The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper

Production

At the time that principal filming wrapped on Casper, a sequel was proposed and a treatment was written, but a combination of less-than-stellar box office gross (although the film grossed $100 million in the US, the budget was more than half of that total and analysts predicted much higher earnings for the film) and the fact that both Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman were attached to other projects after Casper and would not be available until more than a year later caused the idea to be scrapped. The producers then decided to abandon the live-action sequel ideas and instead develop a cartoon series to continue the story.
In March 1995, it was reported that Harvey Entertainment had partnered with Universal Pictures to jointly finance a new Universal based animation studio with the intention of adapting Harvey's library of characters and IPs for television. The first two projects to be developed by the studio were announced to be a new Richie Rich TV series and a new TV series based around Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The show aired on Fox Kids television from 1996–98 for 4 seasons. 52 episodes were produced, but only the first 46 appeared on Fox, with the remaining debuting on Fox Family Channel. Many of the same people who worked on this show also worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain (the latter of which was a spin-off from the former; coincidentally, the former had also debuted on Fox).
The new Casper broke from earlier versions, following a sitcom-style pattern of one-liners and pop culture gags in a manner similar to the Casper feature. The show would also frequently break the fourth wall. The show used old Casper supporting characters such as Casper's cousin Spooky, Spooky's "ghoulfriend" Pearl (or "Poil" as rendered by Spooky's Brooklyn accent), and Nightmare the Ghost Horse who, unlike in the original cartoons and comics, does not talk. The show also introduced new characters, including Casper's loud and strict teacher Ms. Banshee.

Main characters

Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson) is a young ghost who lives in his family home of Whipstaff Manor in the care of his three trouble-making uncles, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, and has to put up with their antics.
The Ghostly Trio is a trio of ghosts consisting of Stretch (voiced by Joe Nipote, additional dialogue by Rob Paulsen), Fatso (voiced by Brad Garrett in season 1-2, Jess Harnell in season 3-4), and Stinkie (voiced by Joe Alaskey). They are Casper's uncles who enjoy scaring humans. The Ghostly Trio constantly mistreat and abuse Casper by either having him make their dinner or chasing after him.
Dr. James Harvey (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a psychiatrist and is shown to be an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University who loves his daughter Kat, although he sometimes appears to be neglectful of her emotional needs.
Kathleen "Kat" Harvey (voiced by Kath Soucie) is the 13-year-old daughter of Dr. Harvey who is portrayed as the stereotypical teenager, who has a sense of humor and hates having to put up with the Ghostly Trio because they do not get along with her.
Spooky (voiced by Rob Paulson) is Casper's mischief-minded cousin who looks up to the Ghostly Trio as his heroes and while having no true dislike for Casper, despises his cousin's lack of interest in scaring humans. As such, Spooky is always trying to out-scare Casper and become the best in class, but he usually fails.
Pearl (voiced by Miriam Flynn) or "Poil" is Spooky's absent-minded girlfriend, who is almost always oblivious to current situations and takes things too literally. She adores Spooky and everything about him, is good friends with Casper, and does not care as much for the Ghostly Trio as Spooky does.
Miss Banshee (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the teacher of Casper, Spooky and Poil. True to her name, Miss Banshee can scream loud enough to be heard. Miss Banshee enjoys being a teacher, but dreams of being a professional opera singer. The Ghostly Trio has a crush on Miss Banshee and constantly compete for her affections, though she is unimpressed with their efforts.

Recurring characters

Amber Whitmire (voiced by Sherry Lynn) and the Jennifers (voiced by Debi Derryberry) are classmates and rivals of Kat at Friendship Junior High School who are portrayed as rich, mean, and spoiled queen bees. Jennifer #1 has dark brown hair and wears glasses and is the closest to Amber, Jennifer #2 has strawberry blonde hair, and Jennifer #3 has light brown hair and is the least intelligent of the three.
Mr. Happ (voiced by Ben Stein) is the monotonous teacher at Friendship Junior High School.

