Spliced (partially found bonus promotional clips for Canadian cartoon; 2010)

The title card for "Nosehair", the only short currently available.

Status: Partially Found

Spliced was a Canadian animated television series that was produced by Nelvana in association with Teletoon, both affiliates of Corus Entertainment that had its worldwide debut on the Latin American version of Jetix, now known as Disney XD, on April 20th, 2009. It then aired on the US network Qubo from September 19th, 2009, to March 13th, 2010; ran in the UK from February 2 to October 19th, 2010; and finally made its Canadian premiere from April 1 to September 30th, 2010.

Summary

Created by Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott, Spliced can be best described as SpongeBob SquarePants meets The Island of Doctor Moreau where a mad scientists splices and mixes up recombinant DNA that result in the creation of genetically-mutated animals; constructed in a secluded tropical island known as "Keep Away Island." Though once the authorities track down the doctor and haul him away via boat, the mutants are left to pick up the pieces and form their own functional society while getting into mayhem and mischief. It lasted one season with 26 episodes in total, which were actually 52 short segments packaged into one broadcast that would sometimes end with a brief sketch either after the first segment, the second segment or even after both. Like most shows produced in Canada, it was animated using Flash and had a lot of juvenile humour, though the animation of Spliced was often praised for having more depth and movement than other shows around the time. Due to the show's modest popularity at the time, Co-creator Simon Racioppa, & Director Matt Ferguson both stated that there were plans for a second season, but were axed because of "events that conspired against the show."

Other networks the show aired on include ABC3 in Australia, Nicktoons in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the Swedish version of Nickelodeon. The show returned to Qubo on September 28th, 2010, as part of its "Night Owl" block, but was discontinued on March 31st, 2012. Beginning early in 2014, YTV, the general rival of Teletoon and another Corus brand, began airing reruns on weekdays while that same year, Then the show stopped airing reruns around Fall of 2016. On May 2014, Spliced was added to the "Always On" digital platform on US' Cartoon Network. It was removed the following year, though the series would also air on its Canadian counterpart. However, it was rarely advertised as being on the channel.

Spliced only ever received one DVD release as part of the Nelvana Golden Collection, which has since gone out of print, is very hard to come by, and only contains the first episodes: "Bowled Over/Stuck Together," "No Play For Princess/Cleaning Up," and "Outsmartered/Gordon." Thankfully, all of the show's episodes are available to watch on YouTube as well as on Amazon Prime.

Bonus Clips

Around the time that Spliced premiered on Teletoon, five short clips that introduces the main characters were created and featured on Teletoon's official website, along with possibly airing on the channel's broadcast during interval periods between their scheduled programs. Similar to Jimmy Two-Shoe's Miseryville Moments and the audition tapes from Total Drama Island, these shorts ran for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and gave the audience a brief look into five of the show's main characters from the perspective of a documentary filmmaker; voiced by Adrian Truss. Down below are recaps of the videos that I can best remember by memory:

Peri

The main character of the show, Peri is actually a short name for "failed exPERIment number 13" and in this short, the narrator has a hard time figuring out what he was made from nor what his purpose is supposed to be; the same conflict as shown in Episode 1b "Stuck Together." However, according to the Wikipedia page, he was made from a fox and octopus. At the very end, Peri tells the audience that there's a party inside him and that everyone's invited, leading his friend Entree to take it seriously by climbing into his mouth.

Entree

This short focuses on Entree, Peri's best friend who was created as the ultimate food animal with several livestock farm specimens making up his genes, as well as a shrimp tail. There's honestly not much I remember from this one, though it most likely focused on his insatiable appetite and extreme gluttony. Around the end, Entree forces Peri into his mouth.

Patricia

Patricia, voiced by Katie Crown, is one of the few female lead roles in the show and the only character who is not a mutant as she is a platypus: an ordinary animal that's already bizarre by itself. In this short, she tries carrying on with her everyday activities like laundry and groceries but notices the narrator commenting about her sense of loneliness and tells him to go away. In the end, the narrator is shown documenting Patricia far back in an alleyway while she's cleaning her car, though she somehow overhears him and rushes toward the camera in anger; attacking the man off-screen as it cuts to a "Technical Difficulties" display.

