ANIMATED SHORTS: FRISKY DINGO, GATCHAMAN PART 2

[MattBrady]

GETTIN’ FRISKY
Frisky Dingo, Gatchaman 2

by Steve Fritz

For the record, Jim Babcock really is a great guy. That probably explains why the guys behind the new Adult Swim series Frisky Dingo killed him not once, but twice.

“We love Jim Babcock, the head PR guy for Adult Swim,” says series co-creator Matt Thompson. “For all of our characters in the show, we take pictures of real people to use models in our illustrations. Jim was kind enough to volunteer for some twin brothers who get killed off in our first episode. I think Jim's comment was something to the effect of, ‘It's nice to know that when you think about what a dick-headed Marketing guy looks like, you thought of me first.’”

But when you think about it, that’s sort of business as usual for Thompson and cohort Adam Reed. Previously they sunk the Hanna-Barbera series Sealab 2020 to even new depths when they turned it into the Adult Swim series Sealab 2021. Now they are doing to spandex and Kevlar what they had previously done to rubber body suits. That’s right guys, Thompson and Reed are doing their darndest to skewer superheroes.

Just understand one thing, they know of what they speak.

“I've always liked Marvel better,” says Thompson. “DC feels old to me. I could care less what Plastic Man is up to. I have enjoyed the recent Justice series, but the Infinite Universe stuff was way too complicated. Marvel has characters that feel edgier to me. I love that Captain America has gone underground and the parallels they are drawing right now with the Patriot Act. Plus I grew up reading X-Men, so I can never get enough of them.”

“We wanted to do a superhero show without having people punch each other in the face. Just wanted to hear them talking to each other. At the same time, we are small businessmen. The two things collided together nicely for us: people talking about destroying the world and talking about how to fund what they are doing. The merchandising angle is definitely a part of that, however, it is more about running a
business in general.

“For example, Killface wants to destroy the world,” says Thompson. “But he needs help to do it. So he has to hire a staff of people to help him destroy the world. To get good help you have to provide benefits like health insurance and a 401K plan. So then you get a demon who wants to destroy the world, [but] who has to deal with the management of his 401K plan.”



In truth, Killface is your typical psychopathic supervillain who not only has to worry about rising health insurance premiums, but media buys, the cost of propelling the Earth into the Sun and other sundry items. It’s no wonder he turns his marketing guys into dog food…over and over again.

“The show was originally conceived as a sort of Space Marines show where they battled villains like Killface,” says Thompson. “In the pitch to Adult Swim, they convinced us that Killface was the most interesting part of the pitch. So we reorganized our world around him and went from there.”

What Thompson and Reed went to next was Killface’s counterpoint, Xander Crews a.k.a. Awesome X. He has his own problems, too.

“We see Xander Crews as mix of Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne,” says Thompson, “if they had a retarded baby. This was done consciously from the beginning - mixing the inherited, pampered lifestyle of Bruce Wayne, with the drinking and womanizing of Tony Stark. Then we just bumped his IQ down 100 points and we were off. We actually read a lot of back issues of Iron Man to get up to speed on Tony Stark. We were familiar with Iron Man, but didn't know him super well. That said, Xander Crews is definitely not a clone of either of these guys. They just share some elements.”

As Wayne and Stark could probably tell you, being a superhero is just plain expensive. Having a flying fortress and personal elite strike squad costs mega money. Crews, or rather his superhero counterpart, is busting his monstrously huge supercorporation faster than you can say Enron.

Then Crews comes up with an idea. Why not market not only Awesome X merchandise, but Killface collectibles too. Oddly enough, Killface finds the idea, well, attractive. When the two hook up it’s marketing heaven.

Don’t think Thompson and Reed aren’t aware of this either. Marketing even had an effect on the name of the show, which they originally had planned to call Whisky Tango 6.

“There was a band or something out there called Whiskey Tango,” says Thompson. “So we went with Whiskey Tango 6. Turner Legal said that just by adding a six we really hadn't differentiated ourselves
enough. The bottom line is that Turner would not have been able to sell a Whiskey Tango T-shirt and we can't have that. So, a little frustrated, we told Adult Swim, how about Frisky Dingo? Thinking that the name somewhat stupidly rhymed with Whiskey Tango. Mike Lazzo (AS’s fearless leader--ED) loved the silly name, even though we suggested it as a joke. From there the name just kinda stuck, like a bad nickname from college. I must say that we have come to like the name a lot.”

