Relationship? Sci Fi, animators and Chuck and Chris!
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How is the ol’ partnership hanging together?
Lots of rumour, miss-information and Chris Moellers site isn’t exactly encouraging about this teriffic series!
I hear bits and pieces about animosity and even a little negativity regarding the relationship between the creators, sci fi channel and the animators. Will this threaten the series?
Hope not – anyone any thoughts?
I would like to read what Chris Moeller has to say. What is the web address for his site (I did a search and came up empty)?
Hmm, that’s irritating – I can’t find the site myself now! Anyway, it was the original site (where I first downloaded the pilot a year or two ago).
It wasn’t that Chris Moeller was rubbishing anything or being anti-Tripping etc. It seemed that his and Chucks role had been greatly reduced and that he and others weren’t too happy about it….. I can’t remember the exact words so the above shouldn’t be taken too literally.
[i](Headge, do you remember any of this? It [b]was[/b] Chris’s site wasn’t it?)[/i]
I’m just keen to know the full gossip, rumour etc. 🙂 and of course if the show is threatened in any way.
At Chris Moeller’s “Dark Bunny Productions” sit ( http://www.darkbunny.com/dbfilms.htm ) site he wrote:
[quote=”Chris Moeller”]…we kept our fingers crossed that the short would be the basis for a series some day.
Well, that day took 4 years, but it finally happened. In early 2002, Sci Fi Channel picked it up for a series, but it was a bittersweet victory. Chuck and I were deemed expendable and the production went ahead without us. But despite this, we’re happy that our little idea was liked by so many people, and we look back on that amazing day when we first saw the short, complete with finished soundtrack, with great fondness.[/quote]
I notice that his trippingtherift.com site has now been taken over by the Sci Fi channel (get redirected). Interesting, I hadnt realised that Chode came from a short called Wisconsin.
[quote=”SadGeezer”]It seemed that his and Chucks role had been greatly reduced and that he and others weren’t too happy about it….. I can’t remember the exact words so the above shouldn’t be taken too literally.
[i](Headge, do you remember any of this? It [b]was[/b] Chris’s site wasn’t it?)[/i][/quote]
The message you’re referring to was the last update by the duo on trippingtherift.com before the website was taken over by whomever.
It was an emotional response, which occasionally contradicted itself. Unfortunately, I did not save the message, or any other text (and most pictures on the site) as I figured that the site would always be up. I never thought that we’d become the repository for all things tripping. Had I known, I would have downloaded the entire site.
The last message went something to effect of this: (In quotes are exact words)
Chris Moeller and Chuck Austin were “deemed expendable” and cut from the project. They didn’t go into detail, and they didn’t answer any emails about it (to my knowledge). They were clearly upset by this development, which is completely understandable.The two, went on to thank the fans of the short for all their support an patience over the years. He claimed that he was crying in happiness and pride when he saw the creativity of one of the fans, who created a Chode squeeze toy.
It was brought up about TTR2, and that it was never that great, and that it was crapped up when too many people contributed ” too many cooks” This contradicted earlier comments that the seconds cartoon was great, hilarious etc. I’m not sure but I think they said that we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the second cartoon.
To conclude, they mentioned that it was sort of a relief that they no longer have to worry about the show and that “a great load has been lifted off [their] shoulders” I didn’t buy that part though. I really thought that if they were asked back on the show they would have accepted. I think that they may have mentioned that now that TTR is over they could concentrate on their other projects like King of the Hill.
[quote=”Headgehog”]Yes Logan, that’s pretty close to what was written. Although its about 3 paragraphs shorter.[/quote]
From [url=http://www.darkbunny.com/2002_11_01_blogarchive.html]the darkbunny.com archives (click)[/url] from Nov. 2002:
[quote]Arrivederci, TTR
So, why no updates for 7 months? The answer is simple: we have no idea what’s going with the TV show. That’s because we’re not even working on it. Once the deal was made and the budget figured out, Chuck and I were deemed expendable. It didn’t seem personal – just a case of a small budget spread very thin.Of course we were disappointed, but after all we’ve gone through with this thing over the past five years, disappointment was something we were used to. But there was also a feeling of relief. TTR was completely out of our hands at last, so we could move on without looking back any more. A bittersweet but cathartic end.
