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Sep. 5th, 2007 06:30 pm Publick Record - 11/19/05 - Eighth Episode Jynx



The long hiatus from posting journal entries should tell you something about how smoothly this production is going. We've now reached that incredibly stressful point of the season, when I start getting late with every task and I get no sleep and no days off (or nights for that matter) for months on end and I start wigging out and wanting to cry all the time. I look like hell and feel worse. Doc actually had to hug me to calm me down the other night. Somehow I found the time to get hooked on "Lost," thanks to the season 1 dvd that came out a while back. But anyway...

PRODUCTION UPDATE: Since the last time I posted, Doc and I have turned in a script a piece. Mine finds Team Venture (whoever they may be these days) at a White House dinner and brings Bud Manstrong back into the fold, and Doc's is the continuing story of Orpheus and his search for an arch enemy, with the help of some colorful friends from his past. We're currently finishing up the tenth script of the season--another joint effort, which of course was due a week ago--which introduces a mysterious woman from Dr. Venture's checkered past and the Monarch's attempts to move on with his personal and professional life. Ben Edlund is supposed to turn in the eleventh script of the season in this coming week, which I can't really tell you about since I've only heard snippets of the plot (which sounds funny, of course). After that, Doc and I will only have two more episodes to write to finish out the season, one of which of course has to be some sort of fantastic season finale. It's hard to believe we're already at this point. Despite the crushing pressures of the production, things have gone by terribly fast this year.

I flew out to Los Angeles last weekend to record Patrick Warburton's Brock lines for the 6th-9th scripts (formerly called episodes 206-209, they're now forcing us to call them episodes 21-24, which is confusing as all hell). As usual, he was great and it was great to see him. I also recorded Brendon Small for a few different supporting roles, and once again his rambling improvisations proved hysterical enough that I'm now trying to figure out what to cut from the scripts to accommodate them, time-wise, in the episode. Ron Lynch, one of Brendon's Home Movies cohorts and a talented stand-up comedian of note, also dropped by to lend his dulcet tones to a beloved character. And last but not least, mighty Dana Snyder, Master Shake himself, kicked ass as not one but two characters, one of whom is a member of a team from Doc's last script which deserves its own spin-off series. It was a long but thoroughly entertaining day of recording, followed by a fun night out at Brendon and Ron's weekly (I think) comedy cavalcade at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. And to top it off, the gothampublicworks kids I met at Comicon took time out from their busy toga party schedule just to stopby and say hi to me, which is always a pleasure.

Currently, our character/prop/background designers are working on the episode we're still writing. With deadlines looming and passing by like ships in the night, we're stuck giving them a list of the designs we'll probably need for whatever story we're writing. Which sucks for them when the final draft comes in and we've cut stuff they worked very hard on due to space and time constrictions. We try not to make a habit of it. These guys (and gals) are doing an amazing job this season, and they've done it, like everyone else on this project, under loads of pressure. The color department kicked into gear about a month and a half ago and are blowing me away. They're currently working on the third episode, the script for which is perhaps a little too close to my heart, and they're blowing me away with what they're doing with it. I may have mentioned in a previous post that we're taking a slightly different approach to the background style this season. It's more painterly and closer to the style of the pilot than to the first season--out with the comic-booky black outlines, in with something that evokes both the old Jonny Quest/Scooby Doo look and the jazzy advertising art from the 60's I love so much. I leave you now with two quick glimpses of their work for the first and second episodes respectively:

A hallway from Castle Ünderbheit...




...and the never-before-seen bathroom in the Venture compound's living quarters (presumably where Dean practiced "being a boyfriend" way back when).





Good night...we love you...

JP

P.S. King Kong!
 
 Comments for this entry:

(No comment title) - akumyo on November 19th, 2005 11:10 pm (UTC)
We love you too! I'm learning how to work in the animation industry, and from what I've been through so far I guess I'm just getting a taste of the production grind. It's worth it though, right. Right?

Go Team Venture!

(reply to akumyo) - jacksonpublick on November 19th, 2005 11:21 pm (UTC)
Yeah...of course it's worth it. Time pressures suck but hard work never doesn't pay off. And the bottom line is I get to make stuff up for a living, occasionally draw and occasionally scream into a microphone. I can't think of much better to do with my time than that.

(No comment title) - squidflakes on November 19th, 2005 11:20 pm (UTC)
Jackson.... why are you using my grandparents bathroom for your cartoon show? Seriously, that green toilet is making me cringe in fear and nostalgia.

I for one, can't wait till the new season is out. Maybe then these horrible shakes will stop.

(reply to squidflakes) - jacksonpublick on November 19th, 2005 11:22 pm (UTC)
Because Dr. Venture has terrible taste. And everyone who sees that picture says "holy crap, I had the same _________ (insert "bathroom," "wallpaper," or "toilet") when I was a kid!"

(No comment title) - evin on November 19th, 2005 11:43 pm (UTC)
<3 Brendon and Ron. Good frigging call.

Just get Jon Benjamin next and you've got a license to print money. That man has the greatest voice in the history of cartoons.

(reply to evin) - jacksonpublick on November 19th, 2005 11:53 pm (UTC)
Got 'im once already...might be getting him a second time to reprise the same character...we'll see.

(No comment title) - niko on November 19th, 2005 11:56 pm (UTC)
Oh god.. the bathroom flashbacks.. I think every single piece in there I have seen in various family members' homes.

Can't wait to see Season 2! The episode numbering is very odd though, I thought the 1##, 2## style numbering was the standard for TV shows. Did they give a reason why they wanted you to change it?

(reply to niko) - jacksonpublick on November 20th, 2005 12:57 am (UTC)
uh...not sure. I guess it was confusing to them the other way or something. And I have no idea what they call the Christmas special...it's best not to try to understand...

(No comment title) - loadasano on November 20th, 2005 01:37 am (UTC)
I'm in new york right now trying to get a tour of noodle soup. some cool cat named ben just said to call when i got there.

Really looking forward to the new season and the dvd. I hope there is alot of behind the scenes stuff.

(reply to loadasano) - jacksonpublick on December 6th, 2005 06:52 am (UTC)
Did you really post this comment on November 20? I JUST got the email notification from Livejournal tonight, I swear.

(No comment title) - drd2001 on November 20th, 2005 01:41 am (UTC)
sighs I remember the 70s. Avacado and butterscotch. No wonder I was always so hungry.

Thank you for all the fabo updates. I love hearing where you're at in production and how it all works. But what about HELPeR? Does he have a room or a broom closet?

(reply to drd2001) - jacksonpublick on November 20th, 2005 06:50 pm (UTC)
you know, I have some thoughts about H.E.L.P.eR. but they never manage to make it into an episode. Just about everyone in this show has an elaborate backstory and I'm beginning to wonder how much of it we'll ever get to see, barring a spin-off "Tales from the World of Venture" anthology series.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - drd2001 on November 22nd, 2005 11:38 pm (UTC)
If that anthology ever saw the light of day, I'd nab it faster than the Astrobase t-shirts you had last year. Animated, a graphic novel or just a novel, it would be awesome.

H.E.L.P.eR. is the character that first got me hooked on the show. There is just something about emotional robots that interest me.

(reply to drd2001) - jacksonpublick on November 23rd, 2005 05:00 am (UTC)
If emotional robots are your thing, you should check out Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library comics, particularly the most recent, hardcover one and issue 7. His robots are tragic, and I'm ashamed/proud to say I ripped him off a little bit when I came up with H.E.L.P.eR.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - drd2001 on November 23rd, 2005 11:01 am (UTC)
Cool, I'll do that. I'm always on the lookout for a good read. Thanks.

(No comment title) - animegrrl143 on November 20th, 2005 04:28 am (UTC)
I just can't wait for the new season. Heck, I can't wait for the first season to come out on DVD. The new backgrounds look amazing. I especially love the bathroom. It looks less painterly than the hallway but it looks straight out of an acrylic painting. Both are really cool. Are the characters also going to have the same kind of look to them this season?

I thought that the show was done using flash, kind of like Harvey Birdman, but its cool that you can get such a polished, and now painterly, style.

It's so awsome that you let us (fans) see the process that the show goes through. It's so awsome. :)

P.S. King Kong's trailer makes me love is all the more. 

(reply to animegrrl143) - jacksonpublick on November 20th, 2005 07:24 am (UTC)
We only did the pilot in Flash (which is what your avatar is taken from). The entire first season was done traditionally.
The characters' models were all readdressed, yes, but if you mean "will they have the painterly look of the backgrounds?" the answer is no (that would be incredibly difficult to animate). Most likely the changes to the character models will be undetectable to the home viewer. Mostly we streamlined them a bit and constructed them better because the original model sheets were done so quickly and left a lot of information about the characters' appearances open to interpretation. My own drawing skills probably improved over the last couple of years and some of the storyboard artists, in interpreting the characters, added their own stylistic flourishes, which I liked and wanted to officially incorporate into the designs.

1 comment - Leave a comment

Sep. 3rd, 2007 07:58 pm Publick Record - 9/28/05 - The Beginning is the Middle

 The Beginning is the Middle

Oh, are you kids in for a treat. We've finally turned in our seventh script, which is in fact the script for next year's season premiere, and we're pretty proud of it. I'd say more but I wouldn't want to blow the surprise. Suffice to say it's filled with many answers to many questions and we somehow found a way to catch up with characters new and old that have no earthly business being in the episode at all. I'll say this: we get to see a little more of Jonas Jr., a little more of the Venture compound, and a little more of some of the other villains Monarch was sharing his prison sentence with in last season's finale. And good god are we putting poor Rusty through the ringer this season. While not officially a two parter, this first episode and the second (written a few weeks ago) form a lovely diptych of complimentary comedy. I really can't wait till you guys see them. Well, assuming they get animated well.

