#Scrawnydutchman

[scrawnydutchman]

Paradise P.D: Animated Series Review

I’ve reviewed a lot of animated - and live action - shows and movies on my blog. Nearly everything I’ve felt the need to comment on has been seen in a positive light. I don’t shy away from harsh criticism nor do I actively avoid notably poor content; it just so happens that the things I’m most interested in discussing are things I have mainly positive comments on. Paradise PD has come along to break the mold. The genuine disgust I have for this series is a first for me. I hate this show. This is quite possibly the worst show I’ve ever given a complete watch. The characters are either heinously cruel or insultingly generic. The premise is cookie cutter and derivative as hell. The humor is forced, predictable and just depressing more often than funny. The animation . . . . oh God, the animation. I’ve had non flavored rice cakes with more taste than this show. It’s like anti-creativity. Even as I’m typing this Ii’m getting riled up just thinking about it again. Alright, let me calm down. Let’s break this show down piece by piece, starting with the writing.

Writing

*ugh, the animation in these gifs is terrible. I’ll get to it when I get to it.*

Synopsis: Kevin Crawford is an aspiring young police officer who is determined to prove himself to his dad, Chief Randall Crawford of the Paradise PD. Chief Crawford has a hard time trusting his son because of a firearms accident that occurred when Kevin was very young (the less details you know about that the better) but his ex wife mayor Karen Crawford forces Randall to bring Kevin into the department anyway. Kevin thus joins a motley crew of  . . .ahem . . . “”””hilarious””””” cops including Gina; the badass uber violent super cop who’s both the sex appeal of the show and has a fetish for morbidly obese men (yes, seriously), Gerald Fitzgerald; the Cleveland Brown of this show who’s basically just a well mannered  token black guy, Dusty Marlow; the morbidly obese innocent cop whom Gina constantly harasses sexually (and yet when male characters harass her on the show she threatens to beaten them for pervy comments, so . . . hypocrite), Stanley Hopson; an elderly officer whose whole schtick is being senile and doing gross shit . .  and finally Brian Griffin-I mean Bullet; the canine unit who’s also a drug addict . . . and being a drug addict is basically his whole shtick. They get into a bunch of wacky shenanigans, a lot of gross stuff ensues, yadda yadda yadda

So admittedly, this isn’t a bad premise for a show of this style. If Brooklyn 99 has proven anything it’s that a police department is a great and refreshing setting for a sitcom with tons of potential for jokes as well as diverse characters having great chemistry with each other. Plus it’s an archetype I don’t see very much of (I’d like to point out that I consider this different from the “buddy cop” archetype which is literally everywhere, because rather than focus on two cops it involves an entire precinct). This show is kind of like if Seth Macfarlane made a Family Guy spinoff centered around Joe Swanson (except that sounds a million times more amazing). But while Paradise PD sounds like a good concept for a show on paper, it’s execution is poorer than poor. Ironically for being such an off-the-beaten-path premise for a sitcom the show doesn’t take very much advantage of it. It’s not like the case in every episode is particularly interesting and it’s certainly not like Archer or Brooklyn 99 where the humor comes from the mundane nature of the job that nobody really talks about (filing a lot of paper work and performing basic job duties). Instead it’s premises about banging police cars that have AIs that behave like abusive girlfriends . . .which is a premise we’ve seen before. Or it’s about a father not understanding his child’s hobbies . . .which is a premise we’ve seen before. Or it’s about a fighter being overly confident in the ring only for his cohorts to discover he’s rigged to lose in the next fight . . . which is a premise we’ve seen before. Here lies the biggest problem of this show: it’s so rinse and repeat it’s insulting. For every episode this series has at the moment I guarantee the Simpson’s  has done it and has done it better. Or Bob’s Burgers has done it. Or Archer has done it. Or Brooklyn 99 has done it. Hell, Family Guy and American Dad are the most comparable shows to this besides Brickleberry for obvious reasons and as much as I have distaste for those shows even they do these recycled premises more justice than Paradise PD does. Basically the only thing giving this show a real identity is it’s intense gross out visuals which, given this shows shockingly limited animation style, gets stale very quickly. But what is Paradise PD missing that all those shows have in common (besides maybe Family Guy/American Dad)? The answer of course is likable characters.

