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Let’s talk a little bit about Floyd Norman. Well, technically, we’ll be talking a lot about him today since this is a review of his book, but I’ll briefly introduce him to the unfamiliar. Basically, this 86-year-old animation veteran is an underrated legend, a Disney Legend to be precise (though he’s worked for several other studios as well). In 1956, Floyd, already an admirer of their films, was brought into the Walt Disney Studios during his late youth, back when Black animators in the industry were scarce at best. During those early years of his career, he would graduate from inbetweening projects like Sleeping Beauty and The Mickey Mouse Club, to playing a vital role in crafting The Jungle Book‘s story, all while being mentored by “Uncle Walt” himself and his top animators collectively known as “the Nine Old Men”. Overall, Floyd’s resume consists of a mix of him storyboarding and assisting animation on Disney films (both from the main Feature Animation studio and Pixar), laying out dozens of ’70s and ’80s Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and even running his own studio with business partner Leo Sullivan called Vignette Films, where they did those “rocket launch countdown” sketches in Sesame Street‘s first season, short films celebrating Black history, and the pilot to Fat Albert. Seriously, this man’s career is one worth going on about.
Ever since I watched the documentary film Floyd Norman: An Animated Life in 2016, I’ve look up to Mr. Norman as if he were my unofficial mentor. As an up-and-coming Black animator myself, I not only appreciate Floyd’s accomplishments once his career was at full swing, but I also emphasized with both his fascination with learning how the pros work their magic, and his relationship with trial & error. With that said, it really helps that he is an awesome storyteller who shares insightful article after insightful article through his lenses as someone who worked alongside Walt Disney himself. He is this likable mix between someone who never wants to stop learning, and your typical “back in my day” senior citizen. Not many animation people from those Golden years live up to this current era we’re in, so we should be grateful for Floyd’s presence however longer it lasts.
In addition to telling these amusing studio stories through interviews or blog posts, Floyd is gifted with the ability to satirize the animation industry through gag cartoons, making him one of the few notable editorial cartoonists whose specialty is riffing on the relatively unsung politics that goes on behind the toons. The book that I’m reviewing today, Son of Faster Cheaper, is one of a few collections of such cartoons that Floyd doodled based on his observations of his workplaces like Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and Pixar. To be more precise, it is a sequel to, as you might have guessed, Floyd’s first compilation entitled Faster! Cheaper!: The Flip Side to the Art of Animation (1992). At the very beginning of Son of Faster Cheaper, Floyd recalls its predecessor being a “publishing experiment”. While I’ve yet to get a copy of Faster! Cheaper! (thankfully, it’s back in print again since October 2020), I do believe that experimentation really paid off. Also in that same opening page, he briefly brings up a fire that happened in an unidentified (in this book at least) LA animation studio, quotes an investigator asking, “Who would burn down a cartoon studio?”, and then quotes an artist responding with, “Apparently, you’ve never worked in one.” As hyperbolic as it may seem to compare a hazardous fire to beefs between animators, that opening paragraph was a good way of preparing us readers for the creative team craziness Floyd’s got to share.
The gag cartoons are organized into seven chapters. The first one, “Working for Walt”, is self-explanatory, as it illustrates Floyd’s partnership with “the Old Maestro” from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. The cartoons typically caricature Walt as a vexed, hunchbacked curmudgeon who somewhat intimidates his team of animators and artists. Even his harsh cough was jokingly referred to as a sign that “man is in the forest.”
Chapter Two, “The World of Bill and Joe”, focuses on poking fun at (you guessed it) Hanna-Barbera and their cheap business practices during those bleak times in American TV animation in the ’70s. One highlighting gag involved a smirking “Taskmaster Bill” Hanna reading a newspaper announcing the Year of the Rat, telling “Hollywood Joe” Barbera, “Hey Joe! We oughta do well this year!”
In the next chapter, “The New Disney”, Floyd illustrates the atmosphere that the Walt Disney Company was inhaling upon his return during the ’80s (in other words, the Eisner/Katzenberg/Wells era starting in 1984). The relationship between executives Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, and their tendency to make money out of anything with the Disney brand on it (even literal dirt as depicted in one gag) were just wonderfully lampooned.
Chapter Four, “The Story Artist”, is also self-explanatory, as Mr. Norman shows us how truly “crazy” and “thankless” the position of a storyboard artist could be. At Disney, in Floyd’s point of view at least, storyboarders are treated as scapegoats if the movie they worked on bombed, tediously spend up to four days going over a few panels, and tend to get attacked by the director for failing to please him. In fact, quite a few of these gags remind me of the scene in “Stimpy’s Cartoon Show” from Ren & Stimpy in which Ren (portrayed as a caricature of his own problematic creator) dramatically tears down Stimpy’s storyboards due to not meeting his satisfaction.
In Chapter Five, “Animation Boom”, we get a clever portrayal of how much of an “Animation Bizarro World” Walt Disney Feature Animation was during the Renaissance era’s second half following The Lion King‘s surprise success. At this point in his career, Floyd returned to Disney once again in the ’90s as a story artist on films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (on which he got his first on-screen credit in a Disney production…took them long enough), Mulan, Sweating Bullets (a.k.a. Home on the Range), and the eventually scrapped Wild Life (which, from what I heard, would have been pretty risque on the levels of Shrek). Gag cartoons that highlight the chapter include…well, ALL five that satirize Hunchback, but especially the one where the three main characters are dancing idyllically, lampooning Disney SOMEHOW making a kid-friendly(-ish) adaptation of Victor Hugo’s grim novel.
Contrary to its title, the sixth chapter, “What I Really Want To Do Is, Direct”, sums itself up by saying, “Anyone who wants to direct, probably shouldn’t.” As you might have guessed, Floyd’s cartoons in this chapter illustrate the stressful nature of directing. Constant story revisions, listening to the dreaded “I want” song, and getting yourself “re-pinned” (literally) are among these challenges.
Finally, we’ve reached Chapter Seven, “To Insanity…And Beyond!”, in which the Disney animation work environment since the 21st century is covered. As the title implies, Pixar, where Floyd contributed to Monsters Inc. and the nightmarish production of Toy Story 2 (amazing how THAT film still managed to turn out great), plays a major part here. Computers are in, and pencils are out, to the point where you might be caught dead if you’re drawing with one. Beefs between Michael Eisner and Pixar founding fathers John Lasseter and Steve Jobs were apparently common, particularly around the time of Disney agreeing to purchase the CGI studio in order to continue collaborations. Right off the bat, my favorites in this chapter include one cartoon where a Pixar employee alerts his disgruntled fellow artists to “start having fun” for the cloying news reporters who barely know the true temperature inside an animation studio, another where a man shows a woman a framed piece of “original Disney digital art” (literally a computer code!), and yet another where Floyd himself is depicted as a Survivor contestant being “voted off” the Disney Feature Animation “island”.
Throughout these seven chapters, Mr. Norman mostly presents his editorial cartoons as loose, rough, black-and-white sketches, although a few did seem to be originally full-colored. Since these were drawn within multiple decades, the quality control of his cartoons varies, whether they’re drawn with pencil or ink. The caricatures could range from single-pass scribbles that still form the recognizable shapes of a human, to much cleaner sketches with a more clear (but still stylized) depiction of what it’s aiming to visualize. I assume the reasoning behind the sketchiness of Floyd’s cartoons being rather inconsistent is due to either dependence on the amount of spare time available for him to doodle each of them, or simply his skills going through metamorphosis. Either way, this, along with a couple of typos like misnaming “the 1990s” as the “the 1900s” on one page, is just nitpicking. The one-liners and cynical remarks written are the shiniest stars of these gag cartoons, while Floyd’s cartooning style holds its own set of lively charm to sprinkle on said jokes.
To sum everything up, Son of Faster Cheaper is a very amusing satire collection to come from the self-described “Mr. Fun”. Even if you haven’t worked professionally in the animation industry yet, you could be at least someone who loves to research juicy behind-the-scenes trivia, thus still finding enjoyment in this book. I look forward to expanding my library with more Floyd Norman titles, including the original Faster! Cheaper!, Animated Life, and How the Grinch Stole Disney. Once again, we should be all blessed that such a terrific, young-at-heart animation veteran has been sticking around the planet for this long to provide witty commentary in the form of doodles.