PLUG!:
The absurdly talented Doc Hammer, renaissance man that he is, is going to have his first solo gallery exhibition in a couple of weeks and is painting like a man possessed in preparation for it. This is no joke. Somehow the man co-wrote two scripts with me in the last month AND edited together something like 20 minutes of special features stuff for the Venture Bros. DVD. I expect he will spend the rest of this month putting the finishing touches on an acute case of chronic fatigue syndrome. So please check out the link and come to the opening, which I'm told is from 6-8pm.

PRODUCTION UPDATE:
We've finished the animatic for episode 1 and are in the midst of editing episode 2's. The characters and backgrounds are being designed for episode 7 and we have finally fired up the little engine that is the color department. They start after everyone but the animation direction department has finished, so they're working on the episode 1 right now. Perhaps I'll start leaking some more production art in these journals, now that it'll be in glorious extra-color. Storyboards for episode 4 have just come in and artists are working on the boards for episodes 5 and 6. J.G. Thirlwell is back, having stopped by Noodlesoup to pick up the first animatic and begin his months-long musical journey.

The juggling act is getting harder and harder for me. Our schedule is designed such that we have a script due every two weeks. Which, when Doc and I are alternating, means we individually have one script due per month. Not too grueling in theory, but with all our other jobs it still wears one out. However, since we collaborated on the last two in a row, we've lost that little bit of cushion. I now have less than two weeks to get my next script in (and even then it's technically late) because Doc has shouldered the burden of 99.99% of the DVD special features project and now needs to focus on his painting for a few weeks as he rounds the home stretch to his solo exhibition (see above plug). Fortunately, I've been working a little bit on the script in fits and starts while doing other things and have been revisiting it from time to time, so I'm not staring at a blank page. The germ of this story's been kicking around since the beginning of season one, but it really gelled into a complete premise a couple of months ago through discussions with Ben Edlund, who was originally going to write it. Ben's still going to write an episode, but those same discussions yielded a second story that he felt more attached to. Anyway, the pressure's on for me this week and next. Which sucks because the next storyboard I have to revise--and next animatic I have to edit--is for episode 3, which is (so far) my personal favorite of the scripts I wrote solo this season. The script requires more delicate and precise direction than some of the others in order to bring the full flavor of its fruits to bear and it would kill me not to lavish it with attention. One half of it is an epic, James Bond-y affair told in short beats in half a dozen exotic locations. The other half is a warped character piece/obsessive love story with a lot of physical comedy--both of which are difficult to achieve with limited animation on a low budget. Some episodes are like that--the visual expression of the jokes is the key to the whole thing, or the images in your head are so married to the printed word that nothing less than their full and accurate manifestation in the animation will suffice. I drove the storyboard artists nuts with this one back when they were doing their thumbnails. I should get a break in a few weeks, though, when Doc is back in action and I'm revising the boards for the fifth episode, which he wrote and which, unlike episode 3, is practically idiot-proof in that it would be funny almost any way you shoot it. Not that we have any idiots working on the show, thank god. Far from it.

What a long, strange week it's been...

A guy got shot outside my apartment last weekend and I have a welt the size of a baby's fist from an ingrown hair on the back of my neck. These two events are unrelated. But things are looking up: the weather's finally broken here in New York, after a particularly oppressive summer of soul-deadening heat and humidity (of course nothing like the awful hurricanes the south's been getting hit with--so how can I complain?--but enough was enough) and last night I caught an acoustic Supergrass show at the Bowery Ballroom, which was pretty amazing and took away the stress for a few hours.

jp

Comments for this entry: 

(no comment title) - nothinganything on September 28th, 2005 03:55 pm (UTC)

Wh- SUPERGRASS are over here? They don't care much for the South, so the only show I've seen was an infamous show opening for Radiohead in Atlanta two years ago - apparently someone's family member died and they considered not playing at all. Instead, they walked onstage and did a half-hearted show for about 17 minutes and got in a cab to the airport. I had to drive three hours to see that, so I'm hoping that they'll come back and rock my socks off. Excellent news about JG, by the way.

In regards to the writing, I wish there was an easier way. I'm hoping that the excitement of knowing that we are so eager will make the task and time crunch bearable. You'd be surprised what the human body can do... I once went three months without getting more than 3-4 hours of sleep at a time; it's called "being the parent of a newborn". This is much the same, except you don't have to change any diapers.

Or do you?

(reply to nothinganything) - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 08:18 pm (UTC)
yeah, I'm told Supergrass is here for a quick three shows (one in NY, two in L.A.) before their big European tour. All acoustic. Sorry the one you went to wasn't any fun. I missed them last time they came around because Doc neglected to tell me they were playing, and I guess so did everyone else.

(no comment title) -  kaiju8 on September 28th, 2005 04:35 pm (UTC)
Yes! Please post more production art if/when it's available: color or not!

I'm getting by with re-watching season 1 eps I've saved until the DVD comes out. Do you have firm dates on the DVD release and season 2, yet?

(reply to kaiju8) - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 04:39 pm (UTC)
DVD: Yes. March 14th, 2006. So far as I know.
Season 2: Don't know yet. Will depend on how well we keep to schedule during post-production and what else Adult Swim has going on at the time. We may have to wait for another first-run series to finish out its episodes or something in order to get a certain timeslot. We'll see. My guess is early-mid summer, though.

(no comment title) - squidflakes on September 28th, 2005 04:48 pm (UTC)
I have come to the conclusion that Doc Hammer is not a man, but a mighty robot from the future set on "You call that entertainment, puny mortals?"

Now, this Ben Edlund.. would this be the Ben Edland of "The Tick" Ben Edlund? Because Jesus H. guys... the show is damn funny as it is, but a script written by Ben Edlund.. you're trying to kill us with the funny aren't you.. AREN'T YOU!

cause its cool if you are.

(reply to squidflakes) - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 04:54 pm (UTC)
You could be right about Doc. I'm pretty sure if he's not an infotain-bot, he's convinced he is. As for Ben, yes, THAT Ben Edlund. Venture Bros. was created when I was still writing for The Tick, so Ben's been in the know as long as anyone, and Doc and I have been friends with him since the early 90's at least. Ben was going to write a script for us early on in season one but was called away to more pressing matters. He did contribute some story ideas to the "Careers in Science" episode and a joke or two to "Dia De Los Dangerous" though.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - squidflakes on September 28th, 2005 04:59 pm (UTC)
This of course has caused me to break out all my old Tick episodes and treat myself to an orgy of nigh-invulnerable hilarity. (or at least it will when I get home from work)

Ohhhh.. and the mental gears just clicked.. was the casting choice of Mr. Warburton related to his role in The Tick - Live Action series?

(reply to squidflakes) - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 05:02 pm (UTC)
Yup. I met Patrick on the set, and the rest is Brockstory.

"Past Tense" - (Anonymous) on September 28th, 2005 05:11 pm (UTC)
Can't wait for the DVD! Even if it didn't have any extras on it, I'll be all over it on its release day like white on rice. Especially since that'll mean my fiancée and I can finally see the "Past Tense" episode again, which I believe contains the phrase "waylaid by jackassery" (a favorite of my fiancée's), but which Adult Swim apparently refuses to air.

What up with that? Does that episode use music or references that AS doesn't have the rights to show or something? We miss it!

Re: "Past Tense" - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 08:22 pm (UTC)
There was some concern over the legality of referencing Sorayama's artwork and name in the characters, but that's been cleared up now and everyone's happy. So we can show it again and we can put it on the DVD...and we will.

In Medias Res - toliverchap on September 28th, 2005 08:22 pm (UTC
Sounds like things are busy and that's good. I'm looking forward to the new stuff. Keep on keeping on since I'm sure like the South Park guys said on Charlie Rose Monday "It's not fun it's work . . ." but I'm sure it'll be worth it. I'm extra excited about the way the scripts seem to be evolving to include unexpected twists and turns and lavish locales.

Re: In Medias Res - jacksonpublick on on September 28th, 2005 08:29 pm (UTC)
I can only half agree with the South Park guys on that one, and I'm sure even they don't fully agree with that statement themselves (what they do is too funny and too personal for them not to be having any fun when they're making it up). It IS work, but it IS fun. I enjoy working hard in general (it's often easier than having a social life), and fun is the source of the best kind of work as far as I'm concerned. Parts of it are just no fun at all, but making stuff up and seeing it through and then showing it to people...well, that's pretty great. Don't forget, most scripts start with two idiots in a cramped studio who've chosen to stay up till 4, smoking cigarettes and trying to make each other laugh in funny voices rather than going home to our loved ones...so there must be something good about it.

Re: In Medias Res - toliverchap on on September 28th, 2005 08:55 pm (UTC)
Yeah they weren't saying it wasn't fun I think they were just saying that it's not a party and that discipline and early mornings are involved. I'm beginning to get that as I start on my own student film project, I think I'll prefer production and post production to preproduction. Thanks for the inspirational words.

(no comment title) - urbaniak on September 28th, 2005 09:05 pm (UTC)
Jackson: James Urbaniak here. I don't know if you remember me, but I do the voice of Dr. Venture on your show. In my neverending efforts to be more like you, I started my own Livejournal page a couple of days ago. It is an experiment and frankly I'm not sure how long it will last. There is currently one dithering post. Theoretically in the future there will be more posts concentrating on my exciting life in show business. Amazingly, I have already received a couple of nice replies. How they found out about it I have no idea. The internet is a weird, exciting place. Anyway, stop by and say hello. Free drinks for the first hundred people.

