Neopets (lost production material from cancelled animated television series; 2020)
The promotional image accompanying the press release for the initial announcement of the Neopets TV series.
Status: Lost
An animated series based on Neopets produced by Blue Ant Media and Beach House Pictures was announced on February 10th, 2020 and was slated to release in Fall 2021, but had quietly been cancelled internally a few months after it was announced. Despite it's relatively short lifespan, it has been confirmed some work on the Neopets TV series did exist by ex-staff of Neopets.
History
Development
On February 10th, 2020, it was announced that JumpStart Games would be creating an animated TV series based on the Neopets IP, partnering with Beach House Pictures for character design and Blue Ant Media for animation. Donovan Chan of Beach House Pictures would serve as a creative director for the project. Aside from these general production details, no information about the series content itself was shared.[1]
On June 16th, 2020, the Licensing Week Virtual event by the Global Licensing Group would be hosted, featuring Jim Czulewicz representing JumpStart Games, who owned Neopets at the time. This new release would state that they are "currently working with three different storylines, but it has yet to make an official decision on what the final script will look like". The possibility of animated shorts featuring familiar site characters was also raised, and a release window of Fall 2021 was announced. [2]
On August 27th, 2020, NetDragon WebSoft published their Investor Relations data for the first half of 2020. The webcast for the vent would briefly touch upon the Neopets TV series, saying:
In fact, we’ve been applying our successful experience in IP operations into the Neopets IP. ... And the Neopets TV series could deliver our content to the IP users in the best way, which would keep them stay active in the IP.
A slide would accompany the discussion about Neopets impact on Netdragon and would be placed on an XY axis chart, dubbed "Neopets TV". It was considered by NetDragon to be aimed at a younger age demographic that requires less time investment.
Shortly after leaving JumpStart Games on November 13th, 2021, Max van Doorn (username doomtoons on Discord) would state that he had seen concept art for the Neopets TV show and had given feedback on it on the r/Neopets Discord server. Van Doorn had also designed the promotional image that accompanied the original announcement press release of the Neopets TV show.[4]
Cancellation
Any officially sanctioned discussion and news about the upcoming TV series would die down after the NetDragon WebSoft 2020 First Half IR webcast, with no news surfacing and the release deadline of Fall 2021 passing by with no news.
On June 1st, 2023, the Neopets YouTube channel would upload the fifth episode of the Nosy Neopians podcast series, where the staff members nicknamed Ivy and Willow would interview the brand manager at the time, nicknamed Tally. At the 25:15 timestamp, Tally would for the first time officially state that plans for a Neopets TV series have been shelved, saying:
There's a lot of things like ... I'm gonna throw some stuff out that y'all are gonna get mad about, but that's fine; Like an animated series for instance ... We've been really distracted in the past. We love these ideas we want these things to happen, but right now—and I think no one's going to disagree with this. ... What we really need to focus on and really hone in on is our foundational product ... and just really give a lot of love and time and effort to Neopets.com.
On July 30th, 2023, Max van Doorn would repeat on the r/Neopets Discord server that he had seen concept art for the show, but had commented that the show was "quietly cancelled", and commented that production of the Neopets TV show was unfeasible with the deadlines set.
On March 10th, 2024, Neopets would hold a panel at Planet Comicon Kansas City, where they would hold a QnA session at the end of their presentation. One of the questions asked at the panel was about the fate of the Neopets TV show, where they had stated that the primary reason for the show's cancellation was due to reduced spending from an investing partner due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic at the time.[6]
On July 4th, 2024, Max van Doorn would state on the r/Neopets discord server that the Neopets TV series would have had a style similar to that of Craig of the Creek and Hilda, featuring "some more anime influences in creature design."
Gallery
The slide featuring "Neopets TV" in NetDragon's IR presentation slides for the first half of 2020.
Max van Doorn's first comment regarding his involvement with production of the Neopets TV series.
Max van Doorn's second comment regarding his involvement with production of the Neopets TV series.
Max van Doorn's third comment about the show's art style.
See Also
- Jelly World Practice Team (partially lost original images of Neopets characters; 2006)
- Neopets Mobile (found features of discontinued T-Mobile service; 2006-2009)
- Neopets Movie (partially found production material for unproduced CGI animated film; 2006)
- Neopets: The Darkest Faerie (lost build of unreleased original PlayStation version of PlayStation 2 action-adventure game; 2003)
- PetPet Park (lost online MMO game based on Neopets; 2008-2014)
- Tales of Neopia (unreleased MMO game based on Neopets; 2008-2010)
- The Last Smiley (found online Neopets platform game; 2004-2006)
References
- ↑ 'Beach House Pictures' adopts Neopets by Ryan Tuchow
- ↑ 'Neopets animated series will launch in fall 2021' by Makena Kelly
- ↑ NetDragon WebSoft Investor Relations page
- ↑ Max van Doorn's website
- ↑ Nosy Neopians: Episode 5 (Ft. TNT Tally!) - The Official Neopets Podcast!
- ↑ Jellyneo's coverage of Planet Comicon Kansas City 2024