If you’d like to keep up with Mr. Norman, follow not just his own social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram) but also the social media pages for the team behind Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook). Also, if you’d like to see AND hear Floyd illustrate his stories about working at Disney, check out his Vimeo page (the “Walt’s Bran Muffins” video is particularly intriguing).
Time to rant about a factual error that (almost) unironically pissed me off so much that a simple Twitter thread isn’t enough to unleash my butthurt nerdiness regarding today’s subject!
Recently on Netflix, I watched episode one of the two-part (at least so far) docuseries The Holiday Movies That Made Us, which was a spin-off of The Movies That Made Us, which itself is a sister series to The Toys That Made Us. Like its relatives, The Holiday Movies That Made Us is comfort food for pop culture nerds alike, whether you’re already a hardcore fan of the episode’s subject or not. The inaugural episode told the awesome story of how the 2003 classic Elf was born. There was so much interesting trivia I learned about for the first time, like how lawyers swarmed around the filmmakers due to them taking a little too much influence from Rankin/Bass’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or how Wanda Sykes was going to be casted as the Gimbels manager, explaining why Faizon Love mistakenly had “Wanda” on his name tag (hilariously, both actors later appeared in the sitcom Black-ish). But perhaps the most shocking secret behind Elf was that part of the movie was filmed in an abandoned Vancouver mental hospital! I’m not joking. But overall, the Elf episode was a really good watch. As I expected, The Holiday Movies That Made Us got me hooked. Thus, I was excited to move on to the episode about The Nightmare Before Christmas, despite not watching that film in its entirety as of yet (I have faith that it’ll be good, though).
Then…THIS:
And if that wasn’t bad enough, they said it a second time, like 20SECONDSLATER:
Okay…what in the name of Will Vinton is this bullcrap?! “That doesn’t sound right. That doesn’t sound right!” I said to myself as I heard the narrator spread this gross misconception. Now, I’m sure the people behind the That Made Us universe of docuseries generally deserve a lot of credit for putting together such amusing, high-quality, and (presumably) well-researched content. But claiming that The Nightmare Before Christmas is “the world’s very first stop-motion feature-length movie”? Are you serious?! Come on, you guys aren’t some casual-at-best animation fans who probably think Steamboat Willie was the first thing Disney ever made, if not the first animated short EVER. You are a team of professionals with budgets and resources! Where were your proofreaders before you got this approved? Just why? How?
Of all my years coming across common animation misconceptions, from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is ‘the world’s first animated feature film'”, to “ReBoot is the’ world’s first all-CGI TV series'” (that title actually goes to the obscure French series Insektors; watch The Wacky Delhi’s video on this debate), this is probably the first time I ever heard such a lie about The Nightmare Before Christmas. In fact, I’d argue that it’s even more infuriating than the Snow White factoid. At least with the false claim about Snow White coming first, the rather mundane specifications of it being the first American animated feature, as well as being the first cel-animated one, are quite easy to glance over. Although, one shouldn’t be naïve to think the USA was the first or only region to experiment with the medium in those early times. On the other hand, there is absolutely NO excuse to casually say, “Nightmare B4 Xmas iz 1st stop motion movie eva in wurld!”. Hell, it wasn’t even the first American stop-motion film (that title belongs to a 1954 adaptation of Hansel and Gretel released by RKO), so I can’t call the aforementioned myth a sign of some USA superiority complex.
I know Wikipedia isn’t always a reliable source, but take a scroll down their list of stop-motion films made all around the globe, and you’ll find out that Nightmare is estimated to be the world’s93rd. And yes, even TV specials that are forty-something minutes or longer, such as Rudolph (ironically one of Tim Burton’s influences for Nightmare) and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, can apparently qualify as “movies” based on their duration. Oh yeah, and you’ll also see a number of cutout-animated films on the list, because, as a friendly reminder, stop-motion isn’t limited to 3D objects like puppet figures. So, you want to know what the actual first stop-motion movie in the world is? Why, it’s our old lost friend from Argentina, El Apostol (1917), the world’s actual first full-length animated feature, PERIOD! The first ones to use puppets like The Nightmare Before Christmas were the 1933 Soviet film The New Gulliver (which was partly live-action as well), and the 1937 French film The Tale of the Fox (released just eight months before Snow White). As for American stop-motion features predating Nightmare by a decade or more, there are some titles that shouldn’t be too obscure for animation buffs, including Rankin/Bass’s 1967 Halloween flick Mad Monster Party? (which I constantly forget to check out every October), and Will Vinton’s 1986 classic The Adventures of Mark Twain (which you should at least be aware of for THIS frequent candidate for Most Disturbing Moment in a Kids Movie). Again, what excuse did the people behind The Holiday Movies That Made Us have to claim Nightmare was the first?!
Admittedly, after hearing the narrator spit that lie out of her mouth, I actually switched the episode off, and watched Jeopardy! instead. At the time of writing this post, I haven’t returned to Holiday Movies‘ second episode (aside from taking the screenshots above) to watch it fully. Thus, I’ve yet to know if they even corrected themselves after the intro. If they did, good on them! I’ll update this post once I DO decide to watch the whole thing. If they didn’t…DAMN IT!
While I’m not immune to making the occasional one myself, factual errors are something I take pretty seriously, especially if they’re being spouted out by people who should know better and could DO better. Claiming that The Nightmare Before Christmas was “the world’s very first stop-motion feature-length movie,” is enough to make animation historians like Jerry Beck and Thad Komorowski cringe, and late stop-motion leaders like Will Vinton roll in their graves. Not that they necessarily dislike Nightmare themselves, of course. There might have been even more mistakes like this that the people behind The Holiday Movies That Made Us, and its sister series, had made, but I simply forgot about or never noticed them. Either way, the Nightmare one sticks out like a sore thumb, more so than the more forgivable mistake of crediting Tim Burton as the film’s director (sure, he created the concept, but the film itself was directed by Henry Selick). The many stop-motion movies that preceded Nightmare Before Christmas may be obscure by comparison, but as a historian, it’s kinda part of your job to unearth such obscurity. No popularity bias should be necessary. End of story.
Well, safe & happy holidays, everyone! Here’s a GIF from the NFB short Christmas Cracker to lighten up the mood:
I love posters like these that summarize the product with such an eye-catching execution while getting in all the important characters.
Ah yes! Another major animation anniversary that I was waiting all 2017 for (second to Cartoon Network’s very underwhelming 25th birthday)! 80 years ago, 20 years away from an entire CENTURY, Walt Disney unleased his terrific way of saying, “Ha! I told you pretentious naysayers I could make an hour-and-a-half-long cartoon picture! It’s a ‘folly’ no more! I’M KING OF THE CARTOON BIZ!! Well, I technically already was king of animation thanks to the mouse, but NOW I’M SUPER KING!! CHOKE ON THAT, YA JERKS!! Now excuse me as I try to figure out how to make this bratty wooden puppet as likable as that bug who crawls around him.”
That’s right! The one that started it all (for the Disney Animated Canon at least), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs! A perfect way introducing of the stereotypical Disney movie formula. The climax of Walt and his brilliant crew making a name out of themselves in the 1930s animation industry. Whether you find it a purely fun experience (‘specially on an artistic standpoint), or a dull, obnoxious sack of sugar that’s nothing more than an extended Silly Symphony due to its lack of a complex story, this film was nonetheless highly important to keeping the Disney name alive. As someone who considers this my favorite of the “Golden Age” Disney animated movies (consisting of Walt’s first five features), I could see how folks of 1937 and 1938 were left amazed by these 83 minutes of hard work. The titular dwarfs were all adorable, the Queen/Witch was…well…WICKED, the Magic Mirror was quick to pointing out that the Queen was holding a pig’s heart instead of Snow White’s, the Huntsman was a charming sissy, and just all the lively animation, beautiful artwork, and striking emotions it displayed. Overall, you couldn’t ask for a better graduation from the experimental school of Silly Symphonies.
