The Quinta’s Ghost is an animated horror short that dramatizes the twilight years of Francisco Goya, as he paints his Black Paintings in his house, the Quinta del Sordo (House of the Deaf Man). In a novel twist, the story is narrated from the point of view of the Quinta itself, responding to what Goya paints on its walls. The short, done in computer animation, brings the demons and other nightmarish imagery of Goya’s work to life, incorporating state-of-the-art techniques such as VR painting. It’s a hellish depiction of an artist suffering through grief, madness, and issues of identity.

Chile has had some top-notch adult animation, especially in the horror genre, but Petra and the Sun is better filed under morbid humor, and it was an especially effective example of it too. In the Andes, 71-year-old Petra lives a lonely life until hotter-than-usual weather reveals the frozen body of a century-old mountaineer. Petra takes the body home, thaws it, and spends some uncomfortably in-depth quality time with his preserved corpse…the disappearance of which the police are aware of. Despite its premise, this was one of the funniest films they showed, though it’s definitely not for the squeamish. I felt that the ending could’ve been handled better, but overall, this one I really enjoyed. This short also won a Special Jury Mention.

How is River is Born was definitely one of the more mature shorts in the set. A woman has a sensual experience with what appears to be a nature goddess, but ultimately ends up being something less yet significantly more. This one’s pretty simple in terms of story, and is mostly carried by the beautiful animation.

Ovary-Acting is a comedy short about a 34-year-old woman who is pressured by her family and motherly friends to have children. As the stress gets to her, she unexpectedly gives birth her talking ovaries, leading to a musical argument about the pros and cons of motherhood. The animation style, which uses knit puppets with 2D-animated mouths, brings to mind something out of an R-rated version of KaBlam! This was definitely a fun one to watch, and it has a great sense of humor and heart to it.

Still Moving follows a divorced mother having a stressful car ride with her daughter as they head to their new home. The strength of this short is in the animation, which is probably one of the best depictions of anxiety I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s really experimental, though it definitely seems to be the main focus of the short over the story.

A Night at the Rest Area is an anime short in which a group of anthropomorphic animals on a bus stop at a rest area. There’s really not much to say about this one in terms of story. However, what it lacks in plot it makes up for with gentle yet effective comedy about everyday life. There’s a real appreciation of the mundane, where even the jingle playing as the nearby vending machine heats up your meal is given focus. Obviously, the use of animals adds to a lot of the humor, and the sketchy character designs are great. One of my favorite jokes in this involves a convenience store employee who is anything but convenient, and the punchline being obvious doesn’t make it any less funny (or relatable). This one doesn’t have much but in a way it also has a lot.

The Piano is a hand-drawn short in which a young girl discovers her father playing the piano late at night, creating a bond that lasts into adulthood. The animation is amazing, the music is beautiful, and the ending will warm your heart, if not open the tear ducts. It’s another short with a simple idea done extremely well.

As mentioned before, Best Animated Short went to Playing God, which I definitely feel could’ve fit into either of the shorts programs. This also qualifies it for the Oscars, and I guess I’ll find out if it gets nominated (though the short that won Sundance might be tough competition). Hopefully I’ll get to see it at some point, but overall, the 14 shorts I saw (if we’re only counting the competition) were for the most part highly enjoyable and I loved a lot of the styles used.

Tribeca, while certainly a star-studded affair, typically features films that don’t receive as much of the prestige attention awarded to the output of festivals like Sundance or Cannes. I’m come to accept that, but there are occasionally exceptions. There are always animated shorts, but year’s event comes off of a major achievement for the festival, in that the film awarded Best Animated Short last year, In the Shadow of the Cypress, eventually found it’s way to the stage at this year’s Academy Awards after winning for Best Animated Short there as well. (I don’t think that Tribeca was the reason for the short getting Oscar-qualified, but it was one of them.) Clearly motivated by this, Tribeca programmers not only featured the biggest short film selection yet, but an animated shorts program twice as large as previous years. Not one, but two programs of shorts were needed to fill the space of the selections this year, split into family-friendly and adult-oriented sets. Yet as I learned, that apparently still wasn’t enough. This year’s Best Animated Short winner went to Playing God, a short that was in competition but not included in the two shorts programs and put in the Midnight-themed shorts instead. Unfortunately, I was unable to see it, though I did hear good things. (I do believe that Playing God could’ve easily been included in the shorts blocks, but that’s another tangent.) Anyway, here are the short films that I did get to see, starting with the family-friendly offerings:

Linie 12 follows a conductor on a surreal train journey, whose rhythmic precision is interrupted by the arrival of a chaotic musician. I liked the scruffy linework in this a lot and the imagery in this is absolutely beautiful at times.

