The Adult Animation Scene back in 1998

Adult Swim's Ignignokt 

Ignignokt

I just stumbled across The Mainstream Business of Adult Animation, which is an interesting article by Sean Maclennan Murch about the business of adult animation back in 1998.

In this article Sean Maclennan Murch says that in 1998 broadcasters were looking to replace their children's animated programming blocks with adult animation programming because their children's animation block's couldn't compete with the animation programming provided by specialty youth and children's channels.  

So now it's thirteen years later and I'd have to say that while Sean was right that many networks experimented with adult animation programming, after his article, very few were actually successful in making the jump and many adult animation shows were cancelled.

The most notable exception to this rule is the Adult Swim programming block of the Comedy Network which is still the shining start of Adult Animation programming today.

Anyway, if you're interested in reading what the atmosphere for Adult Animation programming was like 1998 check out Sean Maclennan Murch's article.

Punch TV will be looking for original animation soon

I was browsing Cartoon Brew last night and found out that Punch TV has hired Leo Sullivan to expand their animation programming.

It's exciting when a network decides to expand it's animation programming, but this one is particularly inspiring because they are looking to expand their block for all ages.

Punch TV said in their press release that "a majority of the new animation projects will be geared to children, but with the success of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, Punch TV is also hoping to offer new innovative animated series for adult viewers."

Like I said, pretty exciting. If you've got a gem of a pitch and want further details on Punch Television's animation programming expansion to see if your idea fits, contact Media Director Rachel Ramos at (310) 328-9400 or e-mail her at rramos@punchtv.com.

P.S. Punch TV also has a general pitching section on their website that is for any type of show.

Allen Gregory - First Look Trailer for the New Animated Series

It's here! The first look at Jonah Hill's animated brain child, Allen Gregory.

I'd say they nailed the principal's character, but I'm rather disappointed that Allen is looking to to the same. Could do without seeing those "bits".

The plot conflicts all look pretty minor in the series. The Gregory character doesn't seem invested enough in trying to fit in and I fear that is going to hold back the show. That is... unless they have him become determined to do anything to please the principal. We'll see. Could be interesting. I've always been a fan of Jonah Hill, so I'm going to reserve judgement until it airs.

China, Illonois: Adult Swim's Best Draft Pick

I've taken a look at what's available on the various new shows that Adult swim has given the green light on and I have to say that Brad Neely's show "China, Il" looks like the best original animation of the lot.

Luckily, seeing Brad's previous work on the series is actually easy to do. Check out his website's video page to see all the videos he has posted about the characters from China, Il.  Be warned, his sense of humour is not for the timid, weak of heart, or the easily offended.  The style isn't really animation at all in those videos though... they're based around perfectly timed still plates with the occasional crudely animated section thrown in.  Hopefully, with the Adult Swim deal, Brad will have the budget to add more animation sequences.

I haven't watched all the episodes on Brad's website yet, but a friend directed me to the two funniest videos that I've seen so far. "George Washington" and the "The Professor Brothers - Bible History #1 (Sodom & Gomorrah)".

Bible History


The Professor Brothers - Bible History #1 (Sodom & Gomorrah)

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim announces new & returning shows

The latest shows for Adult Swim's next season have been annouced!

Jay-Z performed at the party but there were no forthcoming details on the original animated show he is rumoured to be developing with Adult Swim.

Two of my personal animation heroes were in attendance at the party. They are of course Seth Green and Matthew Senreich.

Anyway, here are the new shows in the Adult Swim Programming Lineup that I'm interested in checking out:

NTSF:SD:SUV: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle)
A clandestine team of government agents work together to protect San Diego from numerous terrorist threats which come in daily from such evil countries as Mexico, Canada and Guam.

This team of highly trained operatives has only one job: saving your ass so you can drive your Prius and see your movies in 3-D without worrying about living in a country run by no-good terrorists.

As with many other acronym-ed police procedurals that dominate the airwaves, NTSF:SD:SUV’s season of 15-minute episodes is ripped from the headlines and full of suspense, action, drama, cliffhangers, yelling, passionate love-making, more yelling, death and plenty of pregnant pauses. 

NTSF:SD:SUV: is created by Paul Scheer and stars Scheer, Rebecca Romjin, Rob Riggle, Kate Mulgrew, Brandon Johnson, June Diane Raphael, Martin Starr and S.A.M., the first sentient robot on television. Paul Scheer and Jonathan Stern are executive producers. Curtis Gwinn is co-executive producer. Series premieres this summer on Adult Swim.

