Fangface


Fangface is a 30-minute Saturday morning cartoon produced by Ruby-Spears Productions for ABC that aired from September 9, 1978, to September 8, 1979. The executive producers were Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.

Overview

Highly derivative of Scooby-Doo with a bit of the Tasmanian Devil and I Was a Teenage Werewolf thrown in, 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.
Fangs transforms into a wildly whirling werewolf named Fangface whenever he looks at the full moon, a picture of the moon, or anything resembling the moon. Fangface has one large fang in the middle of his upper jaw which protrudes over his lower lip, and he has brown fur with tan paws, a muzzle, and a lupine tail tip. The four kids drive around in a sleek convertible dune buggy called the Wolf-Buggy, catch crooks and solve crimes involving monsters and evil masterminds. Fangs sits in the backseat next to Puggsy, while Fangface rides on Puggsy's shoulders.
Despite the temporary difficulty of Fangface always attacking Puggsy after he first transforms, the gang never hesitates to initiate the transformation to take advantage of the werewolf's power to cope with any danger. Indeed, they often refer to Fangface as their "secret weapon", even though very few people are afraid of him. Fangface and Fangs are unaware of each other, but Fangface lives in the moment, so he never seems to question why he's suddenly in a new place, whereas Fangs is always bewildered upon reversion.
Oddly if perhaps not surprisingly, considering how much Puggsy bullies the cowardly Fangs in his weak-willed human form, whenever Fangface sees food or hears a food word like "turkey", he tries to eat Puggsy or eats him whole, although he doesn't chew or swallow him and just contentedly leaves him trapped in his hugely bulging chipmunk-like cheeks. The only way to get Puggsy out of Fangface's jaws is for either Biff or Kim to rub Fangface's foot, thereby calming him down and releasing Puggsy.
Another bizarre personality trait is that whenever Fangface sees his reflection in a mirror, he goes completely wild and starts to howl uncontrollably. In this feral state he only relies on instinct, usually to the detriment of Puggsy or whoever else is with him, although even this can sometimes be used to the good guys' advantage, sometimes with an addition of an order given to him, as demonstrated near the ending of A Heap of Trouble, as well as Dr. Lupiter and the Thing from Jupiter, A Creep from the Deep, and Westward Ho to the UFO.
Even though Fangs and Fangface are completely different in their personalities, they have similarities to one another. Fangs and Fangface both wear a backwards-facing orange cap, and both are loyal friends of Kim, Biff and Puggsy. Fangs and Fangface also say the phrase "Ooh! Ooh!" before expressing an idea, as heard in the episode The Evil Design Of Vulture-Man's Mind.
Fangs is basically comic relief on the show, having no real use as himself and getting changed into Fangface whenever he's needed. When he's super scared, he loses his normal dimwittedness and comes up with a super good idea to save his super scared neck.
Another interesting occurrence is the barrage of invented words that the character Puggsy says, such as 'scramify' and 'rescuefy' in the episode The Ill-Will Of Dr. Chill, which can be heard throughout the series.
In the episode Don't Abra When You Cadabra, it is revealed that Fangs has an uncle named Arnie, who runs a video arcade in New York City called Arnie's Arcade.
During Season 1, Fangface would see the sun or any representation thereof, and transform back to Fangs at inconvenient times, as shown in the episode Space Monster Mishap, long before the gangs' case would be over. As a result, the gang would have to transform him back into Fangface in order to complete their case.
Sixteen 30-minute episodes of Fangface were produced for the 1978 season from 8:30–9:00 a.m.
When the series first aired, there was no TV Parental Guidelines rating system, but with repeats the show has been rated as TV-G.

Opening narration

The opening title narration, voiced by John Stephenson, for each episode consists of the following:

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. The show remained in the same mystery-adventure style as the first season, but episodes were now shortened to 15-minute segments. Sixteen episodes of Fangface and Fangpuss were produced for the 1979–80 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, Fangface and Fangpuss would never see the sun, or a representation, as shown in the episode There Is Nothing Worse Than A Stony Curse, and transform back to normal before the gangs' case would be over.
Fangface and Fangpuss ran from September 22, 1979, to September 27, 1980; it then became a separate series in 1981 and, like the original Fangface, ran for just one season. After this series, Fangface and company faded into obscurity until reruns began to air on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

Series overview

Episodes

''Fangface'' (1978)

''Fangface and Fangpuss'' (1979–80)

Voices

> Fangface Spooky Spoofs Worldvision Video 1986 VHS Tape
To date, Fangface has not been released on DVD.