(reply to urbaniak) - jacksonpublick on September 28th, 2005 09:14 pm (UTC)
I didn't tell anyone!
Aren't you also that purple guy with no arms or legs?
Hey, do you know Doc Hammer? Lucky! He is teh sex.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - urbaniak on September 28th, 2005 09:24 pm (UTC)
Jackson refers to the fact that before I made my page public in my above post, I had a private e-mail correspondence with him in which I said that I had just set up my own page but was having second thoughts. He convinced me in his gentle way to do it but promised not mention it to anyone until I decided to go forward with it. So the secret is out. I feel liberated!

(reply to urbaniak) - Anonymous on September 28th, 2005 11:01 pm (UTC)
Jackson, James... Hello gentlemen. I just wish to draw your attention the default anonymousness of this missive.

All my fizzy love,
Doc Hammer

(reply to Anonymous) - urbaniak on September 28th, 2005 11:49 pm (UTC)
Whoa. Doc Hammer said hello to me. That is cool. Assuming that really is Doc Hammer and it must be: the phrase "fizzy love" has his fingerprints all over it. I am in fanboy heaven!!

Hello to you, Doc, and congrats about the gallery show. May you receive a warm hand on your Opening.

(reply to urbaniak) - Anonymous on September 29th, 2005 12:02 am (UTC)
The warm hand I will receive on my opening will be yours. Not that I want you to put your warm hand on or near any of my openings, but your presence at my opening is required. Yeah, didn't you get the memo? And don't even dream of sending T. Ryder as your understudy, as his presence is also mandatory.

(reply to Anonymous) - urbaniak on September 29th, 2005 01:00 am (UTC)
I will be there, literally with bells on. Jingly little bells.

Excitement - sinataya on September 30th, 2005 01:15 am (UTC)
My deep love knows no bounds!
I'm so excited for the new season that I will wait as long as I have to. And will still love! As for the DVD, I'm going to pretend its not happening until I see the advertisments for it, because I'm surprised you guys are getting it out that soon. I do not expect laziness but it seems like a-lot-of-work-really-soon to be doing the DVD. So emense thanks for the amount of time, blood, sweat, tears, etc. that have gone into the DVD production.

Re: Excitement - jacksonpublick on October 4th, 2005 04:18 am (UTC)
Immense thanks for the blood, sweat and tears that must have gone into those costumes...and wearing them...in the heat and all. They look great!

umm - volcanoawesome on October 4th, 2005 12:18 am (UTC)
I have a question for all the people who ordered an astrobase go! tshirt, what brand were they? I have one but I ripped off my tag and I must must must know where I can get some more of the same company.

Re: umm - jacksonpublick on October 4th, 2005 04:17 am (UTC)
They were American Apparel. Only the best for the Astrobase...

Re: umm - volcanoawesome on October 5th, 2005 01:15 am (UTC)
Oh wow, I have a few other AA t shirts and none of them fit as well as this one. I layed them on top of each other and this one is a little smaller and much thicker than all my others. Would you mind telling me what specific t-shirt you dudes used? Like, standard american, or one the many types like fine jersey short or baby rib fitted short. 

Re: umm - jacksonpublick on October 5th, 2005 04:09 am (UTC)
You won't let up, will you?

Alas, I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure for the men's shirts we chose the "fine jersey short sleeve t-shirt" and for women we picked the "baby rib basic short sleeve t"

Storyboard - Anonymous on October 4th, 2005 06:47 pm (UTC)
I was one of the lucky bidders from the EBay auction, and my signed storyboard arrived safe and sound today. Thank Alex for her efforts, and thank you and Doug Lovelace for participating! I would have bid on the storyboard regardless, but knowing that the money went to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation made me feel better about the purchase.

Now if I could just afford one of Doc's beautiful paintings.... 

Re: Storyboard - jacksonpublick on on October 5th, 2005 04:21 am (UTC)
Thanks for buying the storyboard...I hope you're happy with it. As for Doc's paintings, you're not alone. They're too rich for my blood, too.

Re: Storyboard - Anonymous on October 5th, 2005 04:39 am (UTC)
Happy with it? Try THRILLED!!!! I feel like I own a piece of my favorite show. Well, I guess I do at that. I will frame the storyboard and hang it proudly on the wall.

two questions.... - ninjaguydan on October 4th, 2005 07:54 pm (UTC)
Dear Mr. Publick I have only two questions...

1-Will David Bowie ever make a voice over appearance (or at least mentioned in spirit)?

2-for the DVD, will you allow all the cuss words to be heard? and what about those annoying black boxes that follow the strippers around in the "mid-life chrysalis" episode. Cause that would be cool, and I would probably buy the DVD (instead of sustaining myself on my VHS copies) just for that alone.

U Rock!
-)

Re: two questions.... - jacksonpublick on October 5th, 2005 04:20 am (UTC)
1. Bowie doing a voice is almost too much to hope for. I won't say it'll never happen--who knows?--but I will say I'd jump on that in a second and write a whole episode around him if he was interested. As for mentioning him, I'm sure we'll get around to it. A brief mention survived all but the last draft of the third episode's script but had to be cut for time, so he's always in the back of my mind.

2. Sorry...the cuss words will still be bleeped and the black bars are staying. Couldn't talk the network folks into an unrated DVD, I suppose for marketing reasons, but I stand by the assertion that 95% of the time bleeps are funnier than the actual cussing. As for the black bars, they're not hiding anything. No genitalia, no pubes; no nothing. All those women are in bikini bottoms. I'm still confused as to why the standards people took offense, but the bars kind of created a joke where there wasn't one before, so I'm all for them.

and one side note. - ninjaguydan on October 5th, 2005 04:35 am (UTC)
you underestimate yourself. I'm sure if he saw a copy of the show he night get interested. It's not like you have some underground local public access show. I think he'd be up for it if you asked him nicely.

Never hurts to try,
-)

PS---I have cousins in South America who would love to see the show. Any plans to sell the show to overseas markets...Los Hermanos Ventura does might translate well en Espanol..

PPS--I'll still buy the DVD.

-)

Re: one side note. - jacksonpublick on October 5th, 2005 04:47 am (UTC)
You flatter us. Nevertheless, Bowie is just about as big as they come and we are comparatively tiny. We'll probably try him at some point, though. As for South America...I have no idea, unfortunately. I just make the thing...who knows where they stick the show once it's out of our hands? I know they were bugging us for transcripts or something at one point so they could ostensibly translate the episodes...but into what languages and for what markets, I've no clue.

Lack of respect for VB @ [as] - netgeez on October 10th, 2005 03:00 am (UTC)
Hiya JP, first time caller, long time listener. I just wanted to make a quick comment, and if this has been brought up before, I apologize. I'm not really a "forum person" so I don't know what's been talked about and what hasn't.

Anywho, is it just me, or does VB get the short end of the stick with adult swim? 1230 Monday mornings? "Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis?" as the kewl kids say. At least, that's what I thought until [as] just flashed the new Sunday schedule, and now, no more VB!

Any thoughts on this? I know you folks are probably happy with being on at ANY time, but now you don't even have that. Any word on when VB might be on?

Thanks again, and keep up the great work.

P.S. I did make a post on the [as] boards regarding the matter, simultaneously professing my love for VB and my hatred for (ugh) 12 Oz Mouse...

Re: Lack of respect for VB @ [as] - jacksonpublick on October 10th, 2005 04:07 am (UTC)
No disrespect there, First Time Friend...they are actually doing us a service if you think about it. You have to remember, these 13 episodes of ours premiered in August 2004 and have long since been replayed countless times. To paraphrase Devo, we've been with the world, and [the world is] tired of the soup du jour. There are new soup du jours--new shows, new seasons of old shows--which are taking their proper place in the coveted "hot" timeslots. I'm actually glad they're taking us off entirely now because, as I've pointed out in previous journal entries, once the diehard fans have seen and memorized every episode and plundered every scrap of intentional and unintentional meaning and comedy from them, the new ones that come on next year will be unfairly judged against them at first (until they, too, have been played to death). Best to give it a rest, let everyone remember us fondly for a while, and get all excited about the new ones when the time comes. Plus, why would anyone buy a DVD in March when they could get 'em all for free every week between now and then? If it makes you feel any better, in all probability, adult swim will air some sort of Venture Bros. marathon--either of all the episodes, or some hand-picked or fan-picked favorites--some time in the month leading up to season 2's premiere, just to catch up the folks who missed the previous 130 airings. So look out for that.

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Apr. 10th, 2007 07:55 pm Publick Record - 7/22/05 - Comicon Postgame & Production Journal

Comicon Postgame & Production Journal   

We have the nicest fans. I was fortunate to meet a bunch of you/them in San Diego this weekend and I'm pleased to say there was not a bad apple in the bunch. None of the typical big convention creepos that can sometimes congregate in situations such as these. Not a single greasy-haired, wall-eyed, sweating-through-his-too-tight-windbreaker mouth-breather in the bunch! Nor my favorite type of troublemaking fan--the guy who likes your show...but he's got a few problems with it he'd like to discuss with you. Just good, friendly, incredibly polite folks of all ages representing every demographic under the American sun. Mothers and daughters! Jokers and Harley Quinns! A Dr. Girlfriend, even! And no less than three but no more than five Astrobase Go! t-shirts amongst them! Honestly, you were all just supercool and it really, truly was my pleasure to meet you. I'm only sorry that all but maybe two or three of the hundred or so Sharpie doodles I did for you guys completely sucked.

