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Home Movies (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Home Movies is a dialogue
-driven American
animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small (voiced by the creator, head writer, and lead musician of Home Movies, Brendon Small
), who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time. He lives with his divorced mother, Paula, and his baby sister, Josie. He is also friends with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach
, John McGuirk.
Home Movies was produced by Soup2Nuts
. It originally aired on the UPN
network but was canceled after 5 episodes. The show was then picked up by Cartoon Network
, and was the first program to be aired on the Sunday night block of the original Adult Swim
animation showcase. As part of Adult Swim, it finished the first season and was picked up for three more. As of December 27, 2010 due to the schedule changes, it is no longer currently airing. Adult Swim has made no announcement as to whether or not the show will re-air. However the show can currently be seen On Demand. It also ran on YTV in Canada. It can now also be seen on Netflix
.
’ Squigglevision
animation but later abandoned that for the cheaper, more malleable Macromedia Flash
animation. The switch was initiated for several reasons: scattered negative response to Squigglevision (from both critics and viewers), limitations in regard to movement (fluid motion is rare in Squigglevision), and the producers' view that Squigglevision was inherent to Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
and that Home Movies should develop its own unique style.
Another quality that Home Movies carried over from Dr. Katz was its initial use of “retroscripting
”, a process in which an episode’s scripts are purposely left vague, and instead of exact dialogue, the plot of a particular scene is merely outlined—the rest of the dialogue is then created through improv by the actors. The use of retroscripting in Home Movies gives the show very casual, realistic dialogue with an often dry, sarcastic wit. Although retroscripting was only used officially in the first season (the entire first episode was improvised from start to finish), the dialogue in the following three seasons remained heavily improvised, with the written script serving mainly as a guide or something to fall back on for jokes if needed.
Another prominent feature of the show was its use of original music written and performed by the series creator Brendon Small, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music
, a self-proclaimed shredder
, who went on to become the composer and guitarist of Dethklok
.
A recurring visual theme within the show is lawn gnomes
, which tends to make random but subtle appearances in the background of many scenes (even a gnome-shaped guitar appears in a music shop in the episode “Guitarmageddon”). At least one lawn gnome can be found in almost every episode of the series, as well as on the DVD box art, and as a cookie (which is an Easter Egg in the DVD menus on certain discs). Home Movies is one of the few shows on Adult Swim that carries a TV-PG rating. The show also uses its own censor, which is a bit higher pitched than Adult Swim's common bleep, as well as it being used on certain words that Adult Swim might have originally allowed.
and heavily using retroscripting
, the first five episodes aired on UPN
in 1999. The show introduced the main characters in this season, and mainly consisted of episodes revolving around Brendon’s movies. Much of the style of the writing is loose and improvised. The season ends with Brendon saying hello to his, until then absent
, father on the phone.
, this is the first season commissioned by the Cartoon Network as a result of mixed ratings of Season One reruns. The episodes are now heavily scripted, but the creators now have much more freedom, allowing for creative episodes (“History”), introducing new characters (Fenton Mewly, the Adelbergs) as well as a multiple-story season arc, which included:
The show also develops a writing device
that carries through the next seasons, in which the plots of one episode usually all have an underlying theme
. Emphasis on Brendon’s movies becomes key here, and the subtext
of their creation is finally discussed.
At this point, Brendon is still enjoying his life making films and living in a "fantasy" world.
. The bulk of the episodes consist of plots that involve Brendon doing something other than making films. Part of this revolves around Brendon trying to figure out whether he still enjoys making movies, or if it's becoming more of a chore. An entire episode (“Curses”) dealt with swearing and adult themes. The loose dialogue and long conversations lessen for humorous plot device
s and a speedier delivery at jokes and gags. The final episode (“Focus Grill”), was made in mind as a series finale
, and brought back the long conversations and loose dialogue, as well as a resolution to the series as Brendon, Jason and Melissa finally make a conclusion to their first film, declaring their friendship before they come to the conclusion that their movies aren't as good as they had always believed. Brendon accidentally drops his camera from a moving car while filming scenery in the final sequence and watches in distress as it gets run over, but is thereafter distracted from his grief by a discussion of fast food prompted by his mother and Coach McGuirk.
Shout! Factory
, through Sony BMG Music Entertainment, releases DVDs of Home Movies seasons, each on three-disc box sets. Each DVD has numerous special features and easter eggs. Shout! Factory later on released all of the Home Movies episodes on Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix.
listed Home Movies as the 28th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
-driven American
Television in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small (voiced by the creator, head writer, and lead musician of Home Movies, Brendon Small
Brendon Small
Brendon Small is an American sitcom writer/producer, actor, comedian, voice actor, composer, and musician...
