I was today years old when I realized that weird alien invasion event that happened on Cartoon Network was all a part of a Kraft's Mac N Cheese sponsorship...For those who don't know...
Back in 2007, Cartoon Network marketed this big event where aliens invaded in five of their popular shows at the time: Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd, n Eddy, My Gym Partner's A Monkey, Camp Lazlo, and The Grim Adventures of Billy Mandy. Each episode had two things in common: An alien species that looked the same in each show and cheese...Just...Just cheese. Lots of cheese. Characters eating cheese and protecting cheese and even chasing after a character named Cheese.
This was stretched out for a month, and it was all sponsored by Kraft, hence the weird obsession with cheese in each episode. This was an idea that NONE of the showrunners wanted to do, but the network forced them to do it anyway. Still, some tried to make this forced idea work because...it was all for the money, I guess.
Unfortunately, Kraft would BACK OUT of this deal, and it was all thanks to the episode that Billy and Mandy had to make. Because I guess they didn't like an episode where a kid's head blew up for the sake of saving cheese or something (I barely remember that episode). But, yeah, that's the main reason why Cartoon Network did this weird event, and it was all for NOTHING. And I'm going to be honest...I wish more studios did weird shit like this.
I mean, I don't WANT showrunners to be forced into making an episode they had no desire to make, but let it be known it left an impact. Like that time Disney Channel sitcoms had characters wish upon a shooting star that caused them all to temporarily live out these weird what-if scenarios. It's frickin' weird, but it's the best kind of weird.
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Cartoon Network (2013?)
It's hero time! Ben Tennyson and Beast Boy (of Teen Titans fame) morph-off in an epic battle of pure epicness!
I conceived and produced this spot and was lucky enough to work with a number of talented people. The animation was done by Hook-Up an Argentinean based animation house. The music was composed by Noh Ghani of Turntable Music in Singapore. Catherine Ho oversaw the art direction and the spot featured the voices of: Tara Strong (as Ben and Raven), Greg Eagles (as Grim), Fred Tatasciore (as Ripjaws), Meagan Smith (as Gwen Tennyson), Richard McGonagle (as Four Arms) and Greg Cipes (as Beast Boy).
This spot aired on Cartoon Network across the Australasia region.
Source: Vimeo
(images via YouTube)
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