ANIMATED SHORTS SPECIAL: BACK TO THE BOONDOCKS

[MattBrady]

BACK TO THE BOONDOCKS
AARON MCGRUDER TALKS ABOUT HIS SERIES’ 2ND SEASON

by Steve Fritz

Get ready folks, Aaron McGruder will be at it again, starting tonight at 11:30 p.m. eastern. Creator of The Boondocks, McGruder set the world on fire when his newspaper strip made the jump to Adult Swim in 2005 with such story lines as “The Return of the King;” “The Trial of R.Kelly” and “The Passion of Ruckus.”

His ability to attack all sides of the political spectrum with a sharp mix of humor, intelligence and venom got him “friends” ranging anywhere from Al Sharpton to those on the right wing. No doubt the second season--with themes revolving around the return of the late Stinkmeanor, having one of the world’s biggest rappers moving in next door and Grandad and him having a beef, or seeing “Soul Plane 2”--will be sure to have at least a dozen or so watchdogs howling in frustration and outrage.

Anyway, McGruder had a little phone session with some members of the press last week, and Newsarama managed to crash the party. It was a very controlled affair, but some good answers did occasionally come out of it…and if they didn’t block the phone line, we promise you we definitely would have asked about where the hell is Caesar.

So here’s what Aaron had to say.

Newsarama: So the basic question is, the second season of Boondocks was supposed to have happened a lot earlier than this. What happened?

Aaron McGruder: It just took us longer to finish the show than we thought. That’s all. It’s animation, and we wanted to get it right. It’s not really an interesting story.

NRAMA: Was it production troubles?

AM: I think that’s a good way to put it. It’s a very complicated show to produce. It goes to three different countries and if something goes bad it’s really bad. So you got to get it right. So we took the time to get it right.

NRAMA: You had some major changes to the crew. Did anyone new make any serious contributions?

AM: That’s a tough question because we weren’t entirely happy with the animation worked in season one. We tried to make some adjustments. Some of them worked. Some of them didn’t. We tried working with Madhouse (Trigun, Death Note, Blue Lagoon, Paprika) in Japan. That didn’t really work out.

The major shifting I did was with two guys who were already on the team, Carl Jones and Seung Kim. I kind of just gave them the reins to develop the visual look of the show. Because the production is so big, and so many people who worked so hard on it, when you talk about some you feel you leave others out. I would say that Seung and Carl really shaped the visual side of the show much closer to what I wanted.

NRAMA: When you set Boondocks up, what was your initial goal?

AM: Initially, a job. I wanted to do the kind of thing and humor that I wanted to see and felt wasn’t out there; a black, political satire kind of thing. When you go down that road, and you do it with any success, shaking things up just comes with the territory. But you don’t go in with the idea of shaking things up, you just go in with the idea I got something funny.

NRAMA: Did you expect the reaction you got, controversy-wise?

AM: No. I didn’t expect the strip to be as big as it was. I think in order to start trouble people have to know who you are. That kind of thing takes a long time when you’re in comics, even if you’re incredibly lucky. When the trouble started early, that was a bit of a surprise.

NRAMA: The series uses the “N-word” a lot. What’s your stance on all the headlines recently?

AM: [Laughs] I use the word in the show because I’m a bad person. I can not in any way defend what I do.

NRAMA: I see a lot of people are on the voice list. What happened to Samuel L. Jackson?

AM: He’s there. We just tried to be really respectful and not put his name on the list. We didn’t promote it the first season, either.

NRAMA: What did you learn from season one that helped you form stories for season two?

AM: Here’s how big of change this season was. When we finished the last script from the first season, none of us had seen the first bit of animation from overseas. So we had written the entire season blind, so to speak.

Now just knowing what the show is obviously played a big role in how we shaped season two. I think we got a lot much better control of the animation, especially to tell stories in the proper way. When the animation is controlling you, you are limited to what you can do. I think that was a big deal. We looked at season one, at what worked and what didn’t, and make it a better show all around. I do think the storytelling is much better. The action is much faster and the show is much funnier. All around I’m pretty pleased with it.

NRAMA: If there is an order for a season three, do you think you could turn it around much faster, given what you’ve learned?

