Crashbox

Crashbox
Format	Educational
Created by	Cuppa Coffee Animation
Developed by	Planet Grande Pictures
Directed by	Dave 'Canadian' Thomas
Composer(s)	Matthew Morse
Country of origin	Canada  United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	39
Production
Executive producer(s)	Adam Shaheen Eamon Harrington John Watkin
Camera setup	Single Camera
Running time	25 minutes
Production company(s)	HBO Original Programming Planet Grande Pictures Cuppa Coffee Animation
Broadcast
Original channel	HBO Family
Original run	June 1, 1999 - December 31, 2000 September 18, 2001 – May 1, 2002

Crashbox is an educational children's television game show that airs on the HBO Family digital cable television channel in the United States. It aims to educate grade-school children in history, math, vocabulary, and other various subjects.

The show takes place in a game machine where green game cartridges (which are sculpted out of clay) are created and loaded by rusty robots. Each half-hour episode consists of at least seven 2-to-5-minute educational games. Near the end, the robots will do "Crashbox Rewind" where they review most of the games to the viewers in case they miss any.^{[citation needed]}

Creation Team

Crashbox is a HBO television series created by Planet Grande Pictures, and is animated by Cuppa Coffee Studio, headed by Adam Shaheen. Planet Grande Pictures gave Cuppa Coffee Studios a time frame to complete 13 hours of programming in 7 months time.^[1]

Games

• Captain Bones: The skeleton pirate, Captain Bones, uses his bones to make puzzles to save him "from going stark ravin' mad." Many puzzles consist of incorrect math problems that need to be solved (e.g. 1 + 1 = 3 changes to 1 + 1 = 2 by moving one bone on the 3) or puzzles that need to be arranged to make another image (e.g. 5 squares need to be changed to 4 squares).
• Dirty Pictures: Similar to Haunted House Party, the viewer must figure out who the most well-known person is by watching parts of a picture in a museum dusted off by a maid and reading the museum keeper's cue cards.
• Distraction News: In this recurring game of staying focused, Dora Smarmy, the cardboard cutout anchorperson, tells the news of a particular topic while nonsensical distractions run amok onscreen. After talking about the topic, she asks the viewers five questions about the topic.
• Ear We Are: In this game, the viewers need to listen to sounds and figure out what thing or place two different disembodied human ears are thinking about. This game rarely appeared in the series.
• Eddie Bull: At the Walla-Walla Washington Zoo, a boy named Eddie Bull (a pun on 'edible'), is swallowed whole by an unseen animal and gives the viewers clues (trivial facts about an animal) to have them figure out what animal swallowed him alive. After he tells the viewer what the animal is, he manages to come out alive in the end, usually due to "going back the way (he) came".
• Haunted House Party: At a haunted house party, a famous dead person is the special guest whose silhouette is seen through windows. The viewers have to listen to the person's historical facts and figure out who he/she is. Right before the person reveals who they are, the narrator stops him/her and recaps on the facts about that person.
• Lens McCracken: In order to figure out what happened in a crime scene, a bumbling, self-proclaimed "ace" photo snoop named Lens McCracken shows the viewers three different things that are zoomed in very closely and has them figure out what those things are. Sometimes they close the episode with this game.
• Mug Shots: Verity Pins, a New Yorkish detective, gets four suspects pinned down for lying and allows the viewers to spot which three are guilty by listening to their lies. The suspect who says something truthful and trivial is innocent.
• Paige and Sage: In one minute, the viewers must find ten differences between two panels. Both panels have the same background, but both Barbie doll girls have the differences in their own panels. This game rarely appeared in the series, when it did, it would be the last game in the episode.
• Poop or Scoop: A sideshow caller, whose arms and cane are only seen, shows four different animals and a fact that relates to each one. If one fact is true, viewers would choose "SCOOP." If false, they choose "POOP." This was the only game in the series that has rankings on how many questions the viewers answered correctly. If the viewers got only one answer right, the rank is "Party Pooper", if they got two right, the rank is "Pooper Scooper", if three, the rank is "Super Pooper Scooper", if all four questions are answered correctly, the rank is "Super Duper Pooper Scooper".
• Psycho Math: Prof. Rocket, the robotic host with a crazy persona, lets viewers solve equations by showing pictures that represent a particular number (e.g. Number of letters of the alphabet = 26, Number of days in a week = 7). Three pictures are placed in the first three boxes with a question mark in the fourth box (e.g. # x # - # = ?). Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division signs are used randomly. Order of operations is not taken into consideration.
• Radio Scramble: At KBOX, "Jumpin' Johnny Jumble", an anthropomorphic microphone and radio host, plays tunes to let the viewers figure out what words the jumbled letters really make. The music will always relate to the unscrambled word (for example, if the original, unscrambled word was "mouse", the tune might be about how a "soume" kept squeaking). The beginning and end always show off an example of mixing the word "jumble" (e.g. meljub). In occasions, he disguises himself as another person to broadcast either sports, weather, or traffic.
• Revolting Slob: In every episode, an offscreen female narrator (on the episode when revolting slob gets sick, before the second question, she sneezes and revolting slob offers his germy tissue, that's when her hand is seen. Her skin is white, and she has red fingernails. Also, when revolting slob eats a lot of beans and the narrator want him to eat healthier and puts a box of full grain cereal, that is when her hand is seen again. Her skin is white and has non-colored fingernails.) teaches the viewers three new vocabulary words based on a revolting slob's (literally named the Revolting Slob) behaviors and actions. Multiple choices are given before the correct word is revealed. In the end, one word explained from the third multiple choice section has to do with the Revolting Slob exploding into nothingness, and the narrator closes the episode with "No slobs (and any other living thing) were harmed in the filming of this show."
• Riddle-Snake: After the Riddle-Snake plays a tune which brings up a riddle, viewers are given time to figure out the riddle before a man who never opens his eyes appears and gives the answer. When seen, usually it is the last game they play before the episode ends.
• Sketch Pad: On his sketch pad, an artist named Sketch draws pictures that tell a story and omits a picture so the viewers try to figure out what really happened before the final picture of the story is revealed. The story is usually in the form of a lateral thinking puzzle.
• Ten Seconds: A game where viewers must figure out the answers to a series of Rebus puzzles each within ten seconds. (2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd = Ten Seconds. Hence, the title). Sometimes they close the episode with this game.
• Think Tank: Captain Bob, a Jamaican submarine driver, is stuck in a large fish tank. Before all the water in the tank goes down the drain and the sub reaches the ground, the viewers need to figure out what three given things have in common. Each episode consists of two rounds. This game was played in almost every episode in the series.
• Word Shake: In this game similar to Mad Gab, a French chef takes two to three words together and forms them into another word that sounds like the two to three words (or letters) said together. This game rarely appeared in the series, when it did, they almost always close the episode with this game.