THE VENTURE BROS. SPECIAL—FROM THE LADLE TO THE GRAVE: THE STORY OF SHALLOW GRAVY
See the Venture Family as you’ve never seen them before: in a 15-minute documentary-style animated special. Follow the meteoric rise, the equally meteoric fall, and the decidedly un-meteor-like second coming of the most important band Hank Venture, Dermott Fitctel and H.E.L.P.eR. robot have ever been in: Shallow Gravy. If you’re hungry for rock, then open wide, because here comes a ladle of heavy metal fire and metaphoric meat drippings.

Launched on Adult Swim in August 2004, The Venture Bros. is an inspired spoof of 1960s action cartoon shows such as Johnny Quest. Created by Jackson Publick III (King of the Hill, The Tick), the 30-minute animated series follows the bizarre misadventures of the Venture family. The Venture Bros. Special—From the Ladle to the Grave: The Story of Shallow Gravy premieres July 24 on Adult Swim.

The Professor Brothers

CHINA, IL

Frank and Steve Smith are brothers who teach in the history department of a state university in China, Illinois. They also happen to be legends in their own minds who will often sacrifice facts, lessons and syllabi for the sake of being awesome. Created by Brad Neely, executive produced by Brad Neely (Creased Comics) and Daniel Weidenfeld and produced by Titmouse, Inc. (Metalocalypse), China, IL premieres this fall on Adult Swim.

TIGHT BROS
Tight Bros is a new animated comedy that follows two moronic “clergybros” who are on a quest for fat beats, hot chicks and tricked out cell phones.

Vince and Aaron were called by God to spread a holy message: one of peace, love and tearin’ up the club. By day the two sell religious kitsch at a kiosk in Viceroy Del Sol mall. By night they hunt for babes, but only with mega tans and super smooth waxes in place.

Premiering in the spring of 2012, Tight Bros is created and written and executive produced by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil.



BLACK DYNAMITE
Based on 2009’s critically-acclaimed feature film, Black Dynamite, the new 30-minute animated series will premiere in the spring of 2012. The Black Dynamite animated series further chronicles the exploits of the central character, Black Dynamite, and his crew. Under the direction of Carl Jones (The Boondocks), the series features the voice talent of Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Kym Whitley and Byron Minns, all of whom starred in the feature film.

The feature film is an outrageous action comedy-spoof that follows ex-CIA agent and full-time ladies man, Black Dynamite, who’s out to avenge the death of his brother against kung-fu masters, drug-dealing pimps and The Man.

Black Dynamite, the animated series, is being produced by Ars Nova Entertainment. Carl Jones is executive producer. Jon Steingart and Jillian Apfelbaum also serve as executive producers. Brian Ash is co-executive producer. Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns are producers. Black Dynamite is being animated by Titmouse, Inc.

Gungrave: Is Addictive

Gungrave's Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell

The story editors for Gungrave manipulated the whole series masterfully from the beginning right to the end.  I'm quite impressed.  For me the most unique part of this series was that the story points weren't driven by revenge - they were driven by forgiveness that resulted in irreparable damage to the merciful.  Idealistic individuals would continually commit to ideals that their humanity and their familial bonds would rarely let them live up to.

Here's a list of betrayed ideals because of family/friendship bonds:

• Cid's son messes up and instead of killing his son, Cid helps him escape and as a result Cid is assassinated by the family to save the Millennien Organization face.

• Bear Walkin is unable to assassinate Cid, who is like a brother to him, so Brandon steps in to save Bear from betraying the family by not carrying out the order.

• When Harry breaks the Millennion's code of iron, by planning to assassinate Big Daddy, Brandon is unable to bring himself to kill Harry, because Harry has been his closest form of family since they met at the orphanage.  As a result Harry, who is afraid of Brandon's code of honour, murders Brandon immediately after.

• Big Daddy betrays what's best for the Millennien Organization, by approving Harry's role as the organization's boss, to protect Maria and her unborn child.  Eventually, Big Daddy's ideals force him to confront Harry and demand that Harry live up to Big Daddy's ideals at which point Harry shoots Big Daddy and puts a hit out on Maria and her unborn child.

• Bear Walkin sides with Harry even though he knows Harry has betrayed the organization, because Harry is married to Bear's daughter, Sherry, and hurting Harry will hurt her.  Bear then finds himself pitted against Brandon to protect Harry and it ends up to be in vain as Sherry is shot during an assassination attempt on Harry.

All of these story points escalate the conflict and bring the story equilibrium further and further out of harmony until the final showdown between Harry and Brandon.

