My Pet Monster

My Pet Monster is a character that began as a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. It has horns, blue fur, and a fanged smile, wearing breakaway orange plastic handcuffs.

In 2018, Hasbro acquired My Pet Monster from Saban Brands.

Plush

The My Pet Monster character began as a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. As one of the few plush dolls marketed to boys at the time, My Pet Monster was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The doll has blue fur, horns and a fanged smile, and is recognizable by its orange plastic handcuffs. The handcuffs could also be worn by children and came with a breakaway link so that the child could simulate breaking the chain. Several versions of the doll have been released in various sizes and other attributes. Other characters were also created with brightly colored fur and unorthodox names like Gwonk, Wogster and Rark. Their popularity allowed a wealth of merchandise including coloring books, Golden Look-Look books, frame-tray puzzles and various other items.

Capitalizing on the nostalgia in many children of the '80s, Toymax released a 22-inch tall talking My Pet Monster doll in 2001.

Animated series

My Pet Monster
Starring	Sunny Besen Thrasher Stuart Stone Jeff McGibbon Alyson Court Dan Hennessey
Country of origin	United States Canada
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	22 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	Nelvana Those Characters From Cleveland Telefilm Canada
Distributor	Hasbro Studios (2018–present)
Release
Original network	ABC (US) Global (Canada) ITV (UK)
Picture format	NTSC
Audio format	Mono
Original release	September 12 – December 19, 1987

The character's popularity spawned a live-action direct-to-video film in 1986 about a boy who becomes the Pet Monster after being exposed to a statue, changing when hungry. Dr Snyder, the scientist who originally discovered the statues and the legend behind them, wants to kidnap him for publicity purposes, while his sister helps her brother out of the crisis. My Pet Monster also spawned a children's cartoon series that ran for one season on ABC, produced by Ellipse (France), Nelvana (Canada), and Hi-Tops Video in association with Golden Books. The show follows Monster, who lives with a boy named Max. When Monster wears his handcuffs, they turn him into a stuffed animal. Max often does to keep Monster's existence secret from others. Max's sister, Jill (Voiced by Alyson Court), and his friend, Chuckie, are the only ones that know this secret.

The two main adversaries in the show are Mr. Hinkle, a neighbor who always thinks Max is up to something, but is not quite sure what, and Beastur, a large monster who hates light and tries to bring Monster back to MonsterLand. Beastur, though immense and fierce, is incompetent. He can be stopped by the magic cuffs -— which reduce him to a smaller, though still "alive" monster -— or by his own bungling, and sent back through the warp portal to his own world. He wears dark glasses to protect his sensitive eyes, which he can use to see in the dark.

Beastur appears in nearly every episode as either a primary or secondary foe. On one notable occasion, he was scared back through the portal to Monsterland not by light or the cuffs, but by the affections of a smitten female gorilla. In the final episode, it is also shown that Beastur hates to be hugged, even more so than being exposed to light.

Much of the voice cast of My Pet Monster returned 2 years later in 1989 for Beetlejuice, another cartoon show with a surreal theme and a supernatural world populated by fantastic monsters.

Reruns of all 13 half-hour episodes aired on Teletoon Retro in Canada from September 5, 2011.

Characters

• "Monster" (the Monster, Max's friend in series, as opposed to being Max in special)
• Max (becomes a Monster in special, finds him as separate character in TV series). When he wins the surfing competition he is referred to as Max Smith.
• Chuckie (Max's friend in TV series, does not appear in the special)
• Jill Smith (Max's sister in TV series)
• Beastur (A giant Monster in the series who pursues Monster with the intention of taking him back to monster land. Briefly mentioned at the end of the special as the name of one of the monsters represented by the statues)
• Mr. Hinkle (suspicious neighbor who is aware of Monster's antics, but never actually succeeds in proving Monster exists.)
• Princess (Hinkle's dog)
• Dr. Snyder (Mad Scientist and later monster hunter in special)
• Melanie (Max's sister in special)
• Rod (Max's older brother in special, aware of Max's monster changing ability)
• Stephanie (Rod's date in special)
• Hinkle's niece Jenny
• Wolfmen (musicians)
• Leo (school bully)
• Annie (neighbour/Jill's friend)
• Jumbo Jim (ringer)
• Mrs. Smith (Max and Jill's mother, brief role at the beginning of the special where it is revealed her first name is Julie)
• Rex Stalker (monster hunter)

Episodes

Direct-to-video special (1986)

Title	Running time	Directed by:	Written by:	Release date
"My Pet Monster"	60 minutes	Timothy Bond	J.D. Smith	1986
A boy named Max (Sunny Besen Thrasher) and his sister Melanie (Alyson Court) go to a museum and see a monster-like statue that Dr. Snyder (Colin Fox) had brought back from the Middle East. After being exposed to the statue and sunlight simultaneously, Max finds himself turning into a furry blue monster whenever he gets hungry. Dr. Snyder tries to hold him captive, but Max escapes and eludes him.