Voice cast

Malachi Pearson as Casper
Kath Soucie as Kat Harvey
Dan Castellaneta as Dr. Harvey
Joe Nipote as Stretch
Brad Garrett as Fatso (season 1-2)
Jess Harnell as Fatso (season 3-4), Piano Mover #1 (in "Day of the Living Casper")
Joe Alaskey as Stinkie, Gorey Narrator, Baby Huey (in "The Legend of Duh Bigfoot")
Rob Paulsen as Spooky, Stretch (additional dialogue), Frankenstein's monster (in "Spookie and Poil Meet the Monsters", "13 Ways to Scare a Fleshie"), Jimmy Hoffy (in "13 Ways to Scare a Fleshie")
Tress MacNeille as Ms. Banshee
Miriam Flynn as Poil

Additional voices

Charlie Adler as T-Bone
Carlos Alazraqui
Jack Angel as Count Dracula (in "Spookie and Poil Meet the Monsters", "13 Ways to Scare a Fleshie")
David Arnott
Orlando Ashley
Edward Asner
John Astin
Hinton Battle
Jeff Bennett as Milk Shop Owner (in "Day of the Living Casper"), Agent Moldy (in "The Y-Files"), Wedgie Johnson, News Anchor, Astronaut
Susanne Blakeslee as Willa Winkle
S. Scott Bullock as Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (in "A Christmas Peril")
Jodi Carlisle
Nancy Cartwright
Christine Cavanaugh as Kid #1
Cathy Cavadini as Kid #2
Cam Clarke as The Prince
David Coburn as James Dean (in "Rebel Without a Date")
Jim Cummings as Water Cooler Guy #1, Babe Ruth (in "Field of Screams"), Werewolf (in "Spookie and Poil Meet the Monsters", "13 Ways to Scare a Fleshie"), Announcer, Albert Frankenstein, Krono, Ron, Phineas McHorde, Bronko, Babe Ruth, Ghost of Christmas Past (in "A Christmas Peril"), Santa Claus (in "A Christmas Peril")
Tim Curry as Pianist (in "Stinkie Time Theater")
E. G. Daily as Nicole Noelle Cadaver, Cinderella
Debi Derryberry as the Jennifers
Patti Deutsch
Greg Eagles as Michael Jordan
Michael Finnegan
Benny Grant
Gary Falcone
Pat Fraley as Cleaner Ghost
Mark Hamill as Ghost of Christmas Present (in "A Christmas Peril"), Ezra Hazzard
Dorian Harewood
Jonathan Harris as Omar (in "A Picture Says 1,000 Words")
Edward Hibbert
Dana Hill as Wee Willie Winkle
Tony Jay as Grim Reaper (in "Grim and Bear It")
Joe Lala
Rick Logan
Sherry Lynn as Amber Whitmire
Steve Mackall
Danny Mann as Lounge Host
Kenneth Mars
Gail Matthius
Edie McClurg
Ginny McSwain
Ricardo Montalbán as Gone Juan
Gary Owens as Haunt-a-Thon Announcer (in "Haunt-a-Thon")
Valery Pappas as Auntie Froo-Froo (in "Family Reunion")
Dee Dee Rescher
Kevin Michael Richardson as Frightening Storm
Neil Ross as Ghostfather (in "Ghostfather"), TV Voice
Maggie Roswell
Zelda Rubenstein
Heidi Shannon as Agent Skully (in "The Y-Files")
Ben Stein as Mr. Happ
Sherri Stoner
Mark L. Taylor as TV Voice #2
Susan Tolsky
B. J. Ward
Frank Welker as Clarence, Mortimer Pennypincher (in "Don't Bank on It"), Nightmare the Horse
Billy West
Fred Willard as Wally Winkle
Paul Williams
April Winchell as Ms. C
Michael York

Crew

Ginny McSwain - casting director and voice director (seasons 1–2)
Kelly Ward - voice director (seasons 3–4)

Home media

From 1996 through 1998, Universal Studios Home Video released episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3 onto VHS.
In 2007/2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released two volume collections entitled The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 1 and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Volume 2 on DVD in Region 1. Volume 1 consists of the first 5 episodes of the animated series, while volume 2 contains the last 5 episodes of season 1.
No further plans have been made by Universal to release any further DVDs of the show.