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The Storyboard Animatic Reel for the Pilot episode of Mudball.

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LOGLINE

Mudball is a whack science-fiction cartoon about children marooned on an unchartered planet. In a world without adults, how will these kids solve real-life problems and develop meaningful relationships? A show about the creativity of young people when given the freedom to express themselves.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Kids ages 6 to 11, with appeal between boys and girls. But this show will easily draw in the older crowd as well.

FORMAT

Digital 2D animation. 

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BACK STORY

Fourth-graders on the Odessa, a school space-cruiser, were on a field trip to see the Zoot Vortex.

While in the Jump, the Odessa’s navigation system malfunctioned, casting the ship deep into space. Before the ship’s computers could regain control, Odessa crashed on an unchartered planet.

NOW...

Weeks have passed with no sign of rescue. Repairs to the ship are calculated to take four hundred and eight years. Partially out of boredom, partially out of curiosity, the marooned fourth-graders begin to explore -- encountering danger! Aliens! And emotional stuff!

MAIN CHARACTERS

Mudball follows the lives of three fourth-graders in particular - tomboyish mischief-manager and leader of the group Mae Bee, the recklessly-haphazard but blind Zettle, and the anxious, intelligent Nord.

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Odessa Crash-Site

Most stories revolve around the site, including inside the space-cruiser. Helpful but unimaginative service droids called Meks populate this area.

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MAE BEE (MAIN CHARACTER)

"I’m no man, man."

SUMMARY

A rough fourth-grade girl preoccupied with fighting, adventuring, kicking lumps, spitting, and destroying fools. Ultimately has a "what can't I do?" attitude towards life.

STRENGTHS

Mae Bee's greatest strength is exactly that -- her strength. When confronted with a situation, she'd prefer to beat it into submission or intimidate it until it cries.

Nearly immune to fear.

WEAKNESS

Diplomacy and tact. Nor does she easily recognize the need for tactical retreat.

PERSONALITY

Reckless, mischievous, high self-esteem. Easily angered at anybody who threatens her dominance. Intimidating to other fourth-graders, especially boys.

ORIGINS

Mae Bee was raised on a comet farm with her fourteen brothers and sisters. Comet farms catch, raise, and herd comets so as to process their natural resources. It's a grueling job, and those involved don't have time to be dainty or gentle. 

ABILITIES

Excellent physical shape (for a fourth-grader) when it comes to wrestling, the art of escape, sleight of hand, etc.

Resourceful. Can build rudimentary contraptions such as traps, slingshots, etc.

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Alternative designs for Mae Bee by Phil Kiner.

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Additional Designs for Mae Bee by Phil Kiner.

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ZETTLE (MAIN CHARACTER)

"Hey voice!"

SUMMARY

A free-spirited, blind girl. Zettle is hyperactive, oblivious, and sometimes haphazard. She doesn't let her handicap cramp her style. She would rather run then walk. A girl who embodies freedom.

PERSONALITY

Generally very friendly and cheerful. Zettle has a short attention span, is rather impulsive, and forgets things frequently. Sometimes she doesn't seem to listen to others, or misinterprets them deliberately.

Misplaces her cane often. Mixed with her haphazard nature, Zettle is often running into walls, falling flat on her face, or wandering into trouble.

ORIGINS

Zettle comes from a rather poor family living in New New Delhi, the capital-planet of the Indian Commonwealth. Unfortunately, her family's low income is the reason why she hasn't been able to afford new eye transplants. 

ABILITIES

Blind. Usually this would be a disability. Zettle doesn't treat it that way.

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NORD (MAIN CHARACTER)

"I think we took a wrong turn back there and HEY stop eating the weird marshmallow-shaped fungus."

SUMMARY

An easily-stressed, intelligent male fourth-grader who likes to follow the rules. Nord is the most rational-thinker of the group, or as Mae Bee puts it, the "boringest friend a girl could punch."

Nord is often found following behind Mae Bee and Zettle, muttering to himself and attempting to restore order. He's often a victim of their exploits.

PERSONALITY

Easily frustrated and confused by the girls' antics. An intellectual superior undermined by an inability to follow-up physically on decisions. Relies on Mae Bee to push him into an adventure; relies on Zettle to push him into something fun.

ORIGINS

Nord is from a wealthy all-women's family. 

ABILITIES

Awesome bogolloo electric yellow boots. Have you seen them?

Highly-skilled at useless talents, like astro-chess.

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"Mini Moop," a Mudball vignette. Written/Art by Jared White.

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COOLIO (ALLY)

"Cool party."

SUMMARY

A walking, talking refrigerator robot. Coolio is a casual, meditative presence. His carefree attitude has made him somewhat the mentor of Mae Bee and her friends. 

