Rocket Monkeys

Last updated
Rocket Monkeys
RocketMonkeysLogotrans.gif
Also known asThe Rocket Monkeys
Genre Science fiction comedy [1]
Created by
  • Dan Abdo
  • Jason Patterson
Developed by
  • Alex Galatis
  • Mark Evestaff
Directed byJ. Falconer
Creative directorMark Evestaff
Voices of
Opening theme"Rocket Monkeys" performed by Tony Daniels
Ending theme"Rocket Monkeys" performed by David Berni (as YAY-OK)
Composers
  • Eggplant LF
  • Steve D'Angelo
  • Terry Tompkins
  • Jeffrey Morrow
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes66 (130 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Ira Levy
  • Peter Williamson
  • Joan Lambur
  • Dan Abdo (S1)
  • Michael Feder (S1)
  • Jason Patterson (S1)
  • Michael McGuigan (S3)
  • Nat Abraham (S3)
ProducerMark Evestaff
Running time22 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
44 minutes ("Terrors and Tiaras")
Production companies
Original release
Network Teletoon
ReleaseJanuary 10, 2013 (2013-01-10) 
November 23, 2016 (2016-11-23)

Rocket Monkeys is a Canadian animated television series created by Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson for Teletoon. It premiered in Canada on January 10, 2013, [2] and aired its last new episode on November 23, 2016, before entering reruns. The series is produced by Breakthrough Entertainment in association with Hornet Films and Atomic Cartoons. 66 episodes were produced. [3]

Contents

Although the show received negative reviews from critics and audiences, it won several Canadian Screen Awards, [4] including Best Animated Program in both 2015 and 2016.

Plot

Two anthropomorphic monkey astronauts, named Gus and Wally, work at the GASI Headquarters. They're not the brightest or coolest astronauts, but since they are the only ones around, they are called upon to go into space and carry out different kinds of important missions—including battling rogue black holes and vengeful aliens. Other members of the brothers' crew include bossy astrophysicist Dr. Chimpsky, who gives the monkeys their assignments; YAY-OK, a devoted robot that is slightly outdated and is the brothers' only hope to help keep them on course; and Inky, a space octopus and artist who communicates through his ink drawings.

Characters

Production and development

The development of the series begins in 2006. The two protagonist monkeys, Gus and Wally, are inspired by the complicity of the two creators of the series, Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson, [7] friends since high school. Jason and Dan did some animation tests and sketches, which they showed to Michael Feder. Feder, a partner of Hornet Inc, then helped in the development of Rocket Monkeys, under the label of Hornet Films. In 2007, the animation division of their studio closed. 4Kids Entertainment then volunteered to take care of the pre-production of the series from spring 2008. [8] [9] [10]

At the beginning of 2012, production was completed, and the animation was taken over by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver. [11]

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginal airdate
First airedLast aired
1 26 (52 segments)January 10, 2013 (2013-01-10)April 2, 2014 (2014-04-02)
2 14 (27 segments)November 5, 2014 (2014-11-05)October 25, 2015 (2015-10-25)
3 26 (51 segments)March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01)November 23, 2016 (2016-11-23)

Broadcast and home media

Rocket Monkeys was broadcast in Canada on its channel Teletoon, from January 10, 2013, to November 23, 2016. [12] The series is available for digital per-episode purchase in Canada, and cannot be purchased in the U.S. in that manner. As of 2021, the series (except some episodes), can be seen on the completely free streaming service, Tubi.

On February 21, 2013, Nickelodeon announced that they had acquired the broadcast rights to the series, including for the U.S., though its history on that network was marked with several shifts. It premiered on March 4, 2013, but then shifted over to sister network Nicktoons due to low ratings and waning promotion on Nickelodeon, before that network dropped it entirely in May 2014, leaving it off US airwaves for just over three years. [13] The second season finally premiered in the U.S. on July 3, 2017, as part of the over-the-air KidsClick syndicated children's block and has aired until the block shut down in 2019. [14] In the United Kingdom, it premiered on Nicktoons in 2013 and ended sometime in 2017, but repeats aired from December 2017 to 28 January 2018, and it also aired on CITV. In Southeast Asia and Poland, it aired on Disney XD.

Reception

Rocket Monkeys received negative reviews from critics and audiences.

Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media rate a show two stars out of five, saying that the show was "tries to be edgy and clever with its humor, but gross-out laughs usually dominate the content." She describes the main characters, Gus and Wally, are "loud, rude, and chronically dim," which "also persistent in the worst possible way, forever trying to one-up each other or get what they want by whining about it." Overall, she calls the show is "hectic and tiresome." [15]

Despite reviews that are negative, the show won at the Canadian Screen Awards for the Best Animated Program or Series and Best Writing in an Animated Program or Series (Dan Abdo) in both 2015 and 2016, [4] plus, it was nominated for Best Performance in an Animated Program or Series (Mark Robert Edwards) in 2014, and, in the same year, it won at the 10th Annual Shaw Rocket Prize alongside Justin Time and If I Had Wings. [16]

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References

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  11. Cadet, Open Space (January 22, 2016). "AndrewLucasArt: Rocket Monkeys!". AndrewLucasArt. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
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