Alejo & Valentina
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
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.