Series (1987)

No.	Title	Airdate	Prod. code
1	"Goodbye Cuffs, Goodbye Monster"	September 12, 1987 (1987-09-12)	001
Max purchases Monster and brings him home, only to discover that once his shackles are removed, he comes to life. Unfortunately for Monster, Beastur has escaped from Monsterland and is determined to find Monster and stop at nothing to bring him back with him.
2	"The Wolfmen Are Coming!"	September 19, 1987 (1987-09-19)	002
When the hard rock group The Wolfmen hold a concert in town, Jill's costumes for her fan club members make Mr. Hinkle accidentally believe there are real wolfmen lurking in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Max's attempts to find tickets for the concert lead to Monster becoming the guest singer.
3	"Boogie Board Blues"	September 26, 1987 (1987-09-26)	003
Max is psyched about the Junior Boogie Board Competition, but a snooty competitor and a bad wipeout may make him lose all hope unless his friends can help.
4	"Rock-a-bye Babysitters / Monster Cookie Mix-Up!"	October 2, 1987 (1987-10-02)	004
Monster discovers the cookies that Jill has baked for a charity drive and proceeds to devour them. The gang attempts to make a new batch, which may be more disastrous than it looks.
5	"The Masked Muncher!"	October 17, 1987 (1987-10-17)	005
Leo, the school bully, puts Monster's fate at stake in the upcoming pie-eating contest, so the gang enters Monster, as "The Masked Muncher", in the competition against Leo's ringer, Jumbo Jim, the "supermarket terminator."
6	"Runaway Monster"	October 24, 1987 (1987-10-24)	006
It is Monster's birthday and apparently his close friends have not remembered his special day. Feeling lonely and forgotten, Monster decides to run away, not knowing they have been planning a surprise party.
7	"Finders Keepers / My Poet Monster"	October 31, 1987 (1987-10-31)	007
Monster stumbles onto a stash of stolen jewels and decides to keep them for himself. Soon after he takes them, the thieves, police, Max and Chuckie all set off in search of him.
8	"Escape from Monsterland!"	November 7, 1987 (1987-11-07)	008
Max, Monster and the rest of the gang are trapped in Monsterland and must find a way to escape the dangerous and frightening place.
9	"Little Bigfoot"	November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14)	009
Max, Monster and the gang join Mr. Hinkle on a camping trip, pursuing the legend and mystery of Bigfoot.
10	"Monster Makes the Grade!"	November 21, 1987 (1987-11-21)	010
School elections are coming up, and Monster is intrigued by this process. Monster decides to pose undercover as an exchange student in order to liven up the political process.
11	"Monster Movie Mayhem! / Superhero for Hire!"	December 5, 1987 (1987-12-05)	011
A videotape of Monster is accidentally switched with that of a show dog, and Max and the gang journey in search of it before it's viewed and Monster's secret existence is revealed.
12	"Gorill'a My Dreams"	December 12, 1987 (1987-12-12)	012
While enjoying a trip to the zoo, Monster and the gang encounter a lonely gorilla. Beastur shows up.
13	"The Monster Hunter"	December 19, 1987 (1987-12-19)	013
A Monster Hunter called Rex Stalker appears in search of Monster. Beastur makes one last attempt to drag him back into Monsterland, but chaos soon ensues.

DVD releases

• On October 28, 2008, KaBoom! Entertainment released My Pet Monster- The Complete Series, featuring all 13 episodes, on DVD exclusively in Canada.
• On October 6, 2009, Trinity Home Entertainment released My Pet Monster- The Complete Series on DVD in the USA.
• The live-action film has yet to be released on DVD.

External links

• My Pet Monster at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016.
• My Pet Monster at TV.com
• My Pet Monster (Direct-to-video special) on IMDb
• My Pet Monster (Series) on IMDb