Alejo & Valentina

File:AVintroducton.JPG

Screenchot of the opening sequence of the online episodes of the series

Alejo & Valentina (Alejo y Valentina in Spanish) is an Argentine flash cartoon by Alejandro Szykula. It was created in 2002 and is still very popular with the Spanish-speaking audience. The cartoon is targeted to teenagers and adults "with a childish mind".

The style of the animation is very simplistic and the story lines are filled with an abstract comedy tone, which seems to be the major factor of its success. The protagonists are mainly Alejo and Valentina, based on the creator himself and his ex girlfriend. Other main characters are Carlitox (a little guy which greatly resembles the Lemmings creatures) and El Viejo (The Old Man).

It is currently airing in MTV Latin America, with new episodes being scheduled very soon.

Episodes

There are currently 16 online episodes, which are divided in two seasons, plus the episodes that air on TV. All together make 22 episodes.

Season 1

• 1-01 - La vida misma ('Life as it is)
• 1-02 - Mc King (a pun on the McDonald's and Burger King fast-food restaurants)
• 1-03 - Invasión Extraterrestre (Alien Invasion, a parody of classic science fiction films depicting alien invasions)
• 1-04 - Especial de Terror (Horror Special, a parody of a number of horror films including The Exorcist among others)
• 1-05 - La Fiesta (The Party)
• 1-06 - The Matris (a parody of The Matrix)
• 1-07 - Sucursal 77 (Office 77, a parody of the bureaucracy of the government's administration)
• 1-08 - Volver al Futurox (Back to the Futurex, a parody of Back to the Future)
• 1-09 - Locura Extraordinaria (Extraordinary Madness)
• 1-10 - Almorzando con Carlitox (Lunching with Carlitox, mocking the Argentine show Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand)

Season 2

• 2-11 - La vieja y la piedra (The Crone and the Stone)
• 2-12 - Kill Rick (a parody of Kill Bill)
• 2-13 - La Pesadilla de Carlitox (Carlitox' Nightmare)
• 2-14 - La Isla de lo' Mono' (The Island o' monkey, mocking the Monkey Island series. "Mono" in Spanish means "Monkey" (other countries use 'Mono/a' for cute or handsome, that is NOT the case with Argentina)
• 2-15 - Behind The True Celebrities Stories Uncensored Flash (a pun on E! True Hollywood Story and Celebrities Uncensored)
• 2-16 - Episodio 16 (Episode 16, mocking Episode I, II and III of the Star Wars saga)

TV Episodes

• 17 - Alejo y Valentina Contra los Muertos Vivos (Alejo y Valentina Against the Undead)
• 18 - Volver al Futurox EXTENDED (Back to the Futurex EXENDED)
• 19 - Kill Rick EXTENDED
• 20 - Expreso a Pilar (Express to Pilar)
• 21 - The Matris EXTENDED
• 22 - Termineitor II (a parody of the popular film Terminator)
• 23 - Salgamos Afuera (Let's go out)
• 24 - Recatate Soldado Brian
• 25 - El Día de Colorín
• 26 - Liberen a Carlitox
• 27 - Darth Baston
• 28 - El Día que Alejo Conoció a Maradona
• 29 - El Cumple del Viejo

Main Characters

The main characters of the series are Alejo, Valentina, Carlitox and El Viejo (The Old Man).

Alejo

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Alejo in the episode La Fiesta (The Party), calling the chinese restaurant.

Alejo is a self-parody of Alejandro Szykula, the creator of the show. He is 22 years old and heights 1,78 meters. His favorite soccer team is the River Plate.

Alejo always wears the same clothes: a purple shirt and black pants. He has white skin and black, short hair. He is extremely patient and usually inexpressive, always speaking with the same tone and with very similar facial expressions.

Catch Phrases:

• ¿Y si vamos a comer comida? (And if we go to eat food?)
• La quiero con mayonesa, sin ketchup y con mostaza. (I want it with mayonnaise, without ketchup and with mustard)
• ¿Y como hay que hacer? (And how do you do it?)
• Que vengan todos los putos, loco. (Let all the guys come, man)
• ¿Vos Sos Dios? (Are you god?)
• Recatáte, boludo de mierda.
• Valentinaaaa!
• Me parece una propuesta diferente y buenisima. (I find it a different and awesome idea)

Valentina

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Valentina in the first episode of the series, waiting for Alejo.

