To Infinity and Beyond (on a budget)

By: Paul Zimmerman
Date: Friday, January 11, 2002

Imagine you're a boy genius who can build amazing contraptions like rocket ships and robot dogs. However, you're also such a nerd that you constantly embarrass yourself in front of the neighborhood children who've nicknamed you "Shorty." Burgeoning Texas animator John A. Davis has done just that and in the process developed a character who is the star of both a feature-length animated film and a new series debuting on Nickelodeon this fall.

Co-written by ACE VENTURA and NUTTY PROFESSOR scribe Steve Oedekerk, JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS can best be described as a CG animated feature with attitude. For every "I can't get the popular girl" joke, there's also one about the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT a very conscious move at winning over both children AND adult audiences.

"At Nickelodeon, we're very intent on making this a family film," says Nickelodeon Senior Vice President Julia Pistor. "Not just a kid film. Our feature film agenda is to make family films not just kid-oriented films so parents won't drop kids off and see something else."

Combining elements

of retro chic, old sci-fi classics with new, smart-ass humor, JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS is an adventure that travels from Earth to the deepest reaches of outer space. Audiences are introduced to the city of Retroville's resident big brain Jimmy, his metal dog Goddard and his oddball family. A likable boy, Jimmy may be bright, but most of his inventions tend to backfire leaving him a bit of a social outcast. However, when alien creatures called Yokians kidnap the city's adult population, it is up to Jimmy and the rest of the town's children to rescue them. The child prodigy fashions a space ship armada out of amusement park rides and off the kids go into the wild blue yonder.

"Jimmy is sort of the every kid," explains Davis. "Except that he's a genius so he has all the same problems as normal kids have but then he either solves the problems or complicates them by virtue of being a genius. For me personally, he's a character that I can live out my childhood fantasies through. Being able to build a rocket and fly around and have a robot dog and walk through walls and have an underground lab and secret passages, for me that was one of my inspirations for the character. I think all kids still really dig that kind of stuff."

Nickelodeon is gambling on the notion that the kids of America will do just that. In an unusual move, JIMMY NEUTRON is premiering as a feature first and then an ongoing series second quite the opposite of how the studio's previous franchises (RUGRATS, HEY ARNOLD) have been handled. Next on the horizon for the property is a special set to air in April, followed by 12 weekly episodes in the fall.

"Everything is being re-purposed for the series," says Davis. "The thing that's so exciting about using this model is that the feature will have a great CGI look, but so will the series it'll be just as fantastic as the film. Most times you see it on television, it's 2-D and then upgraded to 3-D for the feature. But we're going to stay 3-D across the board. It's really beautiful."

Plus, the production has a number of old sets it can use... sort of.

"That was

one of the selling points about doing a feature and then the series," Davis says with a modicum of pride. "You build these digital sets you can reuse on the series and get the production value of a feature on television. You literally create a digital back lot. It's like live action with the camera and setting lights, but you're just doing it virtually. So everything in live action applies once you have all these fantastic sets you reuse, cannibalize, change and just keep adding to the universe you've created."

In terms of its look, JIMMY's Retroville is a pop art, eye-popping stylized version of America worlds apart from such previous CG photo-real projects like FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN. Unlike that high priced, videogame spin-off, JIMMY's origins were actually quite modest. For example, while most big animation studios were using proprietary software for their creations, JIMMY's came from "off the shelf" programs.

"It got started as an idea that I had percolating in my head," Davis says. "Around the late '80s, I wanted to do a live action short with miniatures and FX. I tried to get a grant, but couldn't because it wasn't education or it didn't help anybody. So I just kind of shelved it for a while, until my company started getting into 3-D software."

At the time, Davis and his partner Keith Alcorn were heading up DNA Productions Inc. a small full service animation studio in Dallas, Texas that turned out product for commercial and entertainment companies.

"We started out very small," Davis says with a laugh. "In fact, we started with just my partner and myself back in 1987 out of my duplex."

However, the animation house did not remain small for long.

"We bought

this Lightwave package to do this project," continues Davis, "and I thought, 'Wow, Johnny would look really cool in 3-D.' Back then, JIMMY NEUTRON was called JOHNNY QUASAR and was just a germ of an idea. So I modeled the rocket and Johnny, and did this little 40 second piece of animation where Johnny flew up in a rocket, introduced himself to the camera, dodged a few asteroids and flew away."

So excited was Davis with the product that he entered the short in a Lightwave competition. It won a number of awards and got written up in a few magazines, which, in turn, allowed fate to step in.

"Steve Oedekerk saw it in a magazine and started calling us up," Davis says. "We didn't know who he was, but he kept calling back until we finally figured out who this guy was. He explained that he really liked it and wanted to talk about partnering with us to place it somewhere. Nickelodeon was the first place we took it the perfect fit."

With Oedekerk on board, the concept for the first film quickly developed. DNA hired a full feature staff and began churning out product after deciding to keep its main base of operations in Texas. Nickelodeon, on the other hand, began running teasers on its network a full year before the film was completed and released in late December.

As mentioned earlier, the production focused on creating a mix of humor for both young and old viewers. For example, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is referenced during a "scary stories around the campfire" sequence, as is STAR TREK through the children's adopting of CLASSIC TREK personalities.

"There are a few things that parents will appreciate more than the kids," Davis says. "So everyone will be entertained. I think the kids will be urging the parents to take them to the theater and then once they do, the parents will be really glad they came."

From small time Texas animator to major Hollywood player, is there anything else Davis can ask for? Well, there is a new animation category in this year's Oscar ceremony.

"I'm hoping, obviously, that we get a nomination," Davis says in a low tone. "It would be thrilling. It would be the crown jewel for the project."