Harry's pattern of forgiveness in the face of betrayals & danger is consistent up until he murders Brandon while they are ascending the elevator.  Before that Harry always acted benevolent in similar situations - consider how Harry dealt with Balladbird Lee who betrayed him to help his brother Cannon Vulcan.  Because Harry's killing of Brandon, his oldest friend, would be so out of character the story editors took great care in crafting  the entire episode to build up to it and make it believable.  That episode alone makes watching the entire series worth watching.

Maybe this is one moral to this story.  No matter how strong an organizations hold is over people, no matter how they attempt to replace your family, real family bonds always take precedence over procedural doctrine.  The only way this does not apply is when a person has no close friends or family.

First Look: Adventure Time and Gungrave

I've taken a look at two more shows this past weekend.  "Adventure Time" and "Gungrave".

Adventure Time is good.  I'm about five episodes in at this point.  It's a madcap rubber hose animation set in a post-apocalyptic world.  The character design is very simple and to give the characters more expression, but only when needed, the animators will add more expressive eyes or additional facial features.  The show doesn't really hold my attention for long enough, but then again I'm not one in favour of madcap comedies with random plots and Deus ex machina thrown in all over the place.

I'm eleven episodes into Gungrave and it's more my style.  You can watch the first four episodes for free at Funimation.com to see if you like it and if you do then I recommend purchasing the series.  It's worth it.  I've added an reasonably priced Amazon link to the left.  It's around $37 for the whole series - crazy amazing deal for the quality of the animation.

Gungrave is focused around death. The plot revolves around death and undeath. It's interesting to see how death is handled in each of the episodes.  For good characters there is usually a fade to another scene and then we hear the gunshot(s). In those instances it's really the musical score that takes centre stage to set the emotion.

At this point, the story isn't particularly unique.  It revolves around a mob family fighting for dominance in an ever complicated world.  The one interesting twist is that the creators have added the undead to the mix with scientific wizardry.  I am, however, hooked into the story by the relationship between the two protagonists who are best friends.  The stage is set for an ultimate showdown between the two and I'm ready to see it unfold.  So even though it's not a unique premise the character development has enfolded in such a way as to totally hook me into watching it right to the end.

In terms of character design the really interesting thing is that Harry, the main character who turns evil, has really large pupils - a trait that is usually reserved for good/cute characters - so I'm intrigued to see if his pupils will grow smaller as his power hungry nature deprives him of his humanity.

P.S. Gungrave was produced by Madhouse Studios, who as far as I can tell, are the current cutting edge creators of Japanese anime.  They produced Redline, which I saw at WFAC last November, and the animation in it blew me away.  It was stunning.  Gunther Heinrich gives a very apt review of the film on his blog.

The story for Redline was admittedly weak, generally that would be the end of me liking any film, but in this case it's almost irrelevant due to the artistry used to execute the film.  The word on the street is that Anchor Bay may be the one to release the Blu-Ray for Redline in Canada and if they do I'm buying it the second it's out. It's gorgeous and I'd probably watch it once a day for a week after I got it.  There were about half a dozen films in the WFAC lineup last year that were each reason enough to attend the festival and Redline was one of those films.

Happy Families: a somewhat original animation coming to British Screens via Channel 4

Well, it looks like the UK is going to take another stab at adult animation after their inability to get Bromwell High off the ground in 2005. The show is called "Happy Families" and is starting out as a six-part animated sit-com by brothers Jack and Harry Williams (writers of Honest, The Amazing Dermot & Roman's Empire).  The series has been commissioned by Channel 4's Comedy Commissioning Editor Nerys Evans.

Writers Jack and Harry said: 'Channel 4 commissioning an animation on this scale shows just how committed they are to bringing something new to the comedy schedules. We're delighted to be working with Shane and Nerys on this fun and ambitious project. They're a rare breed of comedy commissioner - in that they have a sense of humour.'

So... even though they're claiming that they will be bringing something new to the comedy schedule it looks like the only real comment that they're willing to make is that their comedy commissioner (which is a rather odd title for said role) has a sense of humour.  At this point they're not releasing artwork, concept or otherwise, so I've provided my own idea of what the family will look like.  It's based upon the show outline:

"Edgar, a put upon wage slave, works for his self obsessed, borderline-evil Father-In-Law Ken Lavender. Married to houseproud wife Wendy, they are parents to three very different children, freaky weirdo Dusty, amiable idiot Jason and highly strung 'Emo' Eve."

Happy Families - What the characters may look like...

