Home Movies (TV series)

Home Movies
(l-r) Melissa, Brendon and Jason
Created by	Loren Bouchard Brendon Small
Directed by	Loren Bouchard
Voices of	Brendon Small H. Jon Benjamin Melissa Bardin Galsky
Theme music composer	Brendon Small Loren Bouchard
Composer	Brendon Small
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	UPN (1999) Cartoon Network (Adult Swim) (2001-2004)
Release	April 26, 1999 – April 4, 2004

Home Movies is a dialogue-driven American animated television series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. It is about eight-year-old Brendon Small (voiced by the creator, head writer, and lead musician of Home Movies, Brendon Small), who makes home films with his friends, Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis, in his spare time. He lives with his divorced mother, Paula, and his adopted baby sister, Josie. He is also friends with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach, John McGuirk.

Home Movies was produced by Soup2Nuts and aired on Cartoon Network for most of the series (the first five episodes aired on UPN).

Style

In its first season, Home Movies utilized Soup2Nuts’s patented Squigglevision technology to animate the show but later abandoned that for the cheaper, more malleable Macromedia Flash animation. The switch was initiated for several reasons: scattered negative response to Squigglevision (from both critics and potential fans), limitations in regard to movement (fluid motion is rare in Squigglevision), and the view that Squigglevision was inherent to Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and that Home Movies should develop its own unique style.

Another quality of Home Movies’ carried over from Dr. Katz was its initial use of “retroscripting.” Retroscripting is a process in which an episode’s scripts are purposely left vague, and instead of exact dialogue, the plot of a particular scene is merely outlined—the rest of the dialogue is then created through improv by the actors. The use of retroscripting in Home Movies gives the show very casual, realistic dialogue with an often dry, sarcastic wit. This technique is also used in other shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Trailer Park Boys, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and Reno 911! Although retroscripting was only used officially in the first season (the entire first episode was improvised from start to finish), the dialogue in the following three seasons remained heavily improvised, with the written script serving mainly as a guide or something to fall back on for jokes if needed.

Another prominent feature of the show was its use of completely original music written and performed by the series creator Brendon Small, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and a self-proclaimed shredder.

A recurring visual theme within the show are lawn gnomes, which tend to make random but subtle appearances in the background of many scenes (even a gnome-shaped guitar appears in a music shop in the episode “Guitarmageddon”). At least one lawn gnome can be found in every episode of the series, as well as on the DVD box art.

Characters

Main article: List of Home Movies characters

Season Summaries

Season One (1999-2001)

Animated in Squigglevision and heavily using retroscripting, the first five episodes aired on UPN in 1999 and the other eight on the Cartoon Network in 2001. The show introduced the main characters in this season, and mainly consisted of episodes revolving around Brendon’s movies. Much of the style of the writing is loose and improvised. The season ends with Brendon saying hello to his, until then absent, father on the phone.

Season Two (2002)

Now animated in Flash, this is the first season commissioned by the Cartoon Network as a result of moderate ratings of Season One reruns. The episodes are now heavily scripted, but the creators now have much more freedom, allowing for creative episodes (“History”), introducing new characters (Fenton, the Addleburgs) as well as a Seinfeld-esque multiple-story season arc, which included:

• Brendon meeting his father’s fiancé, Linda, resulting in therapy lessons, leading up to a wedding.
• Brendon develops a crush on Scäb choreographer Cynthia, and tries to win her over.
• Paula loses her job and searches for a new one.

The show also develops a writing device that carries through the next seasons, in which the plots of one episode usually all have an underlying theme. Emphasis on Brendon’s movies become key here, and the subtext of their creation is finally discussed.

Season Three (2002-2003)

A bit looser than Season Two, the show ditches the idea of seasonal story arc, and many of the episodes air out of order. Brendon’s father has one episode and remains unseen for the rest of the series. The episodes become racier, with more resounding sexual themes and cursing than before. Secondary characters, such as Fenton and Duane, begin to have a chance to shine, as episodes focused on them and others are made. Another noteworthy aspect is that the show finally recognizes actual movies, and starts parodying them heavily. The season ends with Linda, Brendon’s stepmother, having a child, but afterward she, Andrew, and the child are never heard from again.

Season Four (2003-2004)

The last season: the creators apparently knew they were getting canceled throughout the entire production of the final thirteen episodes. Many of the episodes are straight parodies of movies, including three allusions to Hitchcock thrillers. The bulk of the episodes consist of plots that involve Brendon doing something other than making films. Part of this revolves around Brendon trying to figure out whether he still enjoys making movies, or if it's becoming more of a chore. An entire episode (“Curses”) dealt with swearing and adult themes. The loose dialogue and long conversations lessen for humorous plot devices and a speedier delivery at jokes and gags. The final episode (“Focus Grill”), was made in mind as a series finale, and brought back the long conversations and loose dialogue, as well as a resolution to the series as Brendon’s camera crashes out of a moving car, yet Brendon decides to move on with his life. The final episode aired on April 4, 2004.

DVD releases

Season releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
Season One	November 16 2004	13	This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season one. Special features include 10 commentary tracks, animatics, interviews with cast and creators, animation galleries, and short films by Brendon Small and Jon Benjamin.
Season Two	May 31 2005	13	This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season two. Special features include commentaries and interviews with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and executive producer Loren Bouchard, Winner of the “Small Shorts” film contest, animatics, songs from the series, Landstander, and the Decide Your Doom interactive adventure video game. It also includes a “how-to” guide to playing the Home Movies theme.
Season Three	November 15 2005	13	This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season three. Special features include commentaries, animatics and a featurette for “People who don’t necessarily like Home Movies.”
Season Four	May 16, 2006	13	This three-disc boxset includes all 13 episodes from season four. Special features include 24 commentaries, animatics, and featurettes. Also included is a CD with 52 tracks composed and performed by Small for the show.

Shout! Factory, through Sony BMG Music Entertainment, releases DVD of Home Movies seasons, each on three-disc box sets. Each DVD has numerous special features and easter eggs.

See also

• List of Home Movies episodes

Crossovers

In the episode of the Family Guy program entitled "Blue Harvest," Coach McGuirk is seen mingling amongst the aliens in the background of the recreated Mos Eisley Cantina scene.

External links

• Home Movies’ Official Site
• The Home Movies Super Site
• Soup2Nuts The production company’s website.
• Home Movies page from Shout! Factory
• The Slapstick Barbarian Project
• Home Movies at TV.com
• IGN’s 10 Questions: Brendon Small
• MP3 audio interview with creator Brendon Small from public radio show The Sound of Young America.
• Precious Roy Studios Website of the film company that won the Small Shorts Film Contest as seen on the Second Season DVD of Home Movies.
• An interview with Small in regard to the release of season three of Home Movies on DVD and his new cartoon, Metalocalypse