Chowder (TV series)

Chowder
File:Chowder Logo.jpg Chowder Logo
Created by	C. H. Greenblatt
Directed by	Eddy Houchins
Voices of	Nicky Jones Dwight Schultz Tara Strong John DiMaggio
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Running time	11 minutes (per episode)
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	November 2, 2007 – Present

Chowder is an American animated television series that debuted on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2007. The show was created by C. H. Greenblatt, of SpongeBob SquarePants and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy fame. The title character is a young child named Chowder, who is an apprentice to chef Mung Daal. The show combines traditional and stop motion animation, computer coloring techniques and puppetry.

Setting

The series is set in Marzipan City, a fictional town of a diverse and varying geography. Its buildings combine styles from all over the world. Creator C.H Greenblatt claimed that the design of the city was designed to resemble Morocco and Dr. Seuss illustrations. Strangely, whenever Chowder does some things, the Moon and Sun copy him. Outside the City Limits, a huge giant holds the entire city on his shoulders. There is a volcano on one part of the city called Mt. Fondoom, whose pit is a big pot filled to the brim with hot fondue. Gazpacho's shop is in the town marketplace, with Mung Daal's home and catering shop close by. Many items and objects are like those of real-world objects, with altered names. The currency is the dollops and "sments" (but one vendor asked for a dollar as payment in one episode); other examples include a type of candy "grubble gum" (bubble gum), "slomato" (tomato), "wettuce" (lettuce) and "munion" (onion). The inhabitants of the city are apparently able to live over 300+ years (according to the "Certifrycation Class" episode, Mung Daal states he's been cooking for over 386 years.)

Characters

Most characters are named after various dishes or foods.

• Chowder - Chowder is a small and eccentric child. He wants to become a great chef, but he is always hungry and eats anything, even a customer's order. Chowder can make inedible objects come out of his mouth, and thus can be used as a sort of storage container. He is the apprentice of Mung Daal, living with him and his family. Chowder has a pet stink cloud named Kimchi. According to C.H. Greenblatt, the creator of the show, Chowder is a composite of a cat, a bear and a rabbit.

• Mung Daal - A master chef, food inventor and Chowder's teacher. He invents rare food like the "No fruit" and has a personal, eccentric cooking style, often refusing to resort to traditional methods. Mung is more than 100 years old; in the episode "Certifrycation Class", he says he had cooked for more than 386 years. He often claims to be a ladiesman, despite being married.

• Truffles - Truffles is Mung Daal's wife, who handles the business side of Mung's catering business. She has a foul temper and easily loses patience with both her husband and their customers, causing intense fear and terror among the rest of the show's cast. She has wings on her back that allow her to fly, often convincing people she is a fairy.

File:Chowder-group.jpg

Shnitzel, Mung, Chowder and Truffles in a typical city scene.

• Shnitzel - A professional chef who works at Mung Daal's Catering. His vocabulary consists of one word, "Radda", repeated over and over, although nobody has difficulty understanding him. He is frequently agitated, often getting stuck with menial labor or cleanup duty, and is easily angered by Chowder's antics (even to the point where he suggested chucking him in the furnace). He is referred to as a "rock monster", most likely due to his immense strength and appearance.

• Panini - A girl who has a crush on Chowder (who does not return the feelings), and lets him know this at every opportunity. However, when Chowder announces that he wishes to get married, she turns him away, although she has evidently since resumed her crush. She is Ms. Endive's apprentice, notably making better progress than Mung Daal with Chowder. According to the creator, she is of the same species as Chowder (a composite of a cat, a bear, and a rabbit).

• Ms. Endive - A tall and pudgy chef who teaches cooking to Panini with strict discipline. She is the thorn in Mung Daal's side, berating his cooking style at every turn. A meticulous mountain of a woman who insists on perfection in everything she does, her cooking style is the complete opposite of Mung's; precise and textbook-perfect. She is often unkind, and considers Mung Daal to be her inferior rival. When she comes to where Mung Daal is, he angrily says: "Endive..." The creator describes her as Martha Stewart with Oompa-Loompa colors.

• Gazpacho - A mammoth-like storekeeper, selling strange food and playing pranks on his customers. He does his best to offer advice to Chowder when needed. He is often seen talking or selling to a certain customer.

• Gorgonzola - An apprentice candle holder with a surly attitude. He has an issue with Chowder due to him having a better job. He appears to be a rat-type creature.

• Kimchi - Chowder's pet, who lives in a small cage next to his bed. Kimchi is a cloud of offensive odor with tiny eyes (an anthropomorphized flatus). He "talks" by blowing raspberries.

Episodes

Season 1: 2007-Present

The episodes which are listed on the official Chowder website are not in order of air dates. This list of episodes is based on that official list, but with the actual air dates given.