In fact, Thompson and Reed have incorporated the title into the series as a plot point. Just how, Thompson won’t say.

“We can't talk to you about what is going to happen with ‘frisky dingo,’ says Thompson, “as it actually relates to the show. That is a big secret right now. But…it’s not just about licensing. It is about the crappy minutiae of business in general. Licensing is a part of that. Running a small business you get into all of these inane conversations that you wished to God you didn't have to have. For instance, talking to your health insurance representative on the phone, trying to figure out why your premiums are increasing for the 40th time. A form of this real conversation made it into our show, where our main character, Killface, has to deal with his medical insurance lapsing for him and his employees. When you take a guy who is out to destroy the world and make him talk to someone in Human Resources, that's just funny to us.”

As for the future of other Adult Swim employees besides Babcock? Let’s just say we probably will see a number of them being decimated on the series.

“Adult Swim employees are all over our show,” says Thompson. “If you see a character in our show, it is a pretty safe assumption that there is a person that looks exactly like that working for Adult Swim in some capacity.”

“We are [also] working up a plan to kill Jim for real in 2007,” says Thompson. “Don't tell him.”

We won’t. Promise. The rest of you have been warned.

Frisky Dingo is part of Adult Swim’s comedy block, airing every Sunday at 12:30 a.m..

GATCHAMAN PT. 2

Last column we covered the creation of Tatsunoko’s landmark anime series Gatchaman. Now it’s time to see how it went on to become one of the most respected series in the world. Not forgetting the incredible job ADV did on the recently finished 24-DVD/8-box collection.

While the 70s were a fertile and incredibly creative time in the world of Japanese animation, that was hardly the case in the U.S.

“I don't think they could have been more different in the early 70s,” says Gatchaman historian Jason Hofius, “American shows were pretty flat and limited compared to Japanese shows. The Japanese programs featured better animation, more action and a lot more variety in their stories. Sure, American
television animation at the time had a lot of memorable shows and characters, but not many of them had intricate plots or main characters with much depth.

“I always refer to Scooby-Doo as a comparison simply because most people are familiar with it. I suppose a more appropriate comparison to shows at the time Gatchaman premiered in Japan would be something like The Brady Kids or Sealab 2020. These were what kids in America were seeing in 1972 while Japanese audiences watched the premieres of shows like Gatchaman, Devilman and Mazinger Z.

“Japanese programs were able to create more detailed stories, characters and animation,” says Hofius. “This was due in part to the way their shows were produced and aired. A full season for an American animated program usually consisted of as little as thirteen episodes. Follow-up seasons for a returning show could have even fewer new episodes, which would be spread out through the course of many reruns. But if a show became a hit in Japan it would continue with a new episode each week until it was no longer pulling in ratings, or its studio and sponsors wanted to call an end to it. There were very few reruns of a show while it was on the air there. The stopping points for many shows in Japan came around 16 (a half year) or 52 episodes (a full year), but hits could go on a lot longer. The fact that a new episode was needed weekly both allowed, and made it necessary, for creators to explore more deeply
into the stories and characters. They could create plots that wove through the entire run of a series to pay off at the end.”

That didn’t mean the American television market wasn’t aware of what was happening in Japan. After all, the 60s did have its share Japanese hits, from Astro Boy to Kimba onto Speed Racer. Those were just the mega-hits, the world of TV in the 60s and 70s also had shows like 8th Man, Amazing 3, Marine Boy and many others coming and going. So it was natural someone would want to import Gatchaman. Those that did gave it the mandatory name change, of course, to Battle of the Planets.

“Battle of the Planets was first shown in North America in September, 1978,” says Hofius. “It was created for, and distributed via the syndicated television market. Stations across the United States and Canada aired the show on their own schedules independent of one another. It was brought over by a syndicated television programming buyer named Sandy Frank. He first recognized its potential at an early 1977 trade show. When Star Wars hit later that year, he thought Gatchaman could capture the same audience on TV, so he purchased worldwide rights to the show from Tatsunoko.”

As it turned out, Frank was absolutely correct in his assumption about the show’s popularity.

