Also, Eiichiro Oda’s Gorey-esque designs for characters like Brook and Franky are so idiosyncratic, it’s tough to retain their charm in photo-realism. While this works in anime – because you have to accept a baseline surrealism at the gate, I think – it’s far trickier to pull off in live-action without feeling jarring. The appeal of One Piece, as I explained to these producers, is the continual catharsis of seeing Mickey Mouse get pushed too far, basically. Then, he’ll abruptly take on this steely-eyed fury and proceed to beat the shit out of said villain. Luffy’s this happy-go-lucky Pollyanna who only wants for food and fun until, say… a villain makes children overdose on drug-laced candy. The whimsy of its world has this continual tension with its violence – and that goes for the lead, Luffy, more than any other part. When I try to explain the series to friends, I say it’s like if the Oz books went on for 1000+ episodes, with Dorothy and crew all steadily leveling up into asskickers. I like One Piece, but we ran into a lot of conceptual knots which made it look harder to adapt than other comics. While we’re on the subject of streaming, cartoons and patience, now… You can watch it properly on that same platform, with clear sound and picture. ![]() And for nearly a year, I had the uniquely contemporary predicament of seeing that my episode was bootlegged on YT ( taped right off somebody’s grainy TV in Spain, say ), then having to fight the temptation to spoil the experience of its proper premiere. As popular as Ben 10 is in America, it’s actually even more popular in Europe, so this season premiered everywhere else in the world first. I suppose it’s ironic, to an extent, that “Something I Ate” has had this second life on YouTube. ![]() And if the voice director said, “ Hey Dee, that was great, but could you make it a little wetter next take? ” he’d lick his lips very precisely, then do the roar again – and yes, it’d sound the same, but wetter. He had such command of his voice, knowing exactly where to pinch his nose to get the right resonance to make a roar sound just like it was coming out of a giant mutant. The craziest part, though, was watching Dee Bradley Baker play Slurpstack and do all these monster sounds live. Jenn Strickland and Ryan Kramer drew such spot-on boards for this one, too. I hadn’t seen any art based on my script up until then, so it was so surreal seeing those animatics fly – as if there were some direct video tap into my mind’s eye. I got the rare and rad opportunity to actually sit on the recording session for this episode and watch Tara Strong, Todd Haberkorn, Greg Cipes and the rest of the cast read my lines live while animatics played on screen. So, it’s a bit validating to see the pint-sized mastermind’s gross-out journey has ranked so high with fans. When I was first cooking this up, I reasoned that pitches involving Four-Arms or XLR8 were probably the most typical coming in, while Grey Matter was the less obvious option. ![]() If you want to see what happens after Ben’s “secret Kung Fu” techniques settle into Slurpstack’s noggin, the whole episode’s available on Amazon Prime. This next topic, though? A little less fun. Still, so fun working with everybody on it, now. While I’ll be involved in the comics’ production all the way through to release, once I hand in my last teleplays, the baton will pass to crew, cast and other parties. I’d guess late 2022, at the earliest, but that’s only a guess. Yet, now… here we are.Īnyway, unlike the comics project, it’ll be a long time before this show gets announced ( and longer still before it airs ). I think a lot about the Spaceship Earth ride at EPCOT, with its mannequins doing video calls from all corners of the globe, and how unbelievable it once seemed. Since it’s a sci-fi show, it’s extra poignant to step back from the whole experience and realize our day-to-day workflow would’ve seemed like far-out futurism not too long ago. It’s for a studio I’ve worked with before, but with a roster of talent I’m meeting for the first time and having a blast getting to know as colleagues.Īs is the “new normal” in TV, right now, the writer’s room is virtual, with everybody Zooming in from different states and even countries. While I’m being cryptic, let me also share that I was staffed on a new TV show last month.
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