| Monster Squad | |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Stanley Ralph Ross |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Richard La Salle (1.1) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Michael Mclean |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 11, 1976 – September 3, 1977 |
Monster Squad is a television series produced by D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions that aired Saturday mornings on NBC from September 11, 1976, to September 3, 1977.[1] It is unrelated to the later film of the same name.
The series stars Fred Grandy as Walt, a criminology student working as a night watchman at "Fred's Wax Museum". To pass the time, Walt built a prototype "Crime Computer" hidden in a large stone sarcophagus near an exhibit of legendary monsters. When Walt plugged in his computer, "oscillating vibrations" brought to life the wax statues of Dracula (Henry Polic II), the Wolfman (Buck Kartalian) who here was named "Bruce W. Wolf" (with one episode revealing that the "W" stood for "Were"), and the Frankenstein Monster (Michael Lane) who was referred to as "Frank N. Stein" in the credits.
The monsters, wanting to make up for the misdeeds of their pasts, became superhero crimefighters who used their unique abilities to challenge and defeat various supervillains. In most episodes, Walt would send the monsters out to investigate crimes and fight the villains while monitoring the activities from the wax museum via the Crime Computer, presumably because his job required him to be at the wax museum at all times. However, Walt would sometimes join the climactic battle with his comrades in some episodes and come to the rescue when needed.
Though the Squad are supposed to be wax statues, it often appears that they are something else entirely, as they apparently have all the memories of the monsters they are based on as well as their powers. The gentle giant Frank, for example, possessed superhuman strength and could smash through walls, while the dapper cloak-clad and fearsome-fanged Drac could turn into a bat, and the short and furry Bruce was a ferocious fighter who could climb up the sheer sides of buildings Spider-Man-style and had a super-sensitive sense of smell.
The Squad had their own customized black Monster Van, and each monster had a "utility belt" with a communicator device used to keep in touch with Walt, who had apparently created them for the monsters to use. Their CB-style codenames were "Chamber of Horrors" (Walt), "Nightflyer" (Drac), "Green Machine" (Frank) and "Furball" (Bruce).
The show was comparable to the 1960s Batman TV show, not surprising considering that creator Stanley Ralph Ross had been one of the main writers on that series. The villains were often exaggerated camp super-villains much like the ones on Batman in keeping with the "superhero" tone of the show, and were often played by familiar-faced guest stars of the time, like Alice Ghostley ("Queen Bee"), Marty Allen ("Lorenzo Musica"), Jonathan Harris ("the Astrologer"), Julie Newmar ("Ultra Witch"), Avery Schreiber ("the Weatherman") and Vito Scotti ("Albert/Alberta").
In several episodes, a statue of the Invisible Man can be seen in an alcove on the opposite side of the monsters' exhibit. It is never explained why this statue remains unaffected by the Crime Computer's oscillating vibrations.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Queen Bee" | James Sheldon | Richard M. Bluel | September 11, 1976 |
| 2 | "Mr. Mephisto" | H. Wesley Kenney | Alan Dinehart and Herbert Finn | September 18, 1976 |
| 3 | "The Tickler" | H. Wesley Kenney | Charles Isaacs | September 25, 1976 |
| 4 | "The Ringmaster" | Herman Hoffman | Jay Thompson | October 2, 1976 |
| 5 | "Music Man" | James Sheldon | Earle Doud and Chuck McCann | October 9, 1976 |
| 6 | "No Face" | James Sheldon | Greg Strangis | October 16, 1976 |
| 7 | "The Astrologer" | William P. D'Angelo | Greg Strangis | October 23, 1976 |
| 8 | "Ultra Witch" | Herman Hoffman | Roy Kammerman | October 30, 1976 |
| 9 | "The Wizard" | William P. D'Angelo | Bill Freedman and Al Schwartz | November 6, 1976 |
| 10 | "The Skull" | Herman Hoffman | Roy Kammerman | November 13, 1976 |
| 11 | "The Weatherman" | Herman Hoffman | Bruce Shelly | November 20, 1976 |
| 12 | "Lawrence of Moravia" | William P. D'Angelo | Stanley Ralph Ross | November 27, 1976 |
| 13 | "Albert/Alberta" | James Sheldon | Courtney Andrews & Laurie Samara | December 4, 1976 |
Monster Squad: The Complete Series was released in Region 1 on June 23, 2009, by Virgil Films and Entertainment. The Region 2 release followed on August 3, 2009, by Fabulous Films.
A later, unrelated animated television series by Hanna-Barbera Productions called Drak Pack had a similar premise, as did the DC Comics characters the Creature Commandos, although they fought Nazis rather that super-criminals.
In Teen Titans Go! episode 8, "Monster Squad", the Titans want to be the scariest trick-or-treaters in town, so Raven casts a spell to turn them into real monsters.
