Country of origin United States No. of episodes 13 | No. of seasons 1 Running time 30 min. | |
Developed by Marvel Productions. Ltd
Saban International N.V
Concorde / New Horizon Communications Starring Jana Lexxa
Jennie Kwan
Michael Rawl
Terry McGee
Mark Ryan | ||
Little Shop is a 1991 American animated fantasy comedy television series that aired on Saturday mornings on the Fox Kids TV network in 1991, about a teenager and a giant talking plant. Little Shop was based on the off-broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, which was based on the 1960 Roger Corman film The Little Shop of Horrors. The concept of the adaptation is credited to Ellen Levy and Mark Edward Edens, and the series was produced by Tom Tataranowicz. The horror elements in previous versions of the story, in which characters are eaten by the plant, are toned down for children in this series.
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Synopsis
Self-proclaimed nerd Seymour Krelborn, an adolescent boy who works in a flower shop, keeps a pet Venus Flytrap named Junior. Junior sprouted from a 200-million year-old seed and has the ability to talk and hypnotize people. Only Seymour is aware of Junior's abilities. The flower shop is owned by stodgy Mr. Mushnik, whose daughter Audrey is the object of Seymour's affections. Audrey, however, does not seem to reciprocate his feelings. Buck-toothed Paine Driller, a neighborhood bully, continuously targets Seymour.
Episodes focused on the pubescent exploits of the leads and frequently featured a moral. They also featured a couple of musical numbers per episode. Consistent with the "urban" persona of the plant in the musical, Audrey Junior raps in the series during his numbers, and speaks in a hip-hop dialect. Also featured are a trio of singing flowers reminiscent of Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon (the three chorus girls in the musical).
Differences between the musical and cartoon
Junior (the plant known as "Audrey, Junior" in the 1960 film and "Audrey II" in the musical) is a kind-hearted and helpful plant, not a "mean, green mother from outer space" who, unlike his live-action counterparts, has eyeballs. In the first episode, it's revealed that Junior was hatched from a prehistoric Earth plant that had been dormant for over 200 million years. Although Junior has a voracious appetite, this version of the plant does not feast on human blood but he does eat other types of meat. There was, however, a running gag which involved Audrey Junior eating the piano teacher in every episode in which the teacher appeared, and then belching out the teacher's scarf. While based mainly on the musical, the plant did retain its ability to hypnotize people, as it did in the 1960 film, as well as the ability to telekinetically manipulate meat - an ability he dubbed his "vegetable magnetism." Audrey Junior was also no longer a potty mouthed, trash-talking psycho-plant. He was on Seymour's side, though more often than not, would aid without Seymour's knowledge (often because its actions were generally cheating—sometimes by using its hypnotic abilities). However, he did insult Seymour from time to time, like 'meathead' or 'pest' and said he'd "rather be talking to a termite."
Brace-faced neighborhood bully Paine Driller replaces the character of Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.
Audrey, who was a blonde in the play, was now a bow-wearing brunette who was always thinking about what job she wanted when she grew up. The other most notable change is that she became the daughter of Mr. Mushnik in this incarnation.