The Future of Star Butterfly... or The End?
The end of @disneyanimation‘s/@disneyxd‘s finest franchise yet, @daronnefcy‘s Star vs. the Forces of Evil, is a time of great lamentation for me, as I love Star Butterfly to an insane extent (and thus the respective franchise).
I love Season 3 more than Season 4 (and in Season 3 is the most important reason why I love Star), but the show’s been little different since Season 2. The show changed very much after Season 1 (my favorite season) in character design, animation and the storyboard artists involved. SvTFOE is a really great show, but I personally see room for improvement, if Disney chooses to produce any future content, whatever media that is. Before we act on petitions for new content (try not to push Disney Television Animation too hard on this. It’s up to them, NOT Daron Nefcy, and Disney’s probably really busy with other shows at the moment), let’s consider some aspects of the show...
First, I note some specific things that I dislike about SvTFOE in general.
Mostly “Traditional” Animation: What happened to the animation? The animation started out in Season 1 (and the pilot) as what I call “model-rigged” animation (some call it “flash”), animated by @littledigits at Mercury Filmworks (The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Mickey Mouse, Wander Over Yonder). The visual approach appeared to be very cartoon-y, like WOY, and the attention to detail in not only character design but also the effects design, multi-layered background panning and camera de-focusing was present only in 13 individual (11-minute) season 1 episodes, and also in the 2017 “Interdimensional Scavenger Hunt”. Such things of those episodes are not in later episodes as they are only traditionally animated. Toon City’s animation seemed slow-paced and a little jerky to convey quick movements at times, which didn’t feel like that of Mercury. Now, I came to love model-rigged animation because of SvTFOE, but generally I prefer traditional animation, which is fairly fitting for the more dramatic, intense episodes of the series. The first Toon City episode, “Mewberty”, had a number of design/animation mistakes (i.e. the shots of the “My turn” moment). Of the 2 animation companies that were involved, Rough Draft Korea (which also worked on the Season 1 episode “Blood Moon Ball”) and Sugarcube, though Rough Draft does animation for some of the best in American animation, yet I prefer the visual approach of Sugarcube as the designs are much cleaner and look a little more on-model. The lines in Rough Draft episodes aren’t as smooth and the models kind of look more different (perhaps off-model) per shot and/or movement, but the animation Rough Draft did on Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII, namely Ashi’s fight scene, looks amazing. rwinger24 pointed some important elements lacking in the 2016-2019 episodes out: “Absent from the Mercury and Toon City animation (are) these animation principles- Anticipation- Follow through and overlapping action- Slow in and slow out (the Rough Draft Korea episodes miss this principle as the animation appears jarring/unnatural)- Secondary action(And notable absence of motion smears)... (and, like) 80s /90s cartoons sometimes (the picture bobbing/weaving from the telecine transfer, and not the constant use of 24 drawings like SVTFOE does (mostly from Rough Draft Korea).
Different, Less-Detailed Character Design?: The character design never looked more graphic and detailed than in Season 1, done by @cheyennecurtisart and @lynnvwang as well as @cunch. This’s particularly noticeable in the Mercury Filmworks episodes. The designs in the Toon City episodes aren’t as smooth and, the way the episodes are, not necessarily as exaggerated in cartoon-y fashion as the Mercury Filmworks episodes. The change in character design, which I noticed, is so drastic, that my follower rwinger24 suggested that I should make a post about the changes. As for the rest of the series, @aniramiart became the main designer along with @beckyandfrank / @tinykittenteeth. They do some good designs, given what Star endured or how she reacted at certain times, but most of them aren’t as detailed as Cheyenne’s. What I dislike most about this design change is that, regarding mostly Stephanie Ramirez’s designs (plus storyboard artists and Rough Draft’s animation), the character design of at least Star begins to resemble Gravity Falls a bit much, which detracts from the unique designs of SvTFOE in its first Season. Relatively, one of young Star’s designs in “Marco Grows a Beard” (Tyler Chen’s first episode) also resembled the character design of Gravity Falls, but that was still Cheyenne & Lynn Wang on the episode. On the other hand, the Season 2-4 designs look more on-model and smoother in the Sugarcube episodes. Otherwise, in potentially cartoon-y designs, it just doesn’t stretch as far as those of Season 1/Mercury episodes, though that wouldn’t exactly be fitting for the more dramatic episodes. The designs, of course, depend somewhat on storyboards. Perhaps the wackiest storyboards are by Ian Wasseluk (who rwinger24 references in the cartoon-y looking approach on the series), as well as Dave Stone (from Teen Titans GO!) on “Match Maker”.
