This is the audio commentary for Give and Let Give by Tim Hodge.
Transcript[]
Tim Hodge: Welcome, once again, to another Penguins! commentary, everyone! Uh, this is Tim Hodge, executive producer. And I'm doing this solo again. Our director Todd Carter had scheduling conflicts, meaning he lives in Chicago.
Tim Hodge: Mmm, chocolate squid cupcakes.
Tim Hodge: I love Kevin's hat in this, he just loves to get into the--everything he's in, he takes it so seriously.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, that little, uh, Grandmum line was added late, uh, I don't know if you listened to the commentary on, uh, on the other episodes, but, um, there was an idea not to put Grandmum in these episodes, that she would--they would be tr--the kids would be trapped with the ship, and trying to get home every week, but then we decided it would be good to keep her in there so the kids could come home and say their prayers at the end of every episode.
Tim Hodge: That was great timing on that gag. I was glad the animators pulled that off. And the little iris wipe at the end, one of the very few times we do a--an iris wipe, in these episodes.
Tim Hodge: Now, if you're watching this in widescreen, uh, you'll notice that the titles are not widescreen, they're 3:4, cuz they were, uh, animated long ago, when the first six episodes, before there really was a, you know, widescreen DVD, for, uh, T.V. shows anyway.
Tim Hodge: And, oh, the little "Kevin!"? That, as a bit of trivia, that is the one time Kevin's voice was done by Mike Nawrocki. Yes, the voice of Larry doubled as Kevin that day.
Tim Hodge: And here we are, back to our episode.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, David Murray, uh, was one of our new writers, uh, Dave's an old friend of mine from way, way back, he's actually a painter and illustrator, but he also has written a number of, um, I've read some of his scripts--feature scripts he's written, um, and wrote that he knew that we had some talent, and he hadn't sold a feature script yet. So I thought, "Well, I'll get him to do some television episodes for us." And he really worked out well.
Tim Hodge: And the word "Plazer Tag" was invented, so we wouldn't run into any copyright troubles or anything, we didn't know if there was a manufacturer of a laser tag that actually had that name, but we thought "Plazer! That's different!"
Tim Hodge: Yeah, this always seemed like just a simple--uh, sideline item, the Plazer Tag device, and you thought, "Well, it's interesting". You didn't know it was gonna come up in the climax of the show, did you? Of course, if you haven't watched it yet, stop this and watch it without the commentary. It's like, it's more fun to watch it without the commentary, cuz I'm not talking and talking and talking and talking over all the gags.
Tim Hodge: Oh, if you listened to the commentary on, on More is More, you'll--I, um, you'll remember how we talked about how we wanted to get the Comet Lounge--have Sol deliver the message in each episode, and the lesson upfront, but we didn't want to always stop at the Comet Lounge, cuz that would get a little monotonous, so, again, it's like "How are we gonna show Sol's lesson without going to the Comet Lounge?" And that's when we came up with the idea "What if they got takeout?" And we introduced the proverb in the fortune cookie.
Tim Hodge: So we bring Sol in by theme. but not physically.
Tim Hodge: More Plazer Tag. Just to cement it a little bit more in the viewer's mind.
Tim Hodge: Fun effects. Had to be added later, after the animation was done. See, when the animator does that, he--he has a storyboard, knowing that the effects will be there later, but he doesn't put them in, it's another artist, sometimes several weeks later who puts in the effects over on top of the animation.
Tim Hodge: You know, we got the, um, uh--Zidgel has a--uses a lot of big--not Zidgel, Fidgel, I get them mixed up, Fidgel uses a lot of big words, and of course, we get feedback from, um, you know, the script consultants to say that the vocabulary is a little be--above what--your target audiences, so can Fidgel say something a little, you know, kids could understand? Well, no, then it's not Fidgel anymore, so they have him repeat it, so he says "I'm detecting major underground wat--reservoirs". And then, of course, Kevin, I, uh, Zidgel doesn't understand anything anyway, so he can ask him, and then, as--turns into a gag, cuz Fidgel can repeat it, and when I got this shot back, I actually thought it was a mistake when it was out of focus. I forgot that he put the--we refocused it when he put his monocle in front of the lens. It got me, I saw it two or three times, and I--we get the shots in from the animation company, in India. I, "Aw, they made another mistake, oh no, it's not, it's right. It's right. Okay." Fooled me every time. I'm a little gullible that way.
