Nightmare Ned (TV series)

*Nightmare Ned*
Nightmare Ned
Genre	Comedy horror
Created by	Terry Shakespeare; G. Sue Shakespeare; David Molina;
Based on	Nightmare Ned by; Terry Shakespeare; G. Sue Shakespeare
Developed by	Walt Dohrn
Voices of	Courtland Mead; Brad Garrett; Victoria Jackson;
Theme music composer	Steve Bartek
Composer	Steve Bartek
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	12 (25 segments)
Production
Executive producers	Terry Shakespeare; G. Sue Shakespeare; David Molina;
Producer	Donovan Cook
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Production companies	Walt Disney Television Animation (uncredited); Creative Capers Entertainment;
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	April 19 (1997-04-19) –; July 5, 1997 (1997-07-05)

1997 American animated TV series

Nightmare Ned is an American animated television series which ran from April 19 to July 5, 1997, on ABC. The show was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Creative Capers Entertainment, and created by Terry Shakespeare, G. Sue Shakespeare, and David Molina of Creative Capers Entertainment.^[2] The show was based on and developed alongside the computer game of the same name, but the show ended up being completed before the video game was released.^[3]^[4]

Nightmare Ned focuses on the life of Ned Needlemeyer (voiced by Courtland Mead), an 8-year-old boy who deals with his daily problems through dark yet quirky nightmares.^[5] The show received mixed reviews from critics. After its original run, reruns would continue until August 30, 1997.^[1] The show was never re-released, being described as a "great oddity of the Disney Studio's television output" which was "largely disowned".^[2] As of June 2019, all episodes have been found by third parties and unofficially uploaded to YouTube.

Characters

Ned Needlemeyer (voiced by Courtland Mead): The show's protagonist, he is an 8-year-old boy who deals with his troubles through his nightmares.
Ed Needlemeyer (voiced by Brad Garrett): Ned's father, who tries to help Ned with his problems, but this does not occur often.
Hilda Needlemeyer (voiced by Victoria Jackson): Ned's mother, who tries to understand Ned's nightmares.
Amy Needlemeyer (voiced by Kath Soucie): Ned's baby sister.
Conrad and Vernon (voiced by Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen respectively): Two bullies who constantly pick on Ned. Conrad is heavyset with blue skin, and has a snaggletooth, whereas Vernon is tall with yellow skin and is often barefoot. They are named after Conrad Vernon, who served as one of the storyboard artists of the show.
Ms. Bundt (voiced by Tress MacNeille): Ned's teacher.
Joanie (voiced by Aria Curzon): A girl from Ned's school who has a crush on him. She appears in the episodes "Until Undeath Do Us Part" and briefly in "Girl Trouble".

Production

The Nightmare Ned television show was developed alongside the computer game of the same name. Donovan Cook described the collaboration: "There's some crossover. We sent them our graphics. [...] We had to have our art done right away and they ended up influenced by it along the way".^[6] The series had a few guest voice actors, such as Eugene Levy, Florence Henderson, and Andrea Martin.^[7]

Nightmare Ned premiered on ABC's Saturday morning children's programming block on April 19, 1997 as a mid-season replacement for the live-action horror series Bone Chillers in the channel's line-up.^[8] The series was initially planned for only one season with an option to renew for a second,^[6] but due to production difficulties, the show was not continued after its 12-episode first season. The show ran over budget and there were creative differences between Donovan Cook, the producer and director of the show, and Walt Dohrn, the developer and also a director of the show.^[9]^[10]

Reception

The show received mixed reviews from critics. The Chicago Tribune praised the show's art style but was critical of its subject matter.^[11] Similarly, Screen Rant described the show as "dark and even disturbing" and "mainly an excuse for Disney animators to show off their strange side".^[12] In contrast, Animation World Magazine described it as an "offbeat, colorful show", and it also received praise from TV Guide.^[6]^[13]

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by	Original release date
1	"Ned's Life as a Dog" "A Doll's House"	Alan Smart Joan Drake	Gary Sperling and Mike Mitchell Peter Gaffney	Mike Mitchell Bob Logan and Cynthia Petrovic	April 19, 1997 (1997-04-19)

2	"Robot Ned" "Dapper Dan"	Joanna Romersa Eddy Houchins	Gary Sperling and Chuck Klein Jonathan Greenberg and Michael Fontanelli	Chuck Klein Michael Fontanelli and David Fulp	April 26, 1997 (1997-04-26)

3	"Monster Ned" "Ants"	Alan Smart Joan Drake	Creative Capers and Chris Mitchell Peter Gaffney	Chuck Klein, Bob Logan, and Chris Mitchell Robert Renzetti	May 3, 1997 (1997-05-03)

4	"Magic Bus" "Until Undeath Do Us Part"	Donovan Cook Alan Smart	Peter Gaffney	Paul Tibbitt	May 10, 1997 (1997-05-10)

5	"Headless Lester" "My, How You've Grown"	Alan Smart Howard Parkins	Ralph Soll and Michael Fontanelli Mark Saraceni, Gary Sperling, and Chuck Klein	Michael Fontanelli Chuck Klein	May 17, 1997 (1997-05-17)