As usual, got to hang out with some of the other Adult Swim creator types, which is always fun, and I got to meet internet hero Eric Fensler, creator of the bizarre and hysterical GI Joe spots that were the hit of everyone's web browsers a year or two ago. Somehow I keep not meeting Seth Green. Other highlights included an odd dinner with Billy West, Dana Snyder and Ken Plume, the Adult Swim party, and almost buying an original Robert McGinnis painting but realizing I'd rather have a car. I missed half of the Adult Swim panel (that I wasn't invited to participate in this year) but about ten seconds after I sat down Keith Crofford mentioned that season two of the Venture Bros. was in production and the crowd let out a huge cheer (I'm told the loudest of the day). I personally wet myself.

Good news...more talk of the DVDs of season one, for one thing. We've got some cool special feature-y stuff planned which we're hoping to god we can pull together and produce in the next couple of months while still doing our season two jobs properly. Don't ask me what they are...it's a surprise. As of now, the dvd set is planned as a 3 disk affair, and the target release date is still the vague "some time in spring of '06." There was also talk of toys. Or of the potential for toys, but rather than jinx it, I'll leave it at that for now.

Since this Live Journal was originally intended to be a production journal, I'll proceed in that vein, for once...

VB PRODUCTION: WEEK 3

We have four scripts in the can. We should have five by now, but whatever. After a script is turned in we wait for our creative, legal and Standards notes from Adult Swim. Creative notes are generally light, since Lazzo & co. usually trust us and want to let us make the show we want to make, and except in rare instances, whatever notes we do get are generally right on the money. Standards notes are generally light as well, and whatever notes we get from that department are usually very easy to address--change the offending word, cover the offending body part with more costume when it's designed, etc. Legal notes are always a drag because they mess with our ability to anchor the show in real world things sometimes, and a lawyer's definition of "parody" is often vastly different from ours. Still, those are usually easy notes to address--when we get them in time, which we never did last year--and we have a decent and thorough lawyer this time around.

So the first two weeks of production are the domain of the design department. We have a meeting on the first day of the first week, we go over the script, and I give the character/prop and background design supervisors any notes, sketches and guidelines I have for the look of said script. If the script is too "heavy"--i.e. too many brand new, used-only-in-one-shot things have to be designed--we try to talk about streamlining things a bit so they can stay on schedule. "Do you really need 16 henchmen?" "Do we need to see the entire missile silo or will one corner do?" These are the kinds of questions we address then and there. Over the following two weeks I meet with them a few more times to check on their progress and give any notes about their rough designs before they get cleaned up.

Also during this first two week period we record the episode. We recorded our first episode last Monday, which went really well. Urbaniak and T. Ryder Smith jumped right back in the saddle and nailed their respective characters better than ever. And just to show how very small our production can be, and how no one working on Venture Bros. ever has just one job, we now record at Mike "Dean Venture" Sinterniklaas's studio. Yup, Mike's a sound engineer in addition to being a voice actor. Recording takes the better part of a day and leaves me with hundreds of audio tracks to sift through. Generally, I'm given a disk (or two) of the tracks, I take them home or to the Astrobase, load them into iTunes, and start listening. I write down the name of the track next to its corresponding line in the script and then hand this off to our sound engineer. This takes hours upon hours and is often incredibly frustrating. Sometimes because I have to pick between two excellent, different takes of the same line to decide which is funnier, and other times because no matter how many versions I listen to, there just doesn't seem to be a "right" one. Also, hearing your own voice over a set of headphones, no matter what character you're pretending to be, is...kind of embarrassing. All attempts to condense this process have been fruitless: 9 times out of 10, the track we thought was the best one on the day we recorded it turns out not to be upon a second, private listen. And lots of times the first take of a track that I recorded eight times because I didn't think we were getting it right turns out to be the best of the lot. Anyway, the sound engineer takes this marked up script, pulls the noted tracks, cleans them up and trims them, and then lays them all out in script order in Pro Tools. Which brings us to the slug:

Slugging in this case (the term means something completely different in most other productions) is the process of editing said Pro Tools project to create a sort of Venture Bros. radio show. I sit with the engineer and more or less imagine what the pace of the show will be. We pull tracks together that were recorded hours apart, overlap them and so forth, in order to try to make the show sound like live conversation. When we hit a part of the script where big action is described, I have to kind of imagine how long that action would take, and we leave that part silent (unless of course henchmen are screaming during the action, or Brock is grunting or something). When our little radio show is all edited and sounds right, we check the time. If it's over 23 minutes, I have to start cutting stuff then and there. Or, if it's over but not by too much, I have to at least start seriously thinking about what's going to be cut during the next two phases: storyboard and animatic.

We give the cd to the storyboard artists, who begin their work in week 3. By listening to the audio, they get a better idea of the attitudes and expressions they need to give the characters during certain lines and actions. It also effects their direction of each scene. A sequence that may have seemed nice and open in the script may be much quicker than they thought once recorded, so they realize then they don't have time to cut all over the place or do some sweeping, panning establishing shot or something. I meet with these guys at the beginning of their process as much as possible, too. If there are scenes that I have a very specific look in mind for, I doodle a few thumbnails and explain it to them. Otherwise, they're on their own and I wait for them to finish their thumbnails. Thumbnails, for those who don't know, are small, rough sketches laying out the basics of a scene. The storyboard artists spend their first week doing these, at the end of which I sit down with them, go over their drawings, and change or add to them as necessary.

...which brings us to the end of week 3. And of course week 3 to the rest of the production means week 1 of the next script for the design department. So this is when all of the above starts to overlap for me and people start getting frantic and losing sleep...

JP
 
 
Current Music: Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Comments for this entry:

(no comment title) - erinfinnegan on July 22nd, 2005 07:10 pm (UTC)
Wow! That's waaaaay different than how we do Kids Next Door!! I mean, our voice actors are looking at the storyboard... (But didn't you once work here? You'd know this already...)

You just blew my mind!

(reply to erinfinnegan) - jacksonpublick on July 24th, 2005 04:16 am (UTC)
Hey, different strokes for different folks...what works for one show doesn't for another. To us, everything follows the writing, and since a joke is all in how you tell it, it's important for us to get the voices right and try to make the board artists follow the actors' voices. I think it helps a lot with the poses the characters strike, and the pacing helps people figure out how to board more economically. It would probably help us for action scenes and stuff if the actors were looking at boards--then they'd know what kind of grunts and groans and exertion sounds to make--but we can always dub those in later and we usually know how the action's going to go down when we write the scripts anyway, so we can guide the actors by telling them things like "yell like you're picking up the heaviest thing ever and you're really pissed!"


To our official, honorary Riddler - clowny face on July 22nd, 2005 07:33 pm (UTC)
(OMG, making cartoons sounds wicked hard)

Eep! You referred to us! Fondly!

Hey, this is Tara (Harley Quinn), and in case you couldn't tell it was a total thrill for us to get to hang out with you them booze-filled summer nights. Still twitchy with joy. And hope I wasn't too much of a chatterbox; later I really wished I'd shut up and asked more stuff about you, but hopefully another time...

BTW, we tried to make it to your signing but missed you by 10 minutes! So sad! I blame Batman.
Oh! And in my effort to not be too obnoxious I forgot to give you our card, but our web addy is www.gothampublicworks.com (Even got pics of our old Riddler if you're curious ^_~)

Other than that if you're ever back in SoCal get in touch and we'll ply you with hugs and liquor, and if Donny and I decide to do a Con day as VB characters (we *had* considered it before) don't be surprised. Late!

Re: To our official, honorary Riddler - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:21 pm (UTC)
It was my pleasure to hang out with you guys, too. And no, you weren't too much of a chatterbox! And actually, you did give me a business card. Or maybe it was the Joker.


(no comment title) - tony wan kenobi on July 22nd, 2005 07:48 pm (UTC)
wow...that sounds like a hell of a process, but i could only imagine the satisfaction you get after putting in all that time and effort to see things like a large audience cheering the loudest for YOUR show...anyway, congratulations on teh show doing so well and good luck with the rest of season 2 production. i can't wait!
also, are you going to be at the wizard con in boston at the end of september?

(reply to tony wan kenobi) - jacksonpublick on on July 30th, 2005 11:23 pm (UTC)
Not likely, the Boston thing. The end of September will be fiercely busy for us, as production will be in full swing, our DVD project is due, and Doc's solo painting show hangs right around then. Sorry...


 Legal stuff - Anonymous on July 23rd, 2005 12:34 am (UTC)
What are some of the things your lawyers wouldn't let you do? I've heard that sometimes you can't mention products on the air, but I've never heard of an actual lawsuit resulting from something like that.


Re: Legal stuff - jacksonpublick - on July 24th, 2005 04:11 am (UTC)
It's all about context and usage. Sometimes we can mention a product or show a product but not mention AND show a product. Other times we can't do either. Depends on the company whose product we're using, I guess, and whether or not it's a flattering or appropriate portrayal. Also depends upon the eagle eyes and ears of the legal department at Cartoon Network. We were once forbidden from depicting a package of cigarettes, which we never named the brand of in the dialogue and which had no text or logo on it but too closely resembled the primary colors of a specific brand. In some cases, you can call the company and get the reference "cleared," meaning they tell you it's okay to use it or they don't see it as anything they'd need to take legal action over. In the case of the cigarettes, which I must again point out had no discernable logos or text on them, everyone was super-touchy because cigarette companies targeting young people, which is Adult Swim's demographic. When it comes to parody stuff, we're learning that if we were MORE of a parody show, we'd actually be able to get away with more. It would be easier for us to have a big green guy walk into the middle of an episode, shout "I'm the Incredible Hulk!" and fart than it would be to have Brock dress up as the Incredible Hulk for Halloween and say "I'm dressed as the Incredible Hulk." The logic being that one is parody because you're commenting on the character and the other is not because you're just using the character's likeness. Even though I personally see having our characters dress up as other characters as a form of parody, the law doesn't necessarily agree. It's weird, I know. I'm still trying to figure out how South Park gets away with everything it gets away with. Maybe I should call their lawyers...



