the second season, the Crypt Keeper was joined by rivals the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch, adding competition for control of the show.
The show used supernatural situations and played with elements like humor, curiosity, and fear to engage its audience.
Tales from the Crypt Keeper was revived for 13 more episodes in 1999 as New Tales from the Crypt Keeper.
The franchise began in 1938 with the co-founding of a comic book publisher called All American Publications.
In 1948, EC Comics introduced the Crypt Keeper as a storyteller in the comic book Tales from the Crypt.
The success of Tales from the Crypt led to the creation of two similar series, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear.
The 1954 book 'Seduction of the Innocent' led to Senate hearings and the creation of the Comics Code Authority, affecting the comic book industry.
Tales from the Crypt Keeper was created by Nelvana for YTV in Canada and ABC in the United States as a replacement for the Beetlejuice animated series.
The show was adapted to be suitable for children, avoiding the blood and gore of its adult-oriented counterpart on HBO.
The Crypt Keeper became a pop culture phenomenon, with various merchandise including action figures, a board game, and a pinball machine.
The live-action HBO series Tales from the Crypt was in its fifth season and was known for its adult content.
The Crypt Keeper was voiced by John Kassir and was performed by a collection of puppeteers, amplifying the creep factor.
The franchise has experienced multiple 'deaths' and revivals, including the cancellation of the animated series and the live-action HBO series.
The Crypt Keeper returned in 1999 for New Tales from the Crypt Keeper, which was officially certified as educational.
The franchise's resilience is demonstrated by its ability to adapt and come back from perceived 'deaths' multiple times.
Transcripts
halloween is the time to celebrate the
things that scare us the most
to look our fears right in their cold
dead eyes and embrace the rush of
emotion they inspire
to acknowledge how much fun the
creatures in the darkness can be and to
recognize that some things won't stay
dead no matter how many times you try to
kill them
hi i'm dan larsen and this is the
history of tales from the crypt keeper
[Music]
so
[Music]
tales from the crypt keeper is an
animated series produced by nelvana that
ran for 26 episodes over two seasons in
1993 and 1994.
it was a horror themed cartoon that
threaded the needle of television
censorship
due to its still-beating heart tales
from the crypt keeper utilized a
narrative format of delivering a lesson
in morality under the guise of horror
conventions
like a twilight zone for kids it
resulted in a show that was considered
not only
instructional but legitimately
educational it is generally set in the
fictional city of gravenhurst episodes
were hosted by the crypt keeper who
introduces the stories and
at the end reinforces the lessons
learned in the second season cryptkeeper
is joined by rivals the vault keeper
and the old witch who compete for
control of the show
it used the same supernatural situations
the brand was known for but moved away
from its heritage of blood and gore
it played with elements like humor
curiosity trust the risk reward of
breaking rules and above all
fear to engage its audience the same way
it always had
it died in 1994 and then came back to
life for 13 more episodes as
new tales from the crypt keeper in 1999
funny thing though
this wasn't the first time it had died
the tale of this saturday morning
frightfest
cereal begins back in 1938 maxwell
gaines co-founded a comic book publisher
called all american publications
all american introduced several
prominent pop culture characters like
the flash
wonder woman hawkman and green lantern
in 1944 all american publications was
purchased and merged with national
allied publications
to form the company that would
eventually become dc comics
max gaines took the money he received
from the buyout of all american to
create a new company focused on
publishing educational comics
that company was called educational
comics
four years later in 1948 max was killed
in a boating accident or was he
he was his son william gaines inherited
the business william while interested in
publishing comics
wasn't interested in the same kind of
comics his father was in 1949 and 1950
ec comics began publishing a wide array
of genres
including science fiction military
adventure crime and horror
max thought the more profitable market
was reaching kids by selling comics
about science history and the bible to
schools and churches
william wanted to directly target an
older audience with a focus on more
mature
more exciting art and storylines issue
number 15 of ec comics crime patrol hit
stands in late 1949 early 1950
and featured a story called return from
the grave
it marked the debut of the crypt keeper
as the storyteller tying the tone the