Quiet (and typical) Sound Design: Throughout the show, the sound design’s style was very quiet. It’s more foley than SFX. The sound effects designed by both music score composer @brianwithanh and Advantage Audio’s Robert Poole (Season 1) and Heather Olsen (Seasons 2-4) are unique to the series and absolutely nothing I criticize. What I dislike of the sound design is that, given the very cartoon-y visuals (particularly Seasons 1-2), the sound design is more realistic than cartoon-y (save for very rare cases like the opening scene to Bon Bon the Birthday Clown, which was very deliberate as I imagine). Usually, Advantage seems to sound either too cartoon-y (i.e. The Fairly OddParents) or too quiet. In the case of more dramatic episodes, the cartoon-y sound shouldn’t be pushed. If Jesse Aruda, Roy Braverman, and/or Rich Danhakl did the sound design (Danhakl did the sound design of The Tom and Jerry Show at Advantage and edited sound on “Mathmagic” & “The Bounce Lounge”), their array of cartoon sounds would be better than the usual, very specific designs of Michael Warner, Robert Duran, Poole II and Olsen. The other main critique I give is that, like most sound services, the action-y sound effects (explosions, crashes, etc.) depend more on typical Hollywood Edge/Sound Ideas (that is “stock” sound effects) than the unique sounds of Joel Valentine and Skywalker Sound; there’re also the common, if applicable, use of “Cats Two Angry Yowls”, “Medium Exterior” Crowds and other cliche vocal recordings that are overused, particularly by Advantage Audio. Recording walla as well as other animals (or at least using lesser-used animal and crowd vocals) would be an improvement. Even the horse sounds used (rarely using one from the Sound Ideas Lucasfilm Sound Library) are mostly the typical, pitched-up if necessary. Compare that to an entire SFX library of horse sounds that Skywalker’s Nia Hansen (sound design assistant of Big Hero 6′s movie but not the show) recorded just for War Horse--and she was credited as only an apprentice [sound] editor!
“Controversial” Content: The last thing I dislike, from more or less a Christian point-of-view, is that there are a few episodes that have material and/or images that I, for one, among many, would view as “controversial” or “polarizing”. I’m a little suspicious of some situations that may regard controversial subjects in a few other episodes as well, though no dialogue explicitly states such things. I can not say what that material is or what episodes have it, but I mean the best in concern for the sake of the series’ reputation. The least that we can do (and I certainly do), in all situations, is to pray for the salvation and sake of Daron Nefcy and her amazing team.
(BRIEF SPOILER!) Second, before we can give influence to anyone to contribute to the Star vs. the Forces of Evil franchise, we need an answer to this very important question:
Is this really the end of Star vs. the Forces of Evil?: It was always on my mind as to whether or not “Cleaved!” was more than the end of the main story linked throughout Seasons 1-4 (though the last villain, in Season 4, is Mina, from Season 2). Does Disney claim that it’s the series finale because they had to move on to other projects, or is the story of Star Butterfly, the Underestimated, at the true end that Daron Nefcy wanted? Think about Wander Over Yonder: it was cancelled after season 2, but, although that season wrapped up a story throughout that season (and began at the very end of Season 1), still there are more stories that could be told... if Disney wanted to produced new WOY content, with or without Craig McCracken. Also, (spoiler) Star is not gone; worlds collided, and there can be more adventures for the franchise (perhaps Hope Hadley or Charlie Booth/“Gustav” could get a spin-off?). Whatever more we want of SvTFOE or WOY, we must speak to Disney Television Animation about this and let them to know, NOT the show creators. Don’t ask Daron Nefcy about new SvTFOE content in the future; ask Disney TVA about that.
