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Klasky Csupo


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Klasky Csupo is a multimedia entertainment production company located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; founded in an apartment room by artist/producer, Arlene Klasky and animator, Gábor Csupó. They are best known for creating cartoons for Nickelodeon from the 1990s throughout the mid-2000s, which includes Rugrats (and it's sequel series All Grown Up!), The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, As Told By Ginger, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. They were also the company who originally animated Fox/Gracie Films' The Simpsons (as well as The Tracy Ullman Show), and produced other cartoons for other channels, including but not limited to Stressed Eric, Duckman, and animated segments for both MADtv and MAD.

 

Klasky Csupo dropped off the radar after they shut down production on most if not all of their animation projects in the mid-late 2000s, only announcing and showcasing a series of animated pilots done in various animation styles available for sale to Vicaom's networks (with the majority of them were ultimately never picked up) and animating segments for MADtv and it's successor MAD.

 

In 2012 the company, no longer associated with Nickelodeon, was ressurected, now with a focus on the digital media medium. Along with the restructuring of the company, the launched a new YouTube channel that hosts all of their previously pitched pilots and updated their website. They are currently developing new fictional properties and are creating a webisode series of their animated blob face logo Splatt.

 

So talk about their past and your nostalgia of their animated shows as well as their present/future of their current direction.

Edited by Gabe
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Oh, Rugrats.  Where do I even begin?  I loved all the other stuff they produced in the 90's but oh how I recall watching Rugrats with my brother whenever it was on.  Just last night, I posted a status obsessing over the fact that it was airing on Nick Mom.  It's one of my favorite cartoons from the 90's and one of my most cherished childhood memories that only gets better with age.  There's so much depth to the show in terms of both humor and plot.  As a kid, I related to the babies and the grandeur of their adventures around the house.  As an adult, I find myself understanding the humorous turmoil that the adults feel, all of them being new parents, who want to be perfect mommies and daddies, but are only human.  Not to mention, it's great to have a laugh at all the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, hints of adult humor spiced throughout the show.

 

(EDIT - Should note now before I cause confusion that I am not a parent myself, so my relation with the parents is more from an observational standpoint than a personal experience standpoint.)

 

So, yeah, long story short.  Rugrats is a show I will always hold dear.  Can't say the same for its spin-off, but the original is a show that not only brings me back to a time of innocence and naitvity, but also brings me joy as an adult.  I wouldn't say it's timeless, but it's a show that just keeps on giving.

 

The Wild Thornberries was also... not a great show, but an interesting one.  From what I remember, it delved well into the "animal welfare" message as well as some other interesting issues, such as environmentalism, without being too preachy or threatening.  Not sure what more I can say.  Good show.

 

But now everyone's going to hate me when I say that although I didn't -hate- the other shows, I was not fond of Rocket Power or Real Monsters.  The latter didn't leave me with any unpleasant memories, but it didn't leave me with any lasting memories either.  The former on the other hand... well, perhaps it's because I'm not into sports myself.  I thought the characters were despicable, the slang overused and unbearable, and the general premise to be unappealing, and anyone who disagrees with this is shooby and a lameo.

Edited by Akito
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"Oh, they have a YouTube channel with pilots in different animation styles? Cool! I'll check that out."

 

 

... What the fuck is this?

 

Edit - 

 

... and it's not just that, either! Good lord, this shit's going to give me nightmares!

 

513f9955ad4c9.jpg

Edited by Discoid
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I remember an article a while back where Klasky said she'd like to make new episodes of Rugrats if Nickelodeon wanted to make a new contract or renew the old one. I think she said that Csupo would be up for it too. It'd be cool to see how a modern-day Rugrats would work, but odds are slim to none on that.

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"Oh, they have a YouTube channel with pilots in different animation styles? Cool! I'll check that out."

 

video

 

... What the fuck is this?

 

Edit - 

 

... and it's not just that, either! Good lord, this shit's going to give me nightmares!

 

image

 

It gets better. That aforementioned Splatts logo character getting a webseries? It's this thing.

 

 

Some people remember this guy as either being annoying/weird as hell or being scary as shit whenever he came on after one of KCshows...and (for a while) Spongebob thanks to a post-credits editing flub on Nick's part.

Edited by Gabe
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It gets better. That aforementioned Splatts logo character getting a webseries? It's this thing.

 

(video)

 

You might remember that guy as either being annoying as hell or being scary as shit whenever he came on the TV.