), who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time. He lives with his divorced mother, Paula, and his baby sister, Josie. He is also friends with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, John McGuirk.
Home Movies was produced by Soup2Nuts
Soup2Nuts
Soup2Nuts is an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder, Loren Bouchard, Brendon Small, Jody Snider, and Amanda Normoyle. It is known for its animated comedy series...
. It originally aired on the UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
network but was canceled after 5 episodes. The show was then picked up by Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
, and was the first program to be aired on the Sunday night block of the original Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
animation showcase. As part of Adult Swim, it finished the first season and was picked up for three more. As of December 27, 2010 due to the schedule changes, it is no longer currently airing. Adult Swim has made no announcement as to whether or not the show will re-air. However the show can currently be seen On Demand. It also ran on YTV in Canada. It can now also be seen on Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
.
Style
In its first season, Home Movies utilized Soup2NutsSoup2Nuts
Soup2Nuts is an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder, Loren Bouchard, Brendon Small, Jody Snider, and Amanda Normoyle. It is known for its animated comedy series...
’ Squigglevision
Squigglevision
Squigglevision is a patented method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate. Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder Productions invented the technique, which his animation studio Soup2Nuts subsequently popularized in several successful animated series.Compared with...
animation but later abandoned that for the cheaper, more malleable Macromedia Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
animation. The switch was initiated for several reasons: scattered negative response to Squigglevision (from both critics and viewers), limitations in regard to movement (fluid motion is rare in Squigglevision), and the producers' view that Squigglevision was inherent to Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American animated series that originally ran on Comedy Central from May 28, 1995 to December 24, 1999,–with a final set of three shelved episodes airing in 2002–starring Jonathan Katz, Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman...
and that Home Movies should develop its own unique style.
Another quality that Home Movies carried over from Dr. Katz was its initial use of “retroscripting
Retroscripting
Retroscripting is a term for two techniques used in movie and television programs.-Plot outline:A retroscripted script contains a plot outline and leaves dialogue deliberately vague for interpretation by the actors through improvisation...
”, a process in which an episode’s scripts are purposely left vague, and instead of exact dialogue, the plot of a particular scene is merely outlined—the rest of the dialogue is then created through improv by the actors. The use of retroscripting in Home Movies gives the show very casual, realistic dialogue with an often dry, sarcastic wit. Although retroscripting was only used officially in the first season (the entire first episode was improvised from start to finish), the dialogue in the following three seasons remained heavily improvised, with the written script serving mainly as a guide or something to fall back on for jokes if needed.
Another prominent feature of the show was its use of original music written and performed by the series creator Brendon Small, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, a self-proclaimed shredder
Shred guitar
Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...
, who went on to become the composer and guitarist of Dethklok
Dethklok
Dethklok is both a virtual band featured in the Adult Swim animated program Metalocalypse, as well as a real band created to perform the band's melodic death metal music in live shows. The band was created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The music heard on Metalocalypse is performed by Brendon...
.
A recurring visual theme within the show is lawn gnomes
Garden gnome
A garden gnome or lawn gnome is a figurine of a small humanoid creature, usually wearing a pointy hat, produced for the purpose of ornamentation and protection from evil sorcery, typically of gardens or on lawns....
, which tends to make random but subtle appearances in the background of many scenes (even a gnome-shaped guitar appears in a music shop in the episode “Guitarmageddon”). At least one lawn gnome can be found in almost every episode of the series, as well as on the DVD box art, and as a cookie (which is an Easter Egg in the DVD menus on certain discs). Home Movies is one of the few shows on Adult Swim that carries a TV-PG rating. The show also uses its own censor, which is a bit higher pitched than Adult Swim's common bleep, as well as it being used on certain words that Adult Swim might have originally allowed.
Season 1
Animated in SquigglevisionSquigglevision
Squigglevision is a patented method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate. Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder Productions invented the technique, which his animation studio Soup2Nuts subsequently popularized in several successful animated series.Compared with...
and heavily using retroscripting
Retroscripting
Retroscripting is a term for two techniques used in movie and television programs.-Plot outline:A retroscripted script contains a plot outline and leaves dialogue deliberately vague for interpretation by the actors through improvisation...
, the first five episodes aired on UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
in 1999. The show introduced the main characters in this season, and mainly consisted of episodes revolving around Brendon’s movies. Much of the style of the writing is loose and improvised. The season ends with Brendon saying hello to his, until then absent
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
, father on the phone.
