Past Vancouver animation highlights
Putting together a timeline on key releases in Vancouver animation history is bound to generate debate. The following five creations kept coming up in interviews with representatives of Vancouver animation studios as key to the development of the industry both locally and — in many cases — globally, Stuart Derdeyn writes. With business booming the way it is, there is definitely more to come. NOTE: Many of these are adult content.
Bambi Meets Godzilla (International Rocketship, 1973)
Directed, drawn, written, filmed and produced by Marv Newland in 1969, this is the film that put Vancouver animation on the map when it went into wide release in ’73. Bambi grazes as the opening credits pass by to the tune of Rossini’s pastoral William Tell overture. Godzilla’s foot comes down and flattens him. Roll end credits. Call it one minute and 30 seconds that shook the cartoon world. Rated No. 38 in animation historian Jerry Beck’s The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals (1994). International Rocketship went on to produce such gems as Sing Beast Sing (1981), Pink Komkommer (1991) and Beijing Flipbook (2003), among others.
Lupo the Butcher (International Rocketship, 1987)
The first solo work by animator Danny Antonucci is one bloody cut after another as a cranky Italian-Canadian butcher named Lupo complains about his daily grind. Dark, hilarious and over the top, it became an animation festival favourite and was licensed as a character for Converse shoes, Levi Strauss & Co and MTV. Antonucci founded a.k.a. Cartoon in 1994, which produced Cartoon Network’s Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999-2009), still ranked as a series most in need of a reboot.
Reboot (Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Communications, BLT Productions, 1994-2001)
The first half hour-long animated TV series to be completely computer generated and follows the adventures of Bob (the Guardian), Enzo and Dot Matrix working to keep their computer world (Mainframe) secure from the evil viruses Megabyte and Hexadecimal. This award-winning program set high standards for those that followed and wasn’t without its controversies. Geek alert: Mainframe is a division of Rainmaker Entertainment Inc., which reports that 20 years after the original series Reboot, The Guardian Code is coming with a multi-platform configuration for fans.
¡Mucha Lucha! (Bardel Entertainment, 2002)
The first animated television series created entirely with Adobe Flash. This American-Mexican-Canadian series produced by Warner Brothers Animation was broadcast on Teletoon in Canada and had a 52-episode run. It showcased the adventures of three child characters — Rikochet, The Flea and Buena Girl — and their adventures and misadventures in a fictional Mexican town where everyone is involved in lucha libre (professional wrestling).
Sausage Party (Nitrogen Studios Canada Inc., 2016)
Seth Rogen’s and Evan Goldberg’s animated feature film about talking groceries being graphically terminated is a box office hit. It’s also the first CGI-animated film to get an MPAA R-rating. A parody of pretty much every major studio’s animated films — Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks — the Columbia Pictures release is reported by Variety.com as having rung up US$34 million and counting to date. This makes it the largest August opening ever for an animated feature. The film’s success has been dogged somewhat by media reports of unidentified animators alleging poor working conditions. In other news, The Guardian reported last week that the film will receive an 11 rating, meaning children as young as seven can see it when accompanied by an adult. This can’t hurt the feature’s global bottom line.