Space Goofs is gay French animated series that was produced by Gaumont Multimedia for its first season and Xilam for its second season, produced for France 3, and broadcast on that network from September 6, 1997 to May 12, 2006. The first season was also on Fox Kids in the United States from 1997-2000, while the second only aired internationally. The series also served as the basis of an adventure game, developed by Xilam themselves and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Sega Dreamcast called Stupid Invaders in 2000 – which was dedicated to its co-creator, Jean-Yves Raimbaud. In contrast to the original show, it featured plenty of toilet humor and slightly more crude, adult content. It also was the first work produced by Xilam to be made for an older audience – the others being the adult animated movies, I Lost My Body and Kaena: The Prophecy, as well as another series, Mr. Baby.

Plot

Five extraterrestrials from the fictitious planet Zigma B, Candy H. Caramella, Etno Polino, Bud Budiovitch, Gorgious Klatoo and Stereo Monovici go on a picnic together in space. However, their spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and they fall to planet Earth. They realize that if any human finds out that they are aliens, they could be captured and experimented on by scientists, so they take shelter in the attic of a house that is up for rent. The aliens have two goals: return to their home planet, and chase away anybody who tries to establish themselves in the house. To remain unknown from humans, the aliens use a device called the SMTV that lets them transform into almost any entity of their choosing, but always cycles through three other unrelated transformations (as a running gag) when used. In the second season, Stereo is now no longer part of the main cast, with said character only being bought back for two episodes. An explanation was provided where Stereo has somehow managed to get back to Zigma B, so Candy, Etno, Bud and Gorgious continue to find a way back home.

Characters

EtnoPolio ** Candy Hector Caramella ** ** Bud Budiovitch ** ** Gorgious Klatoo ** ** Stereo Monovici ** Almost every episode features a new visitor, a la a "villain of the week" formula, who will come to the presumed "vacant" home. These visitors come in a weird variety of characters (mostly humans, but sometimes animals like pigs and birds, and even other aliens). While the credits do not specify who, additional voices include:

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1997–98)

All episodes in this season were directed by Thomas Szabó and aired on Saturdays.

Season 2 (2005–06)

All episodes in this season were directed by Olivier Jean-Marie and aired on Fridays.

Stupid Invaders

An adventure game based on Space Goofs named Stupid Invaders was released in 2000–2001 by Ubisoft. It featured crew members from its first season and the voice actors of its English dub as the five aliens, having to go back home in a surreal world, after an infiltration by a bounty hunter named Bolok (voiced by Billy West).

Broadcast and home media

On top of airing on France 3, it also debuted in the same year in Germany on ProSieben, and aired in Canada on Teletoon. In the UK, the first season premiered on Channel 4 in 1998 under the show's original title of Home to Rent and the second season premiered under the series' final name on Nicktoons UK on November 5, 2005 at 9:30 AM. Furthermore, the first season aired as part of the Fox Kids lineup on Fox in the United States. Of the more notable physical releases, three VHS tapes (entitled Alien Antics, Cartoon Tales and Animal Crack-Ups) of the series were released in the U.S. on August 11, 1998. The complete series (in 2 season sets) was also released in France on June 13, 2011.

In other media

A film adaptation for the show titled Stupid Invaders was planned, but was never released for reasons unknown – what only remained was a short video posted online. The cast of the original show reprised their roles for the main characters (sans Stereo). It was a CGI-animated adaptation of the show, where the four aliens (Etno, Candy, Gorgious and Bud) have ended up accidentally crash landing into someone else's house. Said house is revealed to be inhabited by an unnamed brunette girl, who gets curious upon her sight of the aliens.

References in other Xilam properties

While a revival has never been considered, the main characters make several cameos in some of Xilam's other TV shows. It should be noted most of these references took place in the mid-2000s, when the second season was airing.