But this Tripping The Rift experience was an interesting one, and despite the gloomy nature of this post, more good than bad came out of it. The best was getting to meet some amazing people, as well as receiving some great emails over the years. Having Chode made into a squeak toy was pretty damn cool as well.
Life goes on, and we’re doing fine. Those of you that frequent comic book shops have no doubt seen Chuck’s name as the writer of “X-Men”, “Superman”, “The Call of Duty”, as well as the artist of “Elektra” and the writer/artist of the “War Machine” miniseries. I’ve been doing a bit of writing myself, and am also tinkering with a comic book of my own, which I have to confess is an absolute blast.
Episode 2?
As I’ve said in the past, episode 2 has been done since I released that teaser eons ago, but if or when it gets released is up to Film Roman. I will say, however, that you’re not missing much. A lot of people added their two cents to the story, and in the end it became an unfunny mess. A textbook case of too many cooks.Any new stuff I do will most likely end up on darkbunny.com. Yes, I know it’s been dead for the longest time, but that will change soon enough. Until then, thanks for the support – and some day if the TTR series hits the airwaves, I’ll be just as curious as you as to how it turns out.[/quote]
Apparently I did archive the paragraphs. [url=http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3302&sid=f2e485b8a6c902bb4bd67d6334858c0c]This post [/url]is almost two years old and features a crazy analysis. I really need to go through my own stuff more often.
[quote=”Headgehog”]Apparently I did archive the paragraphs. [url=http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3302&sid=f2e485b8a6c902bb4bd67d6334858c0c]This post [/url]is almost two years old and features a crazy analysis. I really need to go through my own stuff more often.[/quote]
What often happens is that studios will buy the rights and characters to a show, but rarely hire the original creators to write the show. I think its partly to avoid potential conflicts during decision making; using different writers gives the producer more control over the content. It also costs less; two less salaries to dish out. Maybe I’m wrong…
I haven’t seen the tv version yet, so I can’t give it the thumbs up or down.
Reading the comments here a few warning bells are starting to ring in my simple head.
Two of the most successful sci-fi computer games of all time were called Star Control I & II. The first and second games were huge hits and had a fantastic and original sci-fi background story. It developed a massive cult following. Anyway, cutting it short, the makers, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche, were excluded from Accolades Star Control III. Star Control III was the biggest flop in Accolades gaming history. The moral is simple, that without the original creators, it lacks the originality that made it successful in the first place.
Still from the sound of it, the tv series is pretty damn good.
[quote][b]CLR2 wrote:[/b]
What often happens is that studios will buy the rights and characters to a show, but rarely hire the original creators to write the show. I think its partly to avoid potential conflicts during decision making; using different writers gives the producer more control over the content.[/quote]
Yeah, if the creators are working on the project then they continue as if it belongs to them. But if the corporation buys all the rights and brings in there own staff, these people are of the mindset that they are working on someone else’s project and are easier to control. And as [b]lexxrobotech[/b] pointed out, this tends to ruin the outcome. Money has a way of destroying art.
[quote=”Tentacle”][quote][b]CLR2 wrote:[/b]
What often happens is that studios will buy the rights and characters to a show, but rarely hire the original creators to write the show. I think its partly to avoid potential conflicts during decision making; using different writers gives the producer more control over the content.[/quote]
Yeah, if the creators are working on the project then they continue as if it belongs to them. But if the corporation buys all the rights and brings in there own staff, these people are of the mindset that they are working on someone else’s project and are easier to control. And as [b]lexxrobotech[/b] pointed out, this tends to ruin the outcome. Money has a way of destroying art.[/quote]
Heh. Welcome to the “Real World”. 😉
Well it doesn’t seem to have worked here. The Pilot episode was terrific but there have been a couple of the new series episodes which I think have been better.
[quote][b]SadGeezer wrote:[/b]
Well it doesn’t seem to have worked here. The Pilot episode was terrific but there have been a couple of the new series episodes which I think have been better.[/quote]
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knockin the series. It’s the best thing I’ve seen on the tube since Lexx. Just a general observation.
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