“When Battle of the Planets first showed up, reaction was huge,” says Hofius. “The show took in great numbers across North America, regularly beating the competition when it was aired in weekday after school timeslots. Fans, myself included, were hooked when they saw the show. It really was like
nothing else on television at the time. The animation, characters, music and action made other animated action shows look boring in contrast.”

What many Americans didn’t realize though was the amount of changes Frank put the show through, at least not at first. While the controversy over the changes never reached the level of other American translations, things like the addition of characters such as 7-Zark-7 and the splitting of Katse Berg into two different characters were heavy-handed at best. Hofius though, isn’t as hard on them. In one sense certain changes made sense. Think of what American censors would have thought about what WAS a kids show with a hermaphrodite villain who could switch sexes at the drop of a hat?

“Although Sandy Frank made the deal to bring Gatchaman over,” Hofius recalls, “the person most directly responsible for its translation into Battle of the Planets was a gentleman named Jameson Brewer. He was the head writer for the series and had a hand in just about every other aspect of its production. He and his small staff worked extremely hard to make Gatchaman into something that could be shown as North American children's programming.

“Opinions at the time were very positive. Battle of the Planets tested extremely well with boys and girls from age 6 up to through their mid-teens. The ratings showed tremendous national reaction to the series when it was on. A lot of the older kids didn't care much for the robot 7-Zark-7 character, but they were able to look beyond him to focus on the other great material the show presented.”

Meanwhile, in Japan the sequels started to appear. In 1978 Tatsunoko would produce Gatchaman 2, which had 52 episodes. Then came Gatchaman F in 1979 with 48 episodes. Over the years there would also be three OVAs. Unfortunately Frank didn’t bring these over.

Instead, Ted Turner stepped into the picture. He hired Fred Ladd, the man who brought Astro Boy over, to his fledgling Turner empire, to do an entirely different thing called G-Force.

“When Battle of the Planets had seemingly run its course, Sandy Frank negotiated with Turner Broadcasting to create a new version to sell as completely different show,” says Hofius. “It was done in a more faithful manner to the Gatchaman source material, but it was still cut down for content and time and aimed at a younger audience. G-Force never got a full airing in America until 1995 and that was only for a limited time. I don't think it was ever really given a fair chance to find an audience here.”

But by this time, anime clubs had sprung up throughout the North American continent like white on rice. They were well aware of the differences between the various incarnations of the series, and did much to keep the original alive, if not revered.

Then there was the final impact of the series, which is still being felt today.

“The series was extremely influential in Japan,” says Hofius. “Like I mentioned before it was a prototype for so many series, both in animation and live-action. The Tatsunoko style of character design and animation influenced many productions for years to come. The techniques and skills that the staff learned at Tatsunoko were put to good use when they went on to work on other companies and create their own productions.

There isn't any question that it had influence here as well. Battle of the Planets was the first Japanese series in eleven years to come to America. After it appeared, it opened the doors for things like Star Blazers, Robotech, Voltron and more. Since Battle of the Planets' introduction, Japanese animation has been coming over continuously to this day. You always have to wonder if the genre would have had as great an impact if Battle of the Planets hadn't been done. I'm sure Japanese animation would have come over again eventually, but it probably would have been quite a different buildup.”

And to give them their proper due, ADV has done a spectacular job in representing the series. Each of the eight boxes contain two DVDs of original episodes with a third full disk featuring every possible bit of information on the series.

If that wasn’t enough, ADV went the extra distance and came up with what many now consider the best subtitling, scripting and redubbing the series has ever received. Among those who worked on this work of love was Hofius, who actually works for Sandy Frank Entertainment.

“David Del Rio and Janice Williams were the main producers I dealt with in getting the sets produced,” says Hofius. “I also communicated a lot with Sarah Alys Lindholm, who was the lead translator for Gatchaman, on language questions. Everyone at ADV was wonderful to work with. Their staff would always check with me to clear things up whenever they had a question. Likewise, they were available for me whenever I had a question or concern.

“It was great getting it all together. I've worked on a lot of home video sets for Batle of the Planets around the world and I always enjoy the process. The Gatchaman releases were special, since it was the first time the original material was getting released.

“I had a few different responsibilities for the Gatchaman releases through my job at Sandy Frank Entertainment. First, I provided a ton of information to ADV. This included hundreds of production images, a full run of the original Japanese scripts, background for character write-ups, behind-the-scenes facts, essays and a wealth of bonus material content. Second, I did approvals for packaging and other
elements for each wave. Some things were provided up front, but a good deal of it was done volume-to-volume as well. It was a lot of work, it kept me busy.”

Probably the biggest thrill on the packaging side was getting no less than Alex Ross to do all the cover work.

“He's very energetic and great to talk with,” says Hofius. “Alex was, and is, a huge fan of Battle of the Planets and Gatchaman. The first time I spoke with him I could tell he was a real fan of the series and had a solid grasp on the subtleties of the characters. Not only their personalities, but also
on their visual qualities.

“He had painted a Gatchaman piece for an animation magazine article a few years ago, through which Sandy Frank got in touch with him. That quickly led to him going on to create and direct the Battle of the Planets comic for Top Cow Productions. He painted the covers for the series and that's where most of the images for ADV's releases originated. Although he did create a few new covers for ADV, most notably for the first box set.”

And if you were to ask Hofius if he was happy to be involved in this historical collection, the answer shouldn’t surprise you.

“It feels great to know that it's out there for anyone to see, but I'll miss the work of putting it together,” he said. “If ADV ever gets the chance to complete the two Gatchaman sequel series, I'll be available for them! You wouldn't believe how many times through the years I had been asked ‘Is Gatchaman ever going to come out?’ Now I can finally say ‘Yes.’ I had a lot of fun on the project, and I hope other fans enjoy it and feel that it was a strong effort.”

Indeed.

NICK LAUNCHING SPONGEBOB MARATHON THIS NOVEMBER

America’s most porous pop star will have a 24-hour, 45-episode marathon this November, and fans will be able to have their say about it.

Nickelodeon announced it will do a SpongeBob SquarePants raree starting Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m.. It will culminate with a very new episode called “Best Day Ever” on Friday, November 10 at 8:00 p.m. eastern. If that isn’t enough, a video to a new song for “Best Day Ever” will make its debut next week on October 26. If that song is the kind of stuff that gets some motion in your ocean, then get ready. There will also be a SpongeBob CD produced by the voice of the sponge himself, Tom Kenny and featuring performances by the likes of Tommy Ramone, Flaco Jimenez and the ultimate Beach Boy, Brain Wilson.

In the meantime, viewers can also have a voice as to what episodes will air on the marathon. Fans can go to the new website www.nick.com/turbo to put their vote in, where over 160 different episodes can be decided on in 40-episode chunks.

So get ready kids. It sounds like this is a great chance to get all wet…in a good way that is.

ANIME NETWORK ADDS GUYVER & NEGIMA

The Anime Network announced it’s adding two very hot Japanese series to its already burgeoning program listings.

The first is the new version of The Guyver. This is a remake of the classic series that ADV recently started issuing about an everyday high school boy who has some serious alien hardware literally thrust on him. Now he must fight for both his and all he cares about from monsters the world is just not ready to fight off. The series will make its debut on Anime VOD on November 14.

The other is the series Paniponi Dash, about an 11-year old genius suddenly finding herself teaching a class of 10 year-old girls. The creators of this series have since gone on to do Negima, so it should appeal to those who love relationship anime. It makes its debut on Anime VOD on November 30.

Check your local carrier for linear programming info.

PALE FORCE COMING TO NBC.COM

As part of NBC’s ongoing “TV 360” approach to its series, Late Night with Conan O’Brien goes digital with new webisodes of Pale Force, every Friday, starring Conan O’Brien and Jim Gaffigan.

NBC.com will feature a total of 20 new 90-second webisodes of the cartoon every Friday. Each month, Gaffigan will appear on Late Night to debut a special two-part edition of Pale Force that will begin on the show and conclude online. Gaffigan debuted Pale Force on Late Night in September 2005 and has returned with subsequent episodes on his following two appearances. The
animated shorts chronicle the adventures of Gaffifan’s muscle-bound Pale Man and his scrawny sidekick “Conan O’Brien.”

To help this series along, here are some Webisode Links:

Windows Media

http://www.nbc.com/Video/download/pf... pt2_100k.wmv.
http://www.nbc.com/Video/download/pf... pt2_300k.wmv.
http://www.nbc.com/Video/download/pf... pt2_500k.wmv.

