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Little Shop

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For other uses, see Little Shop of Horrors.
Little Shop
Based onThe Little Shop of Horrors by
Charles B. Griffith
Developed byMark Edward Edens
Ellen Levy-Sarnoff
Starring
ComposersHaim Saban
Shuki Levy
Country of origin
  • United States
  • France
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producersHaim Saban
Joe Taritero
Winston Richard
Ellen-Levy Sarnoff
Running time20 min.
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseSeptember 7 (1991-09-07) –
November 30, 1991 (1991-11-30)

Little Shop is a 1991 animated fantasy comedy television series that aired on Saturday mornings on the Fox Kids TV network, about a teenage boy and his giant talking plant.[1] Based on Roger Corman's 1960 comedy horror film The Little Shop of Horrors, the concept is credited to Ellen Levy and Mark Edward Edens, and the series was produced by Tom Tataranowicz, with Corman as a consultant. The horror elements in previous versions of the story, in which characters are eaten by the plant, are toned down for children in this series.[2]

Copyright passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Marvel Productions.[3][4][5]

Synopsis

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Self-proclaimed nerd Seymour Krelborn, an adolescent boy who works in a flower shop, is friends with a talking Venus flytrap named Junior.[6] Junior sprouts from a 200-million-year-old seed and has the ability to talk and hypnotize people. Only Seymour is aware of Junior's abilities. The flower shop is owned by stodgy Mr. Mushnik, whose daughter Audrey is the object of Seymour's affections. Audrey, however, is unaware of Seymour's feelings towards her. Buck-toothed Paine Driller, a neighborhood bully, continuously targets Seymour.

Episodes focus on the pubescent exploits of the leads and frequently feature a moral. They also feature a couple of musical numbers per episode. Consistent with the "urban" persona of the plant in the musical, Audrey Junior raps in the series during his numbers, and speaks in a hip-hop dialect. Also featured are a trio of singing flowers reminiscent of Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon (the three chorus girls in the musical).

Differences between the film and series

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Each episode features a musical segment. The young human characters are thirteen years old and in junior high. Junior is a kind-hearted plant, rather than a man-eating alien; and hatched from a prehistoric Earth plant that has been dormant for over 200 million years. Although Junior does maintain a voracious appetite, this iteration would very rarely (and only offscreen) feast on human blood. The plant retains its ability to hypnotize people, as was in the film, as well as the ability to telekinetically manipulate plants and objects made from plant-based materials. Junior sometimes aids Seymour without his knowledge, sometimes by using his hypnotic abilities, and will occasionally insult Seymour.

Audrey, Seymour's love interest, is a bow-wearing brunette who is always thinking about what job she wants when she grows up. She is Mr. Mushnik's daughter in this version. Brace-faced neighborhood bully Paine Driller replaces the character of Orin Scrivello, the dentist. (Paine's name alludes to the dentist's sadistic tendencies.)

Episodes

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No.TitleWritten byOriginal air date
1"Bad Seed"Mark Edward EdensSeptember 7, 1991 (1991-09-07)
Seymour finds a seed from 200 million years in the past and helps it grow into the plant known as Junior. The plant tries to return home but, upon finding that he cannot, chooses to stay with Seymour and helps Mr. Mushnik's flowers grow.
2"Real Men Aren't Made of Quiche"Mark Edward EdensSeptember 14, 1991 (1991-09-14)
Seymour joins a home economics class where he and Junior conspire to make a human–plant hybrid a la Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Audrey decides she wants to be a refrigerator repairman.
3"Back to the Fuchsia"Mel GildenSeptember 21, 1991 (1991-09-21)
A trip to the Skid Row Museum of Uninteresting History inspires Junior to travel back in time to warn plants about the rise of the dinosaurs and keep his place in the food chain.
4"Unfair Science"Mark Edward EdensSeptember 28, 1991 (1991-09-28)
Seymour's science project, made by Junior, wins a science fair and attention from Seymour's favorite celebrity. However, the scientist wants to steal Seymour's project and use it for himself.
5"Stage Blight"Robert TarlowOctober 5, 1991 (1991-10-05)
Failed playwright Thespian Chinless produces Junior's play Flower Town and Seymour finds himself as the romantic lead. Meanwhile, Mr. Mushnik becomes a stage-dad.
6"I Loathe a Parade"Marty Isenberg & Robert N. SkirOctober 12, 1991 (1991-10-12)
Seymour brings home a female Venus flytrap, which Junior falls in love with.
7"Air Junior"Marty Isenberg & Robert N. SkirOctober 19, 1991 (1991-10-19)
Junior persuades Seymour to buy a new pair of shoes and makes them fly.
8"Untitled Halloween Story"Steve CudenOctober 26, 1991 (1991-10-26)
Infuriated by the tradition of jack-o-lantern carving, Junior joins Seymour and Audrey's trick-or-treating to steal them back via his vegetable magnetism abilities.
9"It's a Wonderful Leaf"Jean ChalopinNovember 2, 1991 (1991-11-02)
A reaper shows Seymour a future where the Mushniks own a yogurt shop, Paine is winning awards, and Seymour is a politician. Meanwhile, Junior dreams that he runs a hotel for flowers.
10"Tooth or Consequences"Barbara SladeNovember 9, 1991 (1991-11-09)
Seymour and Junior learn the hard way about lies when Mrs. Krelborn's low-fat ice cream disappears.
11"Walk Like a Nerd"Barbara SladeNovember 16, 1991 (1991-11-16)
Weary of the limitations that come with having roots, Junior tries to give himself legs and inadvertently winds up sharing a body with Seymour.
12"Pulp Fiction"Matthew MalachNovember 23, 1991 (1991-11-23)
Junior watches in horror as the oldest tree in the world is turned into paper, and leads a revolt composed of used paper products that swamps Skid Row.
13"Married to the Mush"Hope JuberNovember 30, 1991 (1991-11-30)
Paine's aunt starts to date Mr. Mushnik under the delusion that he is wealthy. Dismayed, the usually career-oriented Audrey expresses a desire to become a housewife.

Cast

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  • Marlow Vella as Seymour Krelborn
  • Tamar Lee as Audrey Mushnik
  • Harvey Atkin as Mr. Mushnik
  • Buddy Lewis as Junior
    • Terry "Proffet" McGee as Junior's singing voice
  • David Huband as Paine Driller
    • Mark Ryan-Martin as Paine's singing voice

Additional voices

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  1. ^ First three episodes
  2. ^ Rest of series

Crew

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References

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  1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 367. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 511–512. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ "U.S. Copyright Public Records System".
  4. ^ "Disney+ and Missing Saban Entertainment & Fox Kids-Jetix Worldwide Library - StreamClues". 14 September 2022. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Liste - BVS Entertainment | Séries".
  6. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 263. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
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