I think I may just be in a harping mood tonight, but the show outline is not a new comedic formula by any stretch of the imagination and nothing of what I've read about the show strikes me as original in any way.  They're going with the proven adult animation five person family formula that started with The Simpson's back in 1989 and has since been successfully copied by shows such as Family Guy and Bob's Burgers.  Rough Draft is the studio set to work on the show and their animation work isn't exactly ground breaking or particularly edgy (that being said "Drawn Together" had it's moments).  Just look at Rough Draft's Studio Reel, which seems more inclined to highlight camera moves than any of the animation the studio has produced.  Alex Scarfe did the artwork for the show, which no one has seen. Channel 4 claim Alex is "very talented", but when I did a (admittedly quick) web search to find some of his previous work I couldn't find anything and, unless he's using an alias because this show is so badass, he's not listed on imdb or wikipedia.  

Ok, so what does all this mean?  I believe it actually means that Channel 4 is being cautiously optimistic about the market for adult animation.  As a result of their trepidation they're producing a show that is by the books (to reduce costs they're not using expensive voice actors, they're hiring a studio that while not creative is reliable, and they're aping a formula that has been successful for decades).  I'm not sure how the show will find a way to be funny with so much trepidation on the part of the producers but here's to financial success for "Happy Families", to their being able to find a way to push the envelop, and finally to the people involved pursuing a more risky endeavour later on. 

Cowboy Bebop: Post-Betrayal Tragicomedy with a Wistful Score

I just finished watching the final episode of Cowboy Bebop. To me it's a post-betrayal tragicomedy, in a semi post-apocalyptic interplanetary world, set to an epically wistful score.  The main Cowboy Bebop characters, who have all had traumatic events happen in their past, struggle to lead their lives with a sense of humour and compassion rarely seen in the adult-skewed animation of the North American continent. 

Here's a brief synopsis of the Cowboy Bebop universe:
The series is set in the year 2071 with humanity settled throughout Earth's Solar System, which has been made accessible through hyperspace gates.  Interplanetary colonization was spurred on by the explosion of an experimental hyperspace gateway in 2022 that severely damaged the Moon and sent moon debris flying down to earth and wiping out most of Earth's population.  Moon debris now orbits around Earth and as the orbits decay meteor bombardments continue to rain down on Earth making it barely habitable.  As a result Mars is now the new central hub of human civilization.  The various pockets of humanity are ruled over by governments, which are often controlled by powerful interplanetary crime syndicates.  There is an Inter-Solar System Police force (ISSP), but due to the power of the syndicates ISSP effectiveness is limited and criminals are often dealt with by a bounty hunters, often referred to as cowboys, who deliver their catches to police stations for the posted reward. 

Main Characters on Cowboy Bebop:
Jet - Previously part of a crime syndicate was betrayed by his partner.
Spike - Previously part of ISSP was betrayed by his partner.
Faye - Am average person who was cryogenically frozen after an accident was betrayed by her doctor. Edward - A talented child cyber hacker was forgotten/deserted at a daycare by her father.
Ein - A brilliant dog, who may be able to talk to Edward, was tested on by doctors as a lab animal.

The main characters (aside from Edward) are decidedly grown-up in their interactions with people outside their inner circle, although they often act childish with their shipmates.  They also all have hope.  Hope that one day they will find someone they can believe in, trust.  Someone to protect them - someone that won't abandon them.

I'll write more as my thoughts coalesce about this engaging series.

When do audiences approve of graphic depictions of animated violence?

The ethics of depicting violence in film and animation has always fascinated me.  Do audiences ever approve the kill off of characters?  Even if audiences will approve the death of a character - should you do it?  Does the manner of death matter?  

The answer to the latter is yes, it matters, and there are specific ways to go about ending characters lives and each method will evoke particular emotions from your viewers.  Once you learn these you'll be able to determine which method you use.

For this example, let's say you feel your story won't be complete without a scene depicting a graphically violence act, but you want to make sure that the majority of your audience won't be too offended by it.  Well, that requires very special characters.  To use extreme examples, lets look at two shows that have actually based their franchises on depicting character types that generally receive audience approval for being killed off.  These shows are Superjail and Happy Tree Friends.

We're going to start with Superjail. Even though the violence depicted is extreme and unconventional the creators have followed a very conventional narrative tactic to justify the violence to the audience.  The majority of the characters killed are all inmates, and thus criminals, and so we as a society tacitly approve their deaths.  You can see this narrative tactic used all the time, especially by Disney.  When "evil" characters die it's a "good" thing.  Disney's version is like lethal injection while Superjail's version is like nothing I've ever seen before.  The key to having the audiences approve these deaths is by doing little to no character building aside from assigning the role of inmate - otherwise you'll end up eliciting reactions similar to the ones caused by the electrocution scene from The Green Mile. 

