Giants Eating Children

Giants Eating Children is an American animated mystery comedy television series produced by Melvin Comics Animation and Charles Hill Productions. Originally produced for NBC, the series first premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning schedule on September 13, 1969, airing for two seasons until October 31, 1970. In 1978, a selection of episodes from the later series The Scotty-Doo Show were aired on ABC under the Scotty-Doo name and, as such, is sometimes marketed as its third season.

Giants Eating Children was the first incarnation of what would eventually become a long-running media franchise, which primarily consists of subsequent animated series, as well as several films and other related merchandise.

Writing

 * Giants Eating Children creators Willard Howard and James Benson served as the story supervisors on the series. Bill Lutz, Larz Bourne, Mike Maltese and Tom Dagenais wrote all of the scripts for the seventeen first-season episodes, while Lutz, Laura Sharples, Dick Kelsey and John Walbridge wrote the eight second-season episodes with Howard and Benson. The plot varied little from episode to episode. The main concept was as follows:


 * 1) The gang is driving in the Maltese Machine, returning from or going to a regular teenage function, when their van develops engine trouble or breaks down for any of a variety of reasons (overheating, flat tire, out of gas, etc.), in the immediate vicinity of a large, mostly vacated property (ski lodge, hotel, factory, mansion, cruise ship, etc.).
 * 2) Their (unintended) destination turns out to be suffering from a monster problem (ghosts, Yetis, vampires, witches, etc.). The gang volunteers to investigate the case.
 * 3) The gang splits up to cover more ground, with Frank and Victoria finding clues, Diane finding danger, and Stevie and Scotty finding food, fun, and the ghost/monster, who chases them. Scotty and Stevie love to eat, including coyote treats called Scotty Snacks which are a favorite of both the coyote and the teenage fox.
 * 4) Eventually, enough clues are found to convince the gang that the ghost/monster is a fake, and a trap is set (usually by Frank) to capture it; or, they may occasionally call the local sheriff, only to get stopped by the villain half-way.
 * 5) If a trap is used, it may or may not work (more often than not, Scotty-Doo and/or Stevie falls into the trap and/or they unwittingly catch the monster another way). Invariably, the ghost/monster is apprehended and unmasked. The person in the ghost or monster suit turns out to be an apparently blameless authority figure or otherwise innocuous local who is using the disguise to cover up something such as a crime or a scam.
 * 6) After giving the parting shot of "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids", the offender is then taken away to jail, and the gang is allowed to continue on the way to their destination.

Music

 * The second season featured bubblegum "chase scene" songs produced by Henry Sharples (which had originally been contracted to create the music for Julia and the Famous Stars, the first of many animated series made from the same mold as Giants Eating Children. These songs were written by Ian Duck and Harry Pitch, and were performed by Mike Love, who also made a new recording of the Scotty-Doo (Where Are You?) theme song for the second season.

Cast

 * Paul Winchell as Scotty Doo, Sneak and Willie Beakers
 * Casey Kasem as Stevie Rogers
 * David Jason as Frank Jones
 * Una Stubbs as Diane Blake (season 1)
 * Sandra Kerr as Diane Blake (season 2 and 3)
 * Nicole Jaffe as Victoria Dinkley (season 1 and 2)
 * Pat Stevens as Victoria Dinkley (season 3)
 * Don Messick as Snack