Tim Hodge: And, uh, as we have said before, water tends to be an expensive effect, so we only see it in two or three shots, setting up, you know, the fountain. But you hear it constantly, so you know it's always there, so we kept it alive in the viewer's mind just by audio
Tim Hodge: I don't really remember where the idea came from, to have the battle between lawn ornaments. But it seemed fun. Uh...well, I'm trying to remember--oh, yeah. Early on, the, the flamingoes looked more like, you know, plastic pink flamingoes that you see, but, you know, with the solid neck. But when we did that, in the cartoon, they looked like real flamingoes. So we thought, "Okay, how can we separate them a little bit more from reality?" And that's where the whole idea of the springy neck came in, just to make sure they were, they were not real live pink ones. They were garden decorations coming to life.
Tim Hodge: I hope people get that gag, with the sundial. (laughs) Cuz like, "How does it work? It's on his wrist. No matter how he turns, it's gonna say a different time." I know, I shouldn't overexplain a gag, it's not funny anymore when you do that.
Tim Hodge: Now, this is a writing motif that also came into play in the series that, uh, the T.V. series that we didn't do as much in the original six direct-to-video shows. Moments like this, where you end up on a--on a little cliffhanger, because we fade to black and go to--well, would have faded to black and gone to commercial, because in the original, uh, six episodes, of course, there were no commercials. But when you're writing for T.V., you have to have those little tense moments to make sure everybody comes back after the commercial, cuz if you leave on a calm moment, and they change channels, or, you know, watching commercials for two or three minutes, they might, uh, find something else to do. Keep everybody interested. Bring them back, bring them back. Have a life or death situation.
Tim Hodge: I always like in T.V., how everyone's memory has clouds around the edge. So (laughs). I don't know why that is. But it does let you know "This isn't happening now, it happened a long time ago."
Tim Hodge: Yeah, it was, um...it was, uh, I don't remember whose idea it was to have a recurring villain in many of these episodes, but, uh, Cavitus has been very good for us to--to bring back to have that constant threat. And again, I keep saying this, there was that idea, I really liked it too. In some parts, we wished we had carried through, to have the kids stuck on the ship every week, and, you know, that ongoing drama trying to get home, um, but part of that original idea was having, um, they were looking for Cavitus because he had the part to the galeezel that they needed. So, their mortal enemy was also going to be the one person they needed for--to rescue. So, it was a nice moral tug of war there. And they would have gotten home by the last episode, don't worry. But now, they go home every ep--cuz, again, it's, uh, the theme has been, it's kind of a daydream, lesson.
Tim Hodge: Now, I'm not sure, I haven't watched closely enough, but, uh, maybe you can take notes and keep score, but it seems to me often times, his henchmen, #1 and #2, will switch voices. I think it's happened in more than one episode. I don't know about this one, but, uh, again, if you're keeping score at home, uh, send a letter to somebody if you like. If you notice, and we'll send you a letter back saying, "Oh, how observant of you".
Tim Hodge: I love this little bit, coming up, with Kev--I, up, with Zidgel. (chuckles) His acting there, that "I, I, I, I". He's so confident when he's got nothing, but when he's exposed like this, he just falls apart.
Tim Hodge: And Cavitus gets joy in such little things, playing pranks on them. Oh, this little scene was added late, cuz, uh, he was--long after the script was written, we realized "Oh, Bert's still not in the show anywhere". And we, um, not knowing when our audience would start watching these shows, cuz this episode was, I think, uh, third or fourth in the, um, in the season. Yeah, we realized if a new audience member comes in, not knowing who Cavitus was, cuz we introduced him in the first episode, and who Bert is, and their relationship. They would have been really really, uh, the audience would be taken back, not knowing what's going on, very confusing, so we thought, "We need a Bert scene". So it was added just a little bit late.
Tim Hodge: And this subplot here between Fidgel and, uh, Midgel was, uh, was toned down a little bit--cut for time, we had to--a subplot of sharing here, where they were not--the science officer and the mechanic were not getting along. And it wasn't until they learned to share their technology, that they were able to fix everything else, so it was a double play. But unfortunately, that had to get cut a little bit for time.
Tim Hodge: And again, inventing things that we need just for an episode, we don't see that plug ever ever again. And he never plugs the--his sensor into the dashboard there, of the console, again.
Tim Hodge: And I don't think he's supposed to be really using that as a microphone, but it kinda looks like he's talking into it, but it works okay.
Tim Hodge: (chuckles)
Tim Hodge: And I'm sure the more observant of you have noticed that, yes, we just replicated several gnomes, we designed one and used the design over and over and over.
