Background (company)
The studio behind this, Splash Entertainment, originally began life as Mike Young Productions. A majority of their content ranged from forgettable shows, most of which were international collaborations to desperate attempts at trying to make merch-oriented programs (Butt-Ugly Martians had to have been one of those). They found a niche with producing films based around characters from popular toylines (particularly Polly Pocket and a stark majority of those animated Bratz movies).
To coincide with their acquisition by the now defunct Moonscoop Group, the company was rebranded as the former's American branch. Around that time they helmed Code Lyoko and have worked on numerous forgettable cartoons (a hint, check the production company list on every show and keep an eye out for the name Telegael). After Moonscoop bit the dust, the company was rebranded to Splash Entertainment, and they were at a lower point then anyone would've ever accused them of being back in the day. Of this we got the obvious Norm of the North skid marks, and Splash even did the finishing touches on the Alpha and Omega film series, their additions were somehow worse than previous ones.
I especially bring up the latter film because, for a time, the studio that made Alpha and Omega in the first place actually had some involvement in this series. When you look into the production of any Moonscoop/Mike Young show, it's quite incestuous and as consistent as the average Data Design Interactive game. Crest produced the animation as far as I could tell, but handed it over to Telegael a while later. Moonscoop had their hat in the ring at the time (this was during the Mike Young era), and one of their subsidiaries, Antefilms Productions, aided in production.
I especially bring up the latter film because, for a time, the studio that made Alpha and Omega in the first place actually had some involvement in this series. When you look into the production of any Moonscoop/Mike Young show, it's quite incestuous and as consistent as the average Data Design Interactive game. Crest produced the animation as far as I could tell, but handed it over to Telegael a while later. Moonscoop had their hat in the ring at the time (this was during the Mike Young era), and one of their subsidiaries, Antefilms Productions, aided in production.
Background (show)
I focused on the company more than the show's background because there's little to be said about it.
Pet Alien arrived around the time Cartoon Network became stagnant, it was a while before the more infamous half of the late-2000s and the so-so modern era (fuck Regular Show, fuck Adventure Time, I could live without Steven Universe, Clarence is/was okay, I don't care for the network anymore), so throughout the mid-2000s, Cartoon Network became a bit more adventurous, trying their hand at a preschool block and bringing in some imports as part of their Miguzi block.
The show turned up in January and lasted for exactly five months and three days. Since I had nothing better to do at the time, I was, for better or worse, able to catch most of the episodes. Like many of the company's productions, it's available on Kabillion, who's generous enough to post full episodes on their channel, but not all of them for every series as if even they know when something isn't salvageable (Wild Grinders)
The show was created by Jeff Muncy, and was supposedly based on a toy-line and book series (need more info on that). Something tells me he was desperate to get some form of recognition, so he put his all into bringing his brand to life, which is as effective as reviving wilted flowers with a defibrillator. Beyond another series produced in 2008, Jim Henson's Pajanimals, Muncy hasn't done anything else and is far gone as far as I know, surviving on welfare checks and food made of the unsold stock on the show's supposed line of merchandise.
One last thing to note, on the show's Wikipedia article, they say outright the show was cheap to produce, and exemplify it by bringing up its small roster of actors.
The show itself
One word comes to mind when I think of this show. Stock. I see no attempts at being creative, unique, none of. It's all a series of assignments on a proverbial check list. Straight man who's the butt of many jokes, check, zany side characters that otherwise steal the spotlight, check, a number of quirky yet archetypical recurring characters that come as soon as they go, check, among other things.
To sum up, the show centers on Tommy, a sensible boy who falls victims to numerous misfortunes for the sake of having a plot. He is aided by a group of zany aliens, Dinko, the naive leader, Gumpers, the tough idiot, Swanky, the snobby one, Flip, the gibberish-spouting wild one and Scruffy, the dog. Basically your convenient spattering of those annoying sidekicks in numerous old cartoons. There's also a batshit lovelorn stalker and a diva, and they exist to fulfill archetypes you see in many cartoons.