Third, in response to what I personally dislike about major changes in the series since SvTFOE Season 2, and as a devote fan of Star Butterfly / Star vs. the Forces of Evil, I wish to propose, to all of those at Disney Television Animation, suggestions of creatives who deserve to contribute their amazing talent to the future content of Disney’s most beautiful franchise yet.
Who should run the show?: As far as I know, creator Daron Nefcy suggested that she left Disney after SvTFOE (“I’ve been slowly cleaning out my office (I know, sad!)”) to do a voice on Nico Colaleo’s Ollie and Scoops, so, if Disney intends to produce any new content, then it may happen with Daron out. Who would I suggest to help run the show? Dave Wasson, Season 1 Co-Executive Producer/Supervising Director, could return. I strongly believe that Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (Samurai Jack, The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show) would be a very good choice in running the show, in addition to storyboarding, writing, directing, character design, and/or art direction; she produced Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus and was a major part of that film. Then, of course, for the sake of detail and action, Genndy Tartakovsky would be a great choice; he’s currently with Sony on a few projects and CN for Primal, so at least people from his team, like Paul Rudish of Mickey Mouse and Bryan Andrews and/or Mark Andrews of Sym-Bionic Titan, would be really good for directing. I certainly trust how good they are at both action and heart, on shows like Samurai Jack. As for really wacky, cartoon-y styles, I also would recommend Kyle A. Carrozza, @tvskyle from CN’s Mighty Magiswords, who is currently at Warner Bros. on Animaniacs, and Bob Camp from The Ren & Stimpy Show (also a storyboard artist for Sym-Bionic Titan and Suburban Daredevil), to contribute directing/producing and storyboarding. I would recommend @crackmccraigen, who "wanted to make Star when back when @daronnefcy pitched it to us at The Cartoonstitute. CN said no though.” However, so far, Craig left Disney; he currently produces Kid Cosmic for Netflix.
Who should write and storyboard the stories?: First, I suggest Tim Hodge (@baldmelon, The Tom and Jerry Show, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Aladdin, Mulan), who also worked for Disney, as well as @gadworks, @kalikazoo, @mikepelensky, Darrick Bachman (Samurai Jack, Mickey Mouse) and Richard D. Pursel (Tom and Jerry Tales, Mighty Magiswords, The Ren & Stimpy Show). For more action-y sequences, I’d look to Genndy Tartakovsky, Bryan Andrews and/or Paul Rudish; they sure know their action stuff. Lastly, I note Charlie Bean, David Krentz, Kyle A. Carrozza, Lynne Naylor-Reccardi, Will Finn, Stephen DeStefano, Jeremy Polgar (Samurai Jack Season 5, Teen Titans Go!) and Bob Camp, among others. Former writers/storyboarders Mike Mullen, @ianwasseluk, Scott O’Brien, Kyle Neswald, Kat Ketchum, @brettvaron, @giancarlovolpe and Dave Stone should return. A newer storyboard artist for Spongebob, April “Pinkie” Davis, has some humorous potential too and I’d highly recommend her. Josh “Zeurel” Palmer and @akron-squirrel are also very talented artists/animators who deserve a show.