Season 2
Now animated in FlashAdobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, this is the first season commissioned by the Cartoon Network as a result of mixed ratings of Season One reruns. The episodes are now heavily scripted, but the creators now have much more freedom, allowing for creative episodes (“History”), introducing new characters (Fenton Mewly, the Adelbergs) as well as a multiple-story season arc, which included:
- Brendon meeting his father Andrew and his fiancé Linda, resulting in therapy sessions, leading up to a wedding.
- Brendon develops a crush on Scäb choreographer Cynthia, and tries to win her over.
- Paula loses her job and searches for a new one. Melissa's dad offers some advice.
The show also develops a writing device
Literary technique
A literary technique is any element or the entirety of elements a writer intentionally uses in the structure of their work...
that carries through the next seasons, in which the plots of one episode usually all have an underlying theme
Theme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...
. Emphasis on Brendon’s movies becomes key here, and the subtext
Subtext
Subtext or undertone is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game, or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts...
of their creation is finally discussed.
At this point, Brendon is still enjoying his life making films and living in a "fantasy" world.
Season 3
A bit looser than Season Two, the show ditches the idea of seasonal story arc, and many of the episodes air out of order. The episodes become racier, with more resounding sexual themes and cursing than before. Secondary characters, such as Fenton and Duane, begin to have a chance to shine, as episodes focused on them and others are made. Another noteworthy aspect is that the show begins to acknowledge actual movies more often than it had previously, and starts parodying them heavily. The season ends with Brendon’s stepmother Linda having a child, but afterwards she and Andrew no longer make appearances in the show.Season 4
The final season: the creators apparently knew they were getting canceled throughout the entire production of the final thirteen episodes. Many of the episodes are straight parodies of movies, including three allusions to Hitchcockian thrillersHitchcockian
Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.-Characteristics:Elements considered Hitchcockian include:*The cool platinum blonde....
. The bulk of the episodes consist of plots that involve Brendon doing something other than making films. Part of this revolves around Brendon trying to figure out whether he still enjoys making movies, or if it's becoming more of a chore. An entire episode (“Curses”) dealt with swearing and adult themes. The loose dialogue and long conversations lessen for humorous plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
s and a speedier delivery at jokes and gags. The final episode (“Focus Grill”), was made in mind as a series finale
Series finale
A series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, and brought back the long conversations and loose dialogue, as well as a resolution to the series as Brendon, Jason and Melissa finally make a conclusion to their first film, declaring their friendship before they come to the conclusion that their movies aren't as good as they had always believed. Brendon accidentally drops his camera from a moving car while filming scenery in the final sequence and watches in distress as it gets run over, but is thereafter distracted from his grief by a discussion of fast food prompted by his mother and Coach McGuirk.
Episodes
| Season | Ep # | First Airdate | Last Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 13 | April 26, 1999 | October 7, 2001 |
| Season 2 | 13 | January 6, 2002 | March 31, 2002 |
| Season 3 | 13 | August 4, 2002 | May 25, 2003 |
| Season 4 | 13 | November 11, 2003 | April 4, 2004 |
DVD releases
Season releases| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | November 16, 2004 | 13 | This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season one. Special features include 10 commentary Audio commentary On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video... tracks, animatics Storyboard Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.... , interviews with cast and creators, animation galleries, and short films by Brendon Small and Jon Benjamin. |
| Season Two | May 31, 2005 | 13 | This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season two. Special features include commentaries and interviews with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and executive producer Loren Bouchard, Winner of the “Small Shorts” film contest, animatics, songs from the series, Landstander, and the Decide Your Doom interactive adventure video game. It also includes a “how-to” guide to playing the Home Movies theme. |
| Season Three | November 15, 2005 | 13 | This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season three. Special features include commentaries, animatics and a featurette Featurette Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film whose length is approximately three quarters of a reel, or about 20–44 minutes in running time - thus midway between a short subject and a feature film; thus it is a "small feature"... for “People who don’t necessarily like Home Movies.” |
| Season Four | May 16, 2006 | 13 | This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season four. Special features include 24 commentaries, animatics, and featurettes. Also included is the Home Movies: Bonus Soundtrack CD with 52 tracks composed and performed by Small for the show. |
| Home Movies 10th Anniversary Set | November 4, 2008 | 52 | This 10th Anniversary thirteen-disc boxset includes every episode of Home Movies plus new special features, as well as the CD included in the Season Four boxset. |
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
, through Sony BMG Music Entertainment, releases DVDs of Home Movies seasons, each on three-disc box sets. Each DVD has numerous special features and easter eggs. Shout! Factory later on released all of the Home Movies episodes on Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix.
Reception
In January 2009, IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed Home Movies as the 28th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.