Pilot me into a brick wall...

The end of the week finds me obsessed with pilots after watching a (thank the animation gods) aborted attempt at bringing back 'The Get Along Gang'...in 3d, of course, the industry's current fave cliche. Found some interesting stuffs on the YouTubes amongst the desperate and the sad. (Don't stop making those 'series pilots' and posting 'em, kids...they're not only hilarious, they're tiny cautionary tales about the value of learning to freakin' animate, ya jerks.)

Larry and Steve (HB, 1997)


'member Hanna-Barbera's excellent "What a Cartoon" program? Here's Seth McFarlane's first stab at prime-time, a toon featuring the prototypical 'Brian' and 'Peter' characters from his student film, minus the filth. Here named 'Steve' and 'Larry', it's pretty much based on McFarlane's previous student film, 'The Life of Larry'. McFarlane would go on to die alone and forgotten in a Hamilton Tim Horton's parkin lot. That, or milk these two characters for more moolah than Yahweh.

Plastic Man (Warner Bros. 2008)


Here's an interesting one. 'Plastic Man', with a goofy semi-Kricfalusi look and a feel very reminiscent of an earlier Warner's series, 'Freakazoid'. No Steven Speilberg to champion this one, and Cartoon Network took a pass. The character does show up in the new "Brave and the Bold" Batman series, so it's not a total loss.

Jumpin' Jupiter (Mark Mason, 2007)


Here's a cute lil' thang, a pilot for a potential preschool series with space toddlers flyin' about. Animated by Mark Mason and his homey Johnathan Booth. Great example of character action selling personality, no 'talking heads' here, just some nice bouncy character gags. Seems these guys have quite a few pilots under their belts...nice stuff!

Hmm...this pilot thang is interesting. Think I'll institute 'Pilot Fridays', dig up some series non-starters and some prototypes that led to other thangs, and end the week with 'em. Whaddya think? Feedback me. Oh, and don't ferget to hit TCAF tomorrow. Right, I'm out.

Slappy makes me Happy

Sometimes, you want art. Sometimes, you want beauty. Sometimes, you want the pleasure of seeing a cartoon schoolyard bully get seven kinds of tar knocked outta him by Slappy Squirrel. Notice that I skipped part one. The reason? If I ever see anyone picking on any one else even remotely like the assholes what done fer me in high school, I may try to reach through the monitor and strangle his non-existing ass...what can I say, I've got issues. More goodness later.