PERSONALITY

Coolio is an easygoing, relaxed authority figure. He can remain calm under the most stressful of circumstances. His voice is very soothing.

ORIGINS

Coolio was built as a mobile refreshment and containment unit. He was brought along the field trip to the Zoot Vortex so the children could have instant access to snacks.  

ABILITIES

Adjustable shelves and door bins.

Temperature-controlled interior.

Spill-proof shelves.

LED lighting.

Flexible food storage options.

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The Odessa is swarming with Meks, tiny service droids with incredible building power and very little imagination.

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NIX (ALLY)

"Meep."

SUMMARY

Nix is a shy and sometimes depressed little girl. Her emotional (and physical) distance allows her to be hyper-observant of the other fourth-graders. When the situation asks for it, Nix can be an excellent detective or Batman-like figure.

APPEARANCE

A little girl who wears a bag on her head.

PERSONALITY

Nix is very, very meek, except for when her detective skills are accessed. Then she transforms into a gritty Batman-like character, dedicated to solving the case no matter the costs.

ORIGINS

Nix's self-consciousness manifested at a very early age. Instead of accepting whatever she was afraid of exposing, she decided to wear a bag on her head.

ABILITIES

Incredible detective skills.

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MR. ED (VILLAIN)

"I am Educatron 3000, but you can call me Mr. Educatron 3000."

SUMMARY

A bossy, snarky teacher-bot aboard the Odessa. Mr. Ed is obsessed with order and control. He aims to keep all of the fourth-graders in the star-cruiser until rescue comes. Naturally, Mae Bee and her friends have different plans.

PERSONALITY

Sneering, self-righteous, authoritative, patronizing, snarky.

Mr. Ed calls himself Mr. Educatron 3000, but the fourth-graders prefer to call him Mr. Ed.

ORIGINS

A teacher-bot from the children's school, although not necessarily their fourth-grade teacher. He was chaperoning the Odessa when it went down.

ABILITIES

Mr. Ed has a holo-projector output which he uses to conjure holograms.

Mr. Ed has a pointer arm which he uses to point at examples and displays, or whack students. 

INSPIRATION

The persistent Principal from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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Alternative designs for Mr. Ed (Educatron 3000). 

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DUDLEY STROGANOFF'S SPACESUIT (VILLAIN)

"I know we just met, but I feel like we’re gonna be best buds for the rest of your life."

SUMMARY

A vaporous cloud of tiny organisms living and controlling a cosmonaut outfit. Dudley is made from numerous space monkeys (they’re like sea monkeys, only in space) who inhabit the otherwise empty outfit. They speaks in a million high-pitched voices.

PERSONALITY

Really needy, clingy. Sea monkeys like to hang out with their ‘best buds,’ even before they’ve established any form of an emotional connection. 

MANNERISMS

Dudley walks in a sloppy, lopsided gait reminiscent of characters from Mondo Media’s cartoon web series Baman Piderman.

ORIGINS

Sea monkeys are a sentient vapor hivemind. They find empty shells to use as transport and as the infrastructure of their tiny civilizations.

The fate of the original inhabitant of this particular cosmonaut suit is unknown, although the space monkeys claim they stole it. Dudley Stroganoff is the name on the lapel.

ABILITIES

The space monkeys are impervious to most forms of damage, being a mostly vaporous cloud.

They can also survive in space.

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ZONK FEVER (VILLAIN)

"You've got the Zonk Fever fever."

SUMMARY

A stylish, slightly chubby popstar and teen idol who has risen to become the alpha male of the class. Zonk’s narcissism and sudden outbursts into song do not hinder his total power over most of the boys (most of whom have become his back-up dancers/hunters). 

As the fourth-graders wait longer and longer to be rescued, Zonk’s band of hunters, called The Fever, are regressing further and further into sassy barbarism.

PERSONALITY

Zonk is egotistic, highly-emotional, with an advanced degree of self-maintenance and hygiene. He is also an ultra-survivalist capable of turning hair gel into acid, combs into lock-picks.

ORIGINS

Zonk Fever wasn’t always this awesome. Before fourth-grade, he was a handsome nobody. However, after his boy band The Spicy Spices debuted on boomtube (a massive holovideo-sharing website), Zonk became the sensation he knew he always deserved.

After the Odessa crash-landed on Mudball, Zonks had a falling out with The Spicy Spices. His band put aside their musical careers to focus on survival. Zonks decided to do both -- putting together the first ever all-boy-band-of-hunters called The Fever, a feral tribe of musicians dedicated to ruling all of fourth-grade.

ABILITIES

Perfect hair, body, voice.

A natural leader.

An insane level of survival skills, beyond that of any other kid.

Can play tons of instruments, most of which you’ve never heard of.