The Groovenians

Plot

The Groovenians follows a teenaged couple named Jet and Glindy, who live on a planet named Jeepers. On Jeepers, society is uniform and artistic qualities are shunned. Jet and Glindy, however, are artists and performers who often perform on their front lawns. Their parents do not approve, and they tell Jet and Glindy that art is not everything in life. As Glindy talks to Jet about wanting to leave Jeepers, an boy named Nixon is dropped next door from a spaceship. He had been evicted from a planet called Groovenia, which he tells Jet and Glindy is a paradise for artists. He gives them his key before he is dragged into his house by his grandmother.

After being presented with options for their future, Jet and Glindy decide to leave Jeepers behind and go to Groovenia, however, Jet's father stops them. He, along with Jet's mother (presumably), dictates their future; Glindy is to work at an office job and Jet is to marry Glindy's sister. Glindy manages to stop the wedding, and the two, along with Jet's dog, Looki, are run out by the parents and Glindy's sister.

The three escape to the "jetport" where they board a jet to Groovenia. Upon the plane they are greeted by the stewardess who has a short sequence creating hype for the planet. Upon landing, Jet and Glindy meet a tree who proclaims in rhyme that a key is needed to gain entry to Groovenia, which was earlier given to them by Nixon. They insert the key into the tree's keyhole, and she takes them to their apartment . There they meet the former roommates of Nixon, Swirly, Lalasha, and Suavo, and introduce themselves. They proceed to spend the day partying, but as Glindy proclaims aloud if Groovenia could possibly get any better, they are attacked by a group of robots called "Normals", and their king, Norman. The Normals and King Norman force them to pay taxes, where Suavo tells Jet and Glindy the reason why Nixon was evicted. It turns out, Nixon didn't pay his taxes, and because of this, Jet and Glindy have to pay them for him. The two are attacked by King Norman, scaring Jet. This causes Glindy to become angry, and she expels Norman and the Normals with colored paint and disco music. The episode ends with King Norman swearing revenge as the main characters dance.

Development

The Groovenians is the first and only television cartoon created by Kenny Scharf, a surrealist painter from Brooklyn, New York. Its art, animation and concept were the result of his long work experience as part of painting pop culture icons in a science fiction setting; Hanna-Barbera's The Jetsons was the show where Scharf was inspired more.

The pilot was entirely produced by Cartoon Network Studios, but its CGI was instead animated at S4 Studios. Kenny wrote the story with Jordan Reichek, already director of Invader Zim's pilot, who also held the roles of director, producer, and storyboard artist. Big new wave names were chosen to the music's composition: three The B-52's members (Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, and Cindy Wilson) for the soundtrack, Mark Mothersbaugh instead for the background, and finally Bob Casale from Devo with some musicians of Mutato Muzika (Crash Bandicoot's first games), always for the background but additionally.

Reception

The Groovenians was not picked up as a full series because of the negative reviews received by critics and audiences, but despite this it was nominated at 30th Annie Awards as "Best Animated Short Subject".