subject matter and the character
together the turn to horror from crime
the introduction of the crypt keeper
resulted in crime patrol
officially being retitled crypt of
terror just two issues later
and by issue 20 a full transformation to
tales from the crypt
ec comics introduced two other
practically identical series called the
vault of horror hosted by the vault
keeper
and the haunt of fear hosted by the old
witch the tone for the hosts lightened
to introduce some humor and there was
even a bit of professional tension among
them
surely they kept score as to who got to
tell the most gruesome
stories the business was horror and
business was good
that is until a book called seduction of
the innocent by psychiatrist
frederick wortham asserted that the
leading cause of illiteracy and juvenile
delinquency in the youth of america was
comic books comic books in his opinion
were influencing an entire generation of
american children to grow up as
uneducated devil worshipping
homosexual drug abusing thrill-killing
communist pornography enthusiasts
i'm paraphrasing but just
barely mortham's book resulted in
parents groups getting their butter all
churned up they provoked senate hearings
that essentially put comic books on
trial
while the senate never officially
concluded that comic books like tales
from the crypt were responsible for any
actual crimes that had ever been
or would ever be committed by any actual
person living or dead
they heavily suggested that comics as an
industry
take it down a notch tales from the [ __ ]
died its first death in 1955 with the
self-imposition of the comics code
authority by the comics industry
who agreed to self-regulate their
content in the interest of making sure
that kids weren't exposed to
werewolves sexy ladies or drug use until
they were old enough to injure
themselves in a factory
or serve their country in a war over
resources on foreign
soil 15 different comic publishers went
out of business and were it not for
their focus on their new humor magazine
called mad
ec comics would have gone out of
business as well
today here on abc ready for a scare
you must meet keeper
[Music]
yes i think that's exactly what our
little fans need
[Music]
tales from the crypt keeper was created
by nilvana for ytv in canada and abc in
the united states
novana had produced the breakout hit
beetlejuice animated series inspired by
the 1988 feature film
beetlejuice after four seasons on two
different networks nilvana was looking
for something to replace it if
only in spirit a comedy horror themed
animated series a genre that was mostly
unoccupied by competition
as tales from the crypt keeper executive
producer topper taylor stated
quote we saw there was a need for
another horror type property those have
always worked as far back as scooby doo
but abc was clearly not ready for ec
horror on saturday morning we're a lot
more cautious with regard to bloodshed
and the acts of violence underneath it
all end quote
and hey with cartoons come toys and a
whole lot of other stuff that you need
to get to shelves to keep the money
train running
ace novelty produced a variety of tie-in
items including a line of eight action
figures featuring the crypt keeper and
various monsters from the series
freaky balls kind of like mad balls but
more like freaky balls
a board game called tales from the crypt
keeper search for the lost tales and
uh weird glow-in-the-dark googly
eyeballs to replace your regular
eyeballs to look weird maybe people
think you're some kind of
reanimated corpse i don't know data east
produced a tails from the crypt pinball
machine and there was a lot of other
licensed merchandise because the crypt
keeper was officially a
pop culture phenomenon why tales from
the crypt
can i get a meanwhile because meanwhile
on hbo an award-winning live-action
series called tales from the crypt was
in its fifth season
heading for sixth and seventh it was not
for kids and contained a lot of adult
language
violence blood and guts sexual
situations and nudity
tales from the crypt began airing in
1989 pulling most of its story ideas
directly from the ec comics comic books
that resulted in the creation of the
comics code
and the demise of an entire arm of the
comics industry
the success of the 93 episode series
turned the crypt keeper into a legit pop
culture celebrity
cryptkeeper was once again in the
spotlight as the host of the show
setting up and closing out the episodes
firing ghoulish puns on top of puns an
animatronic puppet with the creepiest
hands since the swedish chef
that puppet also established the new
look for the character previously a
creepy dude with stringy hair wearing a
robe sitting in a dark room
now a legit talking corpse and not for
nothing but whether it was supposed to
be a puppet in world or not
because it was a puppet the creep factor
was amplified because
puppets be creeping cryptkeeper was
performed by a collection of puppeteers
and voiced by john cassier
