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Carpe Diem Cartoons Apple TV+ goes zen with Doug Unplugs and Stillwater, two hot new shows about exploring the world and living in the now. By Ramin Zahed
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ince its launch in late 2019, Apple TV+ has quickly become a great spot to find excellent animated fare aiming at family audiences and fans of top-notch animation. After delivering the acclaimed animated special Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth and the charming musical comedy Central Park earlier this year, it is continuing to raise the bar with two new offerings: Doug Unplugs, which premiered in November, and Stillwater, which will premiere this month. The streamer will also offer Cartoon Saloon’s feature Wolfwalkers, which is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year, period. Since we covered that movie in our last issue, we thought it would be nice to catch up with the talented team behind the streamer’s two new children’s series, both of which have important messages about our lives today. Doug Unplugs is a bright, shiny and instantly lovable show based on the popular Doug Unplugged book series by acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino, which follows the adventures of a young robot who learns to enjoy life with his best human friend, Emma. It is exec produced by Jim Nolan (Esme www.animationmagazine.net
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& Roy), Aliki Theofilopoulos (Phineas and Ferb, Hercules) and Yaccarino (Oswald, Willa’s Wild Life), and features the voices of Brandon James Cienfuegos (Doug), Kyrie McAlpin (Emma), Eric Bauza (Bob Bot) and Mae Whitman (Becky Bot). Yaccarino tells us that the origins of Doug Unplugs go back to the days his own children were making their way to elementary school. “I noticed that they were using online resources more and more, so I started thinking about the sheer wealth of information they had at their fingertips, which was amazing, but what about the other ways we discover and learn about the world?” he asks. Then, about 10 years ago, Yaccarino decided to hang his ideas on a character. “I have an affection for robots, so I tried that. I then
decided that a book would be the best initial medium to explore the subject and after about a year, I came up with the concept for Doug Unplugged, which was published a few years after I initially came up with the basic idea.” Soon after, Yacarinno was approached by DreamWorks Animation Chief Creative Officer Peter Gal, who was interested in developing a show about kids and technology. “Once the brilliantly talented Jim Nolan and Aliki Theofilopoulos were brought on to further develop the idea, things clicked,” says the creator. “The project really kicked into high gear as we met with potential broadcast and streaming partners. Once we formed a partnership with Apple TV+, we went into production.”
‘I hope that audiences will love getting to know Doug and Emma and how wonderful their friendship is. And that they will find delight in silly robots, big and small adventures, great music and, of course, the benefit of plugging in to learn information and stay connected with those we care about.’ — Doug Unplugs exec producer Aliki Theofilopoulos
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january 21
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