AM: That’s totally not up to me. The first thing is someone has to order it. If season three is going to happen, it has to start with someone ordering something.

NRAMA: Is there any chance once the show is done you would restart the comic strip?

AM: I do think the show played a big factor in having me walk away from the comic strip. I didn’t want to do both badly. The first season, I tried to do both and it took a huge toll on me. That was the first lesson.

I constantly play with the idea, but not for the newspapers. I might do it online; wireless or something. It will all depend on how many hours I can go without sleep. Also, if the strip ever comes back, it will have to be more under my terms.

NRAMA: I wonder if you found greater freedom working on television than you did on the newspaper strip?

AM: Actually I found more freedom on television. There’s a freedom of storytelling that comes from animation that let's you go way beyond the scope of what you originally could do. In terms of just content, the newspapers are very conservative and sanitized medium. I was allowed a lot more range on television. Something like the MLK episode would have been totally beyond the scope of the newspapers.

NRAMA: The MLK episode was pretty controversial for Al Sharpton. Ddi that upset you and do you think there will be any other shows equally controversial this season?

AM: You will be happy to know there will be absolutely NO controversial shows this season. [Laughs]. We went a totally different direction with the show. Yeah…You know Al came after the show and I’m a big supporter of Al. I also went after the show, but the whole second season, we had to right that and I feel terrible about it. Can’t change it.

It really depends on what you think is controversial. Some people thought Martin Luther King episode was controversial. There were some that don’t think so. So this season there may be some shows some people think are controversial and are real sensitive to that kind of thing. For me? It’s tough for me to say.

NRAMA: Were there any ideas where Adult Swim said no way?

AM: Adult Swim lets me do anything that I want.

NRAMA: Say if you get an idea today, how fast can you turn that around? It normally takes over a year, doesn’t it?

AM: It’s amazing how we write these things. It usually takes a year, year-and-a-half. Then, when they come out, they all become relevant again. We did an episode on snitching. We’re doing Gangstalicious Part Two. I think there’s a lot of things going on socially or politically that become news stories recently again, even though we wrote it a long time ago. All that really matters is whatever you write, you have to make sure that it’s still funny a year-and-a-half later. For that, all you really have to think is if it will still make sense then.

I also think that as we got more comfortable with the animation, we got bigger with the scope of the show. There’s a lot of fighting in the show this year. The comedy is a lot more sophisticated, we also got better performances. With the first season we tried to push things in terms of what you were supposed to do on TV. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we didn’t. I think we succeeded more often in season two.

NRAMA: Are you planning any other stuff besides Boondocks?

AM: Nothing yet. I’m working on stuff, but nothing I want to talk about.

NRAMA: I’ve heard you are working on a film version of the Boondocks?

AM: I’m working on it. Nothing yet, but I’m working on it.

NRAMA: Is there any episode that you look back on and think you went too far?

AM: No. When I look back on the first season, all I usually think is ‘Man, that scene looks terrible. I wish it would have been drawn better.’ I don’t look back on the writing with any regrets.

NEXT COLUMN: Bruce Timm Answers Your Questions. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. They start tomorrow..

[Marius665]

I cant wait for this!!!!

[SageShini]

I'm kind of disappointed this season won't be as controversial. Half of the fun was that I knew this show made good points AND pissed people off. Other than that, my only comment is that when Adult Swim airs stuff like Moral Orel and Lucy, Daughter of the Devil (neither of which I can bring myself to watch)...NOTHING Boondocks would ever conceivably do should be something AS would say, "Nuh-uh, you can't do that."


BTW....hoping there are more kick-ass fight scenes this season.

[Vintage]

Finally. I'm kind of surprised about Al being in arms about the MLK episode. Besides being riotous, it was to me one of the more touching and insightful episodes.

[sinister626]

Originally Posted by SageShini

I'm kind of disappointed this season won't be as controversial. Half of the fun was that I knew this show made good points AND pissed people off. Other than that, my only comment is that when Adult Swim airs stuff like Moral Orel and Lucy, Daughter of the Devil (neither of which I can bring myself to watch)...NOTHING Boondocks would ever conceivably do should be something AS would say, "Nuh-uh, you can't do that."