Speaking of graduation, for the rest of this paragraph, I’m going to metaphorically describe how Snow White turned out to be a landmark in Disney’s history, by taking inspiration from the speech Ginger gave at the end of the amazing As Told by Ginger TV movie “Butterflies Are Free”. Laugh-O-Grams and Alice Comedies were the little eggs that Walt laid using his pen. Eventually, these eggs were able to hatch out two caterpillars, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (before he fell under the torturous hands of some jerk named Charles Mintz) and that delightful rodent, Mickey Mouse. Then, Mickey split into a bunch of smaller caterpillars with big plans on their minds, otherwise known as Silly Symphonies. Out of these shorts came the cocoons, a.k.a. key elements such as individual characterization, three-strip Technicolor, and nailing the multiplane camera. Finally, a flock of big, beautiful butterflies burst out of those cocoons bringing smiles to millions of theatre goers with how grand it was! And that flock of butterflies spawned other flocks for the next 80 years!
And that’s what should be respected the most about Snow White. Not the absolutely obnoxious misconception about it being “the first feature-length animated film ever” (more on that later), but how it is a great story in animation history on how Walt’s ambitious goal of creating a moving piece of art that rivals any of Mickey’s best shorts came to fruition despite skeptics in and out of Disney Studios. More than five decades later, this type of story was repeated when John Lasseter, an animator fired from Disney after pitching an all-CGI film, wanted to make an all-CGI film about toys, eventually resulting into a movie that may be even more revolutionary than Snow White, the masterpiece known as Toy Story!
Alright, now as much as I enjoy Snow White, both as its own thing and as a cherished piece of film history, I would like to politely get this little problem regarding this film of my way…
WILL YOU PEOPLE STOP CLAIMING THAT SNOW WHITE IS THE WORLD’S FIRST FEATURE-LENGTH ANIMATED MOVIE EVER MADE?!?
Hon! Est! Ly!
Look, I know that 1917’s Argentine El Apostol has been lost for DECADES (possibly forever, I’m afraid), and that the oldest-surviving animated feature, Germany’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) is just plain obscure (even if it apparently made a huge impact on Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar), but you shouldn’t have to be a professional animation buff like Jerry Beck in order to believe that there were at least EIGHT animated features from various foreign countries made within TWO DECADES before Snow White. Ah-ah-ah! I see you reaching for the keyboard in order to type, “uh, but is it at least the first animated movie with sound and color?”! Wrong, and double wrong! 1931’s Peludopolis, another Argentine movie, had a synchronized soundtrack provided by Vitaphone, and Prince Achmed had its film soaked in blue dye.
“Okay, well isn’t at the VERY least the first animated feature from Disney specifically?” you might ask. Well, to be honest, that’s where things get tricky. From what I discovered this year (or maybe last year), there was a 41-minute…thing, titled Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons, a compilation of Oscar-winning Silly Symphonies (with no bridging segments as far as I can tell) produced to promote Snow White seven months before its premiere. But considering its short length, it isn’t considered a true feature film by institutes like AFI (yet the one-minute-longer Saludos Amigos is). Heck, not even the official Disney encyclopedia by Dave Smith included it as an entry! So…in other words, if you want to believe Snow White was Disney’s first movie, that’s perfectly fine. I’m certainly with you on that. But still, remember that other thing exists, too? (tilts head like Dr. Hutchinson from Rocko’s Modern Life) ‘Kay?
So, Disney is a phenomenal provider of animation, there’s no doubt about that. But occasionally, I can’t help but interpret them as the one kid in class who gets all the credit for a big school project that others had worked on, too. Walt himself gets too much credit as well; technically speaking, he wasn’t even that much of a legit animator than he was a film producer. By the time he hired people like Ub Iwerks and Friz Freleng in the mid-20s, Walt gave up on hand-animating his own shorts. Also, he never directed any of his animated features, especially not after he failed to direct one Silly Symphony titled The Golden Touch, which apparently turned out to be a disaster. I’ve seen the short two years ago, but it wasn’t that bad.
In short, when it comes to making the products that he had the most success with during his lifetime, Walt barely did jack crap. Almost all of the credit belong to the many hard-working artists who worked at Disney during the Golden and Silver Ages, including Ub, the Nine Old Men, Joe Grant, Bill Tytla, Grim Gatwick, Art Babbitt, and my man, Floyd Norman.
Misconceptions aside, Snow White, and Disney feature animation in general, turning 80 truly is an important animation milestone to acknowledge this year. And what more can I say about Disney’s significance in keeping animation alive? They may not have always been first, but if there is one thing they DO deserve credit for, it’s perfection! Perfection of the slightly overlooked medium of animation! And that’s why, eight months before this anniversary, I put a lot of heart and soul into this massive beauty of a collage:
Can you name all of the characters I included!
Originally, I wanted screenshots of each film to make up the collage, before deciding that digitally-painting the characters on FireAlpaca in a style reminiscent of the Disney Golden Books was a much more special execution. Outside of the big #80, we got the birthday girl, Snow White herself, centered in between the ‘8’ and ‘0’. I would bad if Mickey was excluded, so there he is in his famous apprentice outfit on the bottom left corner. Besides, he does appear at the beginning of several VHS tapes of Disney movies, right? Tinker Bell was also a mandatory inclusion to the picture, since she’s the company’s second mascot after Mickey. Finally, I’ll address the inclusions of the Reluctant Dragon, a Mary Poppins penguin, Roger Rabbit, Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the one and only Buzz Lightyear. They’re honorable mentions, essentially. Walt Disney Animation Studios did take part in development and/or production of those films, whether they’d be fully animating the characters of Roger and co., or collaborating a little bit with Pixar in conceiving Toy Story. And like I said earlier, the story of Toy Story is quite reminiscent of that of Snow White.
Oh, and I managed to blend the man himself into the starry sky, and have the iconic 1985-2006 castle on the bottom right! All of this make up a magic tribute!
Well, that does it for 2017, everyone! It’s been a crazy year for me, in terms of my art improving and becoming semi-popular on Twitter. Here’s an artistic lookback on my year:
Oh, 2016! Sweet 2016! What an interesting, yet stressful year you have been! The amount of videos I’ve made this year may have turned out to be minuscule compared to the previous two years (and I sincerely apologize for that), but that doesn’t mean my time on this insane cyber world was small as well. Speaking of my YouTube channel, I am happy that I (or at least Classic Logo Remake Party 2!) managed to give it over 100 subscribers.
Now, let’s cut to the chase, everyone. Out of all the videos I’ve made this year, the two for the Nicktoons’ 25th anniversary are among my proudest achievements in video editing:
In fact, the whole #NickAnimation25 thing as a whole was a focal point for me this year, for reasons that are explained in an earlier Cartoony and Muppet-y Library post. So much of my energy was spent on honoring these magnificent works of animation, and it paid off. I even got the attention of Nickelodeon Animation Studio themselves, particularly when they acceptedmy Loud House fan art for their “Fanart Wall”, and when Butch Hartman thought my kaleidoscope drawing of Veronica from Fairly OddParents was amazing. These were such magical moments for me. Nick has truly been awesome in 2016, both with themselves, and with their fans. From the conventions and exhibits held to celebrate 25 years of animation, to the premiere of The Loud House (the most loved Nicktoon since TMNT), to revealing more info on Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, to giving underrated gems like Ginger and even KaBlam! some limelight, 2016 is arguably the best year for Nickelodeon of this decade. However, there are flaws as well. Despite its 15th anniversary celebration (which I took part in) being incredible, The Fairly OddParents entered its absolute worst with its tenth season, due to a little, unnecessary girl named Chloe. Also, we lost at least three major actors from Rugrats, who all happened to play members of Stu’s side of the family: Joe Alaskey (second voice of Grandpa Lou), Jack Riley (voice of Stu himself), and more recently, Debbie Reynolds (voice of Grandma Lulu). I hope Michael Bell (Drew) won’t leave as well. 😦
Oh, and The Splat wasn’t able to air Pelswick, but who really cares?
All in all, 2016 was the year of the Nicktoons! Let’s hope Cartoon Network has an excellent 25th anniversary as well in 2017…including getting a history book published! Pretty please?
Back onto what I’ve done this year, another favorite project I’ve worked on involved the animals of Alaska.
From then on, the infantile MS Paint was completely dropped in favor of fancy-schmancy Sumo Paint, which produced a vast majority of my best artwork of 2016. Although, Pixlr Editor is great as well. Before I took advantage of Sumo, I tested out making a brief animated cartoon on Pixlr for my other favorite project, honoring Canadian civil rights activists.