Differences between the two seasons

There is noticeably a few differences between the two seasons of Crashbox. For example, in Season 1, in the middle of an episode, the game systems would overload and all the power goes out. Then one robot fixes it in some way and everything goes back to normal. In Season 2, however, there is a funny scene either at the cafeteria or the maintenance. A major big difference between the two seasons is the games. "Ear we are", "Paige and Sage", "Lens MicCracken", and "Word Shake" never appeared on Season 2. The other differences in the games are listed below.

• Captain Bones: Captain Bones' voice is different in the two seasons. And also the animation of the bones are different.
• Dirty Pictures: The mumbling voice of the museum keeper is different in the two seasons.
• Distraction News: The scenery is different and so are the distractions. And also in Season 2, the final answer of every question will go away like the wrong answers.
• Eddie Bull: The animation of the clues are different, and in Season 2,when Eddie goes back out, he makes the same noise("Oooooooooooooooooyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!").
• Haunted House Party: In Season 2, the narrator doesn't speak until the gargoyles open the gate. And also when the "mysterious mystery guest" finally is shown, the mouth movement is different from Season 1.
• Mug Shots: In season 1, during the results, the game recaps exactly what most of the suspects said. In Season 2 however, only some were exactly recapped, the others just say the facts.
• Poop or Scoop: In Season 2, the viewers can here the audience say "Strait Scoop" or "Animal Poop" before the final answer, instantly giving the viewers the answers.
• Psycho Math: Prof. Rocket's voice differs in the two seasons, so does the animation of the pictures.
• Radio Scramble: The types of songs are different in either season.
• Revolting Slob: This game probably had the most changes. In Season 1, the game takes place in the Revolting Slob's living room. In Season 2, it takes place in the kitchen. The Revolting Slob's personality is also different in the two seasons. In Season 1, he is grumpy and gluttonous. In Season 2, he is silly and exuberant.
• Riddle-Snake: Riddle-Snake is pretty much the one game that doesn't have any changes.
• Sketch Pad: The animation and movement of the pictures are different. And also in the middle of the game in Season 1, Sketch says "Believe me, it makes sense." or "'Cause it all makes sense." In Season 2, he says "Remember, you can look, but you don't always see."
• Ten Seconds: In the last puzzle in Season 1, the narrator says "You got ten more seconds to get the next one." In Season 2, he says "Here's the last one. You got ten seconds."
• Think Tank: The animation of the clues is different, so is the way the clues go down the drain.

Voice cast

• Carlos Alazraqui - Assorted Haunted House Party Guests
• Maggie Baird - Verity
• Dee Bradley Baker - Assorted Haunted House Party Guests
• Veena Bidasha - Riddlesnake Raj
• S. Scott Bullock - Captain Bones, Lens McCracken
• Greg Eagles - Captain Bob, Sketch Pad
• Arif S. Kinchen - Professor Rocket
• Peter Lurie - Jumpin' Johnny Jumble
• Dawn Maxey - Valley Girl Voice in Paige and Sage
• Edie McClurg - Female Polite Voice in Revolting Slob
• Michael McShane - The Revolting Slob
• Ritchie Montgomery - Eddie Bull
• Alan Schlaifer - Ten Seconds Announcer, Butler in Haunted House Party, Left Ear
• Jerry Stiller - Host
• John Watkin - Horrid One, Right Ear, Word Shake Chef
• Mari Weiss - Dora Smarmy
• Danny Wells - Poop or Scoop Announcer

External links

• Crashbox at HBO Family
• Crashbox at TV.com
• Crashbox and Cuppa Coffee article in TAKE ONE
• Crashbox at the Internet Movie Database
• Crashbox at TV.com

References

1. ^ Eichhorn, P: "Cuppa Coffee brews up a special blend of animation", Take One Magazine, Summer, 1999, No. 24

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