Characters

*it’s worth mentioning that the intro is the only bit of decent animation this show has. In fact it’s deceivingly good. Be patient . . . I’m getting there.*

If the synopsis I gave at the beginning is any indication it’s that every character suffers from one of two problems; they’re either intensely unlikable or are bland overly used archetypes . . . sometimes both. Gerald Fitzgerald, Dusty Harlow, Stanley Hopson and Bullet are all archetypes you can find in every animated sitcom ever made. It’s the token black guy, the morbidly obese dumbass, the senile old man and the drug addict/self centered misogynist. They all have one joke and one joke only dedicated to each of them. They are walking talking punchlines. So is every character in this show, though everyone else to a lesser extent. Gina is my favorite because her backstory episode is the only one where I felt even a little bit intrigued about how one of these assholes came to be. Our leading man Kevin is a bland standin. He’s just an overly naive, wide eyed kid with a dream. He’s an empty husk for literally any kind of viewer to step in (except for women when it comes to the love interest stuff). The chief is an angry, pompous asshole. In fact every character is just a horrible human being. Even characters that are either overly innocent or are meant to be good natured like Kevin or Dusty are constantly selfish or arrogant in some way. I get that that’s just the way the show is written comedically and in truth all comedy is rooted in the flawed. It’s why a lot of sitcom scenarios are written around characters acting selfishly or stupidly. But there’s being flawed and then there’s . . . being relentlessly cruel. It makes it hard to root for any of these characters in the end, especially since the show also occasionally tries to have a moral center and because . . .well . . . y’know . . . everyone is bland as shit.

Cast Performance

So this is by far the best aspect of the show and the number one thing it has going for it. Why? Because the show has a cast that’s .  . . depressingly a bunch of all stars. Tom Kenny, Spongebob himself, voices the chief and he does a great angry authoritative father. Grey Griffin, the actress behind such favorites as Daphne from Scooby Doo, Frankie from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Vicki from Fairly Odd Parents and Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender, is the mayor and also turns in a great performance for what she has to portray. Not to mention the occasional guest like John Dimaggio and Tara Strong. If you’re any fan of voice acting chances are you’ll find a favorite of yours in this cast if not a handful of them. I say this is depressing because all of these people could do so much better. I get it, a paycheck is a paycheck, but . . . . imagine the immensely creative and stunning projects they could have been a part of instead. If a contract with Netflix is what you want, hit up Alex Hirsch! He’s signed on with them now and I bet he’s got something worthwhile! There’s not a whole lot to say about the rest of the performances, mainly because again, it’s hard to care about any of these characters.

Visuals (Animation, Design, Composition, Visual Storytelling, ETC.)

sigh . . . .okay . . . let’s talk about the animation. Before I go into it I just want to be real and sentimental for a second. I’m an animator. I just recently broke into the industry by working with Copernicus Studios . . . and it’s been nothing but a sincere pleasure. I’ve learned more about animation and Toon Boom in 4 months than I ever learned in 4 years of freelancing. It put into perspective just how much thought and effort goes into even the most minimal of shows. It’s a popular trend to shit on professionally animated content for looking such a way or moving in such a way but if those people only knew the countless hours and passion that goes into even just a couple of seconds of footage they’d never talk shit about these shows ever again. Not only that, but I’m an admin for an animation study group on Facebook with thousands of members from all over the world. Animators from every country and every skill level share their work for constructive feedback. Through this I’ve met many people who work in the industry . . .including someone who worked on Paradise PD. And I know them to be among the most skilled and masterful animators on the page. For all of these reasons, I will NEVER call animators lazy or unskilled if they produced a show like this. It’s typically the result of a certain type of direction or method of moving the production pipeline along. I have no doubt on my mind that every animator who worked on this show is wonderfully skilled and will do well in their careers going forward.

But this show does not demonstrate that. Far from it. This show goes out of it’s way to be lazy. It cuts so many corners they’ve made a perfect circle of hell. Just take a look at most of the gifs I’ve posted in this review. Notice the popping of proportions and lines in moving pieces. Notice certain features like noses or eyes that move around for no damn reason at all. Look at features like eyebrows where there’s no easing or seamless transition or any basic understanding of the 12 principles of animation aside from perhaps arcs. Just watch a couple of seconds of this show and count how little frames are in every motion. If you told me this show was made in Go! Animate I would believe you. This makes Family Guy look like Studio Ghibli. Maybe this show could have been more pleasant to look at if it had vouched for motion keyframes instead of what appears to be the occasional stop motion keyframe (users of Toon Boom or Flash will know what I mean) but even then there’s nothing to look at really. Add to that the eyesore of a colour scheme, the uninspired character designs that if I put them in silhouette you would not be able to tell what show it’s from, the absolutely barebones backgrounds that look like early 2000s Newgrounds cartoon sets and the unimaginitive shot composition that consists almost entirely of wide shots and medium wide shots and you have what can hardly even be defined as animation by mainstream televisions standards. The last show I reviewed was Matt Groening’s Disenchantment and while I had my issues with that shows animation, at least they were only errors a trained eye could see in a show that was otherwise appealing. Paradise PD is just a tragedy. The only positive comment I can make about the animation is that the FX department did a great job animating the blood and the boogers and any type of nasty body liquid . . . .and I am depressed that that is my one positive comment.

