Animation holds a special place in our hearts. When life seems a bit too scary or uncertain, cartoons provide an escape and an answer. Children, and the children at heart, are able to both enjoy the silly antics of the characters and occasionally learn lessons one episode at a time. One storyteller has captured our imagination and reality in poetic and practical ways: Genndy Tartakovsky. The Russian-American animator, producer, and film director is famous for his string of animated television shows on the popular television channel Cartoon Network. His style is pronounced but subtle, using thick outlines for rounded and squared depictions of its characters.
Tartakovsky brings his characters to life with memorable personalities that do not need many words to get their point across. His calling card is silence coupled with action; episodes go without dialogue for extended periods of time, giving viewers a sober and uninterrupted chance at interpretation and connection to his characters and storylines. Despite some project cancellations and delays, Tartakovsky has been in our good graces since 1996, with a prolific body of work that has gone against the TV and film industry’s tide of fast-paced trends. He is currently at work on a new show and film, Unicorn Warriors Eternal and Fixed, respectively. It is time we shared the best of the cartoonist’s talent so far.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Korgoth of Barbaria (2006)
Cartoon Network Studios
A silly, raunchy parody of Conan the Barbarian, this pilot episode never made it to production. Made for Adult Swim, Korgoth of Barbaria is set in a high fantasy and medieval post-apocalyptic world. A petition was made to bring back Korgoth, but nothing came of it. Hopefully the warrior will fight another day. Until then, the only way to see the hyper violent brute is online and in the obscure DVD box set, Adult Swim in a Box.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Sym-Biotic Titan (2010-2011)
Warner Bros. Television Studios
With only 20 episodes to its name, the short-lived series about war-torn survivors from an alien world acclimating to Earth as high school students earned it a cult following. Tartakovsky wanted to continue production, but unfortunately, Cartoon Network Studios did not renew the show because it lacked potential for a toy line. It is a shame, considering shows like this one would not need toys to make it popular. Heavy themes of isolation and feeling worlds apart as a teen filled with angst was different for Cartoon Network. The Ultraman-meets-Transformers animation style alone could rival other shows at the time as well. The fabled series never went to DVD in the United States, but is available on iTunes and the Microsoft Store. At least fans of the show will always remember, and have the infamous “Shake It, Bake It, Booty Quake It” scene.
6 Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)
Warner Bros. Television
Say what you will about the Prequels, but this Clone Wars is a version even the most die-hard Star Wars fan would accept as canon. There are more battles than you can shake a lightsaber at, and rightly so. The few things that made Episode II: Attack of the Clones underwhelming were its hollow dialogue, lackluster romance, and vague politics. Tartakovsky does not mince words with his in-between series and keeps your attention on the nonstop conflict and references to the film saga. His contribution to the Star Wars universe would inspire the CGI spin-off, Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008, but not before helping the show win back-to-back Emmy Awards.
5 Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Sony Pictures Animation
Tartakovsky’s first directorial debut has fun with its creative properties. Here he reinvents the horror genre and Universal Classic Monsters. Dracula is a father, protecting his daughter, Mavis, and other ghouls in his Hotel Transylvania from the world of scary humans. Adam Sandler plays the Count alongside other Saturday Night Live alums for a monster mash. It is funny how reality and art blend; when Dracula serenades Mavis; it is like watching one of Sandler’s Weekend Update performances. Hotel Transylvania became a franchise, garnering a total of four films. Tartakovsky creates another charming venture as he tells the stories hidden between the lines.
4 Dexter’s Laboratory (1996-2003)
A precocious boy genius (not Jimmy Neutron) and passionate scientist with a nondescript European accent won young hearts and minds everywhere. Dexter was an early character work of Tartakovsky’s at the California Institute of the Arts, loosely based on his own childhood and meddling ways with his older brother. The bubbly artist and bothersome sister, Dee Dee, balanced the toiling academic, Dexter, so well that the show received Emmy nominations and a time-traveling TV Movie, Dexter’s Laboratory: Ego Trip, where Dexter saves the future from his future self. The show is a love letter to the creative and curious, to the quiet confidence one has when they do their best work independently, and the inspiration we find in the unlikeliest of places. Dexter’s Laboratory put Cartoon Network on the map.
3 The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2007)
If Superman had only daughters and their pet was Godzilla, you get The Powerpuff Girls. Instead of the Man of Steel, we get the wifeless Professor Utonium, who makes an accidental discovery mixing Chemical X with sugar, spice, and everything nice, creating the superhero sisters: Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup. The show is a homage to the Kaiju film genre and retro-futurism of the 1950s. TPG is serious fun with its cute violence and tongue-in-cheek parody of Japanese and American pop culture. In the memorable “Beat Your Greens” episode, an alien race called the Broccoloids plan to mind control all of Townsville, forcing the girls and kids to face the tribulation of eating your vegetables. Tartakovsky captures the innocence, ambition, and responsibilities of kindergartners with superpowers as an analogy for growing up too fast and keeping the kid in us alive. The Powerpuff Girls also received a TV Movie about their origin story and was nominated for sixteen awards, two of which were Emmys.
2 Primal (2019-Present)
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Tartakovsky forgoes words for a more guttural galley of emotions in the pre-historic Adult Swim cartoon. Hunter-gatherer, Spear, and Tyrannosaurus, Fang, must join forces to survive the changing natural world as they become the last of their kind. Remarkable is an understatement here; it makes sense that words would not be fully developed in a time when language has not been invented. Similarly, the use of sounds, facial expressions, and violent physical slapstick are the primitive tools of storytelling, which Tartakovsky utilizes in simple and clever ways. The series has won five Emmys and earned Tartakovsky an Emmy for his storyboard work and continues with its second season on July 21.
1 Samurai Jack (2001-2017)
Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
The timeless tale of a time-traveling samurai named Jack who must return to the past to undue the future of the evil spirit, Aku. Stoic, honorable, and lethal, this show was heavily inspired by spaghetti westerns such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and the adventure martial arts TV series Kung Fu. Scenes move at a wonderful pacing, slowly savoring the moment in silence until action turns that daydream into a nightmare moving at break-neck speed. Both are balanced in delivery and let the tone have the final word. What makes this series special is the fact that Tartakovsky brought it back after eleven years to give Jack’s story a proper ending. Tartakovsky’s creative career is not over, but if the history books had to lay claim to a magnum opus, Samurai Jack would be their first and last choice.