the brand the show was just as much
about the crypt keeper as it was the
stories that were being told
it was a very rare case where you tune
in to watch the host regardless of what
they're talking about because you just
can't get enough
not me guys not me
please like beetlejuice
or more extreme examples aliens robocop
rambo terminator nightmare on elm street
friday the 13th
there was plenty of room for tales from
the crypt to take it down a notch to
make it totally cool for kids as young
as two years old
after they agreed that the live-action
puppet from the hbo series was a no-go
john casira is the voice yes give the
rest a makeover
and that's what they did for two years
before tales from the crypt died its
second
death tales from the crypt keeper the
animated series was cancelled in
december
of 1994 but the hbo series lived on
reaching the next pop culture plateau
with a series of feature films produced
by universal pictures
intended to be a trilogy demon knight
premiered in 1995 followed by bordello
of blood in 1996
which totally bombed killing any hope of
a third release
as well as the tales from the crypt
brand at the theater marking the third
time it died
a movie called ritual was released
direct to video in 2002 which was
presented by tales from the crypt and
officially
unofficially serves as the third movie
in the trilogy
but it doesn't but it does the
collateral damage spilled over to the
hbo series as that two ended in 1996
marking the fourth death for the
franchise but before the body was even
in the ground
the crypt keeper returned to saturday
mornings in a live-action capacity as
the announcer of a game show called
secrets of the crypt keeper's haunted
house john casir reprised his role as
the voice of the crypt keeper for this
1990s spooky ninja warrior for kids type
obstacle course show
produced at universal studios in orlando
it makes the live-action competition
with computer-generated imagery as
two teams battled their way through the
various tricks and traps of crypt
keepers residents
secrets of the crypt keepers haunted
house marked the fifth time the crypt
keeper had been sent back to
the crypt but two years later in 1999 he
would re-emerge as the host of
new tales from the crypt keeper
essentially a continuation of the
previous animated series
with new in the title the animation was
different and it was now on teletune in
canada and cbs in the us
it was also officially certified
educational thanks to a new television
content rating system that was
self-imposed by the television industry
in response to concerns about the
effects of violent programming that got
parents groups
but are all churned up and senate
hearings were held the senate didn't
conclude that kids were murdering each
other because of tv but did suggest that
the industry take it down a notch
or risk turning a generation of kids
into cackling zombies who watch porn and
draw pictures of guns that shoot razor
blades
and eat doritos dipped in chocolate
sauce meanwhile the crypt keeper laughed
for 13 more episodes before getting axed
the sixth time in 2011 gilbert adler one
of the producers of the hbo live action
tales from the crypt series
as well as demon knight bordello of
blood and superman returns was
developing a new series with writer
andrew cosby
the goal was an episodic series that
told a continuing story that had nothing
to do with the crypt keeper
the networks that were offered said pass
in 2016 m night shyamalan was mentioned
with a potential 10-episode tnt series
to launch their new two-hour block of
horror programming in 2017
against sans script keeper the project
ultimately failing to reach production
due to legal concern over the rights to
characters still held by tales from the
crypt holdings
all three seasons of tales from the
crypt keeper were released on dvd and
are as of this video available to stream
on to be tv
or officially here on youtube at the
retro rerun channel
which is operated by nelvana and hosts
many of your nelvana favorites like
dog city wildcats cadillacs and
dinosaurs my pet monster
and tnt tea and tea
tales from the crypt keeper was a rare
divergence for a franchise that had
traditionally pushed the boundaries of
what was considered within the realm of
good taste
it was a full circle redemption for a
franchise that had at one point been
vilified by an entire governing body
it was another example of how this
franchise finds a way to come back from
the dead
no matter how many times they try to
kill it
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and let us know in the comments down
below if you're team cryptkeeper team
vault keeper or
team old witch i'm team crypt keeper
he's got the skills the branding
the focus and determination he works the
entire spectrum of demographics he put
in the time he did the work he rose
above the rest
and signed that contract with hbo the
other two hosts
that's a long one
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