''Freaky Stories'' is a Canadian

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anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television series, which was originally broadcast by YTV in English and

Canal Famille Vrak (stylized as VRΔK) was a Television in Canada, Canadian French language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcast live-action programming aimed at 13-to-35 age group audiences. Launched i ...

in French (five-minute versions using the French title ''Frissons''). It is an

show about

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

s hosted by two

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

s, Larry de Bug, a

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are insects belonging to the Order (biology), order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known Pest (organism), pests. Modern cockro ...

, (voiced by James Rankin) and his gooey sidekick, Maurice the

maggot A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, hoverflies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and cr ...

(voiced by Dan Redican) in Ted's Diner - a 1940s-era diner setting staffed by Rosie the waitress (voiced by

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Waitress in '' The ...

, but never seen - season 1 only).

Premise

The series, described as "a '' Twilight Zone'' for kids", centers on the kind of myths and legends that are told as scary campfire or bedtime stories. Every episode always starts with and finishes with the phrase: "This is a true story, and it happened to a friend of a friend of mine." and by the words of Larry, "Just because they never happened, doesn't mean they ain't true." Animation styles and musical scoring varied within each half-hour episode, incorporating 20 different looks in the first season alone. The short stories and changing styles were specifically designed to keep viewers' attention span.

Production

Series creator Steve Schnier successfully pitched his concept of modern urban legends to YTV in 1991. In 1994, Steve teamed with executive producer John Delmage. The resulting ''Freaky Stories'' pilot premiered during YTV's "Dark Night 3" Halloween block on October 28, 1995, and the series itself premiered as a one-hour special as part of "Dark Night 5" on October 24, 1997. While most episodes were finished on

digibeta Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, ''Betacam'' singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself. A ...

, the pilot was shot on film using traditional animation techniques but completed on video. The subsequent series was digitally inked, painted and composited.

Cast

* James Rankin - Larry de bug * Dan Redican - Maurice the Maggot

Additional narrator cast

* Pam Hyatt *Sahrla Bonneville * Ben Campbell * Jonathan Wilson *

Juan Chioran Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. He is based in Stratford, Ontario. Chioran is also known for his voice acting roles, such as Doji in ...

* Diego Matamoros *

Susan Roman Susan Roman (born April 17) is a Canadian television and voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC (and later Cloverway/CWi) dub of the anime ''Sailor Moon''. She is one of ...

Adrian Truss Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

Lisa Yamanaka Lisa Jai Yamanaka is a Canadian actress. She is known as the voice of Wanda Li in ''The Magic School Bus'' and Yoko in ''Timothy Goes to School''. Yamanaka is also known for her work on ''Babar'' and ''Resident Evil 2''. She is also credited as Li ...

* Tara Meyer *

Stephanie Morgenstern Stephanie Morgenstern (born December 10, 1965) is a Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English and French. Her most widely seen feature film ...

Don Francks Don Harvey Francks (February 28, 1932 – April 3, 2016), also known by his stage name Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, musician and singer. Early life Don Harvey Francks was born on February 28, 1932, and was adopted shortly after his bir ...

*Nadine Rabinovitch *

Nigel Bennett Nigel Bennett (born 19 November 1949) is an English-born Canadian actor, director and writer. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series ''Forever Knight'', for which he won the Canadian Gemini Award for b ...

* Denis Akiyama *Ruby Smith-Merovitz *Jennifer Dodge *

Tanja Jacobs Tanja Jacobs is a Belgian-born Canadian actress and theatre director. She originated the role of Constance Ledbelly in Anne-Marie MacDonald's '' Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).'' Early life Jacobs was born in Belgium to German pare ...

* Rick Jones *

Dan Hennessey Daniel Robert Hennessey (September 11, 1942 – November 13, 2024) was an American-born Canadian voice actor. He was perhaps best known for voicing Brave Heart Lion in the ''Care Bears'' franchise. In addition to his well-received voice work ...

https://deadline.com/2024/11/dan-hennessey-dead-voice-actor-care-bears-inspector-gadget-x-men-tv-series-director-1236182060/ *

Chris Wiggins Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was a Canadian actor. Career Wiggins was born January 13, 1931, in Blackpool, England. He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada ...

* Emilie-Claire Barlow * Diane D'Aquila *Debbie Murphy *

Maryke Hendrikse Marÿke Hendrikse ( ; born February 23, 1979) is a Canadian voice actress. She has played several roles in anime, most notably Revy in '' Black Lagoon'' and Lunamaria Hawke in '' Gundam Seed Destiny''. She is also known for her roles as Susan ...

* Neil Crone * Catherine Disher * Alyson Court * Robert Bockstael * Marnie McPhail *

Alison Sealy-Smith Alison Sealy-Smith (born 1959) is a Barbadian-born Canadian actress best known for her role as Storm in various Marvel animated TV series. Early life and education Smith was born in Bridgetown, Barbados and raised in Toronto. She attended Mount ...

Linda Kash Linda Kash (born 17 January 1961) is a Canadian actress. Career Kash was born 17 January 1961, in Montreal. She was a cast member of Second City and played Trudy Weissman in the 1998 Jean Smart sitcom '' Style & Substance''; she has also playe ...

* Maurice Dean Wint *

Episodes

Season 1 (1997–1998)

*Episode 1: The Big Queasy - October 24, 1997 ** Prison Break/Cat Food/Weenie Wonderland/Mixed Nuts *Episode 2: Boys and Ghouls - October 31, 1997 ** A Shot in the Dark/First Kiss/Blind Date/ The Suspect *Episode 3: Animal Maggotism - November 7, 1997 ** The Resurrection of Fluffy/Fifi to Go/Bug in the Ear/The Flying Kitten *Episode 4: Take This Job and Love It - November 14, 1997 ** Pizza Guy/Carpet Man/Out of the Blue/Blunder Bed *Episode 5: Designer Tales - November 21, 1997 ** Diet Pill/Spiders in the Hairdo/The Fly/Hanging by a Thread *Episode 6: Boo! - November 28, 1997 ** Snatched/Graveyard Wager/Puddle and the Glow Monster/The Vampire *Episode 7: When You Gotta Go You Gotta Go - December 5, 1997 ** Locked Out at 20,000/The $50 Porsche/The Bunker/A Concrete Cadillac *Episode 8: Law and Disorder - December 12, 1997 ** The Rug Bug/Cat-Napping/Free Gas/

The Hook The Hook, or the Hookman, is an urban legend about a killer with a pirate-like hook for a hand attacking a couple in a parked car. In many versions of the story, the killer is typically portrayed as a faceless, silhouetted old man wearing a r ...

*Episode 9: Not the Waltons - December 19, 1997 ** Black Bean Soup/Bottle of Wine/To Pee or Not to Pee/Break a Leg *Episode 10: Oops! December 26, 1997 ** The Moving Cactus/The Mystery Smell/Fetch the Ball/Accidental Cannibals *Episode 11: Gotcha! January 2, 1998 ** Dumb Waiter/Luggage/Mama Mia/Jaxx in the Box *Episode 12: School Daze January 9, 1998 ** Field Trip/The Story/Panty Raid/The Experiment *Episode 13: End of the Day January 16, 1998 ** The Flower Lady/The Bookkeeper/Voice From Within/Pig Story

Season 2 (1998–1999)

*Episode 14/1: Dog From Mexico/The Mortician's Daughter/Pigeon Dave/Hair Today, Gone... - October 23, 1998 *Episode 15/2: Murray and the Rats/ Safe at Home/The Gift/Maple Syrup - October 30, 1998 *Episode 16/3: Last Cab Fare/Nude in the RV/ Alligator in the Sewer/Do Unto Others - November 6, 1998 *Episode 17/4: Stolen Lunchbox/Front Row Seats/ The Vanishing/Dead Man Walking- November 13, 1998 *Episode 18/5: Radar Benny/Battleship/ Severed Digit/Photo Op - November 20, 1998 *Episode 19/6: Last Call/Identical Twins/Bat Girl/The Nosy Maid- November 27, 1998 *Episode 20/7: Apologies to Steinbeck/The Creeping Curse of the Mummy's Tomb/A Fishy Story/Dumped in the Outback - December 4, 1998 *Episode 21/8: Traders/Court in the Act/Furd and the Veep/Mooching Roommate - December 11, 1998 *Episode 22/9: The Iron Fist Principal/Field of Seeds/Last Laugh/The Immortal Osgood Toadworthy - December 18, 1998 *Episode 23/10: The Need For Speed/Zit's A Horrible Life/The Girl With the Hoarky Cough/The Smell of Fear - December 25, 1998 *Episode 24/11: Pirates/Choc-Roaches/Femme Fatale/Dear Mother and Father - January 1, 1999 *Episode 25/12: The Boy Who Cried Alien/Did You Have Fun At The Party?/The Rich Fart/Sewer Swimming Hole - January 8, 1999 *Episode 26/13: The Man Who Picked His Brain/The Big Question/Smelly Kelly/Go Find Something To Do, Kid! - January 15, 1999

Season 3 (1999)

*Episode 27/1: Deep Forest Diver/Double Your Pleasure/Prize/Hokus Pokus - October 22, 1999 *Episode 28/2: Long Long Distance Call/Sweet Dreams/Duelling Sisters/Stuck Face - October 29, 1999 *Episode 29/3: The 13th Floor/Fishing Hole/Bean Boy/Rugs R Us - November 5, 1999 *Episode 30/4: Mark IV/Invisible Shirley/Chatty Monk/Mouse in the House - November 12, 1999 *Episode 31/5: So Long Sing Sing/

Fountain of Youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical Spring (hydrology), spring which supposedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in t ...

Ouija Board The Ouija ( , ), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along ...

/Houston, We Have a Problem - November 19, 1999 *Episode 32/6: At the Circus/The Genius/Which Witch is Which?/ Loch Ness Incident - November 26, 1999 *Episode 33/7: Sour Puss/ Monkey's Paw/First Anniversary/Bagel Boy - December 3, 1999 *Episode 34/8: The Getaway/ The Babysitter/The Meal/Wax Museum - December 10, 1999 *Episode 35/9: Mouse Trap/Monkey Shines/A Little Push/ The Lodger - December 17, 1999

References

External links

* {{Former YTV original series 1997 Canadian television series debuts 1999 Canadian television series endings 1990s Canadian animated television series 1990s Canadian anthology television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1990s Canadian science fiction television series Canadian children's animated anthology television series Canadian children's animated horror television series Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Canadian English-language television shows Television series about urban legends Television series by WildBrain YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming Fox Family Channel original programming Television shows filmed in Ottawa Television shows filmed in Toronto Works about cockroaches