From Aardman Academy comes Awaiting the Lightning Bolt. Told in stop motion, an inventor tries multiple times to capture lightning, but his comic attempts hide a more heartwarming purpose. This one’s short, sweet, and really funny.

Actor Kate Siegel is mainly known for her work in horror. The short she directed, Lily, is a more family friendly take on the genre, even with the fact that it was written by Stephen King. Told in scratchy, Edward Gorey-esque pencil art, a young boy needs to go to the bathroom but is embarrassed in front of the class by his sadistic teacher. When he finally gets there, he makes a frightening discovery. I absolutely loved the animation for this, and the story is really fun.

Captain Zero: Into the Abyss Part II follows a superhero who, after losing a battle against a villain, finds himself on the receiving end of social media backlash and the taunts of a depression demon (expertly voiced by Keith David), ultimately finding himself in therapy. The anime-styled animation is superb, and I always enjoy genre fiction about mental health. It’s pretty clear this is intended to be a pilot for a series of sorts (in addition to being the second installment, it ends on a cliffhanger), and I hope the filmmaker finds the means of making more. Another thing I liked was his use of worn VHS as a visual aesthetic.

Ostrich takes an avian look at social media body image. A pudgy bird goes through extreme measures to be like the ostrich pop star plastered over the media. I liked the art style for this, which felt like something out of Adult Swim, and while the ending was pretty obvious the punchline was genuinely funny.

Tigre is, according to the festival site, “the animated story of a friend’s grandfather, a refugee from Laos, living in Thailand,” and “a narrative full of uncertainty and curiosity, where a young man who goes deep into the jungle without understanding that not everything is as it seems.” I liked the animation style, which is seemingly modeled after shadow puppetry, but to be honest I genuinely had no idea what was going on in this short. Maybe I needed more context.

Finally, the environmental-themed short Snow Bear follows a lonely polar bear who, unable to find others like him, builds a snowbear to spend time with. Unfortunately, it can’t stay cold forever. The short is directed by Aaron Blaise, a veteran animator who did the character animation for the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and directed Brother Bear among working in other Disney projects, so it’s no surprise that this has the best animation of the entire set. What is surprising is that Aaron apparently animated this himself, while still looking like the professional-grade work he did for the House of Mouse. (I asked him how long it took to make the film after, and he said three years, which is still less than I expected.) This was a beautiful short that will warm your heart.

In my next article, I’ll spotlight the adult animated offerings at the festival.

It would be a boldfaced lie if I said this year was no different… however, with both the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes at the forefront of the event (the latter still in progress) there were little expectations as to what exactly would be occurring this year. SAG specifically forbade any actors attending to comment specifically about any past or future works, leaving actors to answer the simplest of questions from fans.

That being said, it was only a few short weeks ago that we got a (sort of) answer in regard to Adult Swim programming via ReedPop’s Panel Registration page popped up inconspicuously, only stating the subtitle: “A First Look at New and Returning Series” and teasers of what to expect (although missing from the lineup was anime, Uzumaki – which some have speculated is nowhere near ready to be shown).

What we got was a pretty standard “What’s We’re Cooking Up At Adult Swim” panel, featuring President Michael Ouweleen, Director of Comedy Development Missy Laney, and VP of Comedy Development Cameron Tang, and moderated by Perri Nemiroff of Collider (whose expertise appears to be in horror films – not as a knock on her, but some questions came off a bit generic and borderline cringey – yet she powered through the interview portion). That being said, here are some of the highlights to the panel itself:

Opening Comments:

(Our “Formerly Known As Twitter” was somehow set to GIF mode when we started posting. Still looks cool, though.)

• Mike O was asked about action vs comedy and stated that it wasn’t just about the comedy shows anymore, giving Primal as one of the main examples.
• Missy discussed live-action and how you can have shows on different sides of the spectrum such as a Joe Pera or an Eric Andre.
• Cam mentioned the pitch for Joe Pera was “punk rock anti-business but also so funny.”
• Cam also mentioned having piloted a show over a tweet before (the show was not mentioned however).
• Perri asked Mike how he goes about passing on a show, to which he quipped “I make these guys do it.”

Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (Coming in 2024):

• Missy took point on introducing this show, Adult Swim’s first ever Spanish Language Program.
• Stated “I want this to be the first Adult Swim show to go Criterion.”
• Apparently, the show was originally pitched as being made with marionettes (which would explain the main character’s name).
• More on WWSP on our Official ASPR Announcement Post

Smiling Friends Season Two (Coming in 2024):

• Cam discussed suggesting to creators B about using S2 to develop and focus more of the lesser characters such as Glep, Mr Boss, and Mr. Frog (hello!)
• We’re shown an animatic from an episode – Pim takes Charlie to visit his “UFO Hunting Group” on the premise that Charlie suggested he was interested – he never did.
• One of the characters is quick to correct Charlie and call them “UAPs.”
• New character Fillmore is crazy-go-nuts.
• Very colorful vomit from one of the other characters.
• The characters unveil an “experimental alien beacon device” which ends up being a theremin. Charlie uses it to summon an actual UFO.

Yolo: Rainbow Trinity (Coming “Soon”):

• Off the heels of the SF clip, the image is teased (and not much else). We can’t wait!
• More on Y:RT on our Official ASPR Announcement Post

The Return of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Coming “Soon… this Year Soon”)

• Perri: “Why specifically Five episodes?” Mike: “Five is the new Full Season”
• Mike (in seriousness) talked about how they were all in town last year for the Aqua Teen Plantasm screening and Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis wanted to do more (as it’s fairly well-known, former Adult Swim VP Mike Lazzo unceremoniously pulled the plug on the show, with little warning to the guys).
• Mike agreed and was able to put together a 5-episode run based on the success of the new movie, as kind of a “Let’s see.”
• Mike: Show has been evolved for 2023
• Perri (to Missy and Cam – and later Mike): Which character was your fav and has that changed… 😒
• Perri segways to Checkered Past – Mike goes into the history of Ted Turner buying the Hanna-Barbera library, spawning CN, AS, and their respective shows, mainly What a Cartoon, Billy and Mandy, etc. Mike and Kim Manning planned to reair the classics for CN’s 30th which garnered great ratings, so they decided on the block, someone else came up with the name and they found the classic “SKULL” from the end of the classic AS shows, and it all came together.
• ATHF Clip opens with different animation and Shake narrating about a new world… Behold, Shaketopia!
• Shake (as a greek emperor-type on a throne) is surrounded by little gummy bear type creatures (they kinda remind me of the Storage Zeebles or the bees from Sweet C) barking orders one fetches him a VR helmet for him to play “Fantastisploosh” a game where you have to create rectangles out of squares – the game is definitely a parody of Candy Crush, voiceover and all.
• Scene glitches out to reveal… Shake on the recliner in a robe looking emaciated and drooling. Frylock reveals Shake has been “in” for over 2 months. Meatwad tries to draw a dick on him.
• Back to the game (and the game game) one of the creatures points out the obvious about the game consisting of squares being converted into rectangles… Shake zaps her into ashes.
• Perri asks how Mike determined the animation for “Shaketopia” …😒 (Note: Aqua Teen’s upcoming season is being animated by Floyd County Productions). Mike answers diplomatically on how the video game scene “informs the animation.”
• Perri expands on the previous question about expectations on “other animation styles” in the 5 episodes…😒 (see previous note). Mike jokingly says the budget wasn’t that big but that the “style” is much richer than the original series. He also promised that AI was not involved.
• Guest Stars including voice over royalty Maurice LaMarche, Gary Anthony Williams and Eric Bauza as well as Dan Folger, and Brian Cox (Succession). (As previously noted, Ronnie from Aqua Teen Pod will also be a voice in an episode).
• Mike: “It will be out soon… this year soon…” (It was rumored for a November release previously).

Rick and Morty Season 7 (Out Now):

• You’ve seen the clip and the episode by now. No sense rehashing it.
• Perri: Why kick off with Mr. Poopybutthole. Mike: We were concerned about him.
• Mike says the R&M intro is similar to the new ATHF one where things may/may not happen in episodes.
• Canon in episodes.
• S7 whole new characters and new worlds. “Servicing the characters.”
• “And there’s a great episode about spaghetti.”
• Perri asks Mike the burning question as to the voice replacements and why they’ve been kept secret. Mike responded, “It’s about the show… getting the show out is the point.” and that you’ll find out during the credits (if you’ve seen the episode or either Variety or Hollywood Reporter’s articles, you’ll know by now… more on that at another time).