By the way, there’s grammatical error in the titling on my part. The seventh entry clearly had four women, so the video should have been named 12 Triumphant Canadian Civil Rights Activists.
There was only one YouTube Poop this year; fortunately, with all the good jokes it has loaded, it’s worth the quantity…I guess.
Finally, we get to what was personally my biggest obstacle to complete: THE MAGIC MUFFIN!
The less said about all the personal struggles I went through to get this so-called “magnum opus” off my agenda, the better. Regardless, working on the artwork for Bearnard’s OddParents-inspired quest has been painstaking but somewhat relaxing at the same time. The promo above was an equally amusing experiment to work, especially with the fact it includes some of my earliest attempts at colored animation drawn from paper (thanks, Pixlr Editor!) Sometime later, I’ll write down how I did it, and share another promo with extended Bearnard animation.
If you follow my websites, you might have notice that not much has been going on with the Wix sites in terms of blogging. That’s because I simply didn’t have time to do any heavy writing on them, and decided to mostly stick with Google+ and this WordPress thing. Also, while the Wix site is pretty on desktop, it’s a little laggy on mobile. This is where WordPress comes in handy. It may look more simplistic, but at least it’s more convenient in terms of speed. So in short, WordPress has been my new home for big blog posts since 2016.
Last, but certainly not least, I’m going to present a simple slideshow of some of my best artwork in 2016:
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Well, that’s a wrap for now, folks! Another year, another entrance to ideas awaiting fulfillment. Happy happy joy joy! I’m not giving away all of my ideas just yet, though.
Now, if you excuse me, I have a couple of book reviews sitting in the drafts section awaiting arrival in 2017.
If there is one Nicktoon that I would label the biggest Butt Monkey of them all, it would undeniably be Pelswick, which celebrates the 16th anniversary of its CBC premiere this week (yeah, the show actually premiered in America on October 24, not the 5th). For those who aren’t familiar with this show (and I wouldn’t blame you if you aren’t), Pelswick was a Nicktoon produced by our good friends in Canada, Nelvana Studios. Based on the comics by the late paraplegic cartoonist John Callahan, it basically followed the anti-climatic life of a pubescent boy named Pelswick Eggert, who sits on a wheelchair for reasons that were never explained based on my research. The “hook” to the show’s premise that tries to make it less mundane is Pelswick having a goofy guardian angel voiced by Courteney Cox’s ex-husband, David Arquette. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the show from being a mediocre cartoon that is essentially Doug on a wheelchair. I know Doug itself was never among the most intriguing of the Nicktoons, but at least without it, we might not have greater slice-of-life shows such as Hey Arnold! or Arthur,. With Pelswick on the other hand, it was blatantly trying and failing to imitate the granddaddy of all Nicktoons. I swear, the bully in Pelswick, Boyd, is a poor man’s copy of Roger Klotz. Regardless of how bland the show is, I kinda feel sorry for it. Like As Told by Ginger, another neglected Nicktoon which debuted around the same time, one would argue that this show was ahead of its time. First off, how many other cartoons could you think of that has a disabled protagonist? I understand what John Callahan and the other people behind the show were getting across, but they just didn’t execute it in a very appealing way. Let TV Tropes explain:
Pelswick was unable to gain much of an audience due to taking too many risks at once. It had a paraplegic protagonist, which is a pretty big risk by itself, unfortunately, especially since it made the bold choice to have it not define his entire character. Then it was set in a Fantastic Comedy (the protagonist receives advice from a guardian angel only he can see), and some of the people who liked the reality aspect found the fantasy aspect confusing to the point they couldn’t enjoy it, as well as having an unconventional art style which some people find off-putting in and of itself. For good measure, the show employed mature humor about political correctness and then aimed the series at kids, complete with a far-from-subtle Aesop structure that older people were turned off by. All of this resulted in being cancelled after 26 episodes and not released on DVD with a handful of fans (Funimation wanting to focus more on My Dad the Rock Star certainly didn’t help matters).
– Audience-Alienating Premise page
Yeah, about the art style, it’s…so-so to say the least. Granted, Mr. Callahan had no choice but to draw while holding the pencil with both hands. Then again, it shouldn’t excuse him completely. He could have told the Nelvana artists to refine his sketches to make them cuter. Well, maybe his crude art style was left intact as part of executing his message about disability.
Bottom-line, Pelswick might not be very exciting, based on the few episodes I’ve seen, but I have enough respect for its attempt to be revolutionary to give it a spot on my top 25 favorite Nicktoons list. Also, I currently prefer Pelswick over John’s other show, Quads, which is edgier, nastier, more faithful to his own dysfunctional life, and served as my introduction to his style when I was younger. But remember: opinions are likely to change.
Now for the main meat of this article regarding this show. Pelswick, of all early 2000s Nicktoons, has been announced to air on TeenNick’s late-night nostalgia block, The Splat, this month. This blew me away when I found out this is true. I thought it was impossible to happen anytime soon, because, even though Nickelodeon treated the show as an official Nicktoon during its run, they seemed to drop its existence down the trash can like a dirty diaper after 2005. They even neglected to include it in the heavy 2007 book, Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!, despite including another Nelvana series, Wayside, which was brand-new at the time (so Nick had the rights to it at that point). Then again, the reasons as to why Nick seems to hate Pelswick are understandable, as mentioned above. Also, unlike most of the other Nicktoons ever deemed as “official”, this show has its rights reserved to Nelvana Limited. In general, this whole Pelswick thing is bloody divisive. Regardless, though, this is more proof of how awesome The Splat is compared to its predecessor, The ’90s Are All That. Not only did they please me for giving As Told by Ginger some well-deserved love, but they’re even! Going! To! Air! KABLAM!!!! Proof:
In general, 2016 really is a redeemable year for Nickelodeon, isn’t it? Not only did we get The Loud House, a show that managed to become even more popular than SpongeBob (at least in ratings), but we were also treated to countless amazing occurrences done to celebrate the Nicktoons’ 25th anniversary. This includes giving acknowledgement to such obscure Nicktoons as Catscratch, Tak and the Power of Juju, and of course, KaBlam!.
Back onto Doug–I mean Pelswick, how does this decision to air it on The Splat make Nickelodeon a bunch of hypocrites? Back in June, when Nick Animation uploaded the As Told by Ginger intro on YouTube (which, of course, I was ecstatic about), a user named [thomasandmario7] asked in the comments section if they could upload Pelswick‘s intro. Nick answered:
No, it’s not a Nickelodeon Animation Studio production, so we don’t own the rights to it and it’s not part of our 25 Years celebration.
Really, Nick? Well, can you explain why you suddenly decided to broadcast the show through The Splat, even though you clearly stated that you wouldn’t do anything about the show during your 25th anniversary celebration because it’s not an actual Nick production? Look, it’s nice that you’re pleasing fans of the show for acknowledging it for the first time in over 10 years. And like I said, I was amazed myself that you guys actually have a soft spot left for Pelswick. However, I dislike how you betrayed your own statement for no public reason. What’s been going between you and Corus Entertainment, Nick? How and why were you able to get permission from Nelvana to let the show air again on one of your networks? Well, whatever the case may be…you sure gave us a damn good surprise!
Also, when I mentioned how Pelswickused to be an official Nicktoon, Nick answered back:
Nicktoons is used more for branding and promotion than to indicate which shows are by Nick Animation. So anything we’ve aired could be considered “an official Nicktoon” even though many of them are not created or produced at Nick Animation. Notice there’s no difference in the way The Loud House and Alvin and the Chipmunks are branded on air right now, even though we make The Loud House and Alvin is an acquisition.