Who should contribute visual design?: Luckily, Cheyenne Curtis returned for a few episodes after Season 2; she currently works at Nickelodeon but might like to help on the designs. In point of fact, she should be “Lead Character Design”. I’m not sure if it was Cheyenne or Lynn Wang who did the really graphic character designs (Match Maker, Brittney’s Party, The Other Exchange Student, etc.), though hopefully Lynn Wang could occasionally contribute to future SvTFOE content, with or without Cheyenne. Among the 2 (and perhaps Jennifer Goldberg as well), the new character designers I’d suggest to contribute would include Jeremiah Alcorn (@alcornstudios, Teen Titans Go!, Wander Over Yonder), Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Samurai Jack), Carey Yost (The Powerpuff Girls, The Ren & Stimpy Show), and April “Pinkie” Davis (Spongebob Squarepants). I’d also recommend Bryan Arnett (Wander Over Yonder, The Mighty B!), Adam Rosette (who did designs for the original test pilot or something in 2014, according to the IMDb), Craig Kellman (The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Dexter’s Laboratory), and Kyle A. Carrozza and Lindsay Smith-Carrozza (Mighty Magiswords), among others. As for the location design, it changed little, but I’d still refer to The Parpan Brothers, Season 1 art directors @joshparpan & @justinparpan (currently art directors at CN for @victorandvalentino) and perhaps their assistant Jason Stebbings. David A. Dunnet and Larry Murphy are very good cartoon location designers. Certainly, Stephen DeStefano (@stephendestefano, Samurai Jack, Mickey Mouse, The Ren & Stimpy Show) would serve as a swiss army knife of visual design in storyboards, character design and location design! I’m not concerned about most of the prop designs either, though Dustin d’Arnault is a rising talent in cartoon props/effects design, like Chris Battle. I’m not too concerned about effects design, referring to the original one, Tony Unser, and the last one, Eric Gonzalez, but contributions from Dustin d’Arnault and the amazing MIchel Gagne would do wonders for the show. As for newer, fresher talent, @akron-squirrel, Josh “Zeurel” Palmer and Scott Forester are some excellent choices for new creatives visual development.
Should the show/new content onward be in a “Scope” aspect ratio, like 2.40:1? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Tigtone and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal are in a “letterbox” widescreen format, and it’d look more cinematic to do the shots in a director-envisioned “CinemaScope” format.
Who should direct the animation?: The main timing supervisor Shaun Cashman was a part of The Powerpuff Girls and Sym-Bionic Titan, so that’s good for the *traditional* animation (not to mention timing director Patrick Gleeson, who animated the works of Don Bluth), but personally timing/animation directors and supervisors should include Genndy Tartakovsky, Tony Fucile (perhaps a stretch, but he’s really good), and Robert Alvarez. Rough Draft’s designs should look a little smoother IMO, though I generally prefer Rough Draft over Sugarcube. Of course, for the more comedic SvTFOE content in the future (but not limited to cartoon-y scenes), I want Megan Ferguson to return, preferably with Mercury Filmworks. Mercury could at least help animate background layouts and visual effects for the traditionally animated episodes. Still, I learned from Final Space and namely the Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure episode “Cassandra’s Revenge” that “puppeted” animation can work very well in more serious, cinematic scenes that aren’t as “cartoonish”. Additional animation contributions from Gabe del Valle and Josh “Zeurel” Palmer would be good to reference too.
