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Happy Tree Friends
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Happy Tree Friends is a comedy Flash cartoon series by Mondo Mini Shows, created by Kenn Navarro, Aubrey Ankrum and Rhode Montijo. Warren Graff is also credited in creating the Happy Tree Friends.
As indicated on the official site, the show is a warning for "not recommended for small children or big babies." Not withstanding the cuteness of its characters, the show is highly violent. Every episode features at least one character's violent and bloody death, except the two episodes: "Out on a Limb", "Nuttin' but the Tooth" and possibly "House Warming" (which still featured blood and gore and characters who would have possibly died of blood loss or shock).
While the violence of these deaths is compared to that of The Itchy and Scratchy Show (a short cartoon featured on The Simpsons), the Happy Tree Friends deaths are even more graphic and more drawn out.
The show is nearly free of dialogue; when the characters do speak, their words are severely garbled. Though it is obvious what each character's reaction is, their words can barely be understood. According to the website, the idea for Happy Tree Friends was conceived by Rhode Montijo when he drew a yellow rabbit (slightly resembling Cuddles) on a piece of paper and wrote "Resistance Is Futile" underneath it.
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The show usually takes place somewhere in the woodlands of North America (except for Buddhist Monkey); Cro-Marmot, Cub, Cuddles, Disco Bear, Flaky, Flippy, Giggles, Handy, Lifty, Lumpy, Mime, Mole, Nutty, Petunia, Pop, Russell, Shifty, Sniffles, Splendid, and Toothy are all from the United States of America, and Buddhist Monkey is from China. All are drawn in a sweet and innocent style that makes their deaths (or their actions leading to other's deaths) all the more shocking. Many of them show two front large buckteeth when they smile. All the Happy Tree Friends except for Lumpy and Sniffles have the same pink Care Bear heart-shaped noses. Happy Tree Friends have old-fashion style eyes which were used in very old cartoons except for Lumpy, Nutty, Flipped-Out Flippy and (sometimes) Lifty and Shifty, in the TV series with Mole and Cro Marmot being unknown.
At the beginning of each episode, the characters are typically found in everyday situations. However, these situations always escalate into violence, mostly because of very unfortunate, surprising accidents with common, otherwise harmless props.
Each episode starts with introduction credits resembling a children's book, which portrays the show's logo, the episode's name (which is usually a pun) and cast. After the ending credits, a moral follows. Examples are "Wash behind your ears!" and "Don't bite off more than you can chew!". While adding to the children's book theme, the moral sharply contrasts with the violence previously portrayed by the episode. Since the episode "Happy Trails Part 2", the moral is an ironic reference to what happened to the characters in that episode.
Each episode has a typical duration of less than three minutes. Usually only a few of the characters are used in a single episode, but occasionally larger episodes have been released where most of the characters appear.
Currently, new episodes are released once a month. An episode list can be seen on the official website, which contains a list of older episodes available on demand from the site. However, these episodes are only available for a limited time, as this list is exchanged with other episodes every other week.
It is worth noting that due to the nature of the show, characters who have merely implied deaths probably die anyway. For example, if a death scream is heard after the screen goes black, the watcher is expected to assume the obvious. Similarly, even if characters survive hideous injuries, they'll probably die from blood loss, or shock. Being caught in an explosion is another example of implied but uncertain death. However, this is not a consistent rule, since in "Eyes Cold Lemonade", Giggles is horribly injured, but quickly bandaged up and apparently survives.
On some episodes, 90 degree angles have the characteristc of acting like razor sharp blades. one example is in the episode "Sweet Ride" in which, after Cuddles escapes from Nutty after he ran into a beehive, Cuddes ran into a small flight of stairs and got sliced (very cleanly) into three pieces.
In some countries, certain episodes can be seen on television, such as the French, Dutch, German, Polish, Brazilian, Italian and Latin American MTV channels, the Greek Mad Music Channel, Canadian television channel Razer and on the Australian Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) network. On June 10, 2005, the shorts began showing during Attack of the Show!. A series, Happy Tree Friends and Friends, began to air on August 29, 2005, as part of the late night Midnight Spank block, which are all part of G4 (a TV channel for men 18-34). The series has been reformed into its own show rather than as a part of a compilation as before. Happy Tree Friends has also gained a collection of Audibles and an "IMVironment" for Yahoo!'s instant messenger. It is featured on many websites in which flash cartoons can be watched, such as Newgrounds, Atom Films, Purple Twinkie, The Official HTF Gang Website and Albino Black Sheep.