Thanks from comic-con - Anonymous on July 23rd, 2005 06:29 pm (UTC)
Thanks for making the cd cover at the con it went off swimmingly, also I can't find barkmarket anywhere.

Re: Thanks from comic-con - jacksonpublick on July 24th, 2005 03:57 am (UTC)
You're welcome. Here's a link to the amazon page for what's definitely the best Barkmarket album...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000024WJB/002-8287590-3683201?v=glance


DVD Set and your own personal mascot - Anonymous on July 23rd, 2005 11:06 pm (UTC)
I found a design for the dvds when looking for a picture for the background on my computer, and I was wondering if this is it or what?

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~karthur/PD/VB.htm

If this is the dvd package design, then it looks pretty good. Also, keep up the good work. If you need it I can come to where you make the cartoon and be a Jackson version of the Starbuck's "Hank" mascot. Give it a minute to sink in...how much fun would it be to have your very own mascot? Trust me, all the ladies would dig it and you would be the coolest guy around.

Re: DVD Set and your own personal mascot - jacksonpublick  on July 24th, 2005 04:20 am (UTC)
Actually, ours have not been designed at all yet. We're just about to start working on that. But last year I did see the one you linked and thought it was really great. I have no idea what ours will look like but the white skull on black is rather tempting--it would be eye-catching, certainly, though it wouldn't tell people who've never seen the show anything about the contents within.

I must confess, I don't know what a Starbucks mascot it is. It sounds creepy and invasive.


(no comment title) - dr orpheus on July 24th, 2005 11:54 am (UTC)
I would love some Venture Brothers action figures! Also I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD (although I have them all taped on VHS) the DVDs are much better anyway. I watched Episode # 7 'Home Insecurity' and when the Monarch turned on his computer with the Mac chime and said "I have a lot of extensions' I almost died laughing. Making an animated show is a lengthy process but, of course the final product is nothing short of pure genius! Keep up the good work... wish I was at the comic con, I would have said hi. :-) Also do you know if you'd do another Christmas Special? It would be awesome to have a trend like the Simpsons or Futurama did!!

(reply to dr orpheus) - jacksonpublick on July 24th, 2005 10:30 pm (UTC)
No Christmas special this year--that much I can pretty much assure you right off the bat, since we'd have to start making it like this second to get it done in time and we're busy with the season proper. Maybe next year...


More products? - ebonystarfire on July 24th, 2005 06:35 pm (UTC)
Hey jackson I have a question...is it really up to adult swim what Venture products they can sell on their online store, or do you have to be the ones to dish them out? I'm not really sure how that works, but I did bring up a post on the message boards there...I think we could use more stuff! Like, different tshirt designs, hats and such...I think there's only like 2 different shirts and that's it...it makes me sad, I want some more. If it's up to you then I understand, you're prolly busy outta your brains right now, so I can wait...but if it's up to them they should get up off their butts and stop worrying about all the Aqua Teen stuff and do more Venture Bros. I'm pretty sure my post on the message board there will get ignored, but I tried heh. I especially love the hoodie I see Mike Sinterniklaas wearing in the Full Metal Alchemist clips he's in on the site, but you guys prolly made them especially for you all. Awesome non the less :D 

Re: More products? -  jacksonpublick on July 24th, 2005 10:28 pm (UTC)
That's all Adult Swim, my friend. They make what they want and sell it in the online store. I'm sure if I printed up a bunch of t-shirts myself and didn't expect to see any money from it, they'd gladly list them, but who's got the time or cash for that? Supposedly some new shirt designs are on the way, possibly from another company and to be sold through actual retail stores...but I don't know enough about that yet to say for sure. The hoodie Mike was wearing was indeed an exclusive for the people who work on the show. Sort of a Christmas present/thank you kind of thing.

And yes, Adult Swim will most likely ignore anything you write on their boards. Sorry...

Re: More products? - ebonystarfire on on July 25th, 2005 02:44 am (UTC)
I guess patience is the key here, waiting for Adult Swim to do their thing...but just like waiting for season 1 on dvd and season 2 to come out, I know it'll be worth it in the end. =) It *is* rather annoying that they don't pay much mind to what people say on the boards...sometimes I wonder what they're even there for heh.
Oh and since I couldn't afford to go all the way out to comicon to see you....and believe me I would have if I could have...I have a random question for you about the boys that hopefully you can answer for me...and no it's not "are the boys clones" or other such stuff that you really can't answer. I was just wondering about their names...Hank and Dean...are those just names you just randomly pulled outta nowhere to name them...or do they have some kinda meaning behind them....or did you just pick like the dorkiest names you could think of or what? Heh sorry I know you're prolly sitting there thinking "What's wrong with you, why do you sit there and ponder such strange things about a cartoon show?!" I get bored sometimes and miss my fav tv show, and wonder these kinda things.Feel free to just roll your eyes and ignore this if ya want, I was just wondering is all. Thanks for your time! :D 

Re: More products? - jacksonpublick on July 25th, 2005 03:52 am (UTC)
Hmm...I kind of just made them up. Actually, the long story is that a friend of mine from way back in high school and college had a habit of using first names as adjectives and verbs, depending on how the name sounded to him. Some of these were Hank (which meant "to bumble, botch, manhandle or damage" as in "aw, you hanked my copy of Spiderman #121"), Dean (which meant "nerdy or overly and uselessly complicated in a geeky way"--think gadgets--he would call the retractable handles on his briefcase "the dean handles"), and Mel ("a loser" as in "that guy's such a mel."). There were others I can't remember right now. I named the boys Hank and Dean as a private nod to this friend (I think their original names in my first sketches were Lunk and Dale). As for why DR. VENTURE named his kids Hank and Dean, and whether or not those are nicknames or if they have middle names, well...we might reveal that at some point. 

Re: More products? - ebonystarfire on July 26th, 2005 05:33 am (UTC)
WOW, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question, I really appreciate it! I really think the names you decided to give them fit them....better then Lunk and Dale anyway heh....and about going into more detail of their names possibly later on...are we gonna find out why Dr. Venture can hardly ever seem to remember Dean's name? I mean, will there possibly be a specific reason...or can we just continue assuming it's cuz Dean's more of an annoyance to him or something along those lines? Dean's my favorite character (as if you couldn't tell) and I always felt super bad for him every time Dr. V couldn't remember his name and called him like Don or Dave and HELPeR or someone else had to correct him heh. Poor Deano =)
Again thank you for your time, you've made me feel super special! :D

Re: More products? - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:18 pm (UTC)
You're quite welcome. Dr. Venture can't remember names because he's entirely too self-centered to bother. And anyone with siblings has probably watched their dad, in a fit of rage or frustration, stammer through a cycle of at least two other names not their own before ol' Dad gets to theirs. Also, Dr. Venture seems to take some sort of amphetemine from time to time. Lack of sleep will erode the memory...


(no comment title) - hounded  on July 25th, 2005 06:17 am (UTC)
Hey Jackson,
My girlfriend keeps pushing me with this question, and to be honest I have no answer to give her, so I FW'd it on to you: Why are Dean and Hank dressed like Fred from Scooby-Doo and a Hardy Boy?

For some reason, I always stammer and then stare blankly. I generally tell her that I am more swept up in the scripts than I am in what they look like (as I am the one with the writing degree and SHE'S the graphic designer), and that I'm focussing on the WORDS.

So, any particular reason? 

(reply to hounded) - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:15 pm (UTC)
Why wouldn't they be?

(reply to jacksonpublick) - hounded on August 1st, 2005 11:19 pm (UTC)
Hahaha a question with a question.

Touche' :D


(no comment title) - cartoonfreak on July 25th, 2005 06:58 am (UTC)
Jackson, I must say you made our whole trip out to the con worth it. I thought nothing could top last year, but you and Dana taking time out to chat with us after dinner did. The convention itself was just the icing on the cake to that experience. I only wish I'd acted less like the dork I am and just got out what I had to say, though we thoroughly enjoyed the insightful look into hotels and airline cheese. Thanks for talking to me about all those little things including Mo Willems, who you should thank, because even though I was already a fan of the pilot he fondly recommended your great little show to me. Some responses/reactions you gave made me feel all fuzzy inside. I'm hoping you've realized that under all the hilariously clever writing and awesome references, you've managed to inspire hope, patience, and love in at least one person through your creation.
On a lighter note, I'd also like to thank you for signing all my stuff (the Astrobase shirt is even more wickedly cool now... it will be worn with much pride). Sharpie doodles rock! and if I must say, I think you were trying to kill me when you did mine. Dean's expression is all too sweet and... gah! I had to stop myself from tearing up while going through the sketch book later on.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. It's talented and delightful people like yourself and Mo who have made these past couple years a blast. I hope to meet you again (maybe with Doc Hammer) sometime in the future!

Much love and respect always

~Agent Spectre the Cartoon Freak

(reply to cartoonfreak) - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:14 pm (UTC)
Meeting you guys was great! Thank you for all that wonderful stuff you just wrote. And I will thank Mo next time I see him (if any of you reading this have kids, you should go buy his books--not that there's anyone with kids left who hasn't already--they're really great!


(no comment title) - Anonymous on July 26th, 2005 02:24 am (UTC)
Will we get more of that Pirate Capt'n from Ghosts of the Sargosa in season 2?

(reply to Anonymous) - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:12 pm (UTC)
Aw, you wouldn't want me to spoil it if we were, would you?


