soooo . . . a long time ago. . . BEFORRRRRRE CGI penguins were popular . . . my friend scott sava and i sold a show called EMPEROR to Nickolodeon
and we went into development to do a little short cartoon for them as a test pilot. well, one thing led to another and we finished it about a year or so
ago. it test rather well, but they weren't too sure because looming on the horizon was Dreamworks and their sale to Viacom . . . which owns
Nickolodeon . . . which now has become the place for Dreamworks to develop tv series stuff . . . liiiiiiiike a penguin series based on the penguins in Madagascar.
arrrrrrgh.
anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, the rights have all reverted back to us(yea! :) ) and i'm trying to figure out what to do with it now. i'd like to re-imagine the characters into a 2-d world again and then take it into publishing and merchandise imagery of this little Napolionic emperor penguin trying to take over the world from his Zoo enclosure. he's greedy and power hungry and is only trying to remind everyone of who should be first in line . . . him.
;)
he's very much in the vein of daffy duck or plankton from spongebob and i love that, because it gives him a fault that can be used to make him vulnerable and thereby, likeable. he's not perfect and he reminds us of what happens when we get too full of ourselves.
of course, HE likes to remind everyone, including his little brother Ollie, and a crazy squirrel named Eugene, that he is an Emperor penguin for a reason . . . HE should be in charge, and his basic view on everything is very simple . . . . "How does it benefit me?"
;)
sooooo, now that we're looking for a direction and new home for Emperor, it seemed like a good idea to at least share it with everyone. here for your enjoyment is the humble lil' short that we did for them pretty much all by ourselves using each of our companies The Astonish Factory and Blue Dream Studios to produce a 6 minute mini-pilot . . .
Emperor is insulted that his own little brother would rather be a lion when he grows up . . . Emperor decides to explain that just because there aren't any emperor penguins in Africa, it is no excuse for the lions to be promoting themselves as "king of the beasts."
:)
i do hope you like it. it was a lot of work, but fun and also a very good learning experience. i guess we'll see what happens next with the little penguin
that would be emperor . . .
:)
enjoy!
m . . .
16 comments:
I love the story, and the penguins characteristics. I think you got a winner again Mike.
The character design of the lion is awesome, and the animation where the lion explains what a pain it is to be the king is amazing. Really made me laugh out loud!
I hope you find some way to bring this to the audience, because it deserves it.
i found this about a month ago and thought it was awesome! I love the penguin, but the lion is my favorite! SO excited to see what you end up doing with it ~ YAY! :)
Mike, I love the concepts!!!! So you said you wanted to eventually do this in 2-D? I fully support it!
Really amazing personality.
Good stuff, and I agree that 2D would bring it to life even more. Seems that the limited TV 3D animation leaves the facial expressions a litle flat.
Man I just hope that military penguins, tap dancing penguins and soon to be, surfboarding penguins don't oversaturate your chances to much. Because really, this idea seems better than a few of those.
Definitely keep posting about how it goes, would love to hear about the process.
i 3rd the 2-d route, maybe in a more waterpainted style like the title opener
the characters seem like the guy from "rundown" and the brain from animaniacs
eugene seems on his side like pinky as a loyal sidekick while
his brother is like the voice of reason who i suspect would be like the dog "brain" from inspector gadget if he could talk
by looking at "the emperor's" exploits he could be the one to be king or better yet help unify the zoo by being in second command next to the lion and not albert and the brother would also become albert's monkeywrench ( possibly with monkeys ? ) in it all, something to think about
also putting this in all mediums would be awesome but...
i would still prefer some more herobear comics first
Hey Mike!
Thanks for visiting the GLoG!
I'm been a fan of Hero Bear for awhile. It's great to see your latest work. God has definitely blessed you with skills my friend! Keep up the great work!
I liked the end of the story as told through Ollie's drawings. *grins*
Heya Mike
I love your work, i got the early Herobear editions in the UK and the beanie imported back in the day. Good to see you're doing this blogging lark too. Would be good to chat more about kindred interests, me too being a kids book autho/illustrator and designer for animation. Do call by my good fellow.
V best
Curtis
http://badablingthing.blogspot.com/
Dude this is awesome!! The "Sleeper Hold" gag had me in tears!! I also think it'd be even cooler in 2D... DO IT!!!
hah! that was fun! you and scott did a great job with that. :D
2D all the way man.. i love the concepts:D
great story too!
thanks everyone for all your comments!
:)
i'm definitely playing with some fun new 2-D designs.
we'll see what happens with this lil' emperor.
all the best,
m . . .
Hey man,
I saw this I wasnot aware it was you.
Congrats on the Annie and your continued success
that was Fantastic!!!
ive been a fan of yours for a while and i just found your blog...so excuse the tardiness of my comments!
thanks for posting this.
I love ollie..very cute. The designs are astounding and the episode was very funny. The premis for the show is great. As far as i'm concerned, this is a winner.
Very cool piece. I wish I could do 3D as good as that. But the concept work is what appeals to me the most! Those drawings look awesome!
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