Butt-Ugly Martians (found CGI animated TV series; 2001-2004)

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Butt-Ugly Martians Title Card

Status: Found


Butt-Ugly Martians was a 3D animated television series produced by Mike Young Productions, LLC (now Splash Entertainment) in 2001. The series aired in the United Kingdom on ITV in 2001, and in the United States on Nickelodeon in early 2002. It consisted of two seasons with a total of 26 episodes and filled a 30-minute time slot.

Plot

The show revolves around three Martians that have landed on Earth in 2053 in order to conquer it. The Martians - B-Bop, 2T, and Doo-Wah instead grow fond of Earth culture and quickly adapt. In order to stay on Earth, the Martians keep their boss Emperor Bog and his henchman Dr. Damage in the dark by staging fake invasion reports with the help of three human allies - Mike, Angela, and Cedric. Eventually, an alien fanatic named Stoat Muldoon catches onto them and attempts to hunt them down. Using the power of "BKM" (Butt-Kicking Mode), the Martians work together to fight the forces of other alien invaders and keep Earth safe so they can just relax and hang out.

Reception

Though the series saw mild success in the United Kingdom, Butt-Ugly Martians met with severe backlash from viewers in the United States. Critics panned the series for its lackluster 3D animation and model design, while viewers felt that the series was replacing Invader Zim - a more popular series at the time.[1][2] These same viewers often claimed the series had stolen ideas from Invader Zim, despite the two series bearing little actual similarities besides the theme of aliens. These claims may have arisen when Butt-Ugly Martians premiered on Invader Zim's time slot.

Production

Because of the 3D graphics used in the show, production costs were high per episode. This led to the show being heavily supported by merchandising, which itself was big.[3] Such merchandise included video games, books, toys, and possibly a magazine.[4]

Availability

As part of the heavy merchandising of Butt-Ugly Martians, many episodes have been released to DVD. Still, not every episode is available to the general public. Many missing episodes are available on Youtube, but 8 episodes remain missing. The show's relative unpopularity in the U.S. makes the likelihood of any more VHS recordings very limited. Though unconfirmed, potential web-based content may now be lost as well.[5]

Starting on September 14, 2016, the Youtube channel PopTeenToons began uploading episodes of the series periodically. Due to this, the entire series is now available in some form on Youtube.

Episode 1 Playback/Payback Found Episode 14 Bog in Charge Found
Episode 2 Jax the Conqueror Found Episode 15 Muldoon's Big Catch Found
Episode 3 Meet Gorgon Found Episode 16 Emperor Damage Found
Episode 4 You Bet Your Planet Found Episode 17 Bog's Missing Trophy Found
Episode 5 Mike in Space Found Episode 18 Better Off Without Us Found
Episode 6 Koo Foo Found Episode 19 Everybody Loves Angie* Found
Episode 7 The Big Bang Theory Found Episode 20 Unbrainwashing Muldoon Found
Episode 8 Damage's Little Girl Found Episode 21 Bye Bye B-Bop Found
Episode 9 Introducing the Ultimate Infi-knight Found Episode 22 Big Bash in Britain Found
Episode 10 Brothers From Another Planet Found Episode 23 Alien Games Found
Episode 11 That's No Puddle, That's Angela! Found Episode 24 If the Suit Fits Found
Episode 12 Out of Sync 123 Found*** Episode 25 Let's Make a Deal Found
Episode 13 Bog's Not So Dumb After All Found Episode 26 This Is... the Butt-Uglies! Found**

*Mistakingly referred to as Once in Love With Angie on the Hoverboard Heroes DVD.

**In glorious camcorder quality, also available on DVD. ***After being butchered by Youtube's 2008 video encoding, also available on DVD.

References

  1. Animation World Network review of Butt-Ugly Martians http://www.awn.com/animationworld/tv-review-butt-ugly-martians
  2. Toon Zone forum post from 2004 that claims Butt-Ugly Martians replaced Invader Zim's time slot. http://www.toonzone.net/forums/threads/any-butt-ugly-martians-fans.3734791/page-2#post-55531931
  3. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal talks about Butt-Ugly Martians' arrival to the US. http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040601/upd_075-8904.shtml#.VwmECebqrDf
  4. Examples of merchandising found on a quoted USA Today article. http://nickdisk.yuku.com/topic/516/Nick-to-air-ButtUgly-Martians#.VwmDJObqrDd
  5. Animation World Magazine remarks about a Web series. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.08/5.08pages/younghusbandbugly2.php3