(no comment title) - roargh on July 26th, 2005 04:24 pm (UTC)
This is really offtopic, but I have to say it: I reeeaaally enjoy and appreciate all those funny music references you have going on in the Venture Bros. The David Bowie ones, especially (I believe you quoted/mentioned TVC15, Ashes to Ashes, and Space Oddity - plus the whole panda bit. I'm a huge Bowie fan, if you can't tell - I've met three people who have met Bowie, and am working my way to meeting the guy himself. I've only seen him live at the Reality Tour - I'm too young to have seen, really, any other tour.) Oh, and not to mention the Depeche Mode, Rocky Horror, and even the Spindoctors song references. When I'm about to go to bed and I see a cartoon character quoting a Bowie song, it's more than enough to make my night. Thank you! <3 Venture Bros.

(reply to roargh) - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:09 pm (UTC)
More of that kind of nonsense is bound to show up in season two. We can't help it. We have to write 13 scripts--sooner or later actual pieces of our conversations--which are usually about bands and culture anyway--are bound to turn up.


question about the bowie panda reference - millari on July 26th, 2005 09:36 pm (UTC)
Hey Jackson,

Don't know if you'll see this anymore, but I'll try anyway: I was recently reading a Bowie bio that someone gave me because I'm a big fan.

According to the bio, Bowie's family took to nicknaming him "Panda" early in his career, after he began wearing so much makeup around his eyes as part of his stage look.

Was Bowie's kidnapping of Mr. Brisby's panda a conscious reference to that?

Just curious. If so, that was damn clever, and I applaud you. In fact, I applaud you anyway, because it still sends me into peals of laughter every time I hear Molotov's crazy accent pause emphatically and growl out the words, "Misterrr BOWIE."

Can't wait for Season 2. Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait.....

Re: question about the bowie panda reference - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:11 pm (UTC)
That's fantastic. I had no idea. Now I wish I had at the time. I don't know why I thought Bowie should have a pet panda--probably just because he's such an exotic creature himself.


DVD Plans - (Anonymous) on July 30th, 2005 11:48 am (UTC)
Love the show! Unfortunately, I only saw a couple of episodes during their first airing and had to get caught up watching repeats. As a result, I missed the only airings of Past Tense. Can you confirm whether that episode will be included with the DVDs, along with The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay? I have read synopsizes of Past Tense and am always frustrated when Adult Swim reaches the end of the season, skips that episode and goes back to the start of the season.
Thanks,

Re: DVD Plans - jacksonpublick on July 30th, 2005 11:08 pm (UTC)
Yes, come hell or high water, we'll include "Past Tense" on the DVD. We're working out our minor problem with it now and all will be fine. It is also my intention to include the pilot episode. As for any special features, we're working on that now...trying to make it worth everyone's money. I had hoped to include a preview of season 2 on there, but we won't have any finished animation by the time we need to turn the DVD project in, unfortunately


(no comment title) - (Anonymous) on July 31st, 2005 07:02 pm (UTC)
Have you been approached about a live-action movie?

A friend made a fan casting collage (which evidently he e-mailed to you probably over a year ago) that was pretty good. I won't say for which parts but some of the actor's names that came closest to perfect casting were John Glover, Seymour Cassel, Eric Braeden and Fred Ward.

(reply to Anonymous) - jacksonpublick on July 31st, 2005 10:57 pm (UTC)
Yes, I saw those collages...the ones that came to my home email address...with dare I say creepy frequency and persistence...some of them were excellent suggestions indeed.


RUMOR ALERT - (Anonymous) on July 31st, 2005 09:20 pm (UTC)
I hear that there may be some kind of comic adaptation this year containing some of Dr. Girlfriend's throat-slitted past. Any words?

Re: RUMOR ALERT - jacksonpublick on July 31st, 2005 10:53 pm (UTC)
Any words? Yeah...that's a total super-lie. Certainly no comic adaptation plans involving also-lies that reveal untrue backstory for one of our main characters. And since DC shot down my "Adventures of Young Billy Quizboy and his Amazing Friend's Robot H.E.L.P.eR." prestige format mini-series idea, I don't think there are any comic adaptation plans in the works at all.


(no comment title) - kaiju8 on August 1st, 2005 03:19 pm (UTC)
Any chance we'll see more of the minor characters from "Tag Sale" get fleshed out in future seasons? As you can tell from my icon, I really dig that Robot Arm Guy who put the smackdown on Plug-Face.

(reply to kaiju8) - jacksonpublick on August 1st, 2005 05:26 pm (UTC)
Doubtful, but since we never know where the next idea will come from, who knows? It's more fun to make up a bunch of new guys any time we need a crowd full of interesting looking characters, and we try to give them details that can spawn a whole world of undisclosed imaginary adventures in the minds of our viewers. Guess it worked on Robot Arm Guy and Plug-Face, because look at you!


(no comment title) - jordanashercruz on August 5th, 2005 06:23 am (UTC)
Hey. I have question. I don't know if has been asked previously, but I'll still ask.

Is Patrick Warburton going to be coming back as Brock Samson? My fingers are crossed for a good answer.

(reply to jordanashercruz) - jacksonpublick on August 11th, 2005 06:34 am (UTC)
I'll second that. Yes he will be. Just talked to him yesterday and he's actually pretty geared up for it. I hope to get out to L.A. to record him before the end of the month...those scripts are stacking up fast and I'm already tired of hearing my pale imitation of his vocal riches in the "scratch tracks" we record for preliminary timing of the episodes.


Two Questions - (Anonymous) on August 9th, 2005 07:47 pm (UTC)
Are you ever going to update the official Venture Bros. Website?
Do you even remember that you have an official Venture Bros. Website?

Re: Two Questions - jacksonpublick on August 11th, 2005 06:38 am (UTC)
The answer is "I don't know, but probably." Meaning yeah, sometimes I remember that we have a Venture Bros. website and of course I'd love for it to be the jewel in everybody's web browsers' menu bars, but we're wicked short on time these days. And though there have been many offers from many a talented lad and lass to design, redesign and/or program the site for us, there would still be all that writing and thinking and planning to do. So don't expect anything too soon, but don't be surprised if we stick a little extra something-something on there from time to time. With any luck, once we're into post-production on the second season and gearing up for the premiere, we'll have a chance to revamp it a bit and officially throw our hats into the shameless self-promotion ring with a little more authority than we have up to this point.



NYAV Post - (Anonymous) on February 13th, 2006 06:08 am (UTC)
Hi JP,
Just wondering...do you think Mike Sinterniklaas would answer the door if some fangirls showed up?
P.S. I haven't seen much of the Venture Bros. (b/c they don't really show it on tv) but I did see the one a few months ago around X-mas time (the one w/ a baby jesus & a bomb or something) & it was funny! ^_^
~Laine

Re: NYAV Post - jacksonpublick on February 15th, 2006 01:44 pm (UTC)
Hmm...probably not. We barely see him when we're there recording and that's after running a security gauntlet that includes two buzzers, an elevator, several passwords, a retinal scan and upwards of two flimsy wooden doors. Mike's had some bad experiences with fan girls in the past, you see, and he's a little skittish. A Furry almost suffocated him once.





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Apr. 8th, 2007 10:17 am Publick Record - 7/05/05 - Comiccon and on

Comicon and on  

Today was Day 1 of production for the second season of The Venture Bros. It's been long in coming, but we're on our way. The design teams got their first script, made their first sketches, and everyone seems really up. Despite our lack of Wacom monitors (the distributors are a month behind in shipping them) and a suitable place to eat lunch (the "lunch room" has been co-opted as office space). Also turned the third script in today. A little yarn featuring the return of Molotov Cocktease and a little peek into Brock's former life. Doc and I have both been firing on all cylinders creatively--we've both been writing two scripts at a time--which has made writing a blast. Somehow there's less pressure this time around and we're actually a little bit ahead of ourselves, which is nice because when you're not banging your head against the wall wondering what the hell you're going to write about with a deadline looming, you get to finesse your scripts a little more; to go back and tweak things just the way you like 'em. It also helps production to know what's coming for them in a few weeks, the better to delegate their work--like when an episode that takes place in twenty different locations follows a show where the Ventures sit around the compound for 22 minutes, they can spread their work out a bit. We've also been doing some preliminary "re-designing" over the past few weeks--honing the character designs to be a bit more iconic and animation-friendly, improving the style of the backgrounds and giving more thought to where our beloved characters live and work, etc. It's been a lot of fun going back to all my original inspirations and re-researching architecture, art, movies, etc. the better to improve the overall look of our little television program. I really can't wait to get these shows made and on the air. We have an extremely talented, dedicated team of very fun people at every level of this production, and they're all working hard already to make it as good as possible. Next week we have our first recording session, so I'm looking forward to seeing James Urbaniak, Mike Sinterniklaas, T. Ryder Smith and Mia Barron again, as well as wasting hours of hard drive space when Doc starts riffing with the mic on.

Next week I'm also off to the San Diego Comicon. Doc, unfortunately, will not be joining me on this trip west after all. But I did find out today that I'm officially supposed to be on my ass behind the Adult Swim booth on Saturday, July 16th, from 11:30-1:00pm. So come say hi and stuff.

I'll leave you now with a peek at Brock Samson's head, as he will appear this season. He's essentially the same, but constructed and stylized a little better than last season...

