New Website

Just wanted y'all to know that I've created a new website where you can learn what's on my plate of late.

That's an allegory by the way.

Just in case you thought my new site was going to contain a blog about what I was eating for dinner tonight or something.

I'm having barbecue ribs and steamed artichokes by the way. In case you're wondering.

vanpartible.com

Have a splendiferous day!

Donny Osmond & Johnny Bravo!

In honor of Donny Osmond being on "Dancing With The Stars," I wanted to devote this post to his exploits in the world of Johnny Bravo. First off, I want to express my never-ending gratitude and appreciation for him and let people know how supportive he's been of Johnny Bravo over the years. He first played a self-effacing version of himself in the aptly titled episode, "Johnny Meeets Donny Osmond" in the first season finale. From there, he went on to lend his voice to our two half-hour holiday specials (A Johnny Bravo Christmas and It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo!) and a final episode in the fifth season (That's Entertainment!). His final appearance is one of my all-time favorites, not just because Donny is in it, but also because we got to play with the show's format and tell the story in different animation styles.

FUN FACT: Lea Salonga also lent her voice to That's Entertainment! so it was sort of a Mulan reunion to have Donny and Lea in the same episode. In fact, the director of Mulan, Tony Bancroft, attended the VO session that Lea Salonga recorded for us at the CN Studios in Burbank.

As much as we chide Donny's wholesomeness, he's always been a good sport and allowed us to push the limits of his character to absurdly saccharin heights. Before we asked him back to reprise his role in the holiday specials, I'd always wondered what he thought of his portrayal on the show. Fortunately for us, he knows that we're not being mean-spirited about it and that he's only playing an amped-up version of himself. In fact, he once told me how much he loves how goofy his character comes across and that he's often recognized by a whole other generation of fans who only know him from the show.

The last time I worked with him was in 2007 where he uncharacteristically voiced a character that wasn't himself. He played the cheesy announcer on a video game called "Johnny Bravo in The Hukka-Mega-Mighty-Ultra-Extreme-Date-O-Rama!"

The video game was originally created for the PS2 in the UK (November 2007) and was later released in the States for the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, Donny's voice was omitted in the US release so if you want to hear Donny say lines like, "Look at me. I love you. For your mind." or "I have a friend in the hairspray business. Does that intrigue you?" you're going to have to head on over to England and play. It was a really fun experience because, not only did I get to work with Donny Osmond again, but I got to write all the dialogue, storyboard the intro, and design the cover and main characters!

The First Runner Up for Miss Artichoke, Miss International Car Show, The Treacle Queen of York

Nic Schweizer

Def-Con Love

In the game, Donny plays the sarcastic character, Loveheart, who is pictured on the screen in the back. Some of my other favorite lines that Donny recorded were...

"Ever date a guy with no eyes?"

"That was fun. Minus the fun."

"Let this be a lesson to you. Learn from it. Or not. I'm not your mom."

"Whoever said 'You can't find love by winning it on a game show,' needs to take a poetry class because it doesn't rhyme."

"You've been playing the Hukka-Mega-Mighty-Ultra-Extreme Date-O-Rama! Thanks for playing and tune in again next time! Tell your friends! If you have any. I'm just kidding! Or am I?"

So, in closing, much in the same way I love Thrifty's mint chip ice cream from Rite Aid, eye heart Donny Osmond.

Johnny Goes To Bollywood

On June 28th of this year, we premiered a brand new Johnny Bravo episode entitled, "Johnny Goes To Bollywood." I wrote and produced the 11 minute short and was really pleased with the final product which was done by Famous House of Animation in Mumbai. You may be thinking, "Why haven't I seen this short?" Well, it was strictly made for an Indian audience. It was all done in Hindi and I was the only American that ended up working on the whole production. I even spent some time in India (which was an adventure in and of itself). It was a different, yet exciting, experience, and best of all, I got to work again on the character that is so near and dear to my heart. The story takes place in Mumbai, where Johnny purchases a new hair gel that magically transforms it's users into "Love Gods." There aren't any current plans to release it here in the States, but I've still got my fingers crossed! I've uploaded a musical clip from the short for your enjoyment. Please bear in mind that this is a work print with no sound effects. So if you see any visual miscues, we most likely fixed them in the final edit (for example, there is a frame out of place during the ship sequence). Jai Ho!

FUN FACT: Johnny once did a sit-down interview with Bollywood superstar, Aamir Khan. For those of you who don't know who he is, Aamir is one if India's box-office superstars who produced and starred in the 2001 Academy Award nominated film, "Lagaan." He also starred in "Ghajini" in 2008 which became the highest grossing Indian film of all time (unadjusted for inflation). Below is one of the six bits he did with Johnny.

The Phabulizers

A few years ago, I wrote and directed an animated short for the Disney Channel entitled "The Phabulizers." From watching the storyboards evolve with Vaughn Tada (now Emmy Award-winning Vaughn Tada!) to working on the theme song with legendary musician Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yaz, Erasure), it was a labor of love that is now immortalized on Youtube.

FUN FACT: The Phabulizers theme song was sung by Anna Pagan who was a back-up singer in the seventies, most notably with Engelbert Humperdinck, and sang the original theme song to "The Jeffersons." Janet Dubois, who played Wilona on the show, most commonly takes credit for being the lead vocalist on this song, which is not a false statement. It turns out that they did three versions with the girls alternating lead vocals. The one you most commonly hear is Anna’s.

Due to time, we had to delete the opening sequence which had Phil Kennedy playing with his action figures in the sand. It was unfortunate because I thought it was a pretty funny and exciting bit. Below are the toy models I finalized and did turnarounds for in that sequence. Curse you network time constraints!

Until next time...