Galaxy High

Galaxy High (ギャラクシー・ハイスクール) is an American-Japanese science fiction animated series that premiered on September 13, 1986 on CBS and ran for 13 episodes until December 6, 1986. The series was created by Chris Columbus and featured music and a theme song composed by Don Felder. The series was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel's Cartoon Quest.

Synopsis
Two Earth teenagers are accepted into the InterGalactic high school, Galaxy High School on the asteroid Flutor. The teenage boy, Doyle, was a skilled athlete and popular, while the teenage girl Aimee was shy and, as the theme song states, "the smartest girl in school, not very popular, not very cool." But once in space their roles are somewhat reversed. The alien teenagers seem to accept the not so popular Aimee, while Doyle tends to rub the aliens the wrong way. Although Doyle finds himself an outcast and having difficulties adjusting, Aimee does not abandon him, and suggests he can make friends and bring glory to Galaxy High through his excellent sporting abilities, which he does by winning a championship in "psych-hockey", which Galaxy High always lost. The show drops many hints of a budding romance between Doyle and Aimee but was never given time to grow due to the show not being renewed for a second season.

The aliens in the school included Gilda Gossip, the girl with the big mouth or mouths, Booey Bubblehead, who has a bubble for a head and is absent-minded, Milo De Venus, the six armed class president, Beef and the Bonk Bunch who bully Doyle (and just about every student at Galaxy High), and The Creep, a small alien who resembled something between a very fat cherub and a marshmallow and had a huge crush on Aimee which would often reveal itself as he serenaded like a Las Vegas lounge singer. The teachers are even more unusual than the students: Ms. Biddy McBrain has a light bulb attached to her head while Coach Frogface eats flies and Professor Icenstein has to keep his classroom cold or he will melt.

Brief description of the show from the video box:

"Blast off to the outer space high school where the students come in all shapes, sizes and every color of the rainbow! At Galaxy High, the junior class president has six hands. The local pizza parlor is as close as the nearest satellite and when the science teacher gets mad he melts! Join two earthling exchange students as they encounter a crazy collection of cosmic kids from all over the universe."

Cast

 * Hal Rayle as Doyle Cleverlobe
 * Susan Blu as Aimee Brightower
 * Howard Morris as Professor Icenstein and Luigi La Bounci (other misc. voices)
 * Pat Carroll as Ms. Biddy McBrain
 * Nancy Cartwright as "Flat" Freddy Fender and Gilda Gossip
 * Guy Christopher as Earl Eccchhh
 * Gino Conforti as Ollie Oilslick the cabbie and Reggie Unicycle
 * Jennifer Darling as Booey Bubblehead, Myrtle Blastermeier and Wendy Garbo
 * Pat Fraley as Coach Frogface and Sludge the janitor
 * Henry Gibson as Doyle's locker
 * David L. Lander as Milo De Venus
 * Danny Mann as the Creep
 * Neil Ross as Rotten Roland
 * John Stephenson as Beef Bonk and Harvey Blastermeier

Crew

 * Howard Morris - Voice Director

Production notes
The animated series Partridge Family 2200 A.D., which debuted in 1974, features Keith and Laurie Partridge going to a futuristic space high school called "Galaxy High," and Laurie's friend Marion Moonglow (a Martian) bears a striking resemblance to the Wendy Garbo character from this series.

Galaxy High was animated, distributed and owned by TMS Entertainment.

John Kricfalusi was a character designer for the show and went on to create Ren and Stimpy and The Ripping Friends.

Syd Iwanter, the Creative Director came up with the concept and hired Kricfalusi to draw a one sheet pitch featuring the main characters for a proposed HIGH SCHOOL 2525. When Michael Chase Walker became Director of Children's Programs for the CBS Television Network he bought the show, changed the name to Galaxy High School and convinced up and coming screenwriter Chris Columbus to develop the show under his name. Walker was trying to develop a Saturday Morning schedule that resembled an old-fashioned Saturday movie matinee with a range of horror (Teen Wolf), science fiction (Galaxy High School), Comedy (Pee-wee's Playhouse), and Western (Wildfire).

An alternate theme song exists showing clips from various episodes. The theme was changed to an instrumental one. At the end, Aimee speaks "Here we are Doyle! The only two kids from Earth at a high school in outer space! How do you feel?" Doyle responds "A little spaced out Aimee!"

The show features transportation tubes, which people can enter and be whisked away around the school; these are reminiscent of old-style pneumatic tubes. In Galaxy High, they are known as "wooshers".

Film
In 1996 Walker optioned the film rights with John H. Williams of Vanguard Films, and reteamed with Chris Columbus to develop the big screen version of Galaxy High School. After various development deals with both DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, the movie plans remain in limbo.

Series tie-in
An 85-page paperback book titled Galaxy High School was published in August 1987 by Bantam-Skylark Books and written by Ann Hodgman. It is an adaptation of six episodes, "Welcome to Galaxy High", "Those Eyes, Those Lips", "The Beef Who Would Be King", "Dollars and Sense", "Beach Blanket Blow-Up" and "Founder's Day". In the prologue, it says that Doyle and Aimee, while on Earth, attended Presley High School and its sports team was called the Hound Dogs. It also says that Aimee didn't know Doyle well before coming to Galaxy High, but did think he was cute, until they actually meet when first entering their new school. The paperback is out-of-print and is a highly sought collectible among fans of the show.

Airdates
Galaxy High originally aired at 11:00am EST/10:00am CST after Teen Wolf and before CBS Storybreak in the 1986-1987 season on CBS. It was also given a timeslot for the 1987-1988 CBS season in the expectation of a second season, but upon the show's retirement the 1987-1988 schedules re-ran episodes of the first season.

Later airdates: 2 January 1988 - 27 August 1988 on CBS, January 2, 1994-?, July 2, 1994-September 24, 1994, October 8, 1994-December 31, 1994-early 1995, 7 February 1996 - 23 February 1996, April 2, 1996 – April 19, 1996, May 27, 1996-June 17, 1996 on the Sci Fi Channel.

In 1996, it aired on Nickelodeon on weekday mornings in the United Kingdom.

Awards
The show was nominated for a Humanitas Prize for its anti-drug episode, The Brain Blaster.

Legacy
Despite its short run, Galaxy High has become a cult favorite among fans and viewers alike for years.


 * Galaxy High School appears frequently in the eighties animation magazine, cereal:geek
 * The Role-playing game Teenagers from Outer Space released in 1987 expanded upon this concept.
 * The show was parodied in episode 17 of Space Dandy.

Home media Video-On-Demand releases
Four episodes of the show were re-edited into a compilation video titled Galaxy High in 1989 by Family Home Entertainment

Due to the program being both animated and owned by TMS Entertainment, the program is generally licensed as if it were an anime. Galaxy High has been released in full on DVD. All 13 episodes are available uncut and as they were originally aired, across two volumes, produced and distributed by Media Blasters through their AnimeWorks division (the same company previously responsible for the release of Invader Zim).

Volume 1 was released June 27, 2006, containing episodes 1-7. Volume 2 was released July 25, 2006, containing episodes 8-13.

On the volume 1 DVD, the original episode 2, "Pizza's Honor" and episode 3, "The Beef Who Would Be King" are swapped around. This actually makes more sense chronologically as the rivalry between Doyle and Beef develops more in "The Beef Who Would Be King" better explaining Beef's strong negative actions towards Doyle in "Pizza's Honor".

The complete Galaxy High School series is also currently available through video-on-demand services including Amazon Video and Crunchyroll.