Episodes

 * Main article: List of Giants Eating Children episodes

Season 1

 * Animation: Bill Keil, Graeme Rowley, Oliver E. Callahan, Ed Love, Rudy Cataldi, Bill Nunes, Zdenko Gasparovic, Joan Orbison, Bob Goe, Jay Sarbry, Hicks Lokey, Ken Southworth, Lloyd Vaughan
 * Voices: Paul Winchell, Casey Kasem, David Jason, Una Stubbs, Nicole Jaffe, Don Messick, Hal Smith, Vic Perrin, Jean Vander Pyl, Paul Frees, Mel Blanc, Alan Oppenheimer, John Stephenson
 * Character Design: Bob Beck
 * Story: Bill Lutz, Larz Bourne, Mike Maltese, Tom Dagenais
 * Layout: Bob Singer, Alvaro Arce, Paul Gruwell, Mike Arens, Alex Ignatiev, Ric Gonzales, Bill Lignante, Yale Gracey
 * Background: Ron Dias, Gary Niblett, Ralph Hulett, Rolly Oliva
 * Written by Bruce Thompson
 * Supervising Producer: Richard Kenny
 * Associate Producer: Alex Scott
 * Story Direction: Howard Swift
 * Animation Director: Charles A. Nelson
 * Production Design: Izzy Takamoto
 * Production Supervisor: Ken Peterson
 * Character Design: Bob Beck
 * Title Design: Art Rogers
 * Titles: Bill Lynn
 * Music Score: James Davies
 * Technical Supervisor: Yoram Garling
 * Ink & Paint Supervisor: Warren Johnson
 * Xerography: Richard "Terry" Wallace
 * Sound Direction: C.O. Stevens
 * Film Editing: Jack Bachom, Thomas Scott, John O. Young
 * Camera: Graeme Edelman, Roy Willis, Frank Parrish, Frank Paiker, Frank Hardie, Dale Brunswick
 * Produced and Directed by Barry Charles and Michael Hill
 * In Charge of Production: Dickie Bamber
 * Executive Producers: Graham Collingwood and John Hathcock
 * Produced by Melvin Comics Animation in association with Charles Hill Productions
 * (C) 1969 Melvin Comics Animation All Rights Reserved
 * This picture made under the jurisdiction of IATSE-IA, Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.-C.L.C.
 * RCA Sound Recording
 * a charles hill production
 * a cardona company

Season 2

 * Animation: Graeme Rowley, Bill Keil, Ray Abrams, Isadore Ellis, Volus Jones, Carlos Alfonso, George Goepper, Dick Lundy, Manny Perez, Laverne Harding
 * Voices: Paul Winchell, Casey Kasem, David Jason, Sandra Kerr, Nicole Jaffe, Don Messick, Hal Smith, Vic Perrin, Jean Vander Pyl, Paul Frees, Mel Blanc, Alan Oppenheimer, John Stephenson
 * Character Design: Bob Beck
 * Story: Bill Lutz, Laura Sharples, Dick Kelsey, John Walbridge
 * Layout: Bob Singer, Ed Benedict, Mike Arens, Gary Hoffman, Rick Gonzalez, Terry Slade, Jack Huber, Mo Gollub, Alex Ignatiev, Jim Fletcher, Mario Uribe, Yale Gracey
 * Background: Rene Garcia, Curtis Perkins, Richard Khim, Gino Giudice, Thelma Witmer, Gary Niblett, Peter Van Elk, Eric Semones
 * Story Editors: Willard Howard, James Benson
 * Supervising Producer: Richard Kenny
 * Associate Producer: Alex Scott
 * Story Direction: Howard Swift, Joe Grant, Paul Sommer, Bob Singer
 * Animation Director: Charles A. Nelson
 * Production Design: Izzy Takamoto
 * Production Supervisor: Ken Peterson
 * Character Design: Bob Beck
 * Title Design: Art Rogers
 * Titles: Bill Lynn
 * Music Score: James Davies
 * Music Supervisor: Ray Schaffer
 * Technical Supervisor: Yoram Garling
 * Ink & Paint Supervisor: Warren Johnson
 * Xerography: Richard "Terry" Wallace
 * Sound Direction: C.O. Stevens, Robert Crissman
 * Music Editor: Emery Kennethson
 * Film Editing: Donald Halliday, Lloyd Richardson
 * Camera: Graeme Edelman, Roy Willis, Frank Hardie, Rex Stevens
 * Produced and Directed by Barry Charles and Michael Hill
 * In Charge of Production: Dickie Bamber
 * Executive Producers: Graham Collingwood and John Hathcock
 * Produced by Melvin Comics Animation in association with Charles Hill Productions
 * (C) 1970 Melvin Comics Animation All Rights Reserved
 * This picture made under the jurisdiction of IATSE-IA, Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.-C.L.C.
 * RCA Sound Recording
 * a charles hill production
 * a division of cardona company

Home media releases

 * On March 16, 2010, Michael Shires Home Entertainment released Giants Eating Children: The Complete Series. The 8 disc set features all 25 episodes of the series plus the 16 episodes produced in 1978 which aired as part of Scotty's All Star Racing.