ML Second Season
¡Mucha Lucha! SECOND SEASON Sneak Peek! (Kids WB website) There are also ML e-cards, game and a video clip from an episode titled “Flea’s Bueno Twin” right HERE. (Click on Rikochet’s head and links will appear on bottom right corner of page)
*Eddie and I will be off to L.A. on September 15th 2003 to work on production.
Back from Malaysia - Lili
Well I’m BAA-AAACK! With new high-tech microchipped Malaysian passport and all.
Eddie and I going to be packing this very weekend, and moving out of our apartment on Tuesday. There’s not alot to report on the Work front other than that we’re still waiting to get our Cosmic Baby pilot rerecorded pronto so that we can proceed to the “sound mix + output” phase.
Eddie and I have started researching stuff for a ‘feature’ idea (for FUN), but that’s kind of a secret for now.
When I was in Kuala Lumpur, I spent most of the time with my family but had the opportunity to have lunch with Tintoy Chuo, the talented owner of Action Tintoy, a character design/animation company.
© Action Tintoy (from website)
Chuo showed me all the cool figurine stores in town. If you are ever in KL, the Rooftop (6th floor) Sungei Wang Plaza is THE place to go. Look out for a shop called Cool Toys.
“Techno Music Kid” (1 of a series) & cool “Gloomy Bear” wallet
from Cool Toys
Malaysia has changed a lot since I left in 1984. Thanks to this article published in a local M’sian newspaper, I had been contacted by long-lost relatives … aunties, cousins, grandmother … These are people whom I haven’t seen ever since I was a toddler, and this trip to Malaysia was somewhat of a family reunion. Amazing what a bit of press can do.
And so the Chin family (young and old) will be glued to Cartoon Network next week as ¡Mucha Lucha! premieres in Malaysia on September 6th at 11.30am.
I’ve warned the adult Chins, friends and relations that they probably won’t GET what the show’s about, and to not feel obligated to watch it. But I know they will watch it … Here’s hoping there aren’t too many questions afterwards 
Crazy Vespa Fact!
When Lili and I were watching ‘Quadrophenia’ a few months back, one of the scenes that had us howling in disbelief, was when the ‘hero’ – Jimmy – used his own Vespa key to start and steal a Vespa belonging to Ace Face.
“Yeah, as if…”
Well, Terry Rawlings book (see below) has totally vindicated everyone involved…
Apparently from 1956 to 1965, ANY Vespa key could be used to start ANY Vespa, anywhere!
Talk about security – this must be the ‘difficult circumstances’ Mods talk about…
Eddie
Hey There, It’s Cartoon Network!
Cartoon Network Australia delivers the goods yet again with another classic piece of 1960′s, feature length, Hanna-Barbera…
…Hey There, it’s Yogi Bear!
The 6 o’clock saturday night spot is definitely coming up with the goodies.
Still waiting for ‘Snow White meets The Harlem Globetrotters’, though!
Eddie
FIRST DAY IN BLOG-VILLE
Well the Queen Of Blog – Miss Lili Chin – is in Parts Unknown for a week (well, Malaysia actually…), so I’ll do my best to fill her dainty – yet well informed – shoes.
Just heard that the GREAT Rafael Navarro is actually working in-house at WB on the Mucha Lucha! Direct-to-video!
I mean, can you have TOO MUCH talent in the one place? Rafael, Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, Roman Laney, Miles Thompson..!
With this array of talent, I’d say the production has a good chance of definitely not sucking 
Eddie
What a week! Eddie has been sick, and Lili has been gathering her stuff together for a week-long trip to Malaysia. (leaving bright and early tomorrow morning). We’ve been running around like chooks with their heads cut off, frantically finishing stuff off. And it has been cold, wet and miserable these past few days…
At last, we have a date of departure! We’re leaving for L.A. on September 15th, 2003. (Mucha Lucha here we come)
Review by Eddie: 24 Hour Party People
Finally got to see this film! We had tickets to the preview, like ages ago, but silly Eddie screwed up the screening times!
As a piece of filmmaking, it’s great – and funny! I really like how the lead character (Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson) would just turn to camera to explain who someone was, or exactly what was happening in the film around him!
