Before there was Adventure Time, Regular Show and Gravity Falls... there was this little number of a show.
So... what does this show have?
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Well, it has this.
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| This. |
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| And most importantly these. |
W-What?
As the title pretty much suggests, this series follows the crazy misadventures of a young adorable little boy and an old blue skinned sailor (Possibly, if he really is one, he's an awful one) named Flapjack and Captain Knuckles respectively.
While it is believed that the main plot of the entire show is for them to find Candied Island and get their endless fill of yummy sweets, these two tend to get involved in numerous completely unrelated adventures right in their home town of Storm-Along Harbor, be it humorous, bizarre, or just downright nightmare fuel worthy.
H-How?
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| Cel-Animation with beautifully done paper collage backgrounds. |
The series is mostly done in cel-animation, but what stands out particularly are the gorgeous, traditionally done background and settings, aside from simply painting the backgrounds, collages are used to and even some claymation. It is pretty surprising that the aesthetics for this series is so unbelievably gorgeous, in contrast to its crazy, random, disturbing characters and plots.
Also notable are the variety of character art styles, whilst most of the main characters are cartoony and simplistic in design, there are times when far more realistically drawn characters make an appearance on screen.
Though most of the time, this series preferably focuses more on exaggeratedly humorous, hideous and terrifying looking characters as they are the ones that makes the show (It makes you go "This was intended for kids?!").
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| Stop motion. |
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| A little of everything mixed in. (Pictured above, Thurop, his son, and Roz Ryan's face) |
I apologize for the spoilers here, as the series was nearing its end, Thurop decided to do a little something extra by basically bringing the main characters to life, using himself, his son and Roz Ryan for a pixilation/stop motion ending.
It was a strange ending with a strange presentation, but if you have watched the entire series up to that point, nothing will surprise you anymore.
It was a strange ending with a strange presentation, but if you have watched the entire series up to that point, nothing will surprise you anymore.
Who watches this?
Why, kids of course, and as usual quite a few adults (Don't you deny it).
Quite the multi-talented fellow, Thurop studied Character Animation at the California Institute of Arts, it is evident that the man held a great deal of love for this show, from the way he communicated with his fans on Deviantart and showing his appreciation for their fanart, to just the way he voices the titular character, Flapjack.
He is presently working on the new series Sanjay and Craig (Which is also pretty hilarious), as well as working on his stop motion film project titled Black Forest.
If you are still curious about the other great folks that worked on this series, have look at this article that studies the differences in art styles among several well known writer-animators who had worked on the show.
http://www.toonzone.net/2009/06/different-styles-in-the-marvelous-misadventures-of-flapjack/#.Uk358vj-fDN
Why, kids of course, and as usual quite a few adults (Don't you deny it).
Since the 90s ended, I felt that this was the return to more daring cartoons, while it appears to be disguised as a cute, adventure series, soon enough out pops some rather terrifying scenes that either scare away watchers, or... scare them away, and pull them back in for more.
While not as loved as Adventure Time, it has a pretty decent following of people that appreciates it for it's dark style of comedy, cute bits of randomness, and again, surprisingly gorgeous art style.
Who dunnit?
There are a notable list of people who worked on this (Yes, yes, we all know of the fantabulous Pendleton Ward...), but in this section we will simply be focusing on the creator himself, Thurop Van Orman.
Quite the multi-talented fellow, Thurop studied Character Animation at the California Institute of Arts, it is evident that the man held a great deal of love for this show, from the way he communicated with his fans on Deviantart and showing his appreciation for their fanart, to just the way he voices the titular character, Flapjack.
He is presently working on the new series Sanjay and Craig (Which is also pretty hilarious), as well as working on his stop motion film project titled Black Forest.
If you are still curious about the other great folks that worked on this series, have look at this article that studies the differences in art styles among several well known writer-animators who had worked on the show.
http://www.toonzone.net/2009/06/different-styles-in-the-marvelous-misadventures-of-flapjack/#.Uk358vj-fDN
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