Tales from the Cryptkeeper

Tales from the Cryptkeeper
Genre	Animated, horror comedy, fantasy, science fiction,
Developed by	Libby Hinson Ben Joseph
Directed by	Laura Shepherd
Starring	John Kassir (voice) Elizabeth Hanna (voice) David Hemblen (voice)
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language(s)	English French
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39
Production
Executive producer(s)	Robert Zemeckis Joel Silver Richard Donner David Giler Walter Hill
Producer(s)	Michael Hirsh Patrick Loubert Patricia R. Burns
Editor(s)	Rick Hickson Glenn Lewis
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Nelvana Limited Fantome Animation (Season 3)
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC (1993, 1994) CBS (1997)
First shown in	September 18, 1993
Original release	September 18, 1993 – December 2, 1999

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.

Episodes

Season 1 (1993)

No.	Title	Original air date
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 2 (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.

No.	Title	Original air date
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 ghost of a woman 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 3 (1999) (New Tales From The Cryptkeeper)

Season three was the final season of the series and the only season to not air on ABC in the United States. 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.

No.	Title	Original air date
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 named Gary gets his own phone line as a Christmas present that he wanted for a long time. However, he abuses his privilege by making several prank calls after he made an agreement with his parents that he would not make such calls. The problem gets worse when he accidentally makes a prank call to a mysterious old woman who begins to stalk him over the phone.
38	"Monsters Ate My Homework"	November 25, 1999
A boy named Evan lies to his teacher by saying that monsters ate his homework in order to avoid getting into trouble. All goes well until problems escalate when real monsters actually come after Evan by coming out under his bed and they want to go after 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.

Name	Release Date	Episodes	Region	Additional Information
Stacks of Fear	September 28, 2004	3	1	Includes Season 3 episodes: All Booked Up, Town Gathering and Unpopular Mechanics. Bonus feature includes: Stay Safe Halloween Tips and trailers.
Pleasant Screams: The Complete First Season	September 18, 2007	13	1	Includes the complete first season.
All the Gory Details: The Complete Second Season	September 16, 2008	13	1	Includes the complete second season.
Myth Conceptions	September 10, 2013	6	1	Includes the first 6 Season 2 episodes: Game Over, Cold Blood, Warm Hearts/The Spider and the Flies, The Avenging Phantom/Myth Conceptions, All the Gory Details, The Weeping Woman and Dead Men Don't Jump.
Transylvania Express	September 10, 2013	7	1	Includes the last 7 Season 2 episodes: The Haunted Mine, Growing Pains, The Brothers Gruff, Uncle Harry's Horrible House of Horrors, Hunted, Chuck (and Melvin) and the Beanstalker and Transylvania Express.
Season 1	2014	13	1	Includes the repackaged complete first season.

External links

• Nelvana: Tales from the Cryptkeeper
• Tales from the Cryptkeeper at IMDb
• Tales from the Cryptkeeper at TV.com