When the local zoo is running low on funds, there’s only one way to save it–a rock ‘n roll show! But just like rock ‘n roll, there’s some nasty alongside the sweet as students battle to save the zoo from itself.

Unlike a lot of other recent episodes, this one is quite lengthy and therefore took a fairly large group of people many months to complete.  It should have been shorter, but life sometimes gets in the way of such things.

Trivia

• The opening with Westin was a last minute addition.  The cold opening felt like it better tied elements of the episode together.
• Westin features a pulsating red circle that very closely resembles the Xbox 360′s red ring of death.
• The Planet of the Apes sequence features references to all of the original films in the series.

Cast and Crew

Alexandra Bassett

Randy Cravens

John Gibson

Tim Hopp

David Rothwell
Director/ Animator / Executive Producer

Erin Rothwell

Derek Seltzer

Chad Young

Sarah Franzen Young

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

The tragedy of the flood in Nashville, TN is brought into sharp focus by the tragedy that is celebrity telethons.  Celebrities such as Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, and Garth Brooks unite to save Nashville, while the Professor Hobo characters look on.

Of course, for something spoofing current events timing is key.  By the time the idea had come to us we were already running a bit behind, so we spent essentially a day and a half putting this animation together.  Considering, we think it turned out pretty well.  Like most recent animations, voices were recorded across three states.

Trivia

• This episode references two different Kanye West incidents.  The Katrina relief telethon where he originally spoke out against George Bush, and the 2009 VMA’s where he interrupted Taylor Swift.
• Mr. Mittens can be spotted napping on top of the frat house’s television.
• Was completed in less than a day and a half.  Like Episode VII before it, this originally began as a comic strip idea that sort of evolved.

Cast and Crew

David Rothwell
Director/ Animator / Executive Producer

 
Derek Seltzer

Sarah Franzen Young

 
Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

The campus comes to a standstill when the latest celebrity scandal grabs everyone’s attention.  Originally started as a comic, the idea soon became too unwieldy for the printed page.  Right before dropping it entirely we wondered if it might work best as an animation, and so here it is.

Of course, for something spoofing current events timing is key.  By the time the idea had come to us we were already running a bit behind, so we spent essentially a day and a half putting this animation together.  Considering, we think it turned out pretty well.  Like most recent animations, voices were recorded across three states.

Trivia

• Tiger’s dialogue is from the actual Tiger, and not a dubbing.
• This episode features non-speaking cameos from several characters.
• Was completed in less than a day and a half.  The original strip did not contain the bookend sections with the professors.

Cast and Crew

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

What originally began as a small idea for a comic soon snowballed.  The Black Friday concept was originally supposed to be a normal three-panel comic.  However, when the idea simply couldn’t be fit within three panels it got turned into the first expanded six-panel strip in full-color.  And that, gave us an idea.

While working on the strip the idea crossed our minds that much of the drawing and coloring work would be completed to just go ahead and turn it into a full animation.  So voices were recorded and some expanded shots were added, but the final product is the full Black Friday trailer starring Rick.

Trivia

• Oaks Mall is a reference to Kentucky Oaks Mall in Paducah, KY where we grew up.
• Rick’s final line in the trailer is a reference to the classic John Carpenter film They Live, where a character says, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
• The mall setting is also an obvious reference to the George Romero film Dawn of the Dead.

Cast and Crew

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

The sixth episode is technically the seventh episode.  So, how did it end up being labeled the sixth episode?  Originally a script was written for a sixth episode that was to center around the student characters at a summer camp.  Early production work even began on the episode with some drawings and rough scene animations completed.  However, as work proceeded it became clear that a full 22 minute episode was a bit too much to tackle at that time in our lives due to outside factors.

Not wanting to abandon Professor Hobo as an animated project entirely, we instead focused on producing a short for the Internet.  The idea was that a series of these shorts could be produced and released, though other factors kept that plan from working out as well.  Still, this episode was finished and offers a brief glimpse into the downtime of the characters.

