The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper

Production

After principal filming on Casper concluded, a sequel was proposed and a treatment written, but the idea was abandoned due to a combination of box office gross that fell short of analyst predictions (the film earned $100 million in the US against a budget over half that amount) and the unavailability of Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman, who were attached to other projects and would not be free for more than a year. The producers instead chose to develop a cartoon series continuing the story.

In March 1995, Harvey Entertainment partnered with Universal Pictures to jointly finance a new animation studio based at Universal, with the intention of adapting Harvey's library of characters for television. The first two projects announced were a new Richie Rich TV series and a new Casper TV series. The show aired on Fox Kids from 1996–98 for four seasons. Fifty-two episodes were produced; the first 46 aired on Fox, and the remaining episodes debuted on Fox Family Channel.

Many of the same people who worked on this show also worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain. The new Casper broke from earlier versions by following a sitcom pattern of one-liners and pop culture gags similar to the Casper feature, and frequently broke the fourth wall. The show used old supporting characters such as Casper's cousin Spooky, Spooky's ghoulfriend Pearl, and Nightmare the Ghost Horse (who, unlike in earlier versions, does not talk), and introduced new characters including Casper's teacher Ms. Banshee.

Characters

Casper, voiced by Malachi Pearson, is a young ghost living at Whipstaff Manor with his three uncles, the Ghostly Trio. The trio consists of Stretch (voiced by Joe Nipote), Stinkie (voiced by Joe Alaskey), and Fatso (voiced by Brad Garrett in seasons 1-2 and Jess Harnell in seasons 3-4); they enjoy scaring humans and mistreat Casper. Dr. James Harvey, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, is a psychiatrist and alumnus of Johns Hopkins University who loves his daughter Kat but sometimes appears neglectful of her emotional needs.

Spooky, voiced by Rob Paulson, is Casper's mischief-minded cousin who looks up to the Ghostly Trio as heroes and despises Casper's lack of interest in scaring humans; he tries to out-scare Casper but usually fails. Pearl (or Poil), voiced by Miriam Flynn, is Spooky's absent-minded girlfriend who takes things literally, adores Spooky, is good friends with Casper, and cares less for the Ghostly Trio than Spooky does. Miss Banshee, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is the teacher of Casper, Spooky, and Poil; she can scream loudly, enjoys teaching, dreams of being an opera singer, and is unimpressed by the Ghostly Trio's romantic advances.

Amber Whitmire, voiced by Sherry Lynn, and the Jennifers (voiced by Debi Derryberry) are rich, mean classmates and rivals of Kat at Friendship Junior High School; Jennifer #1 has dark brown hair and wears glasses, Jennifer #2 has strawberry blonde hair, and Jennifer #3 has light brown hair and is the least intelligent.

Home media

Universal Studios Home Video released episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3 on VHS from 1996 through 1998. In 2007/2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released two DVD volume collections in Region 1: The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 1 (containing the first 5 episodes, running 107 minutes on one disc) and Volume 2 (containing the last 5 episodes of season 1, running 106 minutes on one disc). No further DVD releases have been planned by Universal.