The Moxy Show
| The Moxy Show | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by |
Brad DeGraf[1] Colossal Pictures |
| Written by |
Scott Sedita Jonathan Groff Tim Boxell Bobcat Goldthwait Penn Jillette |
| Directed by | George Evelyn |
| Starring |
Bobcat Goldthwait Penn Jillette Chris Rock |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 24 (3 found) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Betty Cohen Joshua Katz |
| Producer(s) |
Margo de la Cruz Ann Brilz |
| Editor(s) | Lili Cunningham |
| Running time | 22 minutes approx. |
| Production company(s) | Colossal Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Cartoon Network TBS TNT |
| Original release | December 5, 1993 – January 2, 2000 |
The Moxy Show (also known as The Moxy Pirate Show and The Moxy & Flea Show) is an animation anthology television series produced by Colossal Pictures for Cartoon Network. The show ran on December 5, 1993, originally as The Moxy Pirate Show,[2] and consisted of classic cartoons divided by 3-D animated interstitials featuring Moxy, a dog, and Flea, a flea. The show ran on Cartoon Network from December 5, 1993 to April 1, 2000 including reruns apparently, but the last ever episode was made in 1995, that being the sole episode for The Moxy & Flea Show. Moxy is considered the first original series on Cartoon Network, but Space Ghost Coast to Coast was Cartoon Network's first fully produced series.
Production
The series was originally titled The Moxy Pirate Show and only featured Moxy. In 1994, Moxy's sidekick Flea was added to the series and the series was retitled simply as The Moxy Show, and in 1995 it was renamed again to The Moxy & Flea Show with major changes for a single pilot episode:
- Moxy's design has changed a lot. As opposed to wearing his usual yellow shirt with red/white checkerboard pants, and palette-swapped black and white sneakers; both of which resemble the likeness of Cartoon Network's traditional checkerboard logo, he is seen wearing a longer sleeved, green/black striped shirt and black jeans, complete with non pallete-swapped sneakers, which seem to resemble those of Converse All-Stars. In addition, his eyes have become much smaller, with heterochromic green (left) and light blue (right) eyes complete with pupils, whereas they were previously red (left) and dark blue (right), sans pupils. His yellow whiskers and freckles have disappeared in his new design, his nose changed from the color purple to black, and his fur was changed to a darker shade of orange.
- Flea's design was changed only slightly. Flea wore a blue fez instead of a propellor beanie, his height grew massive making him half as high as Moxy, and comedian Chris Rock replaced illusionist Penn Jillette as the voice of the character. Also, his eye color changed from blue and yellow to just yellow eyes with red pupils.
- The opening sequence has changed a lot featuring a new theme song composed by Ben Friedman, Moxy and Flea dancing new moves and they do not speak at all (although in one part, Moxy says "Come on!").
- There is no pre-existing cartoon footage as the entire 17-minute pilot is completely original animation.
The pilot didn't test well enough to allow more episodes to be produced,[3] as revealed by Frank Gresham who worked on the pilot. Reruns were supposedly removed completely on April 1, 2000, the same day where most of the classical cartoon programming were moved to Boomerang except for this show.
The CGI Moxy is considered the first real-time[4](sometimes called a "live") cartoon,[5] though never actually broadcast live. A puppeteer wearing a motion capture apparatus would act out Moxy's motions, while Goldthwait provided the voice, and a technician would control facial expressions.
The show is considered to be a lost television series since it was never to be found anywhere because it was never picked up by Boomerang and it was never released in any home media.
This is the only Cartoon Network original series to be animated with computer animation as all of the other programs featuring CGI are acquired animated programming and not Cartoon Network originals. It's the first CN show to be animated with cartoon animation as well, making The Moxy Show the first Cartoon Network original series to feature a hybrid of different animation styles (Courage the Cowardly Dog would be the second, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Chowder, and The Amazing World of Gumball following). The show is also the first to use stock footage from classical shows (second is Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the second CN series to air).
Although this is the only Cartoon Network original series produced and animated in the United States with computer animation, the second Cartoon Network original series animated with computer animation was the network's first European original series Youri, the Spaceman, produced by Sparx Animation Studios, who originally produced Rolie Polie Olie for Disney Channel.
To this day, only a handful of clips, plus various segments of the "Great International Toon-In", a Spanish airing from the The Moxy Show era,[6] a Spanish airing from the The Moxy Pirate Show era,[7] a promotional VHS containing the pilot to the The Moxy Show era[8] and the only episode to the The Moxy & Flea Show era[9] are currently existent.
There was also an online CartoonNetwork.com comic made called "What Ever Happened To Moxy?" that may have wrapped up the story but only the first panel of it is currently visible to the public.[10]
Characters
Moxy
Moxy (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait) is a 3-D animated dog who liked to spend time goofing off and having fun with his sidekick, Flea, and also has a crush on Melody from Josie and the Pussycats. Although he never made it big in the cartoon industry, and usually auditioned for a number of roles on the network without making a call back,[11] he was given the opportunity to work as the janitor at Cartoon Network, and usually 'jammed the signal' once a week during the days when he flew solo before Flea was introduced.[12]
His first appearance on television were during the live commercial segments that aired simultaneously during a multi-channel cartoon broadcast on three of the main Turner-owned networks at the time; TNT, TBS, and Cartoon Network. His catchphrase is a lip-flapping sound, barking and a fart sound, stating that he just made it up.
Flea
Flea (voiced by Penn Jillette and Chris Rock) is Moxy's sidekick, and usually the straight man of the duo, who enjoyed spending time and watching TV with Moxy. He helps a monkey king get a new set of hair to hide his bald skin causing him to rise through fame. In "Abducted", it has been revealed that he has a card, and his name was "Flealonius A. Flea".
Episodes
The Moxy Show era
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Television[13]" | 1994 | TBA |
|
Moxy gets a chance to star in an episode of "The Flintstones" but eventually gets cut from the episode entirely. Shorts featured: "T.V. of Tomorrow", "Augie Doggie and Daddy Doggie in Tee Vee or Not Tee Vee", "Cell Bound". Note: According to the end of this episode the premiere date for the show was Sunday, November 6, 1994. | ||||
The Moxy and Flea Show era
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | US Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 1 | "Abducted![14]" | 1999 | TBA |
|
While driving down the road. Moxy and Flea get abducted by monkey aliens. Note: According to one of the shows executive prouducers, this is the only episode of "The Moxy and Flea Show" to be prouduced. | ||||
References
- ↑ http://www.historyofcg.com/pages/protozoa/
- ↑ DeRosa, Robin (November 24, 1993). "Moxy's dog moves dictated by real life". USA Today (Gannett Company). Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ https://41.media.tumblr.com/520b952466a300cb5dc6863f8a0da3d9/tumblr_o4f0b4Fv0h1sncrlyo1_540.png
- ↑ Ramirez, Anthony (September 29, 1993). "Cartooning Is All Set To Go Live". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ P., Ken (November 18, 2003). "An Interview with Andy Merrill". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCeWt14j218
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjJG8NKCwQ4
- ↑ https://vimeo.com/147704663
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srhFWh_0ThU
- ↑ http://lostmediawiki.com/%27What_Ever_Happened_to_Moxy%3F%27_(Lost_Web_Comic;_2000)
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19990508122045/http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/favorites/moxy/index.html
- ↑ DeRosa, Robin (November 24, 1993). "Moxy's dog moves dictated by real life". USA Today (Gannett Company). Retrieved 2012-11-29.
- ↑ https://vimeo.com/147704663
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srhFWh_0ThU