I'm pretty sure that whole "not controversial" thing is a joke. Besides its like he said some things might not bother you but...damn the guy next to you is pretty pissed.

[PhilipAMoore]

sound great I'll wait till comes out on dvd.

good day

[MF Stark]

I don’t look back on the writing with any regrets.

Damn Straight

[wjclark01]

I've been ready for this. And I don't believe AM for one milisecond that this season won't be as, if not more, controversial than last season. I've seen the trailer on YouTube and believe me - Aaron and his crew are coming after everybody.

Oh yeah - the guest stars are going to be insane....

11:30PM can't get here fast enough....

[waterdragon]

Originally Posted by PhilipAMoore

sound great I'll wait till comes out on dvd.

good day

Not going to at least see the buzz on TV (if you have cable) or bother downloading the episodes?

[Spade]

I only have this and the Wire for my black tv viewing pleasure. I have to find a girl soon that has cable.

[xdemon]

I watched tonight's ep at adultswim.com today. It was hilarious!

"Soul Plane 2: The Black Jacking"

[Steve Magnum]

Originally Posted by wjclark01

I've been ready for this. And I don't believe AM for one milisecond that this season won't be as, if not more, controversial than last season. I've seen the trailer on YouTube and believe me - Aaron and his crew are coming after everybody.

Oh yeah - the guest stars are going to be insane....

11:30PM can't get here fast enough....

I just checked TV.com and it looks like "tonight's" episode actually aired on Saturday night. And there was nothing about it being aired tonight. I think we may have missed it.

[Lord Shiva]

About time, I was running out of things to watch at 10:30.

[johnny.blaze]

Originally Posted by Steve Magnum

I just checked TV.com and it looks like "tonight's" episode actually aired on Saturday night. And there was nothing about it being aired tonight. I think we may have missed it.

uuuuh no

http://www.adultswim.com/

SO looking forward to this episode. This series is the SHIZNIT!

oh and Samuel L. Jackson is BACK IN DA MF HOUSE!

[waterdragon]

Just saw it today on AS.com, which I thought was pretty controversial for its subject matter. I mean correct me if I am wrong but wasn't the entire message become negated when the characters talk about safer ways of doing their piracy?

All I want to know is, how the hell did Ruckus become Nunchaku master surpreme?

[Prozac Man]

Originally Posted by Marius665

I cant wait for this!!!!

you don't have to!!! They already have the full episode at
http://www.adultswim.com/video/index.html
It's the first video on the second row down.

[vbartilucci]

Far as I'm concerned, if he's not planning on going back to the strip, pull it. Because the reruns are sad, and don't even match up with the right time of year or anything.

[RoiVampire]

this is so long overdue, i have missed this cartoon so much.

word is bond

[Marius665]

Thanks Prozac Man! You saved the day.

[Toneloak]

Originally Posted by Steve Magnum

I just checked TV.com and it looks like "tonight's" episode actually aired on Saturday night. And there was nothing about it being aired tonight. I think we may have missed it.

Nope, they showed the white god episode.

Edit: BTW, I don't know if anyone has noticed this:

Originally Posted by Steve Fritz

NEXT COLUMN: Bruce Timm Answers Your Questions. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. They start tomorrow..

I'm excited.

[hlbimage]

Boondocks is posibly THE BEST animated show ever. It is edgy, funny and thought provoking. I saw the first episode of season two streamed from the Cartoon Network's website yesterday and it was a blast.

[Thundasturm]

The first episode back was hilarious -- I know this show goes over the heads of a lot of people, but I really appreciated the social messages in the first season, and I hope he doesn't stray too far from them in this upcoming season. Uncle Ruckus vs. Huey destroyed me...

[hlbimage]

Originally Posted by Thundasturm

Uncle Ruckus vs. Huey destroyed me...

I love that last frame of the episode.

[YDLM]

Far and away, this is my favorite show on tv. Nothing touches it. The characters are so layered and the animation is top notch. South Park and the Simpsons are looking up to this show.

[HowAreWeToLive]

Great interview.

I miss the comic. I hope for as much of the TV show as possible (and for Al Sharpton to get even more pissed off), but more of the strip (even online...sounds cool!) would be awesome.