Klasky Csupo

Klasky Csupo logo

Klasky Csupo logo

Klasky Csupo, Inc. (Template:Pron-en, KLAS-kee-CHEW-poh) is a multimedia entertainment production company located in Los Angeles, California, founded by artist/producer, Arlene Klasky and animator, Gábor Csupó.

History

Klasky-Csupo was started in 1982 in the spare bedroom of a Los Angeles apartment where Klasky and Csupo were living while married. Klasky-Csupo's first major work came in 1989, when they became the 'animation house' for the first three seasons of The Simpsons (after which Film Roman took over in 1992). Klasky Csupo was responsible for a Simpsons blooper during the episode "Homer's Odyssey" in which Waylon Smithers was animated with the wrong color and made African American. Klasky-Csupo had already produced the animated pilots for The Simpsons, as sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show.

In 1991, Klasky-Csupo began producing Rugrats, an animated show for Nickelodeon.

Their next major series was Duckman for the USA Network. The show revolved around the home life and adventures of a dim-witted and lascivious private detective duck named Eric Duckman. The series ran from 1994 to 1997.

During the same time Nickelodeon released Klasky-Csupo's second Nicktoon series, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. During this time Klasky Csupo ended production on Rugrats. However K-C produced three new Rugrats specials between 1995 and 1996. The specials were so successful that the series was revived in 1997.

After Duckman was cancelled in 1997, Klasky-Csupo began producing The Wild Thornberrys for Nickelodeon. The cartoon, premiering in 1998, revolved around a girl who could talk to animals.

On December 23, 1998, CEO Terry Thoren concluded an eleven-month negotiation with Mercedes-Benz and moved the company into the state of the art studio in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.

Between the late-1990s and 2000s, Klasky-Csupo began producing new shows Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, Santo Bugito and Stressed Eric.

In 2001, in honor of the Rugrats 10th Anniversary, Klasky-Csupo released a two-part special entitled, "All Growed Up". The special featured the famous babies as pre-teenagers. It was popular enough that a series based on that special premiered in 2003. The series was put on hiatus in 2006 and officially cancelled in 2008. Several previously unaired in the US episodes aired on Nickelodeon in November 2007 and August 2008.

The company was also active in producing recorded music with the labels "Tone Casualties" and "Casual Tonalities." Gabor Csupo was a good friend of Frank Zappa and occasionally collaborates with Mark Mothersbaugh, who did most of the music for Rugrats.

Klasky-Csupo also produced a number of projects in commercial advertising, including a series of direct-to-video features (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald) for the McDonald's fast food chain.

By 2004, Klasky-Csupo shut down production on most of its shows, including Rugrats and in 2006, shut down production on all their shows except the new pilots they created.

In fall 2006, Klasky Csupo announced development of 14 new animated pilots, which will be up for sale at a later date:

• Ace Bogart, Space Ape
• Big Babies
• Commander Bunsworth
• Ronnie Biddles
• Chicken Town
• Grampa and Julie, Shark Hunters (based on the Nick Magazine strip and slated to feature Dustin Hoffman as Grampa)
• Sugarless
• Zeek and Leo
• Wiener Squad
• Rollin' Rock Starz
• Twinkle
• Ricky Z
• Junkyard Teddies
• Little Freaks

The animation design in these pilots are in various styles, instead of the typical style that Klasky Csupo was famous for in the 1990s.

Klasky Csupo productions

Television shows

Title	Original Run	Creator(s)	Produced By
The Simpsons	1987-1990	Created by Matt Groening. Animation studio on the original shorts, and first 61 episodes only.	Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox
Rugrats	1991-2004	Created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain.	Nickelodeon
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	1994-1997	Created by Gábor Csupó and Peter Gaffney.	Nickelodeon
Duckman	1994-1997	Created by Everett Peck.	Paramount Network Television (now CBS Television Studios)
Santo Bugito	1995-1996	Developed by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó.	Klasky Csupo
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald	1998-2003	Direct-to-video	Klasky Csupo
The Wild Thornberrys	1998-2004	Created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Peppon, David Silverman and Stephen Sustaric.	Nickelodeon
Stressed Eric	1998-2000	Developed by Absolutely Productions. First season only	Absolutely Productions
Rocket Power	1999-2004	Created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó	Nickelodeon
What's Inside Heidi's Head?	1999	Created by Nancye Ferguson and Mark Mothersbaugh. Company's first live-action series.	Nickelodeon
As Told by Ginger	2000-2006	Created by Emily Kapnek. Several episodes unaired in the United States.	Nickelodeon
All Grown Up!	2003-2008	Created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó. Spin-off of Rugrats.
SpongeBob SquarePants Krusty Krab Training Video	2002	Created by Stephen Hillenburg. An edited mistake when in the split-screen credits.	Nickelodeon and United Plankton Pictures Inc.
Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze	2005	Created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó. Spin-off of Rugrats. Direct-to-DVD	Nickelodeon

Motion pictures

Title	Release Date	Director(s)
The Rugrats Movie	November 20, 1998	Directed by Igor Kovalyov and Norton Virgien
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie	November 17, 2000	Directed by Stig Bergqvist and Paul Demeyer
The Wild Thornberrys Movie	December 20, 2002	Directed by Cathy Malkasian and Jeff McGrath
Rugrats Go Wild!	June 13, 2003	Directed by John Eng and Norton Virgien
Immigrants (a.k.a. L.A. Dolce Vita)	October 30, 2008	Directed by Gábor Csupó

Logos

1st logo

On a white BG with shapes that change frequently, we see squares sliding to the left. One has cubic shapes forming a K, a shoe forming an L, an orange fuzzy shape forming a lowercase A, a lizard turning into an S, a bull turning into another K, and an acrobat jumping and turning into a Y, all of which occur at a very fast pace. The next five squares have a scribble writing the stenciled "CSUPO" on them (in Helvetica). After this, we zoom out so the boxes are arranged with "KLASKY" on top of "CSUPO". "INC" appears next to "CSUPO", letter by letter. The logo turns black and white while the Y turns purple a second later.

2nd logo

Over a purple background, a blob of black ink emerges from the center, soon followed by blue ink. A hand passes by and drops magazine clippings of eyes and a mouth onto the blob. The mouth says the company name as white blocks fly out from the mouth. The blocks arrange themselves to form the K-C logo (like before, but refined to match the print logo). After that, two black blocks quickly slide from the top and bottom of the screen (covering up both the background and the face, but not the K-C blocks), and that also turns the "Y" in "KLASKY" purple. This logo comes in two versions - a widescreen 16:9 version (for movies) and a fullscreen 4:3 version (for TV). Strangely, this logo appeared on early airings of the SpongeBob episode "Wet Painters/The Krusty Krab Training Video". It was an editing mistake made by Nickelodeon when they first started doing the split-screen credits.

3rd logo

On a green city skyline, we see a rooster's silhouette on one of the buildings. The sun rises, and the rooster wakes up and opens its eyes. It yells "WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUP!!!" as the blocks in the K-C logo float around. When the rooster is finished screaming, the sun brightens, as the rooster mysteriously disappears, and the K-C logo appears in the center. It looks "grungier" than the one in the past two logos. This is a very rare logo. The appereances of this logo is on the final season of Rugrats. Also appears on one episode of Chalkzone as well as on Rugrats Go Wild.

External links

• The Klasky Csupo Home Page
• K-C's Cooltoons Home Page
• The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for Klasky Csupo Animation
• Global Tantrum (K-C Mature Animation)
• Nickelodeon Wiki article