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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
Since its launch in late 2019, Apple TV+ has quickly become a great spot to fnd 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 & Roy), Aliki Theoflopoulos (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 fngertips, 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 Offcer Peter Gal, who was interested in developing a show about kids and technology. “Once the brilliantly talented Jim Nolan and Aliki Theoflopoulos 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.”
— Doug Unplugs exec producer Aliki Theoflopoulos
A Bot with Joie de
Vivre: Doug Unplugs centers on a young robot who realizes there is more to life than just the plain, cold facts.
— Doug Unplugs exec producer Rob Nolan
All the Right People Both Nolan and Theoflopoulos instantly connected with the show’s message and characters. “We pitched it to Apple who, to their infnite credit, didn’t fee the room as Dan and I literally acted out sections of our pilot script,” recalls Nolan. “Once we offcially partnered with them we worked together to continue to develop and fne tune the series. And, of course, Aliki jumped in around then with her boatload of talent and leadership skills in tow.” Theoflopoulous adds, “By the time I came onto the project, Jim had developed a wonderful take on Dan’s awesome book series building out the world with a slew of fun robots, creating the concept of ‘Rebots,’ and of course adding a best friend for Doug, a spirited human named Emma. I fell in love with the concept and jumped at the opportunity to help develop the project further in partnership with Jim and Dan, also bringing on a great art director, Matt Doering, whom I had worked with on a previous DreamWorks series, Harvey Girls Forever. Matt was instrumental in the creation of the design theory of the robot vs. human world. With this team in place, the Doug Unplugs universe expanded to where it is now!”
The three creatives are quite pleased with the fnal results of their labor. Theoflopoulos explains, “I absolutely love this idea that we have a show that says, ‘Technology is great, we embrace and love technology. But then, there comes a time where we need to unplug and have an actual experience. Technology can help inform that experience, but it is by actually doing where one really gets to have a personal take away from any given situation.’ This messaging is so appropriate and much needed not only for children, but for us adults, too!” Nolan adds, “I love that we emphasize balancing technology and experience, that both play an important role and that you need each to get the full picture of a topic. Given my two-year-old son knows how to fnd videos of himself on my phone, I can’t imagine a more timely takeaway! But more than that, I love our characters; our robots and our humans. I like their big personalities and that, even for a young show, they have foibles and make mistakes, they’re not perfect, they learn. I love their voices, the different ways they move and how they’re designed.
Loving an Innocent Robot
Yaccarino admits that he started to tear up the frst time he watched the show’s trailer. “It was so beautiful,” he says. “I suddenly realized it took 10 years to get Doug to the screen! It truly captured the spirit of this innocent robot discovering the human world for the frst time. It really touched my heart. The other thing I love about the show is all the talented people who worked together to bring it to life. There are so many wonderfully dedicated people who shared their gifts and passion to realize the characters and their unique world.”
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Terrifc Tips from Mr. Yaccarino
Bring the best people available into the project and allow them to do their best work. On my series Oswald and Willa’s Wild Life, I made sure the absolute best people I could fnd were working on it and I trusted them. I’m not a micro-manager, but if I fnd myself giving a lot of direction or constantly revising someone’s work, then I didn’t do my number one job, which was to bring the best people in. I wanted everyone who worked on the series to put their own fngerprints on them in order to have ownership. Because of this, everyone involved felt a part of it and worked harder and took more pride in what they did.
The same is true for Doug Unplugs. Everyone involved gave their best and it really shows on screen. I’m so proud and happy to be a part of it. Although I’ve been creating and producing animated series for 20 years, there’s always so much more to learn. There’s always something new to discover, so many talented people to work with and so much joy to be experienced. I am grateful to be able to do what I do.
Surviving a Challenging Year: In addition to producing and writing and illustrating books, I travel quite a bit visiting schools to talk about what I do, but of course, all of my visits were cancelled, so in addition to giving virtual presentations, I decided to take the time to develop some book ideas I’d been meaning to get to that could potentially be source material for animated series and features. Part of my being is somewhat hermit-like – I might have been a monk in a past life, living in a monastery, spending my life creating an illuminated manuscript – so I was fne with spending time alone for days at a time, working into the wee hours, talking to myself, occasionally seeing my son and daughter, but also practicing TM and doing some yoga. I’ve also rediscovered my love of cooking – which is dangerous because, being Italian, I not only love to cook, but love to eat. ◆
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Theoflopoulos mentions that it was very important for her to make sure the show upheld 2D animation principles although it was CG-animated. “I didn’t want every character’s animation to feel the same,” she explains. “I wanted Emma to move like Emma, and for Doug to move like Doug. Emma has a more animated personality, so I wanted to see her animation to be really snappy. Doug is a robot, and has a more subdued personality, so I wanted him to feel like a robot as far as weight and such, but to also feel alive like a real boy! I have to say I’m so happy with how the animation turned out! A big thanks to our animation supervisor on the show, James Parris, and to our animation team at CGCG.” “Since this was my frst time in a role like this, the challenge has been learning how to communicate a vision for the series to the team, get everyone kind of pulling in the same direction while still making sure there’s plenty of room for everyone to bring their own creativity and ideas too,” Nolan points out. “Our team was loaded with talent – so sometimes I found it was just best to get out of the way! I’m especially appreciative of our story editor, Noelle Wright, who really drove the writing side of the show and couldn’t have been a better partner, sounding board and leader to our amazing writing team.”
Yaccarino says his intention for the animated series, as well as the books, is that there’s more to learning than just the cold hard facts. “There is also the ineffable joy of experience, something that can’t be expressed in numbers or words,” he notes. “It’s the experience of being a human being. It’s experiencing life itself and it should be celebrated.”