The show carries no deep plot, just the shenanigan of the day. Something happens to Tommy or the aliens, a majority of the episode is spent giving reactions and some overall silliness. This wears as quickly as you think. But hold on, maybe there'd be enough jokes to keep your interest. Some genuinely funny jokes? No. Some clever satire? Not quite. Commentary on the stereotypes associated with cartoons? I wish. References to alien-centric movies and TV shows? Somehow not even that.
The show is overly reliant on over-the-top dialogue, delivered in a hammy fashion, which is usually a sign that they know they're boned on a creative scale. It's almost as if they reused 70+ old cartoon scripts because they didn't have the talent nor the time to make better scripts. It's like making a meal out of a popcorn kernel. Sad thing is that it doesn't even make the show cheesy in a good way, it's really just bland and forgettable. Better shows exist/have existed that used this template better. It's almost as if they scarified quality to empathize on a toy brand that may or may not have existed years ago.
Animation
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| If this landed in theaters... |
I could conclude that the characters aren't memorable, being embodiments of one solitary trait, and that the episodes are of the kind of calibre that'd be a show watched by characters in a different show, but how was I able to remember this show? Good memory in the worst possible places, and perhaps it's the animation.
How do I explain this? Referring back to Norm of the North, the villain had over the top animation. Pet Alien is essentially Mr. Green's animation a thousand times over. The animation in this show is reminiscent of numerous old-time cartoons (Chuck Jones and Tex Avery without the wit and gall), complete with numerous wild takes and over-the-top motions. While this translated well in hand drawn cartoons, this just comes off as a bit ridiculous.
Plus it goes to show how bland the show is overall. Why bother trying to make something coherent when you could spatter insane imagery for ten minutes? I don't know about you, but had I seen this before knowing about the march, I wouldn't have even bought the supposed toys from the show to burn them.
Also, to address the elephant in the room, the animation quality obviously didn't hold up that well, not as bad as others, but still well in the danger zone. The backgrounds hold more detail than the models, and I believe that the motions exist for aesthetic purposes, i.e. personal proof that they put some kind of effort into the animation. There was one character I noticed that had awkwardly stilted animation. Compared to the other characters, it's extremely noticeable on her.
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| Girl to the right is what I'm referring to. |
Essentially, the animation in the show is okay by television show standards, but somehow that's not good enough. I'd be happier with objectively bad animation because then I'd have more to talk about. But then again, this is also a statement on the company's animation quality. Since this era, they've remained stagnant, little has changed in the overall quality. It's better to suck from the start than to remain painfully mediocre, especially if you're backing something that sucks in every other department.
Acting
Again, this was a low budget series. That means that the show's talent pool would run rather dry and they would have to find a way around it. It led to the show amassing four main actors, Charlie Adler, Jess Harnell, Candi Milo and our lead Charlie Schlatter.
This casting irritates me, hell, American voice actors are starting to wear thin with me. I say this because, let's put it like this. I know what Charlie Adler sounds like. When I hear one of his characters I could easily tell it's him. I know what Candi Milo sounds like, I've heard her far too many times to count. Jess Harnell did surprise me with some roles (mistook him for Tom Kane and got caught off by his tough guy voice). I've grown tired of hearing the same voices in many cartoons. Frankly, I prefer Canadian actors, it's already cheaper to produce stuff there, and a lot of actors have a much wider range.
As for Charlie Schlatter, I think he's the worst actor on the show. At first I thought he was just some live action actor, but it turns out that he had a number of roles in many cartoons since the early-90s, albeit extremely minor ones. He did wind up voicing the main character in Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, though the performance was iffy IMO. In this show, his dialogue is delivered in a very awkward fashion, like he's giving his all to make the character work, but deep down, he knew that a paycheck wouldn't boost his morale.
Overall
Essentially, Muncy put all of his effort into what amounted to a dead on arrival cow. To say this was doomed from the start would be an understatement. Nobody gave a shit about it then, and nobody would now. It has no reviews on IMDb, and as far as I know it didn't even land itself in an internet review video.
All I know now is that I feel like watching Fanboy and Chum Chum or Fleabag Monkeyface. Yeah.
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