Craig Bartlett | |
---|---|
Born | Craig Michael Bartlett October 18, 1956 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Education | Evergreen State College |
Occupation(s) | Animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, producer, voice actor |
Years active | 1985–present |
Known for | Hey Arnold! (1994; 1996–2004, 2017) Dinosaur Train (with The Jim Henson Company; 2009–2020) Ready Jet Go! (2016–2019) |
Spouse | Lisa Groening (m. 1987;sep. 2015) |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Matt Groening (brother-in-law) |
Craig Michael Bartlett (born October 18, 1956) is an American animator. He wrote, directed, created, and produced the Nickelodeon television series Hey Arnold! and the PBS Kids television series Ready Jet Go! and Dinosaur Train .
Bartlett's first job, after graduating from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was at Will Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon, where he learned the art of stop-motion animation, working on movies such as The Adventures of Mark Twain . Bartlett moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to animate the "Penny" claymations for the second season of Pee-wee's Playhouse on CBS. He later made an animated ID for NBC with Klasky Csupo. [1]
He later worked at BRC Imagination Arts, directing projects such as Postcards and Mystery Lodge for Knott's Berry Farm. He also animated the music video for "Jurassic Park" by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the 1993 album Alapalooza .
Bartlett met the Nickelodeon execs while story editing Rugrats in its first three seasons. He pitched Hey Arnold! to them in the fall of 1993 and produced a pilot the next spring. The series was greenlit in January 1995. Hey Arnold! was in production continuously from 1995 to 2001, made by Bartlett's own production company, Snee-Oosh, Inc., which he founded in 1986. The series culminated in a TV movie originally titled Arnold Saves the Neighborhood, but Nickelodeon decided to release it theatrically as Hey Arnold!: The Movie , in June 2002.
A dispute over a second planned Arnold movie resulted in Bartlett leaving Nickelodeon to write, direct and produce an animated TV movie for Cartoon Network called Party Wagon, a story originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series. It ended up being the first Cartoon Network movie-length pilot to be broadcast, but not picked up until Underfist: Halloween Bash , which was created by Maxwell Atoms, who created The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne .
In 2002 he published the official novelization of the first Hey Arnold! movie (having written it with Maggie Groening; ISBN 978-0-6898-5136-0).
In 2005 Bartlett returned to BRC to make a multimedia simulator attraction for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, called the Shuttle Launch Experience. In the course of the three-year project, Bartlett interviewed 26 astronauts to gather their experiences from launch to orbit. One of these was four-time shuttle flier and commander and current NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr.
After developing various pilots and feature scripts, Bartlett moved to The Jim Henson Company, where he co-wrote the animated film Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby . He stayed at Henson to work as story editor on a PBS Kids preschool show called Sid the Science Kid with PBS executive Linda Simensky, whom he had worked with at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
In September 2008, a show for preschoolers called Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train was picked up by PBS Kids; produced by Brian Henson, this was the first show created by Bartlett to be picked up since Hey Arnold!. [2] The series debuted on PBS stations on September 7, 2009. [3]
In April 2015, Ready Jet Go! (formerly Jet Propulsion) was also picked up by PBS Kids. Produced by Wind Dancer Films and his company, Snee-Oosh, Inc., the series premiered on PBS stations on February 15, 2016. [4]
In November 2015, Viacom announced that Bartlett would return to Nickelodeon to write Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie . [5] It premiered on November 24, 2017.
Bartlett attended and graduated from Anacortes High School in Anacortes, Washington. In 1987, Bartlett married Lisa Groening, sister of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons , Futurama and Disenchantment , after whom Lisa Simpson is named. [6] They have two children, Matt and Katie. [7] In August 2018, it was reported that Craig and Lisa were going through a divorce settlement and that they had been separated since 2015. [8]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1985 | The Adventures of Mark Twain | Calaveras Miner (voice) | Claymation artist, voice actor |
1985 | Return to Oz | Claymation artist | |
1986–1990 | Pee-wee's Playhouse | Animator for Penny cartoons | |
1987 | A Claymation Christmas Celebration | Claymation artist | |
1988 | Meet the Raisins! | Writer | |
1988 | Arnold Escapes from Church | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
1990 | The Arnold Waltz | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
1991 | Arnold Rides His Chair | Director | |
1991–1994 | Rugrats | Story editor, writer, director, storyboard artist (segment "Stu-Makers' Elves") | |
1995 | The Ren & Stimpy Show | Oldman Farmer Höek, additional voices | Director, voice actor |
1994; 1996–2004 | Hey Arnold! | Brainy, Abner the Pig, Ned, Miles Shortman, others (voice) | Creator, developer, executive producer, story, writer, director, voice actor |
2002 | Hey Arnold!: The Movie | Brainy, Murray, Grubby, Monkeyman (voice) | Producer, writer, voice actor |
2004 | Johnny Bravo | Writer, story editor | |
2004 | Party Wagon | Romeo Jones, Ferryman #2, Cheyenne #1 (voice) | Creator, storyboard artist, producer, director, voice actor |
2008 | Unstable Fables | Co-writer | |
2008–2013 | Sid the Science Kid | Story editor, writer | |
2009–2020 | Dinosaur Train | Spider (voice) | Creator, writer, executive producer, director, voice actor |
2013 | Sky Rat [9] | Creator, executive producer, storyboard artist, writer, director | |
2016–2019 | Ready Jet Go! | Creator, executive producer, writer, director | |
2017 | Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie | Miles Shortman, Brainy, Abner the Pig, Monkeyman (voice) | Executive producer, series based on, writer, voice actor and voice director |
2021 | Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island | Executive producer, writer and co-director | |
2023 | Frog and Toad [10] | Screenwriter | |
2024 | Primos | Additional animation |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2016–17 | Nickelodeon Animation Podcast | Episode 12: Craig Bartlett Episode 49: Making of an Iconic Theme Song Episode 50: Hey Arnold! Deep Dive | Podcast |
Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama, and Disenchantment (2018–2023), and the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012). The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom.
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil, and their day-to-day lives, usually involving life experiences that become much greater adventures in the imaginations of the main characters.
Hey Arnold! is an American animated sitcom created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. It originally aired from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandparents in an inner-city tenement in the fictional city of Hillwood. Episodes center on his experiences navigating urban life while dealing with the zany hijinks he and his friends encounter. Many episodes, however, focus on other characters, including major, secondary, supporting, and even minor characters.
Klasky-Csupo, Inc. is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó in a spare room of their apartment and grew to 550 artists, creative workers and staff in an animation facility in Hollywood.
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon. It is the fifth Nicktoon after Doug, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rocko's Modern Life. The show focuses on three young monsters—Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm—who attend a school for monsters under a city dump and learn to frighten humans. Many of the episodes revolve around their zany hijinks after making it to the surface in order to perform "scares" as class assignments. The series premiered on October 29, 1994 and aired until November 16, 1997.
Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company in their copyright bylines.
Hey Arnold!: The Movie is a 2002 American animated adventure comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series of the same name. Directed by Tuck Tucker and written by series creator Craig Bartlett and Steve Viksten, with music by series composer Jim Lang, the film stars Spencer Klein, Francesca Smith, Jamil Walker Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, Paul Sorvino, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and follows Arnold, Gerald, and Helga on a quest to save their neighborhood from a greedy developer who plans on converting it into a huge shopping mall. The events of the film take place during the series' fifth and final season.
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Joseph Michael Ansolabehere is an American writer and producer. He is the co-creator of Recess and Lloyd in Space with partner and friend Paul Germain; they form the team Paul & Joe Productions. He also served as a story editor on the first 65 episodes of Rugrats, as well as a co-producer and story editor of the first season of Hey Arnold!
Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which produced the first three years of The Simpsons, as well as episodes of Rugrats, The Wild Thornberries, Duckman, Stressed Eric, Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
Arlene Phyllis Klasky is an American animator, graphic designer, producer and co-founder of Klasky Csupo with Gábor Csupó. In 1999, she was named one of the "Top 25 Women in Animation" by Animation Magazine. She is most known for her work with Nickelodeon in the 1990s and 2000s. She, along with her ex-husband Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain, co-created the animated series Rocket Power and the series Rugrats as well as the 2021 revival series of the same name.
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The fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992, and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty". The showrunners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss, with the season being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season three, which Jean and Reiss also ran. Following the end of the production of the season, Jean, Reiss and most of the original writing staff left the show. The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and Dan Castellaneta would win one for his performance as Homer in "Mr. Plow". The fourth season was released on DVD in Region 1 on June 15, 2004, Region 2 on August 2, 2004, and in Region 4 on August 25, 2004.
Simpsons Illustrated was a companion magazine to the American animated television show The Simpsons. It featured, among many other things, articles and interviews about the show, and comics based on the Simpsons universe. Simpsons Illustrated was published between 1991 and 1993 and led to the establishment of the Bongo Comics Group.
Dinosaur Train is an animated television series aimed at preschoolers ages 3 to 6 and created by Craig Bartlett, who also created Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. The series features a Tyrannosaurus rex named Buddy who, together with the rest of his family, who are all Pteranodons, takes the Dinosaur Train to explore the Mesozoic, and have adventures with a variety of dinosaurs. It is co-produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with the Infocomm Media Development Authority, Sparky Animation, FableVision, Snee-Oosh, Inc., Reel FX, and Sea to Sky Entertainment. As of September 2018, PBS Kids had ordered 11 more episodes, taking the total number of episodes to 100. A film based on the series from Universal Pictures and Universal 1440 Entertainment titled, Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island premiered on April 12, 2021.
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James Volker Langknecht, better known as Jim Lang, is an American composer. He is known for scoring the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold! (1996–2004), its feature film, Hey Arnold!: The Movie (2002), and the television film, Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie (2017), as well as working with series creator Craig Bartlett on his other shows such as Dinosaur Train and Ready Jet Go!.
William Osborne "Tuck" Tucker III was an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter, and director who worked on Hey Arnold! and SpongeBob SquarePants. He directed Hey Arnold!: The Movie in 2002.
Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie is a 2017 American animated adventure comedy television film based on the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold!, which was created by Craig Bartlett and originally aired from 1996 to 2004. Following the 2002 theatrical film Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Jungle Movie expands on the two-part episode "The Journal", which originally aired on November 11, 2002 during the series's fifth season.
Igor Adolfovich Kovalyov is a Russian animator, director and educator, co-founder of Pilot — the first private animation studio in the Soviet Union. From 1991 to 2005 he worked at Klasky Csupo where he co-created Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and co-directed The Rugrats Movie. He currently serves as a creative producer at Soyuzmultfilm. Kovalyov is also known for his auteur films for which received multiple international awards, including three Grand Prizes at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.