Nolan says he just wants everyone to have fun watching the series. “Hopefully if they do, kids will be inspired by Doug and Emma’s curiosity and the way it sort of leads them into their adventures, encouraged to ‘unplug’ and explore the world around them, too.” “I hope that they will love getting to know Doug and Emma and how wonderful their friendship is,” says Theoflopoulos. “That they will fnd delight in silly robots, big and small adventures, great music and, of course, the beneft of plugging in to learn information and stay connected with those we care about, but also, unplugging and having great experiences with friends and family!” ◆
The frst season of Doug Unplugs is currently streaming on AppleTV+.
Zen and the Wise Panda Next Door
Apple TV+’s second new animated offering of the season is Stillwater, a lovely adaptation of Scholastic book series Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth. Produced by Gaumont and Scholastic Entertainment, the series centers on three siblings who live next door to a calm, Zen master panda. The show’s exec producer, Rob Hoegee (Niko and the Sword of Light, Slugterra) says his involvement with the property goes back to the days he read the book to his now teenaged daughter almost every day. “Jon J. Muth’s Zen Shorts was a beloved book in our family,” he recalls. “The message, the style and the quiet brilliance of the books always resonated deeply with me. These are important, timeless lessons about kindness, perspective and empathy told with humor, patience and beauty. In just reading the books, you can’t help but feel better about the world. To me, the books were at the
start of the great interest in mindfulness we’re seeing today.”
Hoegee says when Gaumont optioned the books from Scholastic, there wasn’t a single show that emphasized mindfulness. “When Terry Kalagian at Gaumont approached me, I very nearly begged to be given an opportunity to be involved,” he says. “This should have been a hard sell considering my background is in adventure-style shows, but along with Terry, Gaumont Television’s President Nicolas Atlan saw my passion and enthusiasm for the books. They put a lot of trust in me, as did Tara Sorensen at Apple.” According to the exec producer, the writing stage of development was surprisingly quick. “I think all of us were surprised at how dialedin we were with the scripts from the very start,” he notes. “This continued throughout the entire writing process – every one of my writers just seemed to ‘get it.’”
Hoegee points out that visual development was more of a challenge. “It was essential that we get the look right, and translating Jon J. Muth’s beautiful watercolors to a CG animated world took some doing. It was a tricky balance to evoke the style and feelings of the originals while creating our own visual language. We found that we could do this with a blend of cinematic compositions and refned character acting.”
Since Stillwater is a giant furry panda, the CG character was going to be the biggest hurdle. “There was really only one studio we even considered, and that was Japan’s Polygon Pictures,” says Hoegee. “Given the Zen foundation and subtle Japanese elements, it also made a lot of sense to have a Tokyo-based studio involved. Excepting some of their proprietary rigging software, most of the show is done in Maya.” According to exec producer, Stillwater is a show that the audience needs to connect with in a deep and meaningful way. “It needs to feel ‘real,’ but at the same time, we didn’t want it to look entirely photo-realistic – that would be too far of a departure from Jon’s books,” he adds. “A lot of this we would do in the scripts by crafting relatable stories, but we rely just as much on subtle, genuine performances from our animated characters. It’s all about fnding the truth of each moment.” Another interest-
Message of Mindfulness: Based on the book by Jon J. Muth, Stillwater follows the adventures of three siblings who learn about the quiet wonders of the world from the wise panda next door.
— Stillwater exec producer Rob Hoegee
ing aspect of the show is that the creators had to fgure out how to blend two different story levels in each episode. “Stillwater tells stories, known as koans, in every episode, which are metaphors for the lessons and wisdom he shares,” says Hoegee. “In the original books, Jon J. Muth did these largely in a stylized ink brush technique. Our approach would be to use traditional animation to capture these moments. We are using the French studio Folivari for this part of the show, and they are doing some truly beautiful work. Toon Boom Harmony is their main platform, supplemented with hand-drawn animation and After Effects. We feel completely transported when we transition to the koans – and in a way, it even helps to make our still-stylized CG part of the show feel even more ‘real’ in contrast.”
Hoegee says Gaumont Animation was committed to doing as much work locally as they could, so in addition to episodic directors and storyboard revisionists, most of the art department was in-house. “It was a huge advantage having everyone under the same roof as we got started,” he explains. “There was a genuine ‘we’re all in this together’ feel. Everyone involved loved the show and what we were trying to accomplish. I can’t tell you how many times we would hear people on the crew saying, ‘I need this show.’ Not just to have out in the world, but to be a part of making it.”
Like many of today’s animation professionals, the Stillwater team had to deal with the limitations of working in a pandemic-challenged world. “One of the challenges we had was that just when we were really starting to fnd our groove, COVID hit and we shifted to work from home,” says Hoegee. “As many folks in animation quickly fgured out, this wasn’t as big a challenge as we had anticipated, and it turned out to be a completely viable way to work. We made that transition ourselves rather seamlessly.”
Hoegee says that when he and the team started developing Stillwater over two years ago, they knew it would be something the world needed. “Little would we know our premier would happen in the midst of a global pandemic,” he says. “We hear the word ‘mindfulness’ used a lot nowadays — perhaps as a refection of a genuine need we have in these uncertain times. We wanted Stillwater to be a useful show that gives children and parents actual tools they can reach for. At the same time, we didn’t want it to be pedantic, preachy or a how-to. Instead, we do this by telling stories that form connections. In a way, that’s the oldest form of healing there is.” ◆
