Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

'Aaahh!!! Real Monsters' is an American animated television series about adolescent monsters in training, developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon. The show ran for four seasons on Nickelodeon's main United States cable channel and was rerun on Nicktoons Network until 2006. This was the first Nickelodeon series to be owned by Viacom.

The show focuses on three monsters in particular (Ickis, Oblina and Krumm), who attend an institute for monsters under a city dump and learn to frighten humans. Many of the episodes revolve around the monsters making it to the surface in order to perform "scares" as class assignments.

History
Before the final title was chosen, which took over 5 years, the series had the tentative title Monsters.

The characters guest-starred in the 1999 Rugrats episode #106 "Ghost Story". Before that, David Eccles, the voice of Krumm, provided the monster voice coming from under Chuckie's bed.

Storyline
The episodes follow the adventures of Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm, three young monsters attending a monster school whose headmaster is The Gromble. Ickis (voiced by Charlie Adler) is a small red monster who due to his large ears is often confused with a bunny rabbit. He is the son of Slickis, who was the academy's most renowned student and the Gromble's favorite. Oblina (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) comes from a wealthy monster family, and is considered by the Gromble to be his best student. She is shaped like a black and white, upside down candy cane. One of her favorite methods of scaring humans is reaching within herself and pulling out her internal organs, and she has considerable talent for shapeshifting into various terrifying forms. She also has a talent for inducing nightmares in humans, by sticking her finger in their ear and tickling their brains while they sleep. Like the rest of his family, Krumm's eyeballs are not attached to his body, and are usually seen carried in his hands; if he requires the use of both hands, he can carry his eyes in his mouth. His most valuable tool in scaring is his overwhelming armpit stench as well as using his eyeballs.

The Gromble (or more simply just Gromble) (voiced by Gregg Berger) is a tall, green-gray monster with two tufts of head hair, a beard and a tail, and wears a belt and a red pump on each of his four feet. Along with Ickis, he is one of the few monsters who can hear the Pool of Elders &mdash; the source of monster existence that is made of the very substance of fears. The Gromble's assistant, Zimbo (voiced by Tim Curry) is a monster who resembles a bee with one mammalian leg and a humanoid face with green hair.

The monsters frequently face Simon the Monster Hunter (voiced by James Belushi), a human who is determined to prove that monsters exist. He wears a thick-collared jacket and glasses.

Recurring characters

 * The Snorch – Voiced by David Eccles.
 * Slickis – Ickis' father. Voiced by Billy Vera.
 * Horvak – Krumm's father.
 * Mama Gromble – The Gromble's mother.
 * Sublima – Oblina's mother.
 * Skeetch – Oblina's father.
 * Bradley – The monsters' only human friend, a 10-year-old boy who befriended Ickis. Voiced by Brett Alexander.
 * The Shroink – An elderly monster
 * Dizzle – A female monster student who likes Ickis

Showtimes
From October 1994 to around 2000, ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'' was on Nickelodeon. In 2002 it started airing on Nicktoons TV. In 2006 it was taken off Nicktoons Network (formerly known as Nicktoons TV) and was shown occasionally on Sundays on Nickelodeon's "Nick Rewind." It often appears on Nick.com's Turbonick, an online programming broadcast.It will return to Nicktoons Network for nicktoons Rewind in the summer of 2011.

Airing history

 * Australia
 * ABC TV (1995–Present)
 * Nickelodeon (1995–Present)
 * Croatia
 * Nickelodeon (Croatia)
 * Greece
 * TVC (1999–2004)
 * Channel 9 (2005–2007)
 * Nickelodeon (2011–present)
 * Hungary
 * MSat (1998–1999)
 * Nickelodeon (1999–2006)
 * Viasat 3 (2000–2001)
 * Israel
 * Nickelodeon
 * Arutz HaYeladim
 * New Zealand
 * TV3 (1995–2004)
 * Nickelodeon (1999–2009)
 * FOUR (2011 - present)
 * Sweden
 * SVT
 * SVTB
 * Nickelodeon (1995–2002)
 * Turkey
 * Nick on Star TV (1995–1996)
 * Nickelodeon Turkey 2007-2008 CNBC-E 1999-2000
 * UK
 * Channel 4
 * Nickelodeon (1994–1998)
 * Nicktoons (UK & Ireland) (2002–2006) 2011-present)
 * USA
 * Nickelodeon (1994–2002)
 * Nicktoons Network (2002–2006) 2011-present)
 * Ukraine
 * ICTV
 * Croatia
 * Nickelodeon (1997–2005)
 * Taiwan
 * Nickelodeon (1998–2003, 2006–2008)
 * Brazil
 * Nickelodeon (1994–1998)
 * Rede Bandeirantes (2010-currently) - in HDTV
 * Mexico
 * Nickelodeon 1999–Present
 * Nick Hits 2009 - 2010

DVD and Home Releases
From 1995 to 1997, select episodes of ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'' were released on VHS tape. The complete first and second seasons were released for PlayStation Network for view on the PS3 (PlayStation 3) and PSP (PlayStation Portable) systems.

It was also revealed in April 2011 that Shout Factory has the rights to release Aaahh!!! Real Monsters on DVD. The artwork for the show was seen for the first time on The Wild Thornberrys DVD, as up-coming dvds from Shout on May 17, 2011. No word yet on an exact release date, but is rumored to be out before the end of 2011. An official announcement will be released soon.

Merchandising
Mattel produced a series of ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'' action figures in 1995. They each stand approximately 4 inches (10 cm) tall and include an action feature. Other products based on the cartoon include Fleer trading cards, books, plush toys, pens, hats, backpacks, notepads, cups, gum, and videos. At one point, General Mills also included small, promotional flip books of Ickis, Krumm, Oblina, and the Gromble in its Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

Video games
A video game based on the TV series was released for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis by Majesco in 1995. Ickis also appeared in Nicktoons Racing for the PlayStation, PC, and Game Boy Advance yet was missing from the Game Boy Color version. A Game Boy Advance release would end up being the last Real Monsters and Ren & Stimpy video games.

The characters were also created in full 3D for Microsoft's Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker.

Parodies

 * Thomas
 * The Simpsons
 * Futurama