Tim Hodge: And this is one of the few times where we actually spend, um, more than just a few minutes on a planet's surface, they were here overnight, which was a needed development.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, and somehow, he's got a mask, maybe it was in his toolbox. (laughs)
Tim Hodge: Yes, so we have this major plot going on about learning to share, but subplot-wise, we have the theme of overusing people's resources, and then, getting along and concern for one's environment.
Tim Hodge: I love the way, uh, in several episodes, we have, like, those, where the kid--uh, the characters are trapped in some, you know, cage or cell or something, the bars are pretty far apart. I, I don't think Jason and Michelle are in any danger, actually, not being able to get out, because, it's like the size of a door. (chuckles) Even there's no lid on it either. So, even if they couldn't quite--for some reason, they didn't know they could squeeze through the bars, they could climb over.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, Zidgel's a piece of work, isn't he? Not concerned about the whole water and the safety of the planet, just his reputation whether he broke the pump or not.
Tim Hodge: Again, Fidgel using big words, and we make a joke out of it. Cuz Kevin doesn't understand it. And it doesn't matter what he says, anyway. All you need to know is "There's a problem, and I can't get over it." So the bigger words we can throw in now, it's more funny.
Tim Hodge: I love the misunderstanding of this, this interplay of dialogue, they did a great job with this, this banter. And I wish we had more opportunities to use that hat with the spotlights on it. I love it when Fidgel wears funny things like that, uh, in More is More. Oh no, not More is More, the other episode we have on this, um, yeah, The Green-Eyed Monster. Thank you, Zach. Um, the headset that he wears. Anything Zidgel wears, I mean, Fidgel wears is funny.
Tim Hodge: (laughs)
Tim Hodge: Yeah, that was a little bit of trivia there, when the henchman grabs, um, grabs Fidgel, we were--we get network influence, uh, on these stories, now when we show these, we get, um, say that in a good way, they look over and make sure we're not, uh, displaying behaviors that are bad influences on kids. So, when the henchmen grabbed him, they were, uh, just reading the script, "Make sure he doesn't grab him by the neck, by the collar". It's gotta be very, you know, safe. It could be firm, a safe firm.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, this would have been another, another fadeout moment for a commercial.
Tim Hodge: (chuckles) The time ring sound effect in there was a late addition to help the gag. Our sound effects designer, Adam Frikk, came up with that. And, he's always good at making a funny gag funnier.
Tim Hodge: You see what you thought was just a little subplot at the beginning, it wouldn't come into play again, is the answer for the whole thing.
Tim Hodge: But you'll see that in a lot of our plots, we put what's called a plant. We plant something at the beginning, that comes into play at the end.
Tim Hodge: And high action.
Tim Hodge: I love the look of this planet. It's very beautiful, even though it is just a desert, the colors are the--the sky, the way it complements the sand. Very lovely for such a simple design.
Tim Hodge: I love the way that Midgel, too, is holding everyone at bay with a toy. It looks like a, you know, a cross between a party favor and a, a little vacuum cleaner.
Tim Hodge: Again, I don't know if the designer of that toy actually considered those buttons were supposed to do any--what they are doing, or we just made that up later on.
Tim Hodge: And a laser that strong then popped holes in everything.
Tim Hodge: I'm sure you've heard us say how expensive water, uh, can tend to be, as an effect. So, when this script was, uh, approved, it was, uh, a truce with, uh, a wary eye, I mean, uh, okay, how are we gonna pull this off? But, uh, our animators and effects artists did a wonderful job.
Tim Hodge: And now they created a nice little oasis, and everyone's friends again.
Tim Hodge: This is--I love the relationship that's between Midgel and Fidgel. They like each other, but they like getting on each other's nerves, too. (laughs)
Tim Hodge: And as always, the bad guy has to be foiled.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, you remember, at the beginning, Grandmum had sent Michelle to her room to think about things. So obviously, she was thinking about a whole adventure in space.
Tim Hodge: But I don't know if she was sitting up there in the morning, or, well, after she already got in her bed clothes, cuz, on the ship, she was wearing her regular, you know, sandals and t-shirt.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, you remember it was chocolate squid. Grandmum has such interesting cooking skills.
Tim Hodge: Yeah, we, we tried to leave--end every episode with a prayer, don't always do it, just cuz, we don't get monotonous, but, uh, the theme is always there.
Tim Hodge: Oh. Thank you, everyone who appears in these credits! I would read all the names out loud, but I can't talk that fast, though. I'm sure all--everyone's mom is reading them, and saying, "There he is! There she is! Oh, aren't they so great."
Tim Hodge: Thanks, everyone, for listening! And, tell all your friends. Come back next time. See you on the next DVD! Goodnight!