| Camp Candy | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Genre | Animated series |
| Created by | Joel Andryc Ellen Levy Phil Harnage |
| Directed by | Scott Shaw! (season 1) Dan Thompson (season 2) Winston Richard (season 3) Animation Directors: Robert Alvarez (Season 1) |
| Starring | John Candy Lewis Arquette Valri Bromfield Danny Mann Cree Summer |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 40 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Andy Heyward (seasons 1-2) Haim Saban (seasons 1, 3) John Candy (season 3) Robby London (season 4) David Campbell (season 4) |
| Producers | Scott Shaw! (seasons 1–2) Winston Richard (season 3) |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production companies | DIC Animation City (seasons 1-2) Saban Entertainment (season 3) |
| Distributor | Worldvision Enterprises (Season 3) |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC (1989–90) Syndication (1991-1992) |
| Original release | September 9, 1989 – Fall 1992 |
Camp Candy is a 1989-1992 American-Canadian animated television series produced by DIC Animation City, Saban Entertainment and Worldvision Enterprises, in association with Frostbacks Productions, with comedian John Candy providing the voice for an animated version of himself.[1]
The show is set in a fictional summer camp run by John Candy.[2] Twenty-seven episodes of the series aired during the 1989 and 1990 television seasons on the NBC television network.[3] Thirteen new episodes ran in syndication in the 1992 season, distributed by Worldvision Enterprises, along with repeats of the previous episodes. The series was later rerun on the Fox Family cable channel from 1998 to 2001.
In the third season, Candy also appeared in live action segments, talking about nature and ecology.[4]
Harry Nilsson wrote the series' theme song, which he sang with Candy. In both versions, the closing credits featured songs about Camp Candy that were sung to the tune of various traditional camp songs such as “Bingo” (spoofed as “Candy”), “Miss Suzie,” (parodied as "We Have a Camp Called Candy,") “On Top Of Old Smoky,” (parodied as "On Top of Mount Frostback"), “Yankee Doodle Boy” (parodied as “Big John Candy”), “She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain” and “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” (parodied as “Circus Parade").
The animated series spawned a brief comic book series based on the show; also entitled Camp Candy, it was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.
Episode formula
Almost all episodes would begin where John Candy would be trying to show an outdoor skill to some kids, to which he would then say it reminded him of a story, where he would tell of the episode in narration. John was a dedicated leader of Camp Candy, a summer camp that is presumably built by him, and he tries to get various kids to get along.
The children included:
- Robin McHale - a nature-loving girl.
- Alexandra Dawson - a redheaded tomboy who is into sports.
- Vanessa Carter - a rich valley girl and snobbish fashionista.
- Iggy Jarvis - a bespectacled hypochondriac.
- Gregory "Binky" Jarvis - Iggy's more adventurous younger brother, and the youngest member of the gang.
- Rick Rogers - an amateur but talented prankster.
- Theodore - A chubby blonde kid who only appears in the third season.
Adult characters included Nurse Molly, a nurse who had a crush on John, but he never seemed to take notice, as he was interested in an attractive redheaded receptionist called Miss Sweetingham. Another adult added during the second season was a man from an unnamed Eastern European country named Botch, who worked as the camp cook and was a basketball junkie, being seen shooting hoops or in some sports-related activity when not working.
John's main antagonists were Xavier "Rex" DeForest III — a man who seeks to demolish Camp Candy in order to make way for a condominium, and Chester — a dimwitted greaser employed by DeForest. Another antagonist included Hob Nayles, a strict disciplinarian who headed the rival Camp Kickboot and sought to humiliate John, but was really a coward at heart.
Cast
- John Candy as Himself
- Lewis Arquette as Xavier DeForest III
- Valri Bromfield as Nurse Molly
- Danny Mann as Chester
- Andrew Seebaran as Rick (Seasons 1-2)
- Tom Davidson as Iggy (Seasons 1-2)
- Tony Ail as Binky (Seasons 1-2)
- Danielle Fernandes as Robin (Season 1)
- Chiara Zanni as Alex (Seasons 1-2)
- Willow Johnson as Vanessa (Seasons 1-2)
- Brian George as Botch (Season 2)
- George MacPherson as Duncan (Season 2)
- Cree Summer as Robin (Season 2)
- E.G. Daily as Rick, Binky, Alex (Season 3)
- Katie Leigh as Iggy (Season 3)
- Candi Milo as Robin (Season 3)
