Atomic Betty: Defending the Universe and Trying to Find a Home on TV
"Intergalactic Rocket Jockey" and "Legendary Defender of the Universe" might not seem like titles one would pin on a small, red-haired moppet from Maple Street, but this sweet little girl is not what she seems. She may spend her time lost in daydreams or the pages of a sci-fi novel, but whenever galactic peace is threatened she answers the call as -- Atomic Betty! Rocketing through the universe in her star cruiser "Blinky," Betty, along with her companions Sparky the Martian and her faithful Robot X-5, fight for justice. Commander-in-Chief Admiral Degill of the Galactic Council must depend on Betty and crew to defend 4556.33 worlds against evil menaces such as Supreme Emperor I-Q of Lynxia -- well, at least until Betty's curfew kicks in...
An Atomic Mission
A superhero for our times: Betty as dreamy student by day; Defender of Justice against all evil until bedtime. All images © Atomic Cartoons 2001.
If young Betty is a dreamer, she follows in the footsteps of her creators. Mauro Casalese, Olaf Miller, Trevor Bentley and Emmy Award-winner Rob Davies spent their formative years working their way through various jobs at Warner, Disney, Nelvana and DIC. Among other projects, the foursome worked up the online series Space Cadets for Studio B Productions. In February of 1999, Casalese, Miller, Bentley and Davies founded Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, British Columbia, and by mid-2000, Atomic was one of Canada's busiest animation studios, providing services to such prestigious clients as Film Roman, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and Sunbow Entertainment. In less than a year the young studio turned out pre-production on over 100 hours of TV animation including work on Milo's Great Adventure, Edd, Ed, 'n' Eddy, and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The Atomic team also launched a popular series of Web Cartoons, Dog in a Box With Two Wheels (which initially premiered on the Honkworm entertainment Website). Co-founder Olaf Miller informed Playback magazine (4/5/99) that, "The goal of the shop is to move into the proprietary production arena, developing shows for other studios and developing its own concepts." Here were new worlds -- and galaxies -- to conquer.
The conquest began soon after Atomic Cartoons was established. "The first drawings of Betty were done in mid-2000," recalls co-creator Trevor Bentley. "We were still at our old space when Rob (Davies) and Mauro (Casalese) first came up with the concept to do a show about a little bundle of energy. The concepts for the overall idea behind the show developed quickly. As I remember it, Rob coined the name -- it was a reference to a surfer/mountain biker term for a girl who tears it up. All four of us worked in a developmental capacity on Betty. After the initial style of character was set, Mauro and Rob did the bulk of the character design. Mauro initially sketched out a few designs and Rob threw a few in there as well. Eventually we decided on the basic character we now have."
Printer-friendly version
Although there was no real animation to speak of on Dawk's site and no actual story development, his skill at sculpting meat into characters is truly a unique gift. An artist with this skill and vision is just what my company, Mangrove Anime, is looking for!
We have a show called "Meat Characters" about a little meat-boy named Maximum Meat Monroe who travels deep into a large man to find his meat friends trapped inside him. This is the kind of originality Dawk and I are talking about!
Dawk, if you are reading this, please contact me and we'll sign you on ASAP, Baby!
- Peter Stiffer
dawk
Post new comment