The Monster Squad (TV series)

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Monster Squad
Genre	comedy adventure
Running time	30 minutes
Starring	Fred Grandy
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Original channel	NBC
Original run	11 September 1976–2 September 1977
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

This article is about the TV series. For the film, see The Monster Squad

The Monster Squad was a television series that aired on NBC from 1976-1977. The series starred Fred Grandy (who also starred in The Love Boat) as Walt, a criminology student working as a night watchman in a wax museum. To pass the time, Walt built a prototype "Crime Computer" in a mummy case near an exhibit of legendary monsters. When Walt plugged in his Crime Computer, "oscillating vibrations" brought to life the wax statues of Dracula, the Werewolf (who referred to himself in one episode as "Bruce W. Wolf," the "W" standing for "Were"), and Frankenstein (named "Frank N. Stien" in the opening credits). The monsters, wanting to make up for the misdeeds of their pasts, became crimefighters who used their unique abilities to challenge and defeat various supervillains. In most episodes, Walt would send the monsters out to investigate crimes and fight the villains while monitoring the activities from the wax museum via the Crime Computer; presumably this was because his job required him to be at the museum at all times.

The show was comparable to the 1960s Batman TV show in that the villains were often exaggerated camp villains much like the ones in Batman, in keeping with the "superhero" tone of the series. Also, the Squad had their own customized van, and each monster had a "utility belt" with a communicator device used to keep in touch with Walt, who apparently created them for the monsters to use.

A later, unrelated animated television series by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Drak Pack, had a similar premise.

[edit] References

Jones, Stephen, ed. The Illustrated Werewolf Movie Guide. London: Titan Books, 1996. (page 137) ISBN 1-85286-658-6
Terrace, Vincent (1979). “The Monster Squad”, The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs 1947-1979, Volume 2, 2nd Ed., Alfred Smith Barnes, p.666. ISBN 0-498-02177-7.