JP

Brock head rotation by Phil Rynda/Jackson Publick





Comments for this entry:

San Diego, AHOY!! - majinmoto on July 6th, 2005 03:49 am (UTC)
Hey Jackson, it's Jake (from Comic-Con last year..you drew a sketch for me after meeting Mark Hamill, hehe).
I just wanted to let you know I have at Anime-Expo this past weekend and Michael Sinterniklaas was a guest at the Voice Actors panel (note: this was for his work in Anime). I was in the audience and screamed "GO TEAM VENTURE!". Anyways, I don't know if Michael told you this himself yet, but when he mentioned he is the voice for Dean Venture, the crowd went WILD! Seriously, it was the biggest applause out of the whole panel.
Hehe, well, I just thought I'd boost your ego a bit. See you at Comic-Con, buddy!
~Jake

Re: San Diego, AHOY!! - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 04:05 am (UTC)
Hey, Jake! Wow, you actually LOOK older than you did last year. In a good way, I mean. No, Mike hasn't mentioned that Anime-Expo incident to me yet, but I haven't seen him in a few weeks. I'm sure he'll bring it up at the recording session next week, for which he is the sound engineer (a man of many talents, and, as usual for Venture Bros., a man with more than one job title)


(no comment title) - city  streets on July 6th, 2005 03:54 am (UTC)
Haha, do any of these people know you? ;)

How do you keep it going? I am working on a comic book called "Action Squad, GO!" And i have been working on it for quite some time. All myself, Sketch, ink, color, everything and its rough. I really love Venture Bros btw, it reminds me alot of Action Squad.

But lately i have been wanting to sit down and draw but shit keeps coming up. You ever have that problem? Is it best to take a break, work on sketches and let the creativity flow or sit down, manhandle your pencil and go?

Just asking because you have gone pro. I havent and i imagine it takes some skill to keep up with the professional world.

(reply to city   streets) - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 04:02 am (UTC)
I've had success with both the manhandling of the pencil technique and the get up and take a break technique, honestly. Why? Sometimes you need to focus and push through whatever's blocking you, and other times you need to leave it alone and get some perspective. Often you'll find you're killing yourself on a drawing that doesn't seem to be coming out right, you walk away, and the next morning you look at it and think "that's not so bad...why was I beating myself up about it?" Other times the opposite happens--you get too into something and you lose perspective--literally and figuratively--and a good hard look at it in the morning opens your eyes to the bigger picture. Count your blessings that you're doing everything yourself on this project--it often helps, when one area isn't working out, to jump to another discipline. Write if you're having trouble drawing; draw if you're having trouble writing; ink or color if you're having trouble with both, etc. That's what usually keeps me from going crazy on Venture Bros. Doodling helps me loosen up and empty my head, which makes enough room for a new idea or two to pop in there. If all else fails, though, knuckle down and keep at whatever you're doing--even if you mess up, forward momentum is always useful. It's easier to steer a car that's moving in the wrong direction than one that isn't moving at all.


Custom VB figures - (Anonymous) on July 6th, 2005 05:26 am (UTC)
Hey Mr. P, just wanted to see if you saw those nifty little VB figures in ToyFare magazine a little while back? *wink wink*

FYI the pictures are out of scale, not the figures.
~HeadsUpCustoms

Re: Custome VB figures - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 03:31 pm (UTC)
I did see those, yes. Someone at Pixar brought it to my attention, in fact, when I visited a few weeks ago. Very flattering that you'd put so much work into them, and supercool that you floated the issue of action figures in the public consciousness on our behalf. Glad you cleared up the scale issue...I didn't want to say anything


(no comment title) - nothinganything on July 6th, 2005 05:55 am (UTC)

Is the mullet a tad shorter? The attention to detail on this show is ... heartening.

(reply to nothinganything)  - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 03:26 pm (UTC)
You praise us too much. The mullet's more or less the length it was always supposed to be, but since our original models were a little less precise and different storyboard artists interpret it differently, it fluctuated in season one--from about the length you see here to downright Robert Plant proportions. The model above is our basic standard model, though...that's not to say it won't be shorter at the beginning of the season...


(no comment title) - corrado1 on July 6th, 2005 10:13 am (UTC)
Glad to hear production is going so well for Season 2.

I mentioned this in the last update, but it got buried I guess so I'll mention this again:

One of my favorite parts of "A Very Venture Christmas" was the CBS Special Presentation spoof in the beginning. I was wondering if there were going to be more of those like that next season. I'm a fan of Network IDS and title sequences. The HBO one from the 80's is my favorite.

http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/

(reply to corrado1) - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 03:18 pm (UTC)
Funny you should mention that site--I just found it a couple of weeks ago and reacted just as enthusiastically as you did. As for whether or not we'll do anything like the CBS thing again...who knows? That was an un-planned-for brainstorm that hit us during post-production. I'm just lucky that 1. we do our own post-production and 2. Doc Hammer is an After Effects whiz who will gladly stay up all night cobbling stuff together if it will make the show better. It's not unlike us to strip mine our childhood memories for the benefit of the show, so I wouldn't rule it out. Though the HBO one is probably a bit...ambitious (it would require a huge model of a city and some 3D graphics, am I wrong?). I always loved it, too, though.


(no comment title) - theunknowncredo on July 6th, 2005 01:06 pm (UTC)
So Mr. Publick, I'm just curious. How big of a comic book fan are you? Because if ypu said you were big I'd think you were one of the greatest creators ever TIMES 2. I love the Venture Bros. (been hooked since the first episode aired) Can't wait for season 2. Any chance of action figures anytime soon? maybe one of Mr. Brisby?

(reply to theunknowncredo) - jacksonpublick on July 6th, 2005 03:22 pm (UTC)
1. Not as big as I used to be. HUGE fan in my teens and early 20s (worked in a comic shop for about five years). Now I buy 'em infrequently and pretty much stick to independents--Eightball and Acme Novelty Library being my favorites--but 60s-70s Spiderman comics are the closest to my heart.
2. Soon? No. No plans right now, but it could happen at some point.


(no comment title) - ericexpress on July 6th, 2005 04:28 pm (UTC)
Hey Jackson,

Any chance of there being any script to season 1 floating around? I'm a writer myself and I really want to READ the Venture Brothers. Just to see how you guys write, and how it plays out on paper. Don't ask me why, but I am just very interested in stuff like that.

Good luck on season 2, it all sounds great! 

(reply to ericexpress) - jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 03:02 am (UTC)
Sadly, it is our policy never to let anyone peek behind the curtain...so no scripts on the internet unless they're just transcriptions of the episodes. Otherwise, how could we re-use material we cut out of last season's episodes and fool you good people into thinking we made it up fresh?!

(reply to jacksonpublick) - ericexpress on July 7th, 2005 03:12 am (UTC)
That's completely understandable. I was just interested from a writer’s perspective, not a spoiler bound one. Is your format similar to any other TV show's script format? A lot of shows like to have their own in-house methods and quirks. Thanks for your reply, by the way. Much appreciated.

(reply to ericexpress) - jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 06:49 am (UTC)
Yeah, we use Final Draft screenwriting software for the scripts, and pretty much follow the basic rules of screenplay formatting. At least I think we do...we're probably messing something up somewhere. And we tend to be a little overly descriptive--since it's animation and you have to account for everything on the screen. And we're anal. I use the screenplay template, as opposed to the TV sitcom templates, simply because I prefer single spaced dialogue to double spaced. I don't think I subscribe to any other in-house "quirks," except that I put the scene headings in boldface to make it easier for the production department to spot how many backgrounds we need to design.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - ericexpress on July 7th, 2005 07:08 am (UTC)
Jackson, that’s awesome. I’ve heard a lot about how writing for animation is so different. Apparently, it doesn’t have to be. Anyway, a lot of those templates they give you for television writing in Final Draft are usually quite different from one another and makes the whole TV industry look even further confusing than it really should be. As I’m sure you can tell from what I just wrote, I use Final Draft too. Mostly for short films and features.

It is also a sad thing today that people always want to limit descriptions down to the bare essentials. If you pick up some of the greatest screenplays ever written (like say Taxi Driver or Double Indemnity) they’re jammed with awesome description that enhances the whole experience. In our modern times, those scripts would probably be considered amateur off the bat.

Thanks for chatting with me.

(reply to ericexpress) - jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 03:37 pm (UTC)
Well, people are subscribing to the notion that "one page = one minute of screen time," so they keep their descriptions as brief as possible. That formula may be accurate in features, but in our case it never is. For instance, our scripts average about 35 pages and they come out to 22 1/2 minutes (less, even, if you subtract the 50 second opening titles and 30 second end credits). Granted, we sometimes have to cut quite a bit (in the animatic phase as opposed to in the film editing phase), but we've had a 37 page script time out just right and a 34 page script come out too long, so you never know. We keep the dialogue as fast and conversational as possible and since it's animation the action is kept as direct as possible, whereas in a feature film you'd let the camera linger on an establishing shot or you'd show the main character actually getting out of his car and walking up to a door instead of just cutting immediately to him sitting in the next scene's location.

I love Final Draft (it beats the hell out of our days on The Tick when we were using ClarisWorks and hand-formatting every line) but it sure is a buggy little program, isn't it?

(reply to jacksonpublick) - ericexpress on July 7th, 2005 05:22 pm (UTC)
As I went to bed last night I was thinking about how I should have asked about page counts. You sure cleaned that up for me! The page per minute rule is usually never exact, at least with the shorter pieces I've directed. A short film that's 11 pages could be 14 min or it could be 8 min (and I usually don't over load the descriptions). Haven't shot a feature yet, so I don't know exactly. Old film's scripts usually don't blow completely out of control with their page counts either. So I don't know how good of a rule it is, I guess in an over-all swoop of things, it is decent. Justifies companies not reading anything over 120 pages.

