The Cool Adventures of Chocodile (Johnsonverse)

The Cool Adventures of Chocodile is an American live-action television series that aired on JTV from September 29, 1984 to April 25, 1987. The series, based on the Chocodile series, focuses on the exploits of Chocodile, and his "friends" Vanillagator and Caracaimin. It was created by Daniel J. Stacker.

History
In 1981, Stacker and Associates bought Johnson Industries. Phil Stacker's son Daniel sought to create a "more timeless" take on the Chocodile franchise, and his father greenlit the series in late 1982, the series beginning with 1983's Chocodile's Cool Movie. Daniel had no input on the series, however, and the writing staff took advantage of this by making Chocodile a deadpan snarker with a chip in his shoulder.

Theme song
Its theme song was a synthesized cover of the Chocodile theme, with lyrics describing the show's "coolness" and full of '80s slang, and contained dialogue parts from Chocodile, Vanillagator, and Caracaimin saying their names in a "roll call" as they come out of the Chocodile Clubhouse (while Vanillagator and Caracaimin carry a lot of energy, Chocodile is incredibly slovenly and yells at an off-camera technician to stop the music, but his cries go unheard). They all throw confetti (again, Chocodile does it in the most half-hearted way possible and dumps his confetti on the ground), forming the show's logo. Vanillagator and Caracaimin say "So bad!" simultaneously, appropriately summing the series up, and Chocodile proceeds to tell viewers "Remember, viewers, it's never too late to touch the dial" (the message varies between episodes, but the general concept remains the same, much like the couch gags on The Simpsons and The Powerpuff Girls ' "the day is saved" ending gag).

Lyrics
''Hey, you guys It's time to say hello To our radical pals That we all know Chocodule (spoken): Chocodile! Vanillagator (spoken): Vanilagator! Caracaimin (spoken): Caracaimin! I am totally sure''

Characters

 * Chocodile (voiced by Mel Blanc) is the leader of the Chocodile Gang; he just barely tolerates Vanillagator and Caracaimin's presence, and is always trying to get them killed so he can go back to being a solo act, yet they always survive either through dumb luck or some other unforeseen circumstances. Even if he can't get his "friends" killed, he always gets back at everyone else in what he views as "a world gone dumb". He appears at the end of each episode watching his old animated shorts from the 1930s to the 1960s, wistfully remembering the good old days before his corporate overlords forced sidekicks on him.
 * Vanillagator (voiced by Don Messick) is Chocodile's so-called "best friend". He is, by all accounts, an idiot who is incredibly gullible and easily fooled. The only reason he survives Chocodile's attempts to kill him and Caracaimin is stupid luck or other factors acting against Chocodile.
 * Caracaimin (voiced by Tony Pope) is Chocodile's other "friend". He's every bit as stupid as Vanillagator, to the point the two are basically interchangeable. Like Vanillagator, he survives Chocodile's plans by dumb luck or other outside factors.
 * Larry (voiced by Mel Blanc) is Chocodile's rival. He still runs numerous scams that Chocodile happens upon, only he actually succeeds more often because Vanillagator and Caracaimin are too stupid to understand when they're being had. Chocodile usually lets Larry finish duping them, then wallops him like usual.
 * Cherridile (voiced by June Foray) is Chocodile's girlfriend. Like Chocodile, she barely tolerates Vanillagator and Caracaimin's presence, and often helps him find new ways to be rid of them.
 * Solomon (played by Larry Storch) is Chocodile's nemesis. Ever since the crocodile skin trade fell under government oversight, Solomon has been finding it harder and harder to turn a profit, forcing him to turn to other means. Oftentimes, he teams up with Chocodile to take out Vanillagator and Caracaimin, as even he wouldn't wish such torture on his nemesis.
 * Phil Sourfox (voiced by Avery Schreiber) was a recurring antagonist in the first two seasons. It is rumored that he's modeled after Stacker himself; the villain made no appearances in the third season after Stacker ordered the character to be written out due to an episode mocking JTV's decline at the time in a banned episode.

Reception
Upon release, the series was decried by critics. The New York Times called it "a perversion of the beloved franchise", while Forbes called it "Johnson's biggest blunder yet". Future Johnson CEO Sheldon Johnson, Jr. has gone on record as calling the series "misbegotten" and compared Vanillagator and Caracaimin to Scrappy-Doo, a character from the Scooby-Doo franchise that was also hated by many. Blanc, Messick, and Pope also disowned the series as well. The book ''What Were They Thinking?! The 100 Dumbest Moments in Television History'' placed it at #29, and it has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%. It is considered one of the worst TV series of all time, and is considered the nadir of the Phil Stacker era of Johnson Industries.

It is rumored that the series was so bad, that after Stacker's resignation, Johnson burned all master copies of the series; this was denied when Johnson released the below-mentioned Save Your Money box set. It was never rerun after its cancellation, and all writing credits were suppressed. Phil Stacker and Daniel J. Stacker have gone on record as denying the series' existence.

Controversy
When the character designs were announced, they were mocked as uncanny valley-type, namely the characters' realistic designs and reflective black eyes, a stark contrast to Chocodile's classic design.

Home video
All 65 episodes of the series were released on video in various compilations after the series ended, though they were only sold in bargain bins due to the unpopular nature of the show. After the Johnson family retook control of the company, all unsold stock was destroyed. On April 1, 2014, without any advertisement, a DVD box set containing all 65 episodes was released, entitled Save Your Money: The Worst TV Series Ever Made, featuring Chocodile and current Johnson CEO Tim Johnson dressed in fedoras and trench coats stealing VHS tapes of the series and putting them in a box labeled "Tapes to Burn", also containing bonus features like commercials, interviews with cast and crew, Tim introducing each episode, etc. The Blu-Ray set, released on the same day, has more bonus features and Easter eggs, along with Chocodile's Cool Movie. Both sets were sold exclusively in Blockbuster locations.