Side Note: The Green Mile is actually the perfect example of a writer, Stephen King, turning this conventional 'it's okay to kill inmates because they're criminals' narrative on it's head.  If you haven't seen the Green Mile yet, you should, it's a fantastic film.  I cried at the end.

Now let's move on to Happy Tree Friends where the creators have made the sweetest characters known to man and then had them die the most horrible deaths imaginable.  This of course taps into our inner dark side.  We've all been in situations where someone is just far too cheerful when we're having a gloomy day and it would likely raise our spirits if we fantasized about them falling down a well. Happy Tree friends is the creative expression of just such a feeling - and in their case the well would include spikes, a motion activated flamethrower, and a portal to the sun's surface.

Ok, so those are two ways to get tacit audience approval for graphic displays of violence in your animations.  Depict it happening to either the happiest or the worst members of a society.  Going after the average character always seems to hit a little too close to home for most viewers, but sometimes you can get away with it by spending a little time enhancing their happiness/evil characteristics during the episode that things go horrible awry for them.

Interview Review: The Gospel According to The Simpsons

Ok, by now I'm sure you've noticed the current unofficial theme to the blog: Religion, Sex, and Race in adult animation. Yesterday, while I was washing the dishes and listening to CBC radio, Tapestry had an interview with Mark Pinsky about his book "The Gospel According to The Simpsons". Due to my current theme, this topic immediately caught my attention and I jotted down little notes in-between washing the plates and silverware.

These are my notes from the interview with Mr. Pinsky. I haven't fact checked all the references he made or read the book myself, but everything sounded fairly credible from what I know about the material.


Statements made by Mark Pinsky during the interview and my shoddy notes on it. 
Click here to listen to the Mary Hynes interview with Mark Pinsky for free on the CBC website 

In animation, as opposed to live action, depictions of Jesus and/or God are accepted as depictions or commentary. This gives animation the ability to critique and comment on various aspects of religion in ways that live action depictions can't because, for whatever reason, people become offended by them.

The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy all have different approaches to their commentary/inclusion of religion. Both The Simpsons and South Park portray religions/Gods as existing whereas Family Guy generally mock the existence of God(s) and pokes fun at anyone that has faith.

For example, when Homer is having a discussion with God the conversation is ended with God having to leave to appear in a tortilla in Mexico. The interesting part about this is that in this episode God is actually appearing in the tortilla. This event confirms that the shows writers are not only affirming the existence of God they are also affirming that God does indeed manifest in various objects.

If a similar plot line was happening in Family Guy God may be shown to exist, but he would likely have to go deal with some lunatic who believed that Gos was in a tortilla.  So, God may be affirmed as existing, but believers would likely be shown to be rather silly.

Simpsons was the first sit-com to portray a realistic view of an average North American family that attends church. Previous to this religion was suggested, but never discussed or depicted in any critical way and attempts to portray religion appeared preachy. The Simpsons portrayal allowed other TV shows the freedom to begin to reference religion as well.

Pinsky also believes that The Simpsons is unique in it's ability to comment on religion because it's writers so obviously have a deep understanding of religion and their commentary comes across as 'insider' views as opposed to snarky attack humour.

When God is depicted in The Simpsons he has five fingers and toes suggesting that he is more 'real' than the other characters that have four fingers and toes.

The Simpsons was also one of the first North American shows to depict main characters that practice religions other than Christianity. Lisa, while being a skeptic, is a secular budhhist;, Apu is Hindu; Krusty is Jewish.


End of statements made by Mark Pinsky during the interview and my shoddy notes on said interview. 



During the interview Pinsky also referenced one of my own favourite quotes from The Simpsons so I thought I'd share it with you:

Marge: I can’t believe you’re giving up church, Homer.

Homer: Hey, what’s the big deal about going to some building every Sunday? I mean, isn’t God everywhere? And don’t you think that the Almighty has better things to worry about than where one little guy spends one measly hour of his week? And what if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we’re just making God madder and madder.

Bart: Testify!

Marge: [Groans]

On the surface it looks like this is the everyman protesting religion, but if you dig a little deeper you notice that he's using layman's terms to express this message from Corinthians:

Corinthians 15:12–18 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

So basically Homer is using the argument that if you're misrepresenting God by having faith in something that is incorrect it is more damning than having no faith at all. What a wonderful hymnal for religious apathy.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass on my notes on this interview with Mark Pinsky about "The Gospel According to The Simpsons" since it was rather intriguing.