Quicktime
http://www.nbc.com/Video/download/pf...t2_272x192.mov.
http://www.nbc.com/Video/download/pf...t2_560x416.mov.


Next Column: We start shakin’ like a Polaroid picture with Andre Benjamin and the Class of 3000.

[Spaz_Monkey]

Ah, Sandy Frank... A name well known to fans of MST3K.






yeah, that's it. My entire post.

[sfritz]

Nearly forgot to add...As reported by Toonzone, DAVID BOWIE is supposedly joining the cast of SpongeBob as a new character. Check them out for more info. -s

Their URL is www.news.toonzone.net.

[xdemon]

I loved the first episode of Frisky Dingo. Adult Swin is some of the best TV around.

Hey Steve! Any chance of interviewing the creators of the Venture Brothers? I would love to see that.

[Kolimar]

Frisky Dingo sounds awesome. Particularly Killface.

[sfritz]

Originally Posted by xdemon

I loved the first episode of Frisky Dingo. Adult Swin is some of the best TV around.

Hey Steve! Any chance of interviewing the creators of the Venture Brothers? I would love to see that.

I interviewed Jackson Publick a few months back. Check in the OP/ED archives and I'm sure you'll find it. -s

[SpyGuy]

Killface from FRISKY DINGO vs. Murderface from METALOCALYPSE. Discuss.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by sfritz

Nearly forgot to add...As reported by Toonzone, DAVID BOWIE is supposedly joining the cast of SpongeBob as a new character. Check them out for more info. -s

Their URL is www.news.toonzone.net.

I freaking hate SpongeBob. David is officially on my shitlist from now on.

Mr. Bumpy should kick their ass.

Mr. Bumpy rules!!!

[jsnsbags]

I f'n loved the first ep. of Frisky Dingo. From frekin all the mundane sh!+ like PO numbers for engineering work to stupid marketing strategies for sending the world your doom message. This is the kinda stupid stuff to see in our would be world destroyers, because i do most of that dumb sh!+ every damn day. That always made me wonder how much the unit price would be to get airtime on all the tv stations at one time. Sheez Doom and other supervillians did that almost every month. They must be frekin loaded.

[Neal Holman]

Killface speaks:

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/frisk...illfacespeaks/

Neal

[astronato]

Forgive me if I missed it. This ADV release is the entire 105 episodes of Gatchaman series 1?

Man, I got beat on the Rhino Gatchaman/BotP/G-Force dvd's. Bastards!

anyway, Nice pair of articles on Gatchaman. thnx

[sfritz]

Originally Posted by astronato

Forgive me if I missed it. This ADV release is the entire 105 episodes of Gatchaman series 1?

Man, I got beat on the Rhino Gatchaman/BotP/G-Force dvd's. Bastards!

anyway, Nice pair of articles on Gatchaman. thnx

Yep, it sure is...with each of the eight boxes sporting their own Alex Ross art to boot. -s

[wraith]

Originally Posted by sfritz

Yep, it sure is...with each of the eight boxes sporting their own Alex Ross art to boot. -s

Great column. I have a few quick questions for you.

1. How much does the entire ADV GATCHAMAN box set costs?

2. I heard a rumor a while ago, that a new GATCHAMAN tv series was in the works. Is this true? Is this rumor mistakingly refering to the upcoming CGI GATCHAMANmovie?

3. Will the ADV GATCHAMAN translation be coming to tv stations other then the ANIME NETWORK?

Keep these great articles coming.

[sfritz]

Originally Posted by wraith

Great column. I have a few quick questions for you.

1. How much does the entire ADV GATCHAMAN box set costs?

I'm generally seeing them for around $30 to $35 a pop.

2. I heard a rumor a while ago, that a new GATCHAMAN tv series was in the works. Is this true? Is this rumor mistakingly refering to the upcoming CGI GATCHAMANmovie?

Not sure about that one. I've heard rumors, too, but just rumors.

3. Will the ADV GATCHAMAN translation be coming to tv stations other then the ANIME NETWORK?

Keep these great articles coming.

I haven't heard anything myself...which is a shame. Thanks for the complements. -s

[gazoo]

Just for your information Gatchaman released by ADV has 9 (nine) box sets, not 8 (eight).