Who should contribute sound design?: First and foremost, if I had to pick one and only one sound designer, I’d look to Joel Valentine, a private contractor who generally did cartoon sound for only Cartoon Network Studios until Craig McCracken got him to contribute to Wander Over Yonder Season 2, perhaps leading Joel to work currently on Disney’s Big City Greens (still also on Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal). He does both cartoon and action sound on a very unique level, and he proved to be very realistic with vocal sfx (babies, crowds, animals) in Samurai Jack Season 5, making very scarce use of Hollywood Edge SFX. I also really like that castanet sound he uses for characters shaking for any reason. With or without Joel, my devote follower @rwinger24 prefers Spongebob sound designer Jeff Hutchins to contribute; Jeff has a hilarious sense of cartoon sound design, and not only did he learn from Joel, but he also received from Joel The Producer’s Sound Effects Library AND Joel’s ADAP library, with which Jeff could replicate the unique sound styles of Joel, like he did before. Jeff also tends to work at Hacienda Post, where founder and supervisor Timothy J. Borquez could contribute and consult sound design just as his team did at Horta Editorial on The Ren & Stimpy Show, which also has its own stylized array of SFX--and this would work very well for a show with design and animation as detailed in comedic fashion as Ren & Stimpy (think “Brittney’s Party”). It was rumored on IMDb that Warner Bros. Sound (division Audio Circus) worked on SvTFOE; Jeff worked there too, and I guess that they could contribute. Then, of course, the show deserves contributions from Skywalker Sound, namely designers like Tom Myers, Steve Boeddeker, David Acord, Frank Eulner and Al Nelson, as well as Chris Scarabosio, Kyrsten Mate and Nia Hansen; Matthew Wood & David Acord are also a good team in voices (I’d even go so far as to suggest Ben Burtt to contribute). With Skywalker, there’d be better selections for action sfx (like explosions or ricochets) and other SFX in general, plus more realistic vocal sfx and walla. I also like the works of Robert Hargreaves (DigiPost.TV) and Glenn Oyabe. Among Joel, Hacienda and Skywalker, still, I intend not to cut Advantage Audio out; the series’ sfx and Brian H. Kim’s sounds are probably there, as are the series’ foley artist John Lampinen, but I would want Jesse Aruda and Rich Danhakl to be in place of Poole II or Olsen. (as of September 10th, 2019 A.D., Danhakl replied to me in an e-mail, “Count me in for the toonie Star spinoff (I’ll pass the message along to Jesse [Aruda] and Roy [Braverman])!”) A main proposition to approach the series’ sound as a whole, as Ben Burtt suggested in an article, is this: “You don’t achieve the final cut of your movie the first time that you cut it. [(Picture) Editing is] too big of a job. You assemble the first cut based upon all of your best available knowledge. You’re finding your way through the story. You’re checking notes, a script, and seeing what the material might dictate. Then you build each successive cut, and you see what’s wrong and what’s right. It takes time and a series of developmental steps. No director want to rush through it. The same process should hold true for sound design. There needs to be a development phase where you have the same type of time to experiment, fail, and nurture the sound design to full bloom in all its beauty.” Speaking of Ben Burtt, he might as well contribute since it seems that he does little sound design for projects these days. Previously I made a post about the important emphasis of the series’ sound design.
I pray every day of my life that Star vs. the Forces of Evil as a franchise of Disney will be blessed with creative talents who I really admire, and I hope for the best. Speaking of Hope, I find supportive/background character Hope Hadley, created by character designer Cheyenne Curtis, to be an interesting and attractive character, so I wonder if Cheyenne (who works at Disney) and Disney (who owns the rights to Hope) would create something out of her, as I said before--and Cheyenne thinks about this possibility: “If I ever get a cartoon show it’s my goal to have multiple episodes throughout the season with rain.” Either way, my devote follower @rwinger24 would agree with some of my choices (particularly of sound and Jeff Hutchins).
If you’re a devote SvTFOE fan and you agree with any of these decisions, then SHARE THE POST! Let Disney know, and see what Daron Nefcy also thinks of this too (even if she can not return). I also encourage you to share IMDb lists of Creatives for Future SvTFOE Content and the same for Cheyenne Curtis’s cartoon show and/or this Tumblr post summarizing names of those to join and return on SvTFOE, so that we--and the amazing creatives whom we admire--can be a part of the unique franchise of SvTFOE! I love Star Butterfly enough to want to spark an influence, however we can.
Besides that, Samurai Jack seemed to end after Season 4, but it returned after 12 years, 5 months and 14 days with Season 5. God knows what new content/media Disney could produce (with or without Daron Nefcy) in the future!
Tweet version here. Share that too!
Finally, forget not to share also this complimentary post listing some of the most important creatives for Disney TVA to recruit for new SvTFOE content!
I thank you for sharing, noticing and/or reading the post.
If you wonder why I love Star much, see this post (spoiler if you saw not Season 3 yet)
BTW, if you like The Powerpuff Girls and/or relative team members, check this post out too (and share it if you agree)!