Audio (Soundtrack, Sound Mixing, Sound FX, ETC.)

*In case you thought I was joking about one of the episode summaries I gave earlier*

Like most of the stuff I review, the audio isn’t particularly notable in this show. There’s no memorable soundtracks to speak of. The sound mixing is fine. That’s really all there is to say. I’ll be honest; I’ll talk about remarkable soundtracks in this section or clever/bad sound mixing when I can, but I mainly just include this section so I can score what i’m reviewing in a way that adds to a 10.

Conclusion

Paradise PD is the worst show I have ever given a review for and quite possible the worst show I’ve ever made an effort to sit down and watch. Almost nothing is redeemable about it. It’s the lowest common denominator for animation and it unsuccessfully trades any hint of originality for unfunny shock humor. It fails not because of missteps, but because of a refusal to make the necessary steps in the first place.

Writing - 0.5/2- Below Average

Characters - 0.5/2- Below Average

Cast Performance - 1.5/2 - Above Average

Visuals - 0.5/2 - Below Average

Audio - 1/2 - Average

4 out of 10 - My most hated show thus far.

[keeperartwork]

Welcome to the Siram Guild! A steadily growing collection of adventurers of all races, classes, and alignments

I've been playin' Dnd for 6 years now and have accumulated quite the cast of characters. I know they'll be more in the future, but for now I felt it'd be fun to make an art piece to highlight who I've got so far, plus give a little timeline of how I got here and the friends I've played with along the way! I've had a blast with this Dnd journey and I'm excited to see what other characters I'm gonna make next

- Nov 2016 - Albagio Cisco de Mar Abudante, the Grome Rogue Sailor

- May 2017 - Kat'tic Cha the Thri Kreen Ranger

- Feb 2018 - Dnd Derek Gray, Changling Eldritch Knight Fighter, and backup character Hakira Yakota the White Dragonborn Way of Mercy Monk

- Aug 2018 - NPC Marnie the Halfling Rogue NPC and first game DMing

- Nov 2018 - NPC Azalea the Sylveon

- Aug 2019 - NPC Adintar Bazalle the Drow Elf Bloodhunter

- Oct 2019 - Penelopi Bavari the Mimikyu

- Nov 2019 - Yoyola Silang Leagallow the Halfling Divination and her backup Farida the Tabaxi Cleric

- April 2020 - Peepers the Aarakocra Ranger

- June 2020 - Makawi Bluestone the Kalashtar Milk Butler (homebrewed class!)

- May 2021 - Cozrell, stage name Maple Mouth the Half Orc Sorcerer

- May 2021- NPC Dnd Derek! Only this time he's a Tiefling and hugely leveled up!

- Oct 2021 - Kanzi Abernathy the Half Elf Druid

And all the people I've played with!

@kajijiart, @yadedaj, @mist-me, @minmcglaughn, @hannihilator, @scrawnydutchman, @simplysketched, @darkstormgts, @gigidutreix, wizardfingers_, @annaanimates, @doodledido, @skullymingo, @ncsanimations, @ficklettt, @onionfrog789

[scrawnydutchman]

Demo Reel 2017

Hey Everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who’s been following, reblogging and liking my posts recently! The support is greatly appreciate! As I’ve brought up many times I myself am an animator. You can check out my demo reel for 2017 here!

[scrawnydutchman]

Mixed Signals Concept Art from 2019!!

Guess what? Another Mixed Signals Post.

These images are from 2019. The year after I moved to Halifax. I've been sitting on this idea for a movie for 3 years and have been trying on and off again throughout that time to make it happen. It makes me so happy that FINALLY this thing is coming together.You can help it come together too! It's not too late to donate to the Kickstarter or to buy merch off the redbubble. Thank you for listening and tune in for the release of Mixed Signals.

KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film

REDBUBBLE:https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop?asc=u#mixedsignalsmovie 

[scrawnydutchman]

Mixed Signals Artist Spotlight: Phillip A. Watson, Assistant Animator!

Hi Everyone! Time for another Mixed Signals Artist Spotlight! This one is dedicated to one of my assistant animators for the film, Phillip A. Watson (known on the internet as PAWdrawsart).

I met Phil through a series of mutual connections at Copernicus Studios and we have both made a contribution to the Spongebob Squarepants Rehydrated movie! Phil has worked on a lot of great productions, some of which are my favorites, like Harmonquest, Mystery Skulls and Teen Titans Go. Phil has a knack for adapting to new styles and new challenges which I feel made him ideal for jumping right on to Mixed Signals!