6	"Tooth or Consequences" "Show Me the Infidel"	Howard Parkins	Ralph Soll and Mike Bell Gary Sperling and Michael Fontanelli	Mike Bell Michael Fontanelli	May 24, 1997 (1997-05-24)

7	"Willie Trout" "House of Games"	Joanna Romersa Joan Drake	Peter Gaffney and Mike Bell Peter Gaffney	Mike Bell Vince Waller	May 31, 1997 (1997-05-31)

8	"Girl Trouble" "Canadian Bacon"	Joan Drake Joanna Romersa	Gary Sperling and Chuck Klein Peter Gaffney and Mike Bell	Chuck Klein Mike Bell	June 7, 1997 (1997-06-07)

9	"Abduction" "Bad Report Card"	Alan Smart Howard Parkins	Gary Sperling and Michael Fontanelli Peter Gaffney and J.C. Wegman	Michael Fontanelli Jon Wegman	June 14, 1997 (1997-06-14)

10	"Testing... Testing..." "The Accordion Lesson"	Don Judge Howard Parkins	Gary Sperling and Ted Mathot Gary Sperling and Chuck Klein	Ted Mathot Chuck Klein	June 21, 1997 (1997-06-21)

11	"Along for the Ride" "Steamed Vegetables"	Joan Drake Joan Drake and Donovan Cook	Gary Sperling and Michael Fontanelli Gary Sperling and Mike Mitchell	Michael Fontanelli, Mike Bell and Chuck Klein Mike Mitchell	June 28, 1997 (1997-06-28)

12	"Lucky Abe"^[b] "The Dentist" "The Ballad of Conrad and Vernon"	Alan Smart Joan Drake n/a	Mitch Watson and Paul Tibbitt Vince Waller n/a	Paul Tibbitt Vince Waller n/a	July 5, 1997 (1997-07-05)

Notes

↑ Reruns continued until August 30, 1997.^[1]
↑ This episode was originally titled "One Cent Ned".^[7]

References

1 2 "Final "Nightmare Ned" rerun". The Patriot-News. August 24, 1997. p. 224. Retrieved April 1, 2026.
1 2 Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 433. ISBN 978-1538103739.
↑ Hettrick, Scott (June 16, 1997). "Disney Interactive taking covers off "Nightmare"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 22, 2003. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
↑ Jackson, Wendy (December 1997). "1997 Gaming Report: The Best of the Bunch". Animation World Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 9. Retrieved February 3, 2018. Nightmare Ned was simultaneously developed as a game and an animated series with Disney.
↑ Markstein, Don. "Nightmare Ned". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
1 2 3 Fritz, Steve (May 2, 1997). "Animated Shorts". Mania Magazine. Archived from the original on January 10, 1998.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nightmare Ned Press Kit, 1997, retrieved November 30, 2022
↑ Rice, Lynette (April 7, 1997). "ABC Shuffles Saturday" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable.
↑ Hulett, Steve (February 5, 2008). "The Studio Roundabout". animationguildblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
↑ Perlmutter, David (March 28, 2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. McFarland. p. 280. ISBN 9781476614885. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
↑ Tribune, Harlene Ellin. Special to the (May 1, 1997). "YOUR WORST DREAM". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
↑ Gass, Zach (March 30, 2021). "10 Best Old Disney Shows (That Still Aren't Available On Disney+)". ScreenRant. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
↑ "June 1997 News". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved February 18, 2024.

External links

Nightmare Ned at IMDb
Nightmare Ned at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016.

[2] Reruns continued until August 30, 1997.^[1]

[15] This episode was originally titled "One Cent Ned".^[7]

[final-1] 1 2 "Final "Nightmare Ned" rerun". The Patriot-News. August 24, 1997. p. 224. Retrieved April 1, 2026.

[Perlmutter-3] 1 2 Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 433. ISBN 978-1538103739.

[Hettrick-4] Hettrick, Scott (June 16, 1997). "Disney Interactive taking covers off "Nightmare"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 22, 2003. Retrieved May 19, 2023.

[GamingReport-5] Jackson, Wendy (December 1997). "1997 Gaming Report: The Best of the Bunch". Animation World Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 9. Retrieved February 3, 2018. Nightmare Ned was simultaneously developed as a game and an animated series with Disney.

[6] Markstein, Don. "Nightmare Ned". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[mania-7] 1 2 3 Fritz, Steve (May 2, 1997). "Animated Shorts". Mania Magazine. Archived from the original on January 10, 1998.

[presskit-8] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nightmare Ned Press Kit, 1997, retrieved November 30, 2022

[9] Rice, Lynette (April 7, 1997). "ABC Shuffles Saturday" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable.

[10] Hulett, Steve (February 5, 2008). "The Studio Roundabout". animationguildblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved February 3, 2018.

[11] Perlmutter, David (March 28, 2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. McFarland. p. 280. ISBN 9781476614885. Retrieved February 3, 2018.

[Tribune_1997-12] Tribune, Harlene Ellin. Special to the (May 1, 1997). "YOUR WORST DREAM". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 23, 2022.

[Gass_2021-13] Gass, Zach (March 30, 2021). "10 Best Old Disney Shows (That Still Aren't Available On Disney+)". ScreenRant. Retrieved September 16, 2022.

[14] "June 1997 News". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved February 18, 2024.

[D-16] Productions listed here had Disney Television Animation's involvement go uncredited.

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