Valentina, based on Alejandro Szykula's ex-girlfriend, is a 22 years old woman married to Alejo. She heights 1,75 meters. Her favorite soccer team is Boca Juniors.

She, as all the characters of the show, wears the same clothes on every episode: a pink dress. She is very similar to Alejo both phisically and psichologically. She has dark, long hair and white skin. She is extremely unexpressive, and speaks with the same tone in every situation.

Catch Phrases:

• Yo quiero un sánguche. (I want a sandwich)
• Hay que tener sexo. (We have to have sex)
• Me tocaron el culo. (They touched my ass)
• Alejo!

Carlitox

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Carlitox in the episode Termineitor II

Carlitox is a short 25 years old guy with a messy green hair. His favorite soccer team is the Rosario Central. He heights about 1,50 meters. He has the ability to floatmagically on any place.

He always wears a blue T-shirt and black pants. Usually, he gets into anyone's house without asking and introduces himself saying "Hola, vengo a..." (Hello, I've come to...). Carlitox is very impatient and active, and most of the time he is doing something. Every time he has something new and interesting, he likes to show it to the rest of the characters.

Carlitox's father suppossedly fought in the Malvine Islands with El Viejo, and died when he saved El Viejo's life.

Catch Phrases:

• Hola, vengo a flotar. (Hello, I've come to float)
• Hola, vengo a _______ (Hello, I've come to ________ )
• Hola, vengo a revolear las patas (Hello, I've come to move my legs; then his legs split from his body and begin to move in circles)
• Bueno, chau. (Well, bye)
• Mirá, mirá, tengo ______, mirá. (Look, look, I've got ______, look)
• Jo-joo-jo
• Ehm, me parece una buenísima idea. (Ehm, I find it a great idea)

El Viejo

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El Viejo in a typicall Alejo & Valentina opening sequence.

El Viejo (The Old Man), often called El Viejo del Bastón, is a very old man who spends a lot of time with Alejo, Valentina and Carlitox. He doesn't have a preference with sports.

El Viejo always wears the same grey suit. He often appears at any place suddenly, and acts like the wise one even if he isn't smart and his advice is useless. His accent is veryn typicall of people from Paraguay, ending almost every sentence with 'viteh' (y'see), a word that comes from 'viste' (you see).

Catch Phrases:

• Hola, viteh. (Hi, y'see)
• Tengo el chaleco, viteh. (I've got the (bulletproof) vest, y'see)
• Pero vos sos loco, viteh! (But you are crazy, y'see!)
• Lo que hagas puede tener repercusiones en eventos futoros, viteh. (What you do can affect events in the future, y'see)
• Vamo a matar a los bichos, viteh. (We're gona kill the bugs, y'see)

Trivia

Alejo & Valentina was in negotiations with the Argentine TV channel Telefé to be aired in the primetime show El Show de VideoMatch. An official announcement was made by Marcelo Tinelli during the program but then they never aired a single episode of the webcartoon. Alejandro Szykula said it was not possible because he suffered creative differences with the production staff of VideoMatch and decided to leave.

Effects in the popular culture

Alejo & Valentina has released a lot of catch phrases within his audience, for instance:

• "Hola, vengo a flotar" (Hello, I've come to float). When Carlitox says this, he instantly stars to float in mid air for no apparent reason. Also, he says "Hola, vengo a..." (Hello, I've come to...) as a way to introduce himself.
• "Pero vos sos loco, viteh" (But... you are crazy, y'see). El Viejo says this a lot to show his skepticism.
• "¿Y si vamos a comer comida?" (What if we go eat food?)
• "¿Vos sos dios?" (Are you god?)
• "¡Se me vuela el sombrero!" (My hat is being blown off!)
• "Tengo el chaleco, viteh" (I have a (bulletproof) vest, y'see). First said when Carlitox believed that El Viejo was shot to death when he revealed that he had a bulletproof vest. Since then, he repeats that to change subjects as a distraction.

External links

• Official website