Esop (lost cancelled animated adaptations of Turkish comic strip; 1970s-2000s)
A still from a cancelled Esop animated series from the Marti Animation website.
Status: Lost
Esop was a comic strip created by Turkish cartoonist Ali Murat Erkorkmaz, starring the worms Esop and Joselina in addition to their friends. At least two animated adaptation projects were in development from the 1970s to the 2000s by Erkorkmaz' animation studios. None have been known to be released to the general public.
Details of the comics on the internet are scarce, including the dates of publication and which publications included it. Erkorkmaz' website mentioned that there are more than 500 "daily episodes." It saw at least two comic books released during the 1990s: Easily Sold and In Tension. A third one, That's What Friends are Five, is mentioned on Erkorkmaz and Marti Animation's websites but possibly not anywhere else.[1]
The first film project was going to be Erkorkmaz' first full length feature movie, which was either completed in 1979 but never released, or had its production disrupted due to an accident and/or declining economy. It was supposed to be a 90 minute long movie and it had "many good animators" working on it. The Marti Animation website stated that the labs used the wrong chemicals for the films' development, deteriorating the film negatives and leading to the project's termination. On Erkorkmaz' Curriculum Vitae, it mentioned they couldn't finalize the project due to the poor state of Turkey's economy.[2] However, there is a biography on Erkorkmaz that labeled the film as complete.[3] Although there are pictures on the Marti Animation website for this movie, it's unknown if they're actually stills from the movie, if any working copy of the movie was destroyed.[4]
The second project was a TV series of shorts whose scope might had been revised or it was really two separate projects. The Marti Animation website listed this series containing 410 segments 2 minutes each. However, there is a work list on the Geocities site of the artist Mehmet Naci Dedeal which listed Esop as a production comprising 50 segments 5 minutes each, by Artnet Animation Studio sometime in 1990-1993.[5][6]
Erkorkmaz' website mentioned plans for "a new line of ESOP films" in the early 2000s, while also stating that they made "many films" that never got distributed.[7] His personal website and Marti Animation's website contains numerous Esop cartoon pictures. His cartoons that saw the light of day included Tombik & B.B. and Magica and the Puzzle Plaza.
External Links
- Esop feature description on Marti Animation Retrieved 26 Aug '19
- Esop shorts description on Marti Animation Retrieved 26 Aug '19
References
- ↑ "Books and Magazines" on Ali Murat Erkorkmaz's website Retrieved 15 Aug '19
- ↑ Curriculum Vitae Retrieved 26 Aug '19
- ↑ Biography of Ali Murat Erkorkmaz Retrieved 15 Aug '19
- ↑ Esop Feature on Marti Animation Retrieved 15 Aug '19
- ↑ Works on Mehmet Naci Dedeal's website Retrieved 15 Aug '19
- ↑ Esop Series on Marti Animation Retrieved 15 Aug '19
- ↑ Comic Strips on Ali Murat Erkorkmaz website Retrieved 15 Aug '19