Well, at least with this comment, Nick is giving us their definition on the term “Nicktoon”. Just like art as a whole, it’s something that’s both objective and subjective. It’s a fact that Ren & Stimpy is a Nicktoon, but it’s subjective to consider The Brothers Flub one. I don’t see it as a Nicktoon, not because it wasn’t produced by Nick’s in-house studio (instead, it was made by Sunbow Entertainment and Sony Wonder), but there doesn’t seem to be any promos calling it a Nicktoon. If there were, please share them with me, readers. Yeah, with me, I determine if a cartoon airing on the channel should be considered a Nicktoon in my opinion based on how its promoted, regardless of Nick still owning the rights or not. For example, I previously didn’t see Kappa Mikey or Random! Cartoons as official Nicktoons, because they were produced for Nicktoons Network, not the main Nickelodeon channel. Then, I got Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!, and my opinion changed from there. So, this official comment should gratify us all. If you want to call the French show Corneil and Bernie a Nicktoon, despite not airing on the main Nick channel, it all depends on your point of view. Just keep in mind that Nick was only involved distribution-wise, not production-wise.
Overall, even though they contradicted one of their YouTube comments, it really is awesome how Nick has proven that they do remember this oddity of Nicktoons history, and that they actually don’t hate it enough to completely obliterate it from its library. Let’s hope that other early 2000s Nicktoons, such as Jimmy Neutron, Invader Zim, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot, make it onto the Splat line-up as well. And let’s hope Nick still remembers Wayside, too.
Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got three better Nicktoons to wish a happy birthday to this month, Hey Arnold!, KaBlam!, and that one with the redhead (yeah, at this point, I feel so much embarrassment over my Ginger obsession last year that I sometimes hesitate to refer to the show by name)…
UPDATE (Dec. 4, 2016): Nickelodeon has realized that they said they weren’t going to do anything Pelswick-related for the #NickAnimation25 celebration, so they decided at the last minute NOT to have it air on The Splat this fall. Thus, Pelswick still remains the biggest Butt Monkey of all the Nicktoons. In happier news, The Splat has been showing ChalkZone, its birthplace Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and even Action League Now! (in standalone form)/ Once again, 2016 has proven to be such a redeemable year for Nick Animation.
It’s not even what Nick needed. I felt like it’s what kids needed.
– Vanessa Coffey
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Out of all the animation anniversaries I’ve been anticipated to celebrate in 2016, the 25th anniversary of Nickelodeon starting their brand of groundbreaking, one-of-a-kind animated originals (specifically with the charmingly bland Doug, the surprisingly adorable Rugrats, and the hilariously messed-up Ren & Stimpy Show) is the biggest one, aside from the 15th anniversary of The Fairly OddParents, on my agenda. And of course, Nick themselves have been hyping up this milestone of renaissance animation history all year long, spreading the #NickAnimation25 like wildfire on all their social media accounts. Also, they’ve done at least two major conventions: “Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation” at the Begovich Gallery in Fullerton, and the similarly-titled “Happy Happy! Joy Joy!: 25 Years of Nickelodeon Original Animation” at San Diego Comic Con. They both presented artwork from past, present, and upcoming productions (particularly Butch Hartman’s Bunsen is a Beast!, and the most anticipated thing in Nickelodeon Animation history, Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie), and had special guest appearances from creators such as Butch, Stephen Hillenburg, Craig Bartlett, Arlene Klasky, Jim Jinkins, and Jhonen Vasquez, as well as Nickelodeon Animation Studio founding mother, Vanessa Coffey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to neither of the events, but at least I’m able to view a hefty amount of photos and videos for my enjoyment (although I’m still not too sure if there’s art from underrated gems As Told by Ginger and T.U.F.F. Puppy, especiallythe former, of course)
Now enough about what Nick has been doing to celebrate. This special article is focusing on briefly telling the long journey of creator-driven animation making its comeback, a speech about why Nicktoons are so meaningful to me, my list of my 25 favorite Nicktoons, and finally, my tiny celebratory video. Let’s get slimed! On second thought, just looking at how people get slimed on the Kids’ Choice Awards, it would be a real pain to clean it all up.
The History of Nick Animation Finding its Voice
I’m gonna borrow Mr. Peabody’s time machine so we can go as far back as 1988, when America met with an animation renaissance, which meant interest in the masterful, innovative animation of the Golden Age (from the ’30s to the ’60s) was brought back in a huge way, mainly thanks to big-screen hits Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid. Also, on the small screen, that wacky, radioactively-colored family, The Simpsons, gave prime-time animation for adults a spot not seen since Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (yeah, I’m sure you didn’t remember Hanna-Barbera producing another sitcom after The Flintstones, didn’t you?). As for the kids’ stuff, there were still mostly shows adapted from toys, books, comics, celebrities, live-action productions, video games, long-existing characters, and even food (at least in the case of Disney’s Gummi Bears). However, America’s #1 channel for kids, Nickelodeon, would start an intense mission to end the mundanity of American TV cartoons, and restart the delightful trend of creating cartoons how the creators want, not the bigwigs in their spinning desk chairs.
Vanessa Coffey, a producer and vice president of Nickelodeon at the time (she also worked on future Nick franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), thought the state of television animation for kids was garbage…or at least, it lacked the spark present in animation of earlier decades, especially during the prime of Warner Bros. Cartoons’ brilliant comedies of the 1940s and 1950s. As her quote at the top of this article implies, she knew that those type of cartoons derived from the animators’ artistic freedom permitted by their respective studios were the ones that kids deserved to be exposed to, not necessarily what Nick themselves need for self-gratification. It may be expensive, but it would turn out worth it in the end. Before Doug, Tommy, and Ren and Stimpy, Nickelodeon’s animation lineup was mainly acquired from foreign countries, whether it be from Britain (most notably Danger Mouse and Count Duckula, both produced by Cosgrove Hall Films) , or Canada (like Inspector Gadget). Any American cartoons they had were just reruns of stuff like classic Looney Tunes shorts (which are, as mentioned already, the inspiration for the Nicktoons to begin with).
Before the original three Nicktoons were pitched to the network, Vanessa commissioned a couple of holiday specials to test out her goal of reviving creator-driven animation. Christmas in Tattertown (1988) was done by…get ready for this…RALPH BAKSHI! Yes, the man who made X-rated classics like Fritz the Cat made an edgy, yet still family-friendly X-mas special. Then again, even though his adaptation of Mighty Mouse from 1987 was short-lived (thanks to the “sniffing” controversy), Bakshi already made a huge contribution to the animation renaissance. Not to mention, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures helped boost the career of a certain persnickety Nickelodeon animator from Canada.
The other holiday special was called Nick’s Thanksgiving Fest (1989), which was more directly produced in-house by Nickelodeon themselves. It was an anthology with two creatively-titled segments: “Thanksgiving Nightmare” by Kevin Altieri, and “Thanksgiving Dreams” by Joe Pearson. In between, Joey Ahlbum (a guy remembered for his Sesame Street cartoons, and his dinosaur and fruit bumpers for Nickelodeon) gave us some simple skits that involved turkeys, rabbits, vegetarian hunters, astronauts, and elephants working for peanuts by cramming cranberries into tin cans. Even though the special wasn’t seen as a huge game-changer by audiences when it aired, it obviously didn’t cancel the mission.
Around 1989-1990, Vanessa ordered at least eight pilots/contestants to compete for the title of Nickelodeon’s first original Nicktoons:
Thunder Lizards (Joey Ahlbum again)
Channel Zero (George Evelyn; I’d also like to note that even though the pilot is currently unavailable, we can still see the characters here)
Weasel Patrol (based on a comic by Ken Macklin and Lela Dowling)
Doug Can’t Dance (Jim Jinkins)
The Crowville Chronicles (by Cosgrove Hall Films)
Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing (Klasky Csupo)
Trash (also by Cosgrove Hall Films, though it’s stop-motion instead of 2D)
Blg House Blues (John Kricfalusi)
If you have any knowledge of Nicktoons, you should have been able to guess which three charming pilots were the winners, and which five were the losers who bored the test audiences so much that they’d rather stare at a wall! I’m not kidding around!
The executives at Nickelodeon knew that Jim Jinkins, Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, Paul Germain, and John Kricfalusi all had potential when it came to unleashing creativity to help building their creator-driven animation empire. Each of the original three had their own unique backstory. Jim (who actually worked with Nick when the network was known as Pinwheel in the late ’70s) based Doug Funnie on his own awkward pre-adolescence in Virginia, and he wanted to publish a book with the character called Doug Got a New Pair of Shoes, but every single publisher in New York rejected! Jeez, it’s as if Oscar the Grouch hypnotized everyone in the Big Apple to be as grouchy as he is! Eventually, after Jim animated Doug and Porkchop prototypes in grapefruit juice ads and a bumper for USA Network, Vanessa Coffey excitedly caught interest in Jim’s idea, and gave him the opportunity to start up his own studio in New York, Jumbo Pictures (you know, the one with the giant egg logo), to make the pilot.
Based in Hollywood, Klasky Csupo was already a very successful studio, given that they had The Simpsons under their wonky, Eastern European-influenced belt for three years. One day, when Arlene and Gabor were coming up with cartoon ideas for Sesame Street, they randomly wondered, if babies could talk, what would they say? Combine the characteristics of Arlene and Gabor’s own infant son, and the name of Paul Germain’s baby, and you got yourself Tommy Pickles! Peter Chung was hired to direct the HIDEOUS pilot, and Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo (and Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which launched the career of the creator of a certain football head) was brought over to composed the recognizable synthesized music. Then-Nick president Gerry Laybourne loved the pilot, so Rugrats was all set…except they realized the show would be much better if they gave Tommy and the twins some foils. Therefore, worrywart Chuckie and spoiled “princess” Angelica (based on a girl who bullied Paul) were born.
Moving on to my favorite of the three, The Ren & Stimpy Show, I’m gonna leave it to John K. himself to explain his creation’s origin:
I used to draw this retarded cat. He was somewhat influenced by the Bob Clampett cartoon called “A Gruesome Twosome”, which was a Tweety Bird cartoon. And it had these really cool-looking cats with big, bulbous noses, and it was a cartoon done in the mid-40s, but it was a throwback to ’30s cartoons when everybody had big, bulbous noses with a shine on them. I thought that was a really cool style. Around that same time, I found this postcard of a Chihuahua in a sweater. It’s a very funny picture, because there’s this psychotic-looking monster…in a cute sweater. And that, just right away, was a concept in my head that I thought was hilarious. I thought, what a great character that would make. So, I used to draw caricatures of this insane Chihuahua, and then I would do this Peter Lorre voice, and I’d act him out. “I’m here to murder your baby!” Joel Fanner [I think I spelled it right], who I worked with, he suggested one day, “Why don’t you put that Chihuahua character with your cat?” And I thought, “Okay! That’s a good idea.”
And “a good idea” it certainly was. I mean, what could poor John K. do, after he left Ralph Bakshi, and suffered the consequences of trying to reboot Bob Clampett’s Beany and Cecil? He’s been trying to sell Ren & Stimpy for nine years; thus, as he said himself, he and the entire animation industry was lucky when Nickelodeon announced their search for fresh artistry. Originally, Ren and Stimpy would have been sidekicks in a series called Your Gang, because Vanessa initially didn’t like the idea of a dog slapping a cat around as the main feature of an independent series. Thank God she soon changed her mind.
Okay, enough with the backstories. Time to sorta recreate the historic day in animation renaissance history. Nostalgia glasses required.
This cool, green painter was created by Doug Compton.
And as a bonus:
You done reliving your childhood yet? If not, please finish, so that I can continue talking about Nicktoons. Thank you.
Back when they were fresh, the Nicktoons got their own set of collectible pins. Too bad none of them are in the Nick Box.
We can already figure out how Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy, all successfully proved Nickelodeon’s worries concerning the expenses of producing original cartoons to be wrong. All three of them were very different from each other, and other cartoons produced at the time, and this is a case where it was a great thing. I can even go as far as to compare how these shows predicted a bright future for creator-driven animation to how Pixar’s shorts Luxo Jr. and Tin Toy opened the door to big possibilitiesfor CGI. If John Lasseter could successfully ignore the naysayers, so could the people at Nick. And they did. Obviously.
Now I’ll just briefly go into how each of the original three were individually important to animation. Before Doug, the closest thing to a slice-of-life cartoon that kids (and older people) could easily relate to was the Peanuts specials (remember the one about the girl with cancer). Funny enough, Jim Jinkins was influenced by Peanuts. Despite the characters (except for Doug Funnie himself) having unusual colors that wouldn’t be out of place on a Muppet production, not to mention the silly soundtrack provided by Fred Newman (who also voiced Doug’s “black” friend Skeeter), Doug was beloved for being so grounded in reality for a cartoon (at that time). It dealt with such relatable topics as bullying, infatuation, weight gain, self-esteem, creating a cartoon that unexpectedly causes controversy, and, most importantly according to Jim, honesty. In short, if it weren’t for Doug, we wouldn’t have such just-as-amazing slice-of-life cartoons as Nick’s own Hey Arnold!, and best of all, PBS’s Arthur! Both are gonna be 20 this fall!
A fact about Doug I find interesting is that, during its 65-episode run on Nickelodeon (before Disney took over Jumbo), it won the Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Cartoon, four years in a row! Now, I know Nick tends to let their own cartoons win every year (the last time a non-Nicktoon won was The Simpsons back in 2002, and that show isn’t even for kids at all!), but out of all the original three Nicktoons, why Doug? No offence to it, but kids are more likely to find the other two WAY more enjoyable than a rather mundane show about an average boy. Just a random thought.
Moving on to Rugrats, while it has always been pretty popular, it wasn’t until the time during production hiatus in 1994 (caused by Arlene Klasky was acting like a whiny grouch, and Paul Germain leaving over creative differences) when those “dumb babies” became one of the biggest phenomenons in the ’90s. And nobody would have thought such a simple, yet rather clever little show about babies would be possible to win the admiration of rival animation producer Steven Spielberg of all people! And speaking of Hollywood royalty, Tommy and the gang are currently the only Nicktoons to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an achievement that not even SpongeBob has gotten yet! Not only that, but its movie in 1998 made over $100 million domestically, which is a first for an animated film not produced or distributed by Disney. However, critically-speaking, Rugrats in Paris did the best, while financially-speaking, Rugrats Go Wild did the worst. Either way, those babies have been Nick’s gold-laying geese throughout the mid-90s and the early 2000s. After having to let go of The Simpsons in 1992, the success of Rugrats made their parents (Klasky Csupo) more than happy. If it wasn’t for that show, Nick might not have given them more opportunities to make other great Nicktoons, such as Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Wild Thornberrys, and of course, As Told by Redhead! I mean Ginger. And don’t get me started on the spin-offs: All Grown Up! (based on a hugely successful 10th anniversary special from 2001), the four-episode miniseries Angelica and Susie’s Pre-School Daze (which nobody seems to remember/care about), and the direct-to-video Tales from the Crib (just fairy tales with Rugrats in ’em). In short, they’re all inferior to the classic. Rugrats lived a good life with 172 episodes, so there should be no need for a reboot.
I’d also like to note that Rugrats was the first animated series to have not one, but two holiday specials focusing on Judaism, “Passover” and “Chanukah”. Everybody loved them… except for Jewish groups who complained about Grandpa Boris’ design looking like an offensive, Jewish stereotype or something.
However, out of the three Nicktoons at the time, before Rugrats gained more popularity in the mid-90s, it was the outrageous Ren & Stimpy Show that sparked the most attention, and made just as big an impact on animation as any other Nicktoon…or any other ’90s cartoon, period. For this article, let’s not bother go into the drama between John K. and Nickelodeon, because this is already getting too damn long. With its gross-out gags, brutal slapstick, disturbing imagery, witty wordplay, questionable visual gags, adult references, and animation so deranged that it makes Tex Avery look sane, Ren and Stimpy were up there with Bart Simpson as one of the biggest delinquents in animation. They may not be considered good role models for kids, but they certainly are to a slew of other studios in the industry, such as Hanna-Barbera (2 Stupid Dogs and Cow and Chicken), Savage Studios (Eek! The Cat), hell even Disney (Shnookums & Meat)! Also, let’s not forget about Nickelodeon themselves! If it weren’t for that crazy Chihuahua and dumb cat, we might not have other outrageous shows like Rocko’s Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, CatDog, and of course, SpongeBob SquarePants! But you know what? Ren & Stimpy itself was influenced by the Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1940s, so really, if it weren’t for Porky, Daffy, Tweety, Sylvester, and Bugs, Ren & Stimpy might not exist. And Nicktoons in general wouldn’t exist either.
Well, that’s enough history. My God, it seems that I can’t keep it brief when it coming to talking about this type of stuff. Anyway…
What Do Nicktoons Means to Me?
You see this massive collage, which took me around four months to finish? The key ingredient to it is love 😍. Click for more info.
While they might not have been as big a part of my childhood as Big Bird and the gang, Bugs and the gang, or Arthur and the gang, Nickelodeon’s groundbreaking lineup of amazing animated series has always been there to make me feel good. Although, since I’m a Canadian, I can only experience the Nickelodeon magic through channels like YTV, Treehouse TV, and later on, Nick Canada. Plus, Nick’s website used to be available to me…before it started to redirect me to YTV’s website. Man, I miss playing all those CatDog games.
Now, I have to admit that, when I was very young, my experience with Nickelodeon Animation was mostly limited to the Nick Jr. shows. I loved me some Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, and The Backyardigans! There’s also Little Bear, but that was mainly a Nelvana production. As for the actual Nicktoons, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Rugrats (even though I watched the movies just as much as the show), and CatDog have always been the most interesting to me, but SpongeBob and FOP, the two most popular of the 2000s, have always been the ones I watched the most. They were just so funny, exciting, and creative that it’s delightfully reasonable to see them as “top 10 great” when it comes to cartoons. It’s that simple.
Later, I started to developed interest in other great Nicktoons, even if I didn’t watched them as often as my top two. After watching the otherwise panned movie on VHS in 2007, I was craving Hey Arnold!. Then, in 2009, by the time Nickelodeon Canada launched in November, I got an opportunity to experience the hilarious ingeniousness of Rocko’s Modern Life and The Angry Beavers. Since KaBlam! is extinct from airing on TV, I had to go on RetroJunk and YouTube to get into it. As for Ren & Stimpy, I had vague memories of watching it on Teletoon, and I used to think Ren was a rabbit. It wasn’t until I started binge-watching it on Netflix in 2011 when I’ve since became absolutely obsessed with this laugh-out-loud-hilarious show. Also in 2011, I gave the Canadian Nicktoon Wayside a chance, and instantly became obsessed with that offbeat show as well. Then, a few months later, I started getting attached to Butch Hartman’s third Nicktoon, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which I still find to be better than the overrated Danny Phantom. Also, there are a few cases, such as Sanjay and Craig and The Loud House, where I felt anticipated for the show before it officially comes out.
Then came the years 2014 and 2015, when my love for Nickelodeon Animation suddenly escalated to very obsessive levels, to the point where I had an epiphany that said, “These guys are the studio I must work for in Hollywood!”. October 2014 was when I made one of the best decisions of my life as a cartoon lover: become a fan of the underappreciated Klasky Csupo gem, As Told by Ginger! More on that on my Ginger blog. Soon after, I pursued my goal of giving chances to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Invader Zim, Doug, Pelswick, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Life as a Teenage Robot, The Wild Thornberrys, Oh Yeah! Cartoons (besides the FOP shorts), Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron (other than the movie), Catscratch, and surprisingly enough, All Grown Up!. The first two mentioned are the ones I had the most luck with. Wow! That’s a total 12 Nicktoons I started to like in one year. And I still got a couple more to go, like El Tigre.
Oh, and on a sudden note, even though I don’t normally label it a Nicktoon, I loved to watch the puppet show Mr. Meaty on Saturday mornings on CBC. Now? I’m more indifferent towards that creepy thing than that other CBC/Nickelodeon co-production, Pelswick.
So you see, the Nicktoons mean a lot to me, on the same levels as Looney Tunes. Like every other cartoon I love, SpongeBob and the others make me feel like I’m wisely spending my time with these adorable examples of escapism. Whether I’m grinning at SpongeBob, Patrick, and Stimpy being idiots, feeling sincere sympathy for Ginger, getting playfully annoyed by the Rugrats’ naivety, getting angry at Timmy’s parents being neglectful nitwits, left stunned by Aang’s action scenes, or confused about CatDog’s anatomy, Nick always know how to get a reaction from me. Now, in case you don’t know, the biggest reason why I respect Nickelodeon Animation on the same veins as Disney and Warner Bros., and why I would love to work for them, is because their motto is “Kid-inspired, creator-driven.” The epiphany I mentioned earlier told me that Nick is always hungry for fresh talent, stuff they’ve never seen before. While it’s kinda mandatory for the network to request some little alterations to your concept, they still encourage you to do the show your way. Essentially speaking. That’s what I like, man! I already have a collection of original cartoon characters that I label “BerryToons”. Nickelodeon Animation would be a perfect environment for them. If I can’t make a show for all of my ideas, then I’ll just produce an anthology, a la Oh Yeah! Cartoons or KaBlam!. Oh my God! So much possibilities boiling in my head!
In conclusion, I am more than blessed about the existence of Nickelodeon and their Nicktoons. Thank you to all the talented creators, producers, writers, artists, executives, voice actors, and security guards for all the hard work they’ve done to successfully make the Nickelodeon network a bigger household name than ever before. And it all started with an insecure 11-year-old, a group of curious babies, and a pair of insane, polar opposites.
A sketch I’ve made of some of my favorite Nicktoon creators.
My Top 25 Favorite Nicktoons
Now for the 25 Nickelodeon cartoons that I enjoy and take influence from the most, represented by custom fan art done by yours truly. Please note that this list might be updated someday. Hopefully not too soon. Since my fingers and brain are getting tired, I’ll wait ’til another day to write out my brief opinion on all of them. Here they are anyway:
#25: Harvey Beaks (2015-)
#24: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2002-2006)
#23: Pelswick (2000-2002)
#22: Doug (1991-1994)
#21: My Life as a Teenage Robot (2003-2005)
#20: Danny Phantom (2004-2007)
#19: Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994-1997)
#18: Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1998-2001)
#17: The Wild Thornberrys (1998-2004)
#16: Invader Zim (2001-2006)
#15: Sanjay and Craig (2013-)
#14: KaBlam!/Action League Now! (1996-2000)
Don’t worry, folks. The Flesh is only an anatomically-inaccurate doll. And he likes to be naked all the time.
#13: The Angry Beavers (1997-2001)
#12: The Loud House (2016-)
#11: Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)
#10: Rocko’s Modern Life (1993-1996)
#9: Hey Arnold! (1996-2004)
#8: Rugrats (1991-2004)
#7: Wayside (2007-2008)
#6: T.U.F.F. Puppy (2010-2015)
And now for my absolute favorites…
#5: CatDog (1998-2005)
#4: As Told by Ginger (2000-2004)
#3: The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991-1995)
#2: The Fairly OddParents (2001-)
#1: SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-)
Now, to end this long article off, here’s my short and sweet video tribute:
That’s all folks! And if any of you reading this article watched the first three Nicktoons when they debuted on that historic Sunday morning, may God bless you!
Another underrated Disney movie is celebrating its anniversary this month. Today, it’s the 35th anniversary of one of my long-time favorites from my childhood (for 10 years to be exact), The Fox and the Hound. Tod and Copper went from being the best of friends, to the worst of enemies in a several-year-span. On one hand, it’s sad; but on the other hand, it’s just the animals’ instincts naturally growing along with them. Overall, The Fox and the Hound is a cute but rather depressing movie with the only amount of light being provided by those two birds, Dinky and Boomer, trying to catch that caterpillar. Plus, there’s an awesome black bear fight, courtesy of Glen Keane! A scene that was undeniably ripped off by Balto, 14 years later.
Well, I’m sure it would all look like My Little Pony compared to The Plague Dogs. I haven’t seen it yet, but I read about how it is one of the most depressing things in the history of Western animation.
Of course, since Disney doesn’t want their audience to be totally upset, they didn’t let Chief get killed off, like in the original novel by Daniel P. Mannix. So, this adaptation garnered mixed reactions from people who read and love the novel.
Now for some behind-the-scenes facts! This is the last Disney production Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy (who eventually returned to work on Pocahontas), and nine other animators worked on, before leaving to start up Don Bluth’s studio to beat Disney to a pulp! Traitors! Fortunately, after three years of losing to Bluth at the box office, Disney gave him a taste of his own medicine in 1989, when a certain undersea film came out, and knocked out Charlie the dog!
Back to The Fox and the Hound, not only it was a moderate success with critics and the box office (during the dark age of Disney, which began after Walt’s death), but it’s also notable for boosting the careers of a whole lot of people who became major contributors to the Renaissance era and beyond. These include:
John Lasseter (one of Pixar’s founding fathers, and creator of Toy Story)
John Musker and Ron Clements (directors of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Great Mouse Detective)
Andreas Deja (supervising animator of Jafar, Scar, Gaston, and Hercules)
Tim Burton (some guy into horror, surrealism, and Danny Elfman’s music)
Glen Keane (supervising animator of Ariel, Aladdin, the Beast, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Rapunzel)
Brad Bird (creator of Family Dog, director of Warner Bros.’ Iron Giant, and Pixar’s The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and a fan of the code A113)
Randy Cartwright (animator of Aladdin’s Carpet)
Chris Buck (co-director of Frozen and Tarzan)
Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline)
Mark Dindal (director of The Emperor’s New Groove, Cats Don’t Dance, and the god-awfulChicken Little)
Mark Henn (supervising animator for Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana, and Basil of Baker Street)
And, to me, the strangest one of them all is Guy Vasilovich, creator of Moville Mysteries, a Nelvana show so hideous that it makes Duckman look like Sleeping Beauty (and you know how Duckman loves to sleep with beauties 😉)!
If you’re a huge animation buff like myself, that list should be like an A-list to you! Not to mention, The Fox and the Hound is the last production where Disney’s Nine Old Men, such as Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, had major involvement in.
So in the end, The Fox and the Hound may be more popular than Basil of Baker Street, but people still overlook it. I understand, since, like I said, it’s not a very cheery film compared to, say, The Jungle Book. Well, here’s some oddball advice for you: if you see a DVD of The Fox and the Hound 2, SMASH IT WITH A RAW WHOLE CHICKEN!!! And wash your hands afterwards.
Best of friends or not, Tod and Copper are still MUCH better than a certain pair of ugly girls on Nickelodeon. And no, I’m not talking about Sam and Cat.
Oh, I almost forgot. The co-director of this movie, Richard Rich, went on to make garbage, a.k.a. The Swan Princess and Alpha and Omega.
Say, that’s a pretty neat title I just came up with. It should be used for a coffee-table book or something.
Happy Canada Day, everyone! This is a time for animation fans to praise the likes of Norman McLaren, Richard Condle, Cordell Barker, Danny Antonucci, Richard Williams, and the insanely persnickety John Kricfalusi for being born in the Great White North to shake up the animation industry with their edginess, imagination, and creative talent! But today, I’m briefly praising an entire animation studio! One that has played as big of a part of my childhood as Nickelodeon Animation Studio! I would like to call this studio the Disney of Canada, not only because it’s the biggest animation studio of its own home country, but also because a majority of their famous productions tend to be adaptations of existing properties, whether it be children’s books, toys, video games, or an Oscar-winning short.
IT’S NELVANA! Down below is a mini logo history.
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Born in Toronto, Nelvana Limited all started back in 1971, June 23rd. Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert had just graduated from York University, so they decided that establishing an animation studio would a fun way to spend the rest of their lives. When they teamed up with British animator Clive A. Smith, the three of them started to work on a series of animated/live-action shorts called Small Star Cinema for CBC.
Fun fact: the studio was named after a Canadian comic book heroine named Nelvana of the Northern Lights, because Michael, Patrick, and Clive had a fascination with Canadian comics that are now obscure as hell. But it wasn’t until 1978 when the polar bear was first adopted to be their mascot, instead of Nelvana of the Northern Lights. Well, considering how obscure that heroine is, I doubt that a lot of people would mistake the studio for her. It’s probably be the other way around.
In 1977, they began their string of animated specials, including A Cosmic Christmas, The Devil and Daniel Mouse, Easter Fever, Romie-0 and Julie-8, and Take Me Up to the Ball Game. So far, I’ve only seen the second one. Eventually, Nelvana caught the attention of a certain director of a certain movie about a certain galaxy far, far away. Yes, George Lucas loved Nelvana! If you were strong enough to actually remember the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, you might remember those weird animated segments in the middle. That was Nelvana’s doing. They also made the animated series Droids and Ewoks based on Star Wars, from 1985 to 1986.
However, Nelvana’s rise to fame came when they made a deal with American Greetings to produce a feature length film based on the diabetically adorable Care Bear plushies, as well as a few specials based on Strawberry Shortcake. In 1985, The Care Bears Movie proved to be so successful that it infamously beat Disney’s attempt at finding their darker side with The Black Cauldron. On one hand, it’s hilarious; on the other hand, it’s sad and embarrassing. Either way, it’s thanks to the Care Bears why Nelvana is even still alive to this day. After suffering the failure of their first movie, Rock & Rule, the people at Nelvana must have been grateful.
And the rest is history for you to find out on your own time, either through Wikipedia, or the 2001 book The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years, which was coincidentally released on the same day as Braceface.
And now, time for the highlight of this post!
Made with Pixlr Editor on June 23, 2016, Nelvana’s 45th birthday.
This massive, colorful collage, containing exactly 69 Nelvana productions, should be enough to illustrate my strong admiration for them, and how much they mean to me as a Canadian animation aficionado. Recognize any of your favorites? I apologize if they are any I missed. I didn’t want to be biased by only including shows that I either admire or formerly admire. The collage went far enough to include stuff that I either show indifference towards (such as Cyberchase and Pelswick), or haven’t seen at all yet (like A Cosmic Christmas and Fievel’s American Tails).
Whenever I can, I’ll update this post with a list of the cartoons included in the collage in chronological order, as well as my short opinions on the ones I’ve actually seen.
Thanks very much to Michael, Patrick, and Clive, for all the work they’ve done to keep the animation industry in Canada alive for all these decades. However, let’s not forget that Nelvana not only covers for Canada, but for the whole globe as well.
Another anniversary of a favorite cartoon falls on Throwback Thursday today! This time, it’s 15-year-old Braceface, my biggest Nelvana obsession since Wayside! Although I caught some interest in this show back in summer 2013, it wasn’t until February 2014 when I became a true fan, obsessively watching every episode on demand.
For those who forgot what Braceface was, it was a show set in Canada about a 13-14-year-old girl named Sharon Spitz who gets a pair of braces that make her budding adolescence even more frustrating than it already was. However, I must admit that, by the time the gang went up to high school, Sharon’s braces became less of a focal point in the stories.
Call this show a mediocre waste of paper if you want, but I honestly find it to be one of the greatest and most underrated Canadian cartoons of all time. Alongside another Teletoon classic, What About Mimi?, it’s essentially the As Told by Ginger of Canada (albeit less ugly). In fact, I revealed on my “Ginger Snaps” blog a year ago that Braceface was the show that inspired me to give Ginger a try. And I ended up loving that show even more! At one point, I was so obsessed with Ginger that it felt like committing adultery if I looked at Braceface again. Silly me!
However, I am jealous of Braceface retaining its spot on Amazon, while the ugly one got the boot.
But let me tell what Braceface did that not even As Told by Ginger dared to look into: one episode talked about the dangers of adult sites! Holy frig! Canada sure has some loose censorship, doesn’t it? Also, I was amazed that this kids’ cartoon was able to portray confirmed homosexuality in a respectable manner. I’m referring to the season three episode where Sharon tries to play matchmaker for her gay fashion designer friend Dion. I’m not kidding! That is awesome! And we’ve yet to see the day where Courtney Gripling comes out of the closet!
Oh, and another episode had Sharon become a victim of underaged intoxication! Holy crap!
Then, there is an episode where Sharon’s grandfather comes over, and acts like a G-rated version of Hank’s dad from King of the Hill. In other words, he was acting like a racist! Don’t you just love when cartoons aimed at kids and young teens have more maturity when it comes to dealing with controversial topics than certain adult cartoons out there?!
So in conclusion, Braceface is a well-done slice-of-life cartoon for teenagers that rivals As Told by Ginger with its balls to push the boundaries of presenting relatable storylines in such a down-to-earth way. I’ve yet to write a full post on “Ginger Snaps” comparing these two great shows.
I don’t care if she has braces on; Sharon is so beautiful… even if she can be an annoying, egotistical, rebellious, stubborn, mouthy, whiny brat a lot of times.
D.J. Berry 