Encouraged by the show's success, its creators have released four DVDs (First Blood, Second Serving, Third Strike, and Winter Break) containing the episodes shown on the website and others that have not been released. A collection consisting of three DVDs has also been released.
Selected episodes of Happy Tree Friends are regularly featured in the annual Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, among other diverse talents.
A video game for the series is also planned. Happy Tree Friends & Mondo Mini Shows are currently searching for a publisher. The half-hour TV series debuted on October 2, 2006 at Midnight on G4. This TV series is entirely about the Happy Tree Friends. Four of the characters (Cuddles, Flippy, Lumpy and Nutty) have MySpace accounts. The TV series got a sneak premiere at San Diego Comic Con on July 20, 2006 at 6:00 P.M. local time. The website has also announced that fans will be able to see 7 minute episode segments once each month starting September 1 through the end of the year. The first episodes to go online were "From Hero to Eternity", "Don't Yank My Chain", "Sea What I Found", and "Wishy Washy".The October 2 premiere episode will featured the following three segments: "Party Animal", "Ipso Fatso" and "Don't Yank my Chain".
The latest episodes are also "podcastable" (Podcast)
Sound Engineer Jim Lively
- The music featured before, after, and during each and every episode of Happy Tree Friends are composed by Jim Lively. Sound engineer for Happy Tree Friends. Lively has been in the sound business since the age of 16, and plans to continue his career of "making sounds for a living," as described by Jim Lively himself. Lively primarily works in sound design and dialog editing, although he continues to mix music.
Foley Artist Francis Carr
- Foley artist Francis Carr joined the team later on in development. Usually working with sound engineer Jim Lively, he has been able to expand his career. Francis Carr also is noted for being the voice of Russel, later on in development as well.
Warren Graff
- Warren Graff, born on June 23, 1972 became interested in writing at an early age. Graff is senior writer/ story editor for Happy Tree Friends, and helped create the entire essence of the Happy Tree Friends world. Having written for almost every episode, he has been able to gain experience and greatly improve on his writing skills. Graff graduated from California Polytechnic State University located in San Luis Obispo, CA in 1996. He majored in Business.
Ken Pontac
- Ken Pontac was born in Glendale Memorial Hospital on May 22, 1957. Pontac began his filmmaking career in 1981 in the effects houses of Hollywood, directing film graphics for commercials and features. His commercial work included spots for Coca-Cola, Disneyland, Norelco, and Shell Oil. His feature effects were seen in films such as Never Say Never Again, Moonstruck, and Douglas Trumbulls groundbreaking Showscan film New Magic. In 1987 Pontac moved to Northern California to serve as art director for The New Adventures of Gumby, for which he produced sets, puppets and artwork for thirty-three episodes of syndicated animation. In 1989, Pontac returned to Hollywood to create and produce a prime-time television pilot that aired on ABC TV. He spent a year on the Warner Brothers lot working in development with various writers and producers, then returned to Northern California to create his own company, Danger Productions. Danger Productions employed a staff of one hundred artists and animators who created content for television, video games, and computer applications. The company produced twenty-six half-hours of the ABC TV animated program Bump in the Night, which Pontac created, produced, wrote and directed. Danger Productions also designed and produced the characters for the best-selling video game Clayfighter for Interplay, as well as creating animated assets for Microsofts Office 97 and My Personal Tutor. From 1990 to the present Pontac has written scripts for animated television episodes that have been translated into a dozen languages and shown around the world. During that time he has also worked as a director for the UPN prime time animated program Gary & Mike, for which his episode Phish Phry won an Emmy for Best Art Direction. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work on the Discovery Kids series ToddWorld. Pontac is now a writer and story-editor for Mondo Medias Happy Tree Friends. Pontac lives in Sausalito with his wife, Susan Pontac, and his dog, Whistle.
- See also: List of Happy Tree Friends episodes
Happy Tree Friends gained its own show in 2006. It premiered on October 2, 2006. This makes sense, seeing as how the characters are already part of G4's Late Night Peep Show, a show currently airing on the network. So far 39 segments have been announced meaning 13 episodes for Season 1. Pictures of the first 6 episodes can be seen on G4's website.
Several parents are concerned about the contents of Happy Tree Friends. Despite the warning of "Cartoon Violence: Not for Small Children or Big Babies," the show attracted some children to watch despite of the violence in a child-like cartoon setting. A concerned parent even complains about the show in an article at Washington Post when she caught her 6-year old son watching the show. [1]