Monday, December 10, 2007

Mutanimals The Animated Series!










Back in 1992 the Mutanimals were being shopped around by Mirage as a spin-off of the turtles. Ruby-Spears showed some interest, so an animation bible was produced along with a style guide of all the characters, environs and vehicles by some Hollywood animator (I forget who). Plot synopses for the first season were completed, with the 13 episodes centered around the Mutanimals' efforts to combat an invasion by Maligna.

All the regular cast of the Mutanimals make the transition, although they were redesigned - streamlined you might say - to accommodate budgetary restrictions in the animation process.

Krang makes the jump from the TMNT universe to become the main villain and friend of Maligna. A host of villains both new and old are on board to help keep the Mutanimals on their toes.


Of note, you will be pleased to hear, the Mutanimals get a new member: Ninjara joins the group.

The Turtles guest star in the first 4 episodes.

In Episode 9 the Mutanimals go to Dimension X to meet Cudley the Cowlick. How's that for cool?

Above you'll find the animation drawings from the show's style guide of Jagwar and the villain, Executor.

13 comments:

Splinter's Iroonna said...

So, what happened? Seems a shame to get all that work done, then nothing comes of it. Was it the toy company? Stan Sakai told my class a few years ago that one major reason Space Usagi wasn't made was you need a toy company behind you. Was that the case with this?

Roseangelo said...

Weeping over here. Tears!

I've heard Stan say that the failure of Bucky O'Hare was a key reason why the Space Usagi cartoon didn't happen and (I think) why he couldn't get a toy company behind him. I guess I was one of the few who enjoyed Bucky...

m. said...

Yes, Bucky put a stink on Space Usagi, one that even all the money Mirage sunk into SU couldn't remove.

Now if only Mirage had sunk as much money into the development of Mutanimals....

dark turtle said...

What a real shame. Based on the descriptions, the Mutanimals spin-off would have been an amazing series.

Vaughn Michael said...

oi this makes me so agrivated....maybe some day the mutanimals can see the light of day.
I'd at least love to read the stories for the show.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

After I glanced through the bible again I was thinking it would make a cool TPB for the 25th celebration. Murph put a lot of effort into the 13 episodes.

But I'm afraid it will never see the light of day...except here on our blog.

~ tOkKa said...

-->> Can we at least see Cudley from the bible ,please ?! >v<

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

roseangelo said...
"... I guess I was one of the few who enjoyed Bucky..."


We enjoyed it also Rose.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Yep tokka. I'll post the animation design of him.
I'll eventually post the good stuff as I get the time.

Roseangelo said...

Arg! This is ridiculous...

For all of this awesome, though slightly obscure stuff, couldn't Mirage utalize a print-on-demand site like lulu.com that doesn't cost the author anything?

(I request we see Ninjara. ^_^)

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

In the notes for the series it says Cudley was considered as a vehicle, carry case or playset. You open his mouth and put your Mutanimal action figures inside and roll him around.

He came with a can of clear slime so that you could slime your action figures with fake saliva.

Gross.

Vaughn Michael said...

hahah thats a cool idea but nasty at the same time man toys soooo are not even close to being that cool and creative these days.

GrapezBlue said...

so i know this is a h of an old blog, but i was wondering if there was a way to purchase a copy of the script for this show. i was a major fan and would love to read about some of there adv..

plus killing them off....whos idea was that anyways?????