Gen Zed (partially found unreleased pilot of animated series; 2015)

A scene from the promo, featuring the main cast and logo

Status: Incomplete

Gen Zed is an unreleased animated comedy created by Hayden Black that featured transgender actress Julie Rei Goldstein portraying the main character. A 2-minute promo was released on Youtube in June 6, 2015, without an official release date. After a year of the promo's release, no update on the show's progress has been announced. In spite of this, an official Twitter, Facebook, and website has continued to remain active. Months following the release of the promo, the show's official YouTube Channel released a Dorito's advertisement that recycled animation from the previous promo.

The show has been the subject of controversy for its poor presentation in the promo and branding itself as "the first animated comedy to feature a transgender actress in a lead role". The latest known footage of an episode was featured at the Long Beach Comic Expo, which presented "The Cake is a Lie" with incomplete animation, labeled as episode 00.

Premise

Characters

• Shona Sommers (Julie Rei Goldstein)
• Cameron Atwood (Kevyn Richmond)
• Huey Ware (John M. Keating)
• Betsy Chan (Emily C. Chang)
• Taylor Adams (Jane Wiedlin)
• Miguel Jiminez (Marcelo Tubert)
• Kevin (Hal Sparks)
• Father O'Brien (Richard Schiff)
• Natalie (Trace Lysette)
• Nikki (Casey Mongillo)
• Shona's Mother (Stephanie Bentley)
• Jeremy (Matthew Del Negro)
• Cameron's Mother (Lidia Porto)
• Quillam (Hayden Black)

Synopsis

The Gen Zed official website gives a premise to the film:

Hey! Welcome to Gen Zed – an edgy animated comedy about a young Trans woman who wants to be a stand up comic and her online friends who move in together. It’s Friends meets Modern Family – with a huge dollop of The Young Ones. The show’s pilot will be released in 2016.

Production

According to the official Youtube Channel, Gen Zed was animated in a small studio. The series is not associated with any television channel, but there is speculation that it could have become a webseries. Gen Zed is said to be released somewhere during the year of 2016, however there have been no announcements on the show's progress. Whether it is cancelled or experiencing delay is unknown.

Controversy

For a short time during the release of the promo, Gen Zed received major backlash for poor animation quality, political pandering, flat characters, and its claims as the first series to feature a transgender actress. In defense of the show's claims as the first to feature a transgender character in a lead role, Gen Zed's official Tumblr has stated that Shona will assume the role as the protagonist. All videos on the official Youtube channel have disabled the like feature.

Trivia

• Shona Sommer's birth name is Alan.
• Shona has not received transitional surgery.
• There are a few characters that are not present in the trailer, but are featured on the official website. These include Natalie, Nikki, and Miguel Jiminez.
• In the prototype design of the cast, various elements were translated or discarded in the final production of the promo.
  • In her sketchwork, Shona is already implied to be trans, and retains most of her original design, with the exception of her attire. At the end of the promo, she can be seen wearing a pink unicorn costume, which is based on the unicorn onesie that was given to her by Betsy.
  • Betsy's prototype featured her with longer hair, and a dragonfly tattoo on her back.
  • Cameron had longer hair and wore a baseball cap in his original design. His sketchwork indicates some relationship with videogames. This is shown in the promo when Cameron is seen holding a videogame controller, and working at a game shop with Taylor.
  • Huey's body is not as prominent of tattoos as his final design.
• The prototype sketches features a character named Jeremy, with short red hair similar to Shona's. He does not appear in the promo, but is listed as a character to appear in the series. He does not have any official artwork released on the site like other characters who did not appear in the promo.
  • Based on the description of the original blog post, it could be inferred that Jeremy could have originally meant to be Shona before her transition.

Gallery

Characters

• 

  Shona/Alan Sommers

• 

  Huey Ware

• 

  Cameron Atwood

• 

  Betsy Chan

• 

  Taylor Adams

• 

  Miguel Jiminez

• 

  Natalie

• 

  Nikki

• 

  Quillam

Promo

• 

  Shona's Introduction

• 

  Cameron's Introduction

• 

  Shona and Huey

• 

  Huey's Introduction

• 

  Betsy's Introduction

• 

  Looking for music

• 

  Betsy's followers

• 

  Shona's followers

• 

  Cameron's followers

• 

  The main cast looking for an apartment

• 

  The main cast setting up their bedrooms

• 

  Betsy realizing that Shona is transgender

• 

  Shona and her mother

• 

  Shona's Intervention Party

• 

  Shona saddened by her family's disapproval

Prototypes

• 

  The main cast and original logo.

• 

  Shona's original design.

• 

  Shona in her onesie.

• 

  Shona and a unicorn.

• 

  Betsy in an alternative outfit.

• 

  Betsy featuring a tatoo.

• 

  The main cast's bedrooms.

• 

  Cameron and videogames.

• 

  Huey Ware

• 

  Jeremy

Videos

Gen Zed Promo

Gen Zed Dorito's Promo

Incomplete Gen Zed Episode at Panel