Forgive my bad pun but I wanted to do a Blogpost on a particular childhood favorite of a show of mine that is now over 25 years old, I watched this show nearly 20 years ago, but I also wanted the title of this post to be in the style of the episode names that the show uses..
That, and the fact that this show was made in Vancouver, BC. Which makes me very happy.
Anyway, here's a childhood favorite of many a 2000s kid born in the mid to late 90s:
This was Cartoon Network's only Canadian-Produced original cartoon.... at least in 1999 when it debut, It was created by Canadian Animator DANNY ANTONUCCI.
The show was born out of various things in Antonucci's career and his life.
For one thing, a lot of the stuff the EDs do are based on some of the things Antonucci dealt with during his Childhood growing up in TORONTO, ONTARIO.
Another, was other personal issues with his Career.
For one thing, he was not pleased with the state of Animation in North America when he started work at Hanna-Barbera in 1980.
After getting frusturated with the Industry's refusal to allow more Adult-oriented work in the mainstream as well as Executives only focus on existing I.Ps just so the studios can water everything down to MOM-Fodder,
Antonucci left Toronto. At first he wanted to move to Los Angeles but the situation was no better there, and he probably had some passport issues getting to the U.S from Canada so he instead moved to Vancouver in 1984 where he took several small jobs before being hired by MARV NEWLAND.
YES!!! THAT MARV NEWLAND....
Anyway, Antonucci worked within Marv Newland's animation company INTERNATIONAL ROCKETSHIP LIMITED
where Antonucci made his own cult classic animated short entitled:
LUPO THE BUTCHER
This solidified Antonucci as a man who's a firm believer in not only wanting animation to grow-up instead of being confined to the childish pigeonhole, but also be a firm believer of absolute full Artistic Control to the creator of said I.P.
After licensing Lupo to Converse for several commercials as well as make several bumpers for MTV, Antonucci created THE BROTHERS GRUNT for MTV but that show performed poorly and was eventually cancelled. Quite a blow for someone who wants to make Adult Animation and have a full auteur license.
As a result, he was reluctant to work on more big projects aside from Cartoon Sushi until he was dared by a friend of his to go back and make a cartoon for children.
This gave an epiphany to Antonucci where he felt that after the unceremonious failure that was The Brother's Grunt, Antonucci felt he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as the man who does strictly gross adult content.
Taking this dare with a handful of Sugar, metaphorically speaking, Antonucci accepted and started to draw 3 kids that serve as the basis for Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
Here's a fun fact:
Did you know Antonucci pitched ED, EDD N EDDY to Nickelodeon?
It's true.
But thankfully, that didn't happen because after dealing with almost 5 years of Nickelodeon's troubles with John Kricfalusi's behavior during production of REN AND STIMPY, the slime factory wanted to ensure they have half artistic control of content that's pitched to them.
Obviously Antonucci was firmly going to refuse to rescind artistic control so he instead faxed the pitch to Cartoon Network.
And believe it or not, Cartoon Network happily accepted Antonucci's request for his studio AKA CARTOONS to have total artistic control of the series.
And thus was born, A Canadian Produced original series for Cartoon Network.
ED, EDD N EDDY began it's run on Cartoon Network on January 4 1999,
about 4 months before SpongeBob made his debut on Nickelodeon.
But this blogpost is dedicated to the EDs of Peach Creek. Not an anthropomorphic Sea Sponge so let's get back into topic shall we.
The art direction is often referred to by Antonucci as a throwback to Animation from between the 40's to late 70s.
To keep his drawings alive while at the same time be more professional, he employs a line shimmering system where whenever the characters are standing still whether they are talking or not, the character's outlines would wiggle around.
I've heard some sources call this SQUIGGLEVISION where the line art shimmers as an attempt to showcase that the characters are alive.
Sort of like what's used in Comedy Central's DR. KATZ PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST.
What ED, EDD N EDDY used from Seasons 1 to 4 is traditional acetate cels.
I welcome the SQUIGGLEVISION comparisons since ED, EDD N EDDY was one of the very last new programmes to use Traditional Acetate Cels for it's animation.
I mean, SpongeBob was also one of the last new programme to use Acetate Cels but that eventually switched completely to digital ink and paint in Season 2.
ED, EDD N EDDY stuck to it's guns with staying with the traditional process.... at least until Season 5 when the show had no choice but to make the switch to digital coloring.
The closest competitor that still stuck with traditional cels to the very end was Disney's Doug but by then, that show was already on the decline with audiences alike so ED, EDD N EDDY was welcome to claim the crowd with it being a fresh new show in 1999 alongside FAMILY GUY, FUTURAMA, and SpongeBob.
And don't say THE SIMPSONS and KING OF THE HILL count on this list because they are a league of their own.
They began before the EDS so that's why.
6 year old me was entirely confused with why the Character's tongues were all different colors instead of pink or mahogany.
Then I read some sources and as it turns out, the Technicolored Tongues are a result of the candy..... er... GOBSTOPPERS that the characters eat.
You ever had candy where the dye leaks and turns your tongue a different color? Antonucci wanted to capture that in animation.
Here's another fun fact:
Did you know that the character ROLF may be a caricature of Danny Antonucci?
Well, that might be half true, ROLF.... pardon your third person though.
Antonucci stated that ROLF is based on his Italian Immigrant upbringing despite him being born a Canadian in Toronto.
The part of ROLF that Antonucci says is caricaturing him is actually based on his family which includes his parents and his cousins.
It's been a while since I watched this show.
Even to this day with 2003's Teen Titans, Ben 10, Adventure Time, Powerpuff Girls, Regular Show, and Steven Universe having come and shared the EDs fame, ED, EDD N EDDY is still a preferred favorite for 90s Cartoon Network Nostalgia alongside the likes of PowerPuff Girls, Dexter, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, Etc.
No other Cartoon can match the rousing success of the EDs....
Except for Teen Titans(2003) which I know people are going to say is superior to the EDs.
BEAST BOY! I heard your quip. But I promise I won't tell Antonucci what you and the others did to the EDS in your fight.
If you want to watch the entire series, MAX is your safest bet.
And Good thing WBD saw how important the EDs are for Cartoon Network that Zaslav and his legion of Executives gave the show it's permanent residence in MAX.
As much as I hate Zaslav with a burning Vengeance, I'm glad he didn't touch the EDs with his Tax-Write-Off fingers of Doom.
But still, I can't get MAX in Canada because of BELLMEDIA's stronghold in anything WARNER BROS. related when it comes to streaming.....
I guess I can just buy the entire series on iTunes but......
Looks like it's Internet Archive for me again....
I hear that Internet Archive is lovely this time of year.