Two Legs Joe

The self-proclaimed Mayor of Keep Away Island, Two Legs Joe is a rhinoceros who has no hind legs, wears a top hat, and has extreme moments of anger whenever someone annoys him or wrecks his town. He also has a bird perched high on his rear end that is assumed to be just motionless until the episode "Stompabout" reveals that he is a sentient being named Lord Wings Eternum; and the first segment of the last episode, "One Joe Wings," reveals that it was not Wings who grew from Joe, but Joe who grew from Wings. In the short, it begins with Peri and Entree spraying humiliating graffiti of Joe onto the walls of a building as they laugh until Joe headbutts them into the air and causes them to run into the forest. All of a sudden, an enraged Joe lands on the both of them and stomps them for about ten times until he stops. He threatens to them: "Don't get up" as he walks off-screen, though as the two slowly re-emerge from the pulverized crater while Entree blows a raspberry, Joe lands on them again and screams about what he told them not to do.

Mister Smarty Smarts

The show's designated villain, Mr. Smarty Smarts is a combination of two of the smartest animals on the planet - a dolphin and a chimpanzee, plus the intellect of a Jack Russell Terrier. He is accompanied by his sidekick Octocat, a mutant made from a cat and octopus who can only speak in "meows," though her master is able to understand what she's saying. In this short, Smarty Smarts gives the narrator a tour of his evil lair inside the island's volcano and shows the audience select devices he has constructed for taking over Keep Away Island (ie. a robot named "Claw-O-Patra" and a giant laser machine), though they ultimately fail to work as intended when demonstrated.

Availabilty

As previously mentioned, the Spliced "Bonus Clips" were available to watch on Teletoon, though shortly after the show stopped airing on reruns, the videos disappeared and they were never posted elsewhere again.

The scene from Peri's short where he says "There's a party inside me" could be seen on a promotional video as part of the catalogue page on Nelvana's website about Spliced. Though in January 2021, the entire website went under a dramatic makeover that resulted in the removal of the page and although it's been archived on the Wayback Machine, the video itself is unplayable due to technological limits.

In Episode 23b "The Count of Pinchy Crabbo," during a montage of Peri and Entree's friendship at the beginning, the Narrator, a monkey who's only seen by his hands and feet, realizes he skipped ahead to their elder years and rewinds back to the moment that determines the segment's conflict. By slowing down the footage or pausing at the right moment, you will get to see clips that hail from two of the lost "Bonus Shorts." The first one is Two Legs Joe stomping on Peri and Entree from his short and the second is Peri entering Entree's mouth from the latter's short.

Teletoon Podcast was a series of weekly video podcasts that lasted from July 6 to December 28th, 2011 which featured clips and video extras from the channel's original and exported programs. The description July 13th, 2011 episode mentions featuring a bonus clip from Spliced that lets you see what Peri's nose hair looks like; a possible remnant from the short that aired on Teletoon's website. Although the series is documented on Apple's Podcast app, clicking the play button is useless as it displays an "Episode Unavailable" warning when trying to do so.

On February 14th, 2021, Racioppa was asked on his Twitter account about the fates regarding Spliced's "Bonus Clips" and confirmed that they were made exclusively for Teletoon's website, Though mentioned that he might have a copy of them on his hard drive.

Although he is still active in the entertainment industry with hits like Invincible and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance under his belt, almost ten years later and neither of the shorts have resurfaced. Whether the hard drive got lost or damaged beyond the point of repair between that time period, there's a good chance these shorts will remain lost forever.

In December 2022, the Teletoon podcasts were recovered and uploaded on Archive.org by user "Toodle-oo Enterprises" including the one for July 13th which featured the aftermentioned Nosehair clip.

A few days after the short was found, Racioppa was asked on Twitter yet again, If the Spliced team has ever made more shorts that aren't just about character introductions. He confirmed that they've made a bunch of them, and they should all be on YouTube; Unfortunately, None of them are available on YouTube except for "Nosehair".

Gallery

Preview of the only short found thus far

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  A scene from "Bonus Shorts: Entree" that can be briefly seen in "The Count of Pinchy Crabbo".

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  A scene from "Bonus Shorts: Two Legs Joe" that can be briefly seen in "The Count of Pinchy Crabbo".

The "Nosehair" Short

The only short that was featured in the "Teletoon Podcast"