Fan Q&A:

Obviously, showcasing the more coherent ones… most of which are essentially a wish list to Santa Mike:

• One fan asked for them to consider a Frisky Dingo Season Three, to which Mike responded, “I don’t think the guys want to.” (There’s a bit of rumor, innuendo and a tiny bit of fact as to how/when/why Dingo got axed – won’t get into it here).
• Another fan asked about Sym-Bionic Titan. Mike responded: “Never say never… but that was a Cartoon Network show.”
• A third fan asked if we’d be getting a Ballmasterz 8008 S3. Mike: “Not in the works but we love working with the same creators.” This bodes well for Christy Karacas who is an amazing talent.
• Fan asks why they’ve never thought of bringing previous HBO max exclusive Close Enough to the network? Mike’s answer is interesting (but expected) since there’s a lot of red tape in acquiring content from different avenues, even from an “exclusive.”
• Fan asks if they’re trying to go more General Audience/Young Adult shows… Mike says they have a lot of daytime hours now so both will exist.
• Next fan: More Xavier: Renegade Angel? Mike: “No plans…” but suggests they always could.

FYI: Mike O co-created Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, so he’s definitely in the “Let’s bring back the classics” camp. A lot of these asks may seem crazy, but not completely out of the realm of possibility…

…speaking of, there was also a Titmouse panel that brought up Venture Bros… yeah, we’re not touching that one. Jackson Publick already debunked it… anyway, here are some Venture Bros cosplay pics:

So that’s EVERYTHING and more Adult Swim that happened at NYCC this weekend. I’ll be writing more coverage from the convention over at the mothership pretty soon. In the meantime, stay tuned for more news as we get it. Also here are a couple more pics:

Firstly, we were treated to the above image featuring Adult Swim’s first ever Spanish Language program, Women Wearing Shoulder Pads. Created by Gonzalo Cordova (Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tuca & Bertie) and stop-motion animated by Mexico City-based Cinema Fantasma, the show was described by Director of Comedy Development, Missy Laney as a “strangely sensual series.” The show follows the exploits of Marioneta, a wealthy Ecuadorian and contains an ensemble cast. At first glance, this show looks as though it is going to be a cross between a telenovela and Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole… but of course, a still image and a brief synopsis isn’t much to go on, so once we find out more that may change.

The continuing saga of BFFs Rachel and Sarah in the Australian town of Wollongong will continue! Like WWSP, not much to go on outside of the above image, not even a synopsis! But, honestly who needs one? Michael Cusack’s shows have been legendary for Adult Swim Comedy and it’s for that reason we’re glad Adult Swim will be making more Yolo.

Official press release below – More info when we get it:

NEW YORK (October 12, 2023) – At New York Comic Con today, Adult Swim announced a new stop-motion series “Women Wearing Shoulder Pads,” which follows a wealthy Spaniard living in Ecuador as she journeys through the complicated world of love, family, commercials, and cuyes, a.k.a. South American guinea pigs. The new series will mark Adult Swim’s first-ever Spanish-language series along with its return to the stop-motion animation format. 

During the panel, Adult Swim also announced the third season renewal of the animated comedy “YOLO” from “SMILING FRIENDS” co-creator Michael Cusack. With a second season that ranked #2 in its timeslot across cable in key demos, the third installment, “YOLO: Rainbow Trinity,” will follow a pair of Australian best friends through absurd and fantastical adventures.

“Women Wearing Shoulder Pads” is a quarter-hour comedy that features an all-female cast and centers on Marioneta, an extremely wealthy and ambitious Spaniard living in South America pursuing business and pleasure. Produced entirely in Spanish, with English subtitles, the series comes from creator Gonzalo Cordova (“Tuca & Bertie,” “Adam Ruins Everything”) in partnership with Mexico City-based studio Cinema Fantasma (“Frankelda’s Book of Spooks”).

“While we’ve all seen a million stop-motion shows in Spanish featuring an all-female cast centered on the plight of guinea pigs, Gonzalo’s unique voice and the visually rich stop-motion from Cinema Fantasma meant that we couldn’t pass up on ‘Women Wearing Shoulder Pads,’” said Michael Ouweleen, president, Adult Swim. “We are also big fans of Michael Cusack’s creative vision, and it’s a huge win for us to continue working with him on the hilarious ‘YOLO.’”    

“I have sad news to share. I’m sorry to say that Pibby has still not been greenlit, and it doesn’t look like it will happen in the near future. Making a show is a long, difficult process, and you can never say never, but for now, it looks like Pibby most likely wont become a show. I’m sorry to all the fans. Thank you for all your support.”

-Dodge Greenly

Adult Swim debuted the short entitled Come and Learn with Pibby! over Halloween 2021, the story revolved around Pibby, a childrens show character, who ends up having to battle a neffarious static monster that threatens to corrupt all shows, leading her and the friends she makes along the way to traverse the multiverse of Cartoon Network’s cartoon library in order to escape or meet their doom.

