| The Moxy Show | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Anthology |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of |
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| Opening theme | "De La Funk" by René De Wael |
| Composer | David Wayne Powers[a] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Editor | Lili Cunningham |
| Running time |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Cartoon Network |
| Release | December 5, 1993 (1993-12-5) – May 25, 1996 (1996-05-25) |
The Moxy Show, also known asThe Moxy Pirate Show andThe Moxy & Flea Show,[c] is an American animatedanthology television series produced byColossal Pictures forCartoon Network. It consists of classic cartoons inter-spliced with segments featuring commentary from an anthropomorphic dog named Moxy, who purportedly works for Cartoon Network as a janitor but secretly hijacks their signal every Sunday.
The Moxy Show was Cartoon Network's first exclusive original programming and was created out of Cartoon Network's desire for an animated host that could be aired live. They contracted Colossal Pictures to develop the character and themotion capture technology to realize Cartoon Network's vision. Moxy was voiced byBobcat Goldthwait, while Colossal Pictures' software used John Stevenson as an actor for Moxy's movements. The series first aired asThe Moxy Pirate Show on December 5, 1993, before being rebranded asThe Moxy Show on November 6, 1994, alongside the introduction of a new character named Flea, who serves as Moxy's sidekick. The series run ended on May 25, 1996, reportedly due to poor audience reception, and has becomelost media.
Moxy (voiced byBobcat Goldthwait) is an anthropomorphic dog who purportedly works as a janitor for Cartoon Network and was unsuccessful in being granted his own show.[1][2] Moxy has built a bootleg studio in his closet where he hijacks the signal to Cartoon Network every week to hostThe Moxy Show.[1][3] OnThe Moxy Show, Moxy showcases classic cartoons such asLooney Tunes,Tom and Jerry andPopeye.[4] Between each cartoon, Moxy provides commentary and trivia.[1] During the show's initial iteration asThe Moxy Pirate Show, Moxy was the only character. When the show rebranded asThe Moxy Show, a sidekick named Flea (voiced byPenn Jillette, and later byChris Rock) was introduced,[5][6] who is described as a "professional pest".[7] Moxy and Flea serve as a dynamic duo, in which Moxy is careless while Flea is level-headed.[8]
Cartoon Network is a cable television channel focused on animation, created byTurner Broadcasting System, and launched on October 1, 1992. Cartoon Network's initial programming relied on reruns of classic television cartoons.[9][10] Cartoon Network wanted to create both a mascot that would perform animated skits in between airings and a live host for special events. "The problem arose," according to Cartoon Network presidentBetty Cohen, "when [they] realized that for the Cartoon Network, [they] were going to need a cartoon host."[11]Traditional animation andcomputer animation could not be produced and aired live and thus could not be used for Cartoon Network's desired animated host. Cartoon Network approachedColossal Pictures, a company that had been merging traditional animation with new "real-time applications in new media".[12] Brian DeGraff of Colossal Pictures proposed Moxy as Cartoon Network's mascot. Moxy would be computer-modeled in 3D and usemotion capture for animation as the series. Approving this idea, Cartoon Network contracted Colossal Pictures to produce sixteen interstitial animations.[13] Cartoon Network chose to work with Colossal Pictures due to their innovation and experience in animation and character development.[14]
Moxy went through many design variations before Colossal Pictures settled on his final design.[15] Despite being 3D, Moxy's design was meant to emulate other cartoons by having jointless limbs and skewed facial features. Though DeGraff wanted to model Moxy's closet studio through computer graphics, budgetary constraints forced Colossal Pictures to overlay Moxy over a live-action set and to restrict the recording setup to three cameras, limiting the number of fixed perspectives accordingly. As part of the creators' attempts at imitating other cartoons, the set purported used "cartoon logic" such as the closet consisting of shelves with the heaviest objects on the upper shelves.[13] In addition, The miniature set was intentionally given a "wanky" appearance to convey Moxy's unpreparedness and improvisatory nature and was built inforced perspective, "giving it the illusion of depth".[16]
The motion capture software used for Moxy was developed in-house.[17][18] Goldthwait was hired to voice Moxy, and John Stevenson was hired as the motion capture actor. Moxy's lip-syncing was automatic, being determined by the loudness of Goldthwait's voice. For Moxy's movements, Stevenson wore a magnetic harness with sensors for motion capture, along with a hard hat with a long beak and cardboard hands with sensors to compensate for Moxy's large ears and hands. Moxy's limb movements were intentionally distorted by the software to give Moxy a "rubbery" feel.[19] The software also gave Moxy procedurally animated details independent of the motion capture such as wiggling ears to eliminate stiffness.[20][21] Additional animated details were also added post-recording such as his eyes squinting and his eyebrows raising.[20]
Moxy was first showcased at a Manhattan news conference on September 28, 1993.[22] Marketed as the "first real-time cartoon character", Moxy later debuted publicly as the host ofThe Great International Toon-In, a 14-hour animated program run byTurner Broadcasting System.[1][23] It was broadcast on November 26, 1993, spanning sixTurner Entertainment cable networks including Cartoon Network,TBS, andTNT.[17]The Moxy Pirate Show first aired on December 5, 1993,[3] as Cartoon Network's first exclusive original programming,[9] with subsequent episodes airing every Sunday night in an hour-long format. On November 6, 1994, with the introduction of Flea, the show was rebranded asThe Moxy Show and changed to a half-hour format.[5] One episode was broadcast under the monikerThe Moxy & Flea Show, which aired on December 25, 1995.[24]The Moxy Show last aired on May 25, 1996.[25]The Moxy Show has never aired since or been released for purchase, making itlost media.[26]
The critical and audience reception ofThe Moxy Show was generally poor.[26] A week afterThe Moxy Pirate Show's premiere, Lee Winfrey ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer called Moxy, "The most overhyped and disappointing new cable television host this fall". Winfrey considered Moxy's character to be without wit or distinction and believed that the creators' focus on motion capture led to them neglecting to make Moxy interesting.[4] In a 2003 interview withAndy Merrill, interviewer Ken P. noted thatThe Moxy Show did not air for long, with Merrill speculating that it was because it did not "click" for audiences.[27] Retrospectively,Screen Rant rankedThe Moxy Show as the tenth best Cartoon Network show of the 1990s, beating outBig Bag andMike, Lu & Og. Amanda Bruce and Rosie Mulley of Screen Rant wrote that sinceThe Moxy Show's poor reception and short-lived airing, Cartoon Network has "learned from their mistakes and created more successful and popular original characters from then out."[26]