Pfft, I remember it being both annoying as hell AND scary as shit!  Now I see it as a nostlagic, but even that isn't enough to persuade me to believe that a series based on... THAT abomination is worth making a show out of.

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As much as I would love new Rugrats episodes I can't help but feel they'll take the really stupid route of having an entirely new cast with the original babies as the adults.

 

Yeah it'd be interesting to see everything go full circle and the people who watched it as young kids are adults themselves now but just... no.

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If they take that route, then I wouldn't watch it. It just wouldn't be the same. The Rugrats should be forever Tommy, Angelica, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Dil and Kimi.

 

Chuckie and Angelica are like my favorite characters, especially Angelica. I love the way she says "YOU DUMB BABIES!"

 

*sigh* I miss the Rugrats so much.

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I didn't really get into any of their shows. Mostly because their art styles and character designs were very unappealing to me as a kid fucking weird

Gromble.jpg

what the fuck is that?!

 

I realise that the characters in this show were all monsters and that this particular character was meant to be intimidating, but JESUS

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I didn't even bothered about which studio did these cartoons when I was younger =P I loved Rocket Powers (the super mcvarial 900 anyone?) and Rugrats, even watched the first movie at the cinema with my parents. I think it was actually my first time going to one! Anyway, I remember Real Monsters as well, I liked but hardly watched it because it was aired really early in the morning. Never liked the Thornberrys or As Told by Ginger, tho =P 

The Klasky Csupo logo animation at the ending, I loved that thing! I even tried to reproduce the noises with my mouth xD 

And isn't Rocko's Modern Life and The Angry Beavers Klasky Csupo's productions as well? I loved these too!

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I didn't really get into any of their shows. Mostly because their art styles and character designs were very unappealing to me as a kid fucking weird

Gromble.jpg

what the fuck is that?!

 

I realise that the characters in this show were all monsters and that this particular character was meant to be intimidating, but JESUS

 

Agreed. Their depiction of Pat Sajak is downright frightening:

 

Vlcsnap-2013-02-03-03h45m04s47.png

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Vlcsnap-2013-02-03-03h45m04s47.png

Is it intentional that the screen cuts off so that the check is labeled with "FRICAN DUNDERHEAD" or "FRIKKIN' DUNDERHEAD?"  Either way, I lol'd.

 

(EDIT - And upon further examination, I realized that the "F" is actually an E."  ... Whoops. blush.png)

Edited by Akito
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Rocker Power is hilarious to watch as an adult. It's so horrible and ridden with obvious and poor attempts to appeal to the xtreeme late 90's/early 2000's youth. Gotta love it.

 

My friends and I throw the term "shoobie" around far more than we should.

And isn't Rocko's Modern Life and The Angry Beavers Klasky Csupo's productions as well? I loved these too!

The studio did neither of those. Either one is better than most of Klasky Csupo's output, imo.

Edited by shimapun
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"Oh, they have a YouTube channel with pilots in different animation styles? Cool! I'll check that out."

 

 

... What the fuck is this?

 

Edit - 

 

... and it's not just that, either! Good lord, this shit's going to give me nightmares!

 

513f9955ad4c9.jpg

My reaction to the Rock Stars video:

dafuq is dis crahp 

es dum

i haet it

fak dis all

kil dis shiznit wit fire

fak my eys

There is a reason that these never saw the light of day. And it should have stayed this way. 

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NOSTALGIC STORY TIME? NOSTALGIC STORY TIEM.

Back when I was like 3 or 4, my mom popped in random VHS tapes she got from who-knows-where to entertain me. The box of tapes included shows and movies Blue's Clues, CatDog, the Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius movie, and the Rugrats Movie. The Rugrats Movie was my first Klasky Csupo expirience, and I watched it multiple times.

I of course started watching the show, and I was a fan, I can't remember why exactly, most likely because of the whimsical art direction and because I was so easily entertained (even more easily entertained than I am now). My mom also got me this Rugrats blanket with all of the main characters on it, even Dil. I still have said blanket.

I do remember watching Rocket Power, but because the show was as memorable as the 72nd dust bunny we've all swept away during Spring cleaning 2012, I can't even recite one line from it, albeit I do remember having a fictiophelic crush on Reggie Rocket.

Shut up, I was young.

Edited by Auto
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Klasky Csupo make some fucking ugly cartoons.