Unfortunately though, the film works on the pretense that you actually know/care/give a rat’s ass about Joy Division/New Order/Happy Mondays, and that the world at large even has the faintest idea who A Certain Ratio and Durutti Column are.
Also – like every movie down the ages that has ever attempted to document popular culture – the film makes some wildly bogus statements-as-facts that I can just hear everyone south of Manchester (hello London!) gnashing their teeth about!
The whole ‘Happy Mondays started rave culture’ and ‘for the first time ever an audience saluted the DJ, and rave was born’ statements the film make, are just utter BS!
FACT: DJ’s were becoming an alternative to bands as early as 1985 (and I’m not even going into the Gay Disco/Hi-NRG area, which started even earlier). Saying that DJ culture was born in one particular club in the North of England, is just plain dumb. The first true movement that later become known as Rave was Acid House. Bands like the Happy Mondays and Stone Roses picked up on this new culture of clubs, beats and fashion, and it became identifiable in their look and sound. But above everything else, they were still just Rock bands.
Let’s face it- outside of Manchester, how many clubs in the late 80’s/early 90′s do you remember playing Happy Mondays tracks? The Stone Roses got played because they used James Brown’s looped ‘Funky Drummer’. Primal Scream got played. Happy Mondays symbolized the whole Madchester/baggy thing, but let’s face it – they were a product of Rave culture, not the source or inspiration.
God, I hate revisionism…
ML PRESS
WB Puts Muscle behind ¡Mucha Lucha!
Interview with Mr Unknown (FPU) - with a mention of ML.
Occasionally we receive emails from independent (Australian) artists with show ideas, who want to know how to break into the animation scene. These are usually animation students, established artists or illustrators who have designed some characters and put some basic documentation together for their project but have never worked in the animation industry and don’t know what the next step is.
The usual questions are: How do I pitch my project idea? Where do I go? Should I get the support of an Animation studio? Which Animation Studio?
Today, Eddie responded to one such email with the following advice:
It’s not always necessary, but it can be good to have the support of an animation studio when pitching to networks.
You’ll find that animation studios in Australia won’t have the resources/funds to finance a series alone. Everything produced here is done with a combination of Australian/overseas money – mostly overseas money When a local studio goes into partnership with an overseas studio to produce a series, it’s called a co-production, and this usually happens after a TV network shows some interest in ordering a series (this is called a netwok pre-sale)
The best you can hope for, is that a local studio gets on board as a Producer for your show. Then they’ll put together a series bible and budget, and start knocking on doors. The best studios to approach are the ones with proven network contacts (e.g. Southern Star Animation) or the ones with a history of Co-production partners overseas. Another company that fits this description is Yoram Gross – though stylistically I can’t bring myself to recommend them! Going this route means you get help with putting together a series bible – designs, story ideas, etc.
Another approach would be to find an Independent Producer (a business type person, as opposed to a creative) to put together a co-production deal with an overseas studio, and try to get a network presale. The only drawback with this, is that Independent Producers tend to have their fingers in a LOT of pies, and will ultimately go with the project that shows the best leads. Because these Producers have limited creative ability, they tend to pounce like rabid dogs, on any property that has a proven track record or is an established property (eg Childrens books). They are not inclined to take risks with ideas that are unusual or different.
The positives with this approach, is that most of these producers take part in MipCom, which is a huge European buying/selling series swapmeet. Going this route means you probably will be putting the bible together yourself, with advice from your Producer, and ‘suggestions’ from the overseas co-production partner he/she has stitched you up with.
Then there is the maverick ‘I got this far on my own – why do I need a stinking Producer’ approach.
There’s some merit in this. Networks and Animation Producers in the USA will look at anything, whether you’re a first timer or John Kricfalusi. They know that the property they miss, could be a big hit for someone else. If your property has proven itself with books, strips, comics and whatever else, this is a big asset when pitching.
If you are going to go this route, then be prepared to do it all yourself – which is probably what you’re used to anyway. Obviously you’ll need contacts, and a good lawyer but they ain’t no mystery.
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