Trivia

• There are several references to short films completed by the filmmakers and their friends.  Look for the DVD cover of such short films as Nougat, and the never filmed Tear Filled Kiss.
• Yes, most of the DVD covers are upside down on the shelves.  This is intentional as a gag about the poor performance of Mr. Rats employees.
• Though there are only two real speaking parts in this episode, there are many appearances by characters from previous episodes, and Blind Professor makes his debut in a cartoon.

Cast and Crew

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots

Produced originally for College Sports Television (CSTV), the fifth episode had the shortest turn around time of any episode.  After finishing the fourth episode, CSTV contacted us and requested a second episode to air.  Obviously they again wanted a sports theme, but they also wanted it in one month.  That meant from starting the script to rendering the final cut the production time of this episode was almost exactly one month.

A much shorter production schedule would seem most likely to lead to a much shorter episode, but that wasn’t the case.  We found to tell a story worth telling for a television audience, we needed something with some decent length.  That doesn’t mean we weren’t completely frustrated by the turnaround time, as exhibited by the final joke in this episode.

Trivia

• This episode was produced exclusively for College Sports Television (CSTV).
• Happy Fun Beer makes its second appearance, after originally appearing in episode three.
• The SIU name and colors were a reference to Southern Illinois University, a regional rival of Murray State University.

Cast and Crew

Barry Cooper

Amanda Ferguson

John Gibson

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Marshall Welch

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots

The fourth episode was the first originally produced for College Sports Television (CSTV).  They wanted a cartoon that focused on college students playing sports.  It seemed a little generic to do a basketball or football story, so instead we picked an even more generic sport and went with bowling.  Actually, we spent a great deal of time in college bowling, so it seemed like a natural fit.

The eventual version that CSTV aired was radically different.  It cut significant parts of the episode, including any scenes with Mr. Mittens.  The resulting piece was kind of a mess.  This full version includes Mr. Mittens and one incredibly dated reference to the Chicago Cubs’ postseason failures.

Trivia

• This episode was produced exclusively for College Sports Television (CSTV).
• Mr. Rat is quite the entrepreneur; he owns the liquor store in town and the bowling alley.
• The Chicago baseball fan is, of course, a reference to the 2003 post-season of the Chicago Cubs and Steve Bartman.

Cast and Crew

Mark Edwards

Amanda Ferguson

John Gibson

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Marshall Welch

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots

The third episode was an attempt at doing a real episode for television. We formulated a full storyline, aimed at the commercial-friendly 22-minute range, and set to work. After the events of the first episode and all the controversy it spurred, President Czar had been rising in popularity as one of our favorite characters, as well as our readers. So instantly he went to the head of the class for a major role in the third episode.

At the same time, the Tri-Lambda fraternity had been rising in popularity and in many ways supplanting the professors as the stars of the comic series. Obviously this had never been the intent, but as their ranks grew, so did their usefulness in strips. So the two elements seemed like a perfect match.

The Making Of

The hardest aspects in the third episode turned out to be balancing the large cast and wrangling in the non-linear storyline. Unlike the two previous episodes, this episode’s storyline jumped around a bit. That made it a little difficult to keep the audience up to speed on exactly what was occurring, and why. Indeed, a criticism laid against the episode is often that people get confused by the end. Whether the ending is too obtuse or not is to be debated I suppose, but we think it’s fairly clear.

The other issue, the large cast, wasn’t entirely distinct from the second episode except for the large number of characters each with their own storylines and large amounts of dialogue. This wasn’t introducing a tight-knit bunch like the Catholics from the previous episode, but instead this required each character introduced and their relationships established somewhat with one another. It also saw the characters in large groups moving about, and not where we could pull back as we did in the second episode. So, a bit on the complicated side, but it also led to the most “complete” episode of the series.

Trivia

• The theft of the newspaper by the administration is based upon a real incident committed by the administration of Murray State University.
• Shortly after work was completed on this episode, a fraternity at Murray State University stole a large number of student newspapers.
• The Big Red character is actually the mascot of Western Kentucky University, but no suitable voice could be decided on for him.  Instead, he grunts all of his lines.
• The changing of the student center’s name early in the episode is a reference to TV stars who bomb as film stars.
• Gabrielle Byrne was the inspiration for both the look and voice of Satan.

Cast and Crew

 
Barry Cooper

Mark Edwards

Amanda Ferguson

 
Armanda Richardson

John Gibson

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Marshall Welch

Chad Young

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots

The second episode was under production before the first ever premiered.  The idea was that it was going to be the controversial episode, since we took shots at every religious denomination just about imaginable.  Surely with the episodes airing in a fairly Bible Belt heavy part of America, this would be the episode that got people enraged and calling for our heads.  Alas, our heads were spared.

In fact, this episode proved to be perhaps the least controversial.  Despite even showing it to preachers and fairly strong religious types, we have heard few, if any, complaints over the years.  So was the satire too tame, or were religious types just more understanding?  Honestly, we have no idea.  We’re simply happy that no one accused of us murder for making it.  Oh, the good old days of the first episode.

The Making

The genesis of the script for the second episode focused around the Catholic priest scandal at the time.  While the actions of the priests involved and the church were nothing short of reprehensible, it was an unfortunate side-effect that the entire Catholic church, and thereby all Christians to some extent or another, got tarnished by these actions.  We really wanted to make a comment on the evil that could infect religion, and yet the greater good that still remained within the institution.

Playing with stereotypes (Catholics, Italians, Mafia) seemed the perfect way to mock both the stereotypes, and make our commentary. Whether or not that now comes across is another issue entirely. We were perhaps too subtle by half. Regardless, the episode marked a turning point for the series as a new voice actor took over for Mr. Mittens, the length of the episode far exceeded the first episode’s original length (pre-special edition), and we introduced a whole slew of characters who would play major roles in future episodes.

Trivia

• Rick and Jabez eat outside of the Soylent Green Cafe, a reference to the classic Charlton Heston film Soylent Green.
• Racer One was the team mascot for Murray State University, where the creators attended college.
• Jolly 4 Jesus was a combination of several on-campus Christian groups.
• Dr. Bones, a character from the comic strip, appears sitting in one of the pews late in the episode.  Bonafide T. Gator gets a cameo sitting at the bar.

Cast and Crew

David Carmichael

Rachel Coleman

Mark Edwards

Amanda Ferguson

John Gibson

Lauren Heins

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Marshall Welch

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots

Behind the Scenes

The first episode ever of the cartoon took the longest and definitely sparked the most attention.  Work began on the episode in around June of 2002.  At that time, neither David nor Justin had much experience writing or animating a cartoon.

"I had written short films before, but this had a completely different feel to it from live action," said Young.

The hardest part may have been learning the animation process for cartoon animator, David Rothwell.  The first episode was a bit of trial and error.  Flash, as commonly assumed, was not used in anyway in the making of the episode.  Instead, it is a combination of traditional hand-drawn cell-animation combined with computer drawn backgrounds.

Even before a lot of the animation could be completed, the cast of characters had to be given life by actors.

"Casting was the most difficult for the first episode," Young explains.  "We weren’t sure what all the characters should sound like, only that we would know we had the right person when we heard them."

Trivia

• The name "Orangewasp’s" is a reference to the chain restaurant Applebee’s.  However, everything else about the local hang out is based on a now closed place right off Murray State’s campus.
• Dennis Frymire originated the voice for Mr. Mittens, but only ever played him in one episode.
• The original length of the episode was eight minutes.  A special edition was created six months later that added four more minutes of footage that was originally never completed.
• The Special Edition content includes the cold opening before the credits, the scene in President Czar’s office, and the health services scene near the end.

Quotes

• MR. MITTENS:  So, I tell them—“Hey baby, it don’t matter to me, black, white, calico—I just like the womens.”  Everyone knows cats are color blind. 
• GIRL 1:  I thought that was dogs… 
• MR. MITTENS:  Hey baby, it don’t matter to me,dog, cat, badger—I just like the womens!

• DR. KLOWNUS:  I could!  It’s just that undeclared majors are so uninteresting.  They’re like utility baseball
  players.  You know, not really good enough for anything in particular, just kinda there to
  fill out the roster–or the dorms.

Cast and Crew

Amanda Ferguson

Dennis Frymire

Beth Graham

 
Angela Madden

David Rothwell
Director / Animator / Executive Producer

Derek Seltzer

Justin Young
Director / Writer / Executive Producer

Screen Shots