 

Despite this I have some really fond memories of their shows. Growing up as a child, either Rugrats, Real Monsters, the Wild Thornberrys or some combination of the 3 were on the cartoon block after school, so I'd always been watching one or the other, and thought at the time at least that they were the shit. Always thought Rocket Power and All Grown Up were ass though. you can probably put down All Grown Up as me being too old for it, (despite being in HS when it was on haha) but I was in the target market for Rocket Power. Still hated it. Probably because it's fucking awful.

 

I haven't been back to these shows since then so I have no idea how they hold up, but I imagine, like most of the other shows they probably don't hold up too well. Well Rugrats' earlier eps are actually still awesome, but I think that's the exception rather than the rule. >.>

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I actually watched that crossover movie last year. It was alright, I guess.

Oh, and I guess I can share this, from a childrens book..

 

zw2DU7d.png

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Not to be a hard ass critic but I never was a fan of their work. Their character design seemed too sloppy for my taste and overall all their work was just fucking weird.

 

Personally I was more of a fan of the work of John Kricfalusi and Joe Murray on The Ren & Stimpy Show & Rocko's Modern Life respectively. Looking back now, Kricfalusi's work was odd as well (hell, as an individual he's pretty fucked in the head as it is) but his art style was much more refined and you could clearly see effort going into his production(s).

 

I have nothing but praise for Joe Murray as well. He holds a distinctive art style, as well as a good plot to back his work. If you've ever seen his directing process, you can see his direct approach in that regard.

 

Back on topic though, the one show I attempted to enjoy was Rocket Power, but couldn't because of how artificial it was and the potrayal as a whole. I even remember kicking it at a friends house and he was watching it with his little bro and what I remember most was laughing at how they managed to get so many terms wrong.

 

Tell me in what world does the word skateboard = some huge ass cruiser longboard? Or how they managed to get away with so much roller blading. I don't want to perpetuate any skater stereotypes, but when I was younger you couldn't even blade in the local park without getting some crap from the veteran skaters. Hell, I nearly beatdown some douchebag (or was it vice-versa) for talking shit about my SOAP's.

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Personally I was more of a fan of the work of John Kricfalusi and Joe Murray on The Ren & Stimpy Show & Rocko's Modern Life respectively. Looking back now, Kricfalusi's work was odd as well (hell, as an individual he's pretty fucked in the head as it is) but his art style was much more refined and you could clearly see effort going into his production(s).

 

I have nothing but praise for Joe Murray as well. He holds a distinctive art style, as well as a good plot to back his work. If you've ever seen his directing process, you can see his direct approach in that regard.

Ren and Stimpy is actually a great example, especially in terms of character design.

 

R&S as a show could be pretty fucking gross, but one thing that wasn't was their character design (unless, of course it was deliberate.... or in the later seasons when they throw that out completely) Ren and Stimpy are cute, appealing characters that animated, stretched, distorted and moved well, keeping the show consistently visually interesting and entertaining, even with cheap recycled animation and a concentration on dramatic stills.

 

KC's stuff is really weird and rigid by comparison. Characters seem stiff, and stuck in their poses, arbitrarily (but still ridiculously stiffly) moving their limbs around as they talk. They're also typically weirdly deformed, with massive heads, tiny arms, misshapen bodies, etc. The human characters in R&S remind to stay cartoony and whacky without looking gross and deformed.

 

There's also the problem that in virtually all their shows, whole thing often feels like it should have just been a sitcom instead of a cartoon. Apart from talking babies what in rugrats required to me a cartoon instead? The whole show is actually really dull in terms of animation, especially when compared to old R&S stuff. I wanted to find some good comparison clips but I can't seem to track down the R&S clips I'm after. But basically any ep will do.

 

 

Regardless this is massively offtopic and I should probably let the KC discussion continue. 

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I loved the Rugrats as a kid.

 

My father never let me watch Animaniacs as a kid (which pisses me off to this day), so I don't know what all that show got away with, but good lord, I see a lot of clips from Rugrats on the internet nowadays, It's hilarious to me some of the stuff the writers got away with.

 

I also watch clips on Youtube sometimes, they still make me laugh.

 

 

 

and don't forget Stu makes pudding at 4am.

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I always found the adults to be really entertaining to watch. Stu especially, it's why I still love "Stu makes chocolate pudding at 4 am" and all of it's variants.

Edited by EmmBee
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