Monday, November 26, 2007

Yellow Pantera





























You may have heard that Nickelodeon has decided not to make anymore El Tigre's for the time being.
Our ratings didn't justify the budget, so that's that.
My only real regret of the series is that I didn't get to work on more scripts by Scott Kreamer. Episodes like Yellow Pantera are the reason I feel this way.
Scott thinks visually, which makes boarding from his scripts a pleasure. On top of that
he's really funny. And even better than that, his humor is character based.
But one of my favorite moments of Scott Kreamer writing isn't funny, or particularly visual. It's the argument with Rodolfo, when Manny calls his father a coward. In the Miracle City universe, this is about the worst thing you can call someone. Rodolfo loses control of himself for just a second. And in this moment of rage he terrifies Manny. And after recomposing himself, Rodolfo instantly feels regret.
It wasn't an easy thing to convince the studio that what their network needed was more parents yelling at their children. But to their credit, they trusted us, and I think we played it well. A little humor was added to lighten it, but it still plays pretty honest. To me that's the mark of some pretty good writing.

6 comments:

mojomann67 said...

Say it ain't so!!! My wife, kids and I love El Tigre. Dave you and your crew have done an amazing job on this show. Hopefully Nick will revisit the series, possibly for the Nicktoons network.

I have a question for you. A couple post ago you made comment that the show had been ordered for 26 episodes and since we have already had episode #16 air, I presume you mean 26 (full) 22 minute episodes as opposed to 26 (half)11 minute episodes since this would put the full count at only 13. AHHGG!! Rita!, you know I'm no good at Math...

Dave Thomas said...

Hey Mojoman,

Our order was for 26 half hours - so there's a lot more El Tigre on the way. And I can honestly say the best are yet to come.

Unknown said...

Hey Dave,

I'm a student at USC trying to get an idea of how many board-driven shows are currently being produced. Do you have any idea how many Nick is doing? Who should I get in touch with to find out?

Thanks Dave!
Brenton
brenton.simpson -@- usc.edu

Mukpuddy said...

Dude, this is sooo lame!! I am glad that the rest of the episodes will air though.

Nickelodeon is retarded, way to give it a chance you knobs!!

Richie said...

Hey there, Thomas!

Just discovered the site, and I must say I am impressed. The style every member of El Tigre staff gave to the series will remain forever in my heart. I mean, this series HAD a heart...And since I'm mexican, I can enjoy it a lot more...

So sad to hear about the cancellation. Hopefully Nick will reconsider this, as mojomann67 hopes.

Great job, man. You have a fanatic of your job here.

mojomann67 said...

Dave- Just wanted to drop you a note and the easiest way was through the comments, so...

The Annie Awards nominations for this year have been announced and little El Tigre has landed several nods:

Best Animated Television Production for Children

El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Character Animation in a Television Production

Monica Kennedy – El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Character Design in an Animated Television Production

Jorge R. Gutierrez – El Tigre “Fistful of Collars” - Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Television Production

Shaw Patterson – El Tigre “Yellow Pantera” – Nickelodeon

Suprisingly El Tigre gets best TV show nod but none for Director, Writing or Storyboarding (or Voice Acting!!), sounds like the lame Oscars. Such a shame that Nick is not renewing the show, when of all the different properties they have, El Tigre got the most recognition from the Annie's.