Final Draft is great, even with bugs. Although, I'm not using the latest version. I think I've got 6.25. Before Final Draft I use to type up scripts in Word, it was a pain because I had to make sure all the measurements were correct. I did my first feature this way. Later on, I copy and pasted that feature into Final Draft and tweaked it. I hear good things about this program Movie Magic, some people prefer it to Final Draft. I have never tried it though. 


Turn around bright eyes... - (Anonymous) on July 6th, 2005 04:58 pm (UTC)
What? No panel? Pthethh. How about original art or animation cels for sale? Do you guys even do traditional animation?

Re: Turn around bright eyes... - jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 02:59 am (UTC)
I would gladly have joined a panel had I been invited to one. Apparently the only Adult Swim panel is dedicated to NEW shows. As for production art, none for sale. It's all done on computers, man. In Korea. On Korean computers. The only art we'd have would be storyboards or digital files, both of which are the property of Cartoon Network.

Re: Turn around bright eyes... - deadfruitvirus on July 7th, 2005 11:36 pm (UTC)
"Apparently the only Adult Swim panel is dedicated to NEW shows."

Gee, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is hardly new, yet Matt and Dave are on the panel. The Boondocks is even getting its own panel with the cast and crew.

AdultSwim.com does sell production drawings for Futurama and Family Guy. I wouldn't mind buying a Venture Bros. one.

Re: Turn around bright eyes... - jacksonpublick on July 9th, 2005 12:51 am (UTC)
Hey, man, I only know what they tell me. And Matt and Dave, from what I've been told, DO have something new going on. And I can see why they'd want to push Boondocks as hard as possible. It already has a following in print and it's a pretty big deal for them.

As for production drawings, like I said, there aren't many. The ones from other shows that are for sale are usually layout drawings, and we don't do layout in-house. That said, if time and inclination permitted, I'd love to do some sort of poster or piece of promotional art...maybe a lithograph or whatever, but there are no plans for such a thing at present. 


(no comment title) - soulfly1974 on July 7th, 2005 12:47 am (UTC)

Next week we have our first recording session, so I'm looking forward to seeing James Urbaniak, Mike Sinterniklaas, T. Ryder Smith and Mia Barron again, as well as wasting hours of hard drive space when Doc starts riffing with the mic on.

no Patrick Warburton (sp?)?!?!?!?!

(reply to soulfly1974) -  jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 03:00 am (UTC)
We record him in separately in L.A., often doing several episodes at once. So I probably won't see Patrick for another month or so.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - soulfly1974  on July 7th, 2005 01:44 pm (UTC)
oh, ok... I just thought that he was off the show or something... can't imagine anyone else besides Puddy doing Brock Samson, yannow? even with Seth MacFarlane doing that lame-ass imitation of Patrick that he does on American Dad...

(reply to soulfly1974) -  jacksonpublick on July 7th, 2005 03:26 pm (UTC)
I don't know if he's trying to do an imitation of Patrick, but the first thing I thought when I heard it was "Why didn't he get Patrick to do that voice?" It would have automatically made him a more likeable character, and it would have been a bigger departure from Family Guy. Oh well...more Patrick for us.

(reply to jacksonpublick) - soulfly1974  on July 7th, 2005 03:44 pm (UTC)
well, the first time I saw the show, I thought that it was Patrick with a cold or something; he kinda sounds and looks like the character he does on Family Guy (Joe Swanson). then at the end credits his name wasn't anywhere, so my guess was that it was MacFarlane doing the voice.

but like you said, more Patrick for you guys...

sweet stuff - jimkern on July 18th, 2005 06:27 am (UTC)
great to see the show is coming back, been wondering that for while. You mentioned that most of the animation is digital, what programs do you use on the pc for the drawing/animating, etc?

Thanks and keep the great stuff.

Re: sweet stuff -  jacksonpublick  on July 21st, 2005 07:26 am (UTC)
As far as pre-production here in New York is concerned, we use only Photoshop and a certain amount of Flash--just for the art. The characters, backgrounds and props are currently drawn by hand but will probably be "inked" in either Photoshop or Flash (we're still experimenting with which works better for our purposes) and then painted and colored in Photoshop. At some point, when the equipment arrives, the designers will be drawing directly onto Wacom Cintiq monitors, hopefully eliminating a ton of xeroxing, paper, white out and pens from the process. Our animatics are done in After Effects. In Korea they composite the show in a program called Animo. It's my understanding that they do their pencil drawings on paper, scan them in and ink and color them digitally. We have an Animo license on one computer so we can mess with the footage when it comes back from overseas, and Doc Hammer edits the show in Final Cut and does his "special visual effects" in After Effects.





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Apr. 8th, 2007 09:59 am Publick Record - 3/26/05 - F-in' around with P-shop


Season Two a Go!

 
 
Current Music: New Order - Get Ready

Comments:
Past Tense - (Anonymous) on April 20th, 2005 04:53 am (UTC)
Hey, I just heard that Past Tense isn't going to be shown for copyright reasons (Something about the Robots.) on the AS boards....
Anyone know more about this?
[info]Re: Past Tense - jacksonpublick on April 20th, 2005 07:56 am (UTC)
Legal issue still pending, so it's best not to talk about it at the moment. Nobody's in trouble, nobody's mad at us or anything like that--CN's legal department just wants to play it safe, which is the smart bet. It will be back on the air after we clear it legally or alter it slightly. We're working on clearing that up, though, and regret that it hasn't been re-aired in while (I like that ep. too!) I wouldn't have even mentioned it if it hadn't made its way onto the message boards. So...shhhhh!
</font>

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Apr. 8th, 2007 09:26 am Publick Record - 3/25/05 - Team Venture is Go

I have just returned home from the Adult Swim "Upfronts" (and the ensuing bar crawls and requisite, hangover-preventing pizza parlor visit) and so it is official...The Venture Bros. has been picked up for another season of 13 episodes! Having been forced to sit on this information for a week or two, it's nice to tell you all finally.

On top of that, it was good seeing the Adult Swim folks again, the other creators, and enjoying the free crap on hand--everything from the recently ubiquitous panini (Italy's trendy answer to the sandwich) to some sort of Adult Swim messenger bag/tote bag hybrid to Meatwad stress-relieving rubber balls. Also, there was a big, gay, blue bunny-man, who is no stranger to the downtown party scene but I never expected to see him at a network presentation designed to attract advertisers. Oh, and there were free frisbees, one of which I almost hit someone with, for which I (again) apologize profusely. I have to admit, though, that I missed The Rapture--they played last year's Upfronts

Anyhoo...we're still working out the kinks of the production schedule and stuff (and we've yet to receive the 2005 Saturn station wagon we demanded during negotiations--complete with illuminated license plate frames and Astrobase Go! logo on the hood) but Doc and I plan to start writing next week. Officially, anyway--unofficially we've already filled many a page of our respective Moleskine notebooks with story ideas and "bits". Once we have 4-6 scripts done we'll start animation production and, with any luck, the first episodes should start coming back from Korea by late fall/early winter...which means they'll begin airing toward the end of the first quarter of 2006 most likely (but don't quote me on that). I certainly wish we could get them out there sooner, but apparently thousands of drawings arranged in a series to simulate motion take some time to make.

Ah, I can almost hear the complaints of "it's not as good as last year!" already, fueled by a year's worth of reruns...

Doc and I of course thank you all for all of your support over the past few months. There's no doubt that the deluge of posts to the Adult Swim message boards in response to the "should we renew Venture Bros.?" cards raised a few eyebrows down in Atlanta, and the messages you've all sent via this journal, the website and the boards have reddened our faces.

Oh yeah, and the Astrobase Go! t-shirts are officially sold out...so thanks for buying them all!

--jp
 
 
Current Music: Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly

From the Comments section:

Actually, there were no replies or comments made by Publick in the Comment section for this entry. So as a tidbit of information, I'll clue you in about the Astrobase Go! t-shirts, in case you missed them.

At one time, t-shirts were available featuring Soulbot and the Astrobase Go! logo. Quantities were limited. But with every t-shirt ordered, you also got "Free Astrobase Go! discarded crap". Tis true. When you got your package, inside was your t-shirt order, a printed VB postcard (of the advertising type) and another envelope. This second envelope bore the title of "Official Astrobase Go! Discarded Crap" and included an authentification number and item description of said "discarded crap". I got a spider ring. Other people got lenticular VB postcards (image from Are You There God, It's Me Dean), Post-It notes doodles, office fuzz, a cardboard American Airlines Advantage Visa card, a Fox DVD mini-catalog and Backstreet Boys stickers, just to name a few of the items sent.

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Apr. 8th, 2007 09:21 am New Direction For This Livejournal

Since our role playing didn't really go anywhere, this lj will now be dedicated to preserving the lj comments of Jackson Publick, one of the creators of the Venture Bros. While it may seem redundant since Publick currently has his own lj, he has also deleted many of his entries in order to make room for new ones. What was lost was a wealth of information and tidbits about creating the Venture Bros., the animation process and other helpful comments regarding the industry in general. So with that in mind, this lj will now be dedicated to creating a record of Publick's lj entries and comments.

Current Mood: awake

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Jun. 26th, 2005 10:06 pm Brother Dearest

I can't believe it. Sometimes, I think I should have let Brock squish Jonas Jr. and get it over with. I can't believe he is blaming me for everything. I didn't ask for him to get stuck in me. Boo hoo, he's all complaining about having to be stuck in me, well it wasn't like I was having any fun picnics out here. Now he wants half of everything I've got. And I've tried to be understanding, but he just doesn't want to be reasonable. As far as he's concerned, he's always right and he knows how to do everything better. HA! He hasn't even done anything and already he has an ego. I swear, its like our father has come back from the dead to haunt me again.

Current Mood: pissed off

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