- Gail Matthius as Vanessa (Season 3)
Additional voice cast
- Charlie Adler as (Season 1)
- Tim Andres as (Season 1)
- Lynda Boyd as (Season 1)
- Scott Bremner as (Season 1)
- Don Brown as (Seasons 1-2)
- Jim Byrnes as (Seasons 1-2)
- Bill Callaway as (Season 1)
- Garry Chalk as (Seasons 1-2)
- Brent Chapman as (Season 1)
- Ted Cole as (Seasons 1-2)
- Ian James Corlett as (Seasons 1-2)
- Michael Donovan as (Season 1-2)
- Patrick Fraley as (Season 1)
- Lorena Gale as (Seasons 1-2)
- Doc Harris as (Season 1)
- Mark Hildreth as (Seasons 1-2)
- Alessandro Juliani as (Season 1-2)
- Terry Klassen as (Season 1)
- Victoria Langston as (Season 1)
- Bailee Ostry as (Season 1)
- Doug Parker as (Seasons 1-2)
- James Sherry as (Season 1)
- Cathy Weseluck as (Season 1)
- Tomm Wright as (Season 1)
- Jane Mortifee as (Season 2)
- Christopher Candy as (Season 2-3)
- Jennifer Candy as (Season 2-3)
- Babs Chula as (Season 2)
- Bob Costas as (Season 2)
- Marcy Goldberg as (Season 2)
- Phillip Hayes as (Season 2)
- Maurice LaMarche as (Season 2)
- Shane Meier as (Season 2)
- Jason Michas as (Season 2)
- Richard Newman as (Season 2)
- Alvin Sanders as (Season 2)
- Dale Wilson as (Season 2)
- Victoria Carroll as (Season 3)
- David L. Lander as (Season 3)
- Roddy McDowall as (Season 3)
- George Coe as (Season 3)
- Michael Greer as (Season 3)
- Eugene Levy as (Season 3)
- Andrea Martin as (Season 3)
- Jess Harnell as (Season 3)
- Hal Smith as (Season 3)
- Michael Horse as (Season 3)
- Kath Soucie as (Season 3)
- Frank Welker as (Season 3)
- Dave Thomas as (Season 3)
- Marcia Wallace as (Season 3)
- Tino Insana as (Season 3)
- William Windom as (Season 3)
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 13 | September 9, 1989 | December 16, 1989 | ||
| 2 | 14 | September 8, 1990 | January 19, 1991 | ||
| 3 | 13 | 1992 | 1992 | ||
Season 1 (1989)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Forest's Prime Evil" | September 9, 1989 |
| 2 | 2 | "Small Foot, Big Trouble" | September 16, 1989 |
| 3 | 3 | "The Katchatoree Creature" | September 23, 1989 |
| 4 | 4 | "Tough as Nayles" | September 30, 1989 |
| 5 | 5 | "Bird is the Word/Best Behavior" | October 7, 1989 |
| 6 | 6 | "Fools Gold" | October 14, 1989 |
| 7 | 7 | "Sleight of Hand/Thanks, But No Pranks" | October 21, 1989 |
| 8 | 8 | "Mind Over Matter/Brat Pact" | November 4, 1989 |
| 9 | 9 | "May the Best Parents Win" | November 11, 1989 |
| 10 | 10 | "Not So Brave Brave/Opposites Attract" | November 18, 1989 |
| 11 | 11 | "Indian Love Call/Spoiled Sports" | December 2, 1989 |
| 12 | 12 | "Rick Gets the Picture/Poor Little Rich Girl" | December 9, 1989 |
| 13 | 13 | "Christmas in July" | December 16, 1989 |
Season 2 (1990–1991)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Robo-Camp/The Glasnost Menagerie" | September 8, 1990 |
| 15 | 2 | "Color War and Peace" | September 15, 1990 |
| 16 | 3 | "Camp Cuisine/Take the Compass and Run" | September 22, 1990 |
| 17 | 4 | "Candy Springs" | September 29, 1990 |
| 18 | 5 | "Wish Upon a Fish" | October 6, 1990 |
| 19 | 6 | "Taking the Bully by the Horns/Rock Candy" | October 13, 1990 |
| 20 | 7 | "Dear Mom and Dad" | October 20, 1990 |
| 21 | 8 | "Stand Up and Deliver/Ruthless Campers" | October 27, 1990 |
| 22 | 9 | "Camp Candy's Funniest Home Videos" | November 3, 1990 |
| 23 | 10 | "Robin's Ark" | November 10, 1990 |
| 24 | 11 | "Candy and the Ants/Smart Moose, Foolish Choices" | November 17, 1990 |
| 25 | 12 | "One Million Years B.C." | November 24, 1990 |
| 26 | 13 | "Jokers of the Wild/Uncle Rexie" | December 1, 1990 |
| 27 | 14 | "Scare Package" | January 19, 1991 |
Season 3 (1992)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 1 | "TV or Not TV" | TBA |
| 29 | 2 | "Rock and Rest/Rick Van Winkle" | TBA |
| 30 | 3 | "The Last Word" | TBA |
| 31 | 4 | "A Ribbeting Experience/The Bamboo Woodpecker" | TBA |
| 32 | 5 | "Wild, Wild Candy" | TBA |
| 33 | 6 | "When It Rains... It Snows" | TBA |
| 34 | 7 | "Saturday Night Polka Fever" | TBA |
| 35 | 8 | "Chester's Millions" | TBA |
| 36 | 9 | "Bee Prepared/Signs of Silence" | TBA |
| 37 | 10 | "Dr. Tongues Amazing Adventures/Lucky Dog" | TBA |
| 38 | 11 | "Wild World of Camping/Total Lack of Recall" | TBA |
| 39 | 12 | "Battle of the Badges/The Return of the Magnificent Three" | TBA |
| 40 | 13 | "Bobby Bittman" | TBA |
References
- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 105–106. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 173–175. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 57–58. ISBN 9781476672939.
- ^ Terrace, Vincent (2014). "camp+candy"&pg=PA155&printsec=frontcover Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2010 (2nd ed.). McFarland. p. 155. ISBN 9780786486410. Retrieved 6 March 2020.