Phil is actually one of the first people I went into big detail with about my project and is one of the first to show exceptional enthusiasm for the vision. Thanks for your energy and for your help, Phil!

Normally I'd be happy to share some of the incredible work my artists are doing, but when it comes to most of the animation of the film itself I'd like to leave SOME room for mystery ;)

It's not too late to support Mixed Signals, folks! Share the project around and consider donating or buying from the Redbubble if you haven't yet! #mixedsignalsmovie

KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film

REDBUBBLE: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop?asc=u

Give Phil some love too! You can find him on LinkedIn by searching Phillip A. Watson and you can find him on social media like twitter and instagram @PAWDrawsart

[scrawnydutchman]

there are only 15 days left for the #MixedSignalsMovie kickstarter! make a contribution today!!!!

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film

Redbubble:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop?asc=u

[scrawnydutchman]

One of my favorite things about how Mixed Signals tells its story is the way it uses colour throughout. Not just the different colours of the wavelength transmissions, but also how it uses colour as shorthand to convey the mood of every scene. The film leans hard into the subjective perspective of the little robot and isn't afraid to dramatize how things play out. I'm so excited for audiences to be able to see this in action.

The Mixed Signals animated short film campaign still goes on! please tell your friends and family about it! #mixedsignalsmovie

Consider donating to the Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film/posts/3542256

Or buying a shirt on Redbubble!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop?asc=u

*all 2D backgrounds for Mixed Signals by Lucy Little. Find her on instagram @guiguitheghoul

#animation #robots #robotsarecool #filmmaking #photoshop #toonboomharmony #shortfilms #kickstarter #kickstartercampaign

[scrawnydutchman]

*this post is part of a promotion for the Mixed Signals crowdfunding campaign. To learn more, check us out on Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film?ref=user_menu

You can also support the project by buying merch off of Redbubble!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop?asc=u&ref=account-nav-dropdown

Hello all! It's time for another Mixed Signals artist spotlight! This one goes out to a close friend of mine and a very talented film maker in his own right, Mr. Vinson Chan!

Mixed Signals has a lot more going on in it than just character rigged animation. It also has some traditionally animated segments and EVEN has some 3D elements! The 3D is where Vinson comes in, the 3D animator for Mixed Signals!

I met Vinson and his brother Simon way back in the day when we all won a contest by Telus Storyhive. I was flying for the very first time over to Vancouver for a workshop . . . . and Vinson and Simon just so happened to be in the seats right across from me! They heard me talking about my team winning a contest to get the funding to produce the animated film "Gerry Mouse" and introduced themselves. Together they produced "The Legend of the Bunny Phantom" which I can't recommend enough. HIGH quality film making that deserves all the praise it got and more.

Of the dynamic duo of film making brothers, Vinson is the animator. He's EXCELLENT at what he does, and was whom I had in mind to tackle some of the 3D challenges for the film. There's this driving shot in the film and I asked him how difficult it would be for him to create something that closely matches Lucy's background work. Vinson had a stellar result for me in less than 8 hours. Thank you for your contributions, Vinson!

If you'd like to see more of Vinson's work, he's very active on instagram @vinsonchanister. He posts a lot of charming sausage animations . . . .like . . . a LOT of them. Give him lots of love!

[scrawnydutchman]

Mixed Signals Shirts!

Check out what came in the mail!!This T-Shirt is one of several products you can purchase from the Mixed Signals Redbubble! All proceeds earned from the store go to compensating the artists helping me on my film 'Mixed Signals'. Mixed Signals is a 9 minute animated short film about a little robot that comes to find out it's very different from all the other kids. But by harnessing the power of communication, it learns that just because it's different doesn't mean it can't live a happy life with meaningful relationships. Mixed Signals is an allegory for living on the Autism spectrum and is based on my experiences as a child pre-diagnosis.If you'd like to know more about the film, we're also running a Kickstarter! Check out the promo video there:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tvkampen/mixed-signals-animated-short-film?ref=user_menu&fbclid=IwAR1_K36sX9CuJW_krZR7sx4y90OOYQ3ftGR0H6nq3SNCcAqxOuZp3HF0efAThis same logo comes in 6 different colours total and can be put on other items like pins, stickers, hoodies and so on. They feel great and pair well with other articles of clothing!Check out the Redbubble today: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Scrawnydutchman/shop...Tune in for the release of Mixed Signals! #MixedSignalsMovie #Animation #2DAnimation #autismawareness #autismacceptance