A brand new animated series premiered on Cartoon Network on Labor Day called Uncle Grandpa. The series is created by Peter Browngardt and the series is based on Browngardt’s animated short file of the same name from The Cartoonstitute. Uncle Grandpa is also a spin-off of Secret Mountain Fort Awesome.
The show is a surreal action-adventure comedy that relies extensively on visual gags and catchphrases. Creator Peter Browngardt has cited the work of cartoonists Don Martin, Gary Larson and Robert Crumb, as well as animators such as Tex Avery when it came to developing the style of the show. Each episode is presented in an unique format, consisting of a main story (which lasts for roughly 7 to 9 minutes), short bumpers and an original short. So far, I am really enjoying this series and I wanted to talk about this new show on Animation Monday. Ready, let’s go!
In the first episode called Belly Bros., Uncle Grandpa chases a sheep in his dreams. One thing I liked is how Uncle Grandpa says Good Morning quite a bit. By the way, how does a Giant Realistic Flying Tiger and a dinosaur man named Mr. Gus live in his RV? Yes, the tiger is not even animated and is a cutout photograph of a tiger. Belly Bag and Pizza Steve are also interesting talking characters that lives in his RV. Uncle Grandpa’s voice is something I got used to fast, and it sounded like the voices from people who are mentally challenged. Disclosure, I am mentally challenged and I found Uncle Grandpa as a cool character and someone I would love to hangout with!
Uncle Grandpa visits the children’s houses every day to see how they are doing. He loves talking about his past life to the kids and he can use his body in many interesting ways! Trying to get the t-shirt on the big kid was interesting because he went into Belly Bag to get a shirt and used a airbrush to paint a cool Night Wolves shirt, but the boy goes through the shirt into night wolf land with wolves shaped into a crunchy taco! Other wolves are shaped with human six-packs as well! Uncle Grandpa is about to be eaten by the wolves until the big kid saves the day, with both guys forming fists with their bellies. Yep, big bellies are cool! And the Giant Realistic Flying Tiger leaves a trail of rainbow smoke when flying. I am sure some of you think this show is way too weird, but continue reading!
The second episode called Tiger Trails involved Uncle Grandpa in a wizard battle. Uncle Grandpa and a kid is battling a wizard when Giant Realistic Flying Tiger disappears. What a weird world Uncle Grandpa lives in! The tiger’s room has a crush on boy bands! Uncle Grandpa is of course worried that the tiger is scared of being alone and out in the world. Pizza Steve and Mr. Gus joins Uncle Grandpa and becomes detectives and sets out to find Giant Realistic Flying Tiger by following her rainbow smoke trail. Somehow, the tiger loves to be in a spa like most women. And after some time in the tanning bed, Uncle Grandpa and crew looks like hot dogs! Hey, women loves their grooming time!
The group lands in a pet cemetery, and Uncle Grandpa is worried that the tiger is dead. So he pours Frankenstein juice on the ground which brings pet zombies up from the graves. The group finds the tiger up in a tree and she is stuck because she was chasing a squirrel. But what about those pet zombies? Uncle Grandpa ends up with his limbs broken apart and the others are stuck but the tiger comes down to save the day. No, Giant Realistic Flying Tiger did not run away because good morning was not said to her, the door was left open.
Some of the short bumpers/skits included Pizza Steve driving a small vehicle and annoying Mr. Gus and fishing with Uncle Grandpa which was shooting flying fish with a laser gun. I loved that the episodes were only around eight minutes long, which means you will not watch an episode that is dragged out for no reason. It’s quick and to the point! The short bumpers in between the episodes were funny and interesting. The show has no toilet humor and I found the storytelling and animation as kid friendly; any kid or adult would love watching Uncle Grandpa. There was nothing kid-inappropriate I found even though the show is rated TV-PG.
Uncle Grandpa is someone who never grew out of his childhood and uses his childhood traits to bring joy and happiness to other kids. The writers of the show have come up with some clever ideas for Uncle Grandpa, and I really like having him say good morning. We all should be doing that more often! I call Uncle Grandpa as a modern day Mary Poppins and the entire family will enjoy watching this show! This show is going to be a big hit for Cartoon Network! Uncle Grandpa airs new episodes every Monday night at 8/7 central on Cartoon Network.
Learn more about Uncle Grandpa at: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/uncle-grandpa
All images and videos copyright from Cartoon Network.
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