#	Title	Airdate
1	"Burple Nurples / Shnitzel Makes a Deposit"	November 2, 2007
Burple Nurples: Mung goes on poison control after Chowder accidentally poisons a dish and tries to sell it. Schnitzel Makes a Deposit: Shnitzel tries to deposit a paycheck, but Chowder causes them to go to the end of the line many times.
2	"The Thrice Cream Man / The Flibber-Flabber Diet"	December 7, 2007
The Thrice Cream Man: Mung tries to break Chowder's Thrice Cream obsession with a living Thrice Cream man. Trivia: This episode was originally going to be named The Twice Cream Man, but someone already had ownership of the name. The Flibber-Flabber Diet: Truffles puts the whole company on a strict Flibber-Flabber-only diet.
3	"The Froggy Apple Crumble Thumpkin / Chowder's Girlfriend"	November 2, 2007
The Froggy Apple Crumble Thumpkin: Mung, Chowder, and Schnitzel try to make a difficult dish once again. Chowder's Girlfriend: Chowder tries to convince Panini he's not her boyfriend, but Panini doesn't get the hint.
4	"Majhongg Night / Stinky Love"	November 30, 2007
Majhongg Night: Chowder tries to get Truffles Mevilled Eggs, while Mung Daal tries to impress her lady friends, no matter what it takes, even if it means destroying her game night. Stinky Love: When Chowder's pet, Kimchi, steals one of Mung's dishes, Mung tries to remove him from the catering company.
5	"The Sing Beans / Certifrycation Class"	November 16, 2007
The Sing Beans: In order to cook the performing food Sing Beans, the gang has to stay up all night as the dish cooks. But Chowder takes it upon himself to finish the process with wildly musical results. Certifrycation Class: When Mung is forced to spend a day in Chef Certifrycation school, he butts heads with the instructor. Mung must decide to stay true to his instincts or swallow his pride in order to pass.
6	"Grubble Gum / The Cinnamini Monster"	November 9, 2007
Grubble Gum: Chowder makes the big mistake of not sharing his gum with Truffles, and soon all of Marzipan City soon ends up in a very sticky situation. C.H. Greenblatt, the creator of Chowder, is a fan of Katamari Damacy, to which this episode pays homage. The Cinnamini Monster: When Chowder bumps against a cinnimini tree, he is shrunk and is captured by a lonely cinnimini monster in the forest, and the whole gang soon has to find a way to escape from their emotionally needy new friend.
7	"The Wrong Address / The Wrong Customer"	November 23, 2007
The Wrong Address: Chowder leads Mung through an unfamiliar part of Marzipan City. The Wrong Customer: An outlaw uses the catering company as a hideout. Trivia These two episodes are thematically linked. Each episode occurs in parallel with the other episode.

Cast and Crew

• Nicky Jones - Chowder
• Dwight Schultz - Mung Daal
• Tara Strong - Truffles
• John DiMaggio - Shnitzel
• Kevin Michael Richardson - Shnitzel in "The Froggy Apple Crumple Thumpkin"
• Dana Snyder - Gazpacho
• Mindy Sterling - Ms. Endive
• Liliana Mumy - Panini
• C.H. Greenblatt - Kimchi
• Will Shadley - Gorgonzola
• Daran Norris - Additional Voices

Occupation on Show	Names
Exceutive Producer	C.H. Greenblatt
Producer	Louis J. Cuck
Supervising Director	Eddy Houchins
Production Coordinators	Megan Brain, Pietro "Pappy" Piumetti
Production Assistant	Leilah Behrmann
Character Designers	Serapio Calm, Phil Rynda
Model Clean-Up	Frank Homiski, Laura A. Dalesandro
Prop Designers	Mark Bachand, Tara N. Whitaker
Storyboard Revisionist	Peter Browngardt
Background Designers	Bill Flores, Rebecca Ramos
Color Stylists	Brian Smith, Roger Webb
Background Painters	Joe Binggeli, Anna Chambers
Casting/Recording Director	Collette Sunderman
Recording Studio Manager	Karie Gima Pham
Recording Engineer	Robert Serda
Animation Checking	Sandy Benenati
Track Reading	Slightly-Off Track
Overseas Production Studio	Hong Ying Animation Entertainment
Stop Motion/Puppet Sequences	Screeen Novelties, LLC
Picture Editor/On-Line Editor	John Barbera
Dialogue Editor	Jim Hearn
Digital Effects	Chris Staples
Animatic Editor	Suzie Vleck
Animatic Scanner	Erick Aragon
Direction Production Technology	Antonio Gonella

Reviews

After its premire, the show was given outstanding reviews by most newspapers and online animation websites.

• The Hollywood Reporter
• ToonZone
• Animation Insider
• New York Times
• The Daily Texan

External links

• Cartoon Network Upfront
• C.H. Greenblatt's blog
• Cartoon Networks' Chowder promotional page
• Official Chowder Website
• Chowder Zone, unofficial fan site
• Time Warner press releases:
  • November 06, 2007: Cartoon Network's Chowder Premieres as #1 Original New Show Year-to-Date.
  • November 13, 2007: Original New Series Chowder Earns Cartoon Network’s #1 Telecast of the Year Among Kids 6-11, Boys 6-11.

See Also

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy