Fangface

Fangface is an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Ruby-Spears Productions for ABC. It premiered on September 9, 1978 and ended on November 10, 1979, with a total of 24 episodes over the course of 2 seasons. The executive producers were Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.

Overview
Highly derivative of Scooby-Doo with elements from the Tasmanian Devil and I Was a Teenage Werewolf as well, Fangface features four teenagers — buff and handsome leader Biff, his brainy and beautiful dusky-skinned girlfriend Kim, short, stocky and pugnacious Puggsy and tall, skinny simpleton Sherman "Fangs" Fangsworth. Puggsy and Fangs are based on Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall of the Bowery Boys films.

Opening narration
The opening title narration, provided by John Stephenson, consists of the following:


 * Every 400 years, a baby werewolf is born into the Fangsworth family, and so when the moon shined on little Sherman Fangsworth, he changed into Fangface, a werewolf! Only the sun can change him back to normal, and so little Fangs grew up and teamed up with three daring teenagers—Kim, Biff and Puggsy—and together they find danger, excitement and adventure. Who can save the day, who can wrong the rights and right the wrongs .... none other than Fangface!

Fangface and Fangpuss
In 1979, the second season titled Fangface and Fangpuss aired as a segment on The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show and introduced a new character: Baby Fangs, Fangs' infant cousin who turns into a baby werewolf called Fangpuss. This updated the show's canon that only one werewolf is born into the family every 400 years by adding that a werewolf could be born through another family which may be married to the Fangsworth family.

The show remained in the same mystery-adventure style as the first season, but episodes were now shortened to two 15-minute segments in one 30-minute episode. Eight episodes of Fangface and Fangpuss were produced for the 1979 season.

The episodes The Creepy Goon from the Spooky Lagoon and Dr. Lupiter and the Thing from Jupiter are the only season two episodes in which Baby Fangs/Fangpuss did not make an appearance.

Just as Fangs is unaware that he is Fangface, Fangs is also unaware that his cousin, Baby Fangs, is Fangpuss. When Fangs sees Fangpuss, in the episode There Is Nothing Worse Than A Stony Curse, he becomes scared and runs off.

During Season 2, the characters Fangface and Fangpuss never transform back to normal before the episode's mystery is solved.

Fangface and Fangpuss originally aired from September 22, 1979, to November 10, 1979; it then became a separate series in 1981 and, like the original Fangface, ran for just one season. Later, in 1983, Puggsy and Fangface had cameos in The Puppy's Further Adventures episode "Puppy And The Spies," when the dogs are watching an episode of Fangface on TV.

Cast

 * Frank Welker as Sherman "Fangs" Fangsworth/Fangface, Baby Fangs/Fangpuss
 * Susan Blu as Kim Carlton
 * Bart Braverman as Puggsy Colmare
 * Jerry Dexter as Biff Sutcliffe

Additional voices

 * Lewis Bailey
 * Ted Cassidy
 * Henry Corden as Abdul the Giant
 * Joan Gerber
 * Hettie Lynn Hurtes
 * Larry D. Mann
 * Allan Melvin
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Vulture-Man, Disastro
 * Michael Rye as Dr. Lazarus Web, Skullman, Mysto the Magician
 * John Stephenson as Main Title Narrator, Ironmask, Zorak

Merchandising

 * A Parker Brothers board game, titled as "FANGFACE – Parker Brothers' Wacky Werewolf Game", was released in 1979.
 * Peter Pan Records released a Fangface 12-inch LP record in 1979, containing four audio stories (Side 1: Mirage / Ghost of the High Sierras; Side 2: The Stowaway / Superfrog).
 * Other merchandise included an activity book, a 3D View-Master reel set, a plush toy, a Halloween costume and a sleeping bag.
 * Tempo Books released two Fangface paperback books based on episodes of the series: A Heap of Trouble (1979) and A Time Machine Trip to the Pirate's Ship (1980).

Home media

 * Three episodes of the series, "A Heap of Trouble", "The Great Ape Escape", and "A Creep from the Deep", were released on a Fangface VHS by Worldvision Enterprises in 1983.
 * A second VHS tape, Fangface: Spooky Spoofs, was released in 1986 and contained the episodes "The Shocking Creature Feature" and "Dinosaur Daze".
 * Fangface season one was released remastered on Apple TV on August 22, 2022