It quickly grew a cult following much as the original short for Smiling Friends had, that show had recently been picked up around the time Pibby aired and fans had hoped that Learning with Pibby would receive similar treatment.

Adult Swim also used Pibby for their April Fools prank in 2022, having scheduled programming become corrupted by the static monster.

• “How Poopy Got His Poop Back”
  Broh, come out with us, you’re being so boring, dude.
  
• “The Jerrick Trap”
  Gotta be mindful broh. Big brain stuff here.
  
• “Air Force Wong”
  Virginia is for lovers, broh.
  
• “That’s Amorte”
  Broh, that’s-a some good spaghetti.
  
• “Unmortricken”
  Rick and Morty wilding out, broh. They getting up to stuff.
  
• “Rickfending Your Mort”
  Gotta keep those receipts, dawg.
  
• “Wet Kuat Amortican Summer”
  High school, broh. Morty and Summer hang out in this one.
  
• “Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie”
  Action! Adventure! It’s a whole movie, broh!
  
• “Mort: Ragnarick”
  Heaven is for real, broh. I saw it, broh, I swear.
  
• “Fear No Mort”
  Only thing to fear is fear itself, broh.

The announcement came in the form of a video that was released on Adult Swim’s youtube channel.

In an earlier press release, Adult Swim offered this synopsis for the season:

Rick and Morty are back and sounding more like themselves than ever! It’s season seven, and the possibilities are endless: what’s up with Jerry? EVIL Summer?! And will they ever go back to the high school?! Maybe not! But let’s find out! There’s probably less piss than last season. “Rick and Morty,” 100 years! Or at least until season 10!

Adult Swim

Season 7 of Rick and Morty premieres Sunday October 15th at 11PM on Adult Swim.

Rick and Morty’s official twitter account posted the above tweet announcing that new episodes will begin airing October 15th.

Despite the air date for the first episode being mere weeks away, we’ve yet to hear casting news for the show’s titular characters. Rick and Morty had to be recast this season after Adult Swim cut ties with the duo’s former actor, and show co-creator, Justin Roiland due to allegations of sexual harrasment and domestic abuse.

The show’s production team has stated that they will be going with someone who can imitate Roiland’s original voices as opposed to going with completely different, as was done with Roiland’s character on his Hulu show Solar Opposites.

We may just have to wait and see what happens when the first episode airs. The seventh season of Rick and Morty is set to premiere Sunday, October 15th at 11PM on Adult Swim. In the meantime fans can rewatch and catch up on the cartoon via Hulu and Max. Check out the full press release below…

Want more Rick and Morty fandom?
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ADULT SWIM SETS GLOBAL PREMIERE DATE FOR SEASON SEVEN OF EMMY-WINNING ANIMATED COMEDY “RICK AND MORTY”
Adult Swim announced today that new episodes of “Rick and Morty,” the hit adult animated series that follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe, will premiere around the world and across the multiverse starting on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on Adult Swim. A global phenomenon, the seventh season of “Rick and Morty” will debut in over 134 countries in 38 languages.  In the U.S., new episodes will be available for purchase from digital retailers the day after they premiere on Adult Swim. The new season will also be available to stream in 2024. “Rick and Morty” was the #1 comedy across all of cable during seasons three, four, five and six, and has become a multi-platform sensation not just on television, but across digital, gaming, livestreaming, retail, and fan experiences. The series reached over 19M viewers on linear broadcast in 2022 and remains a top series on Max. “Rick and Morty” has garnered two Emmys for “Outstanding Animated Program” and is currently nominated for a third. “It’s happening,” confirmed Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim. “Thanks to the talent of the entire show team, we can all enjoy 10 new episodes that yet again raise the bar for comedy and animation. This season proves that the geniuses at work on ‘Rick and Morty’ are just getting started.” Rick and Morty are back and sounding more like themselves than ever! It’s season seven, and the possibilities are endless: what’s up with Jerry? EVIL Summer?! And will they ever go back to the high school?! Maybe not! But let’s find out! There’s probably less piss than last season. “Rick and Morty,” 100 years! Or at least until season 10!

In the coming weeks we’ll be posting new news (as well as backlogging some of the older stuff), updating information, tweaking stuff quite a bit, and (at long last) building a full list of forums that cover pretty much everything [adult swim]. Stay tuned… and feel free to utilize the site to send us comments, suggestions, info, etc.

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