Essentials

Showing posts with label brian wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brian wood. Show all posts

Tuesday, 9 July 2019

What is The Real Deal with Mr Parsons?

[TOP SECRET]
THIS INFORMATION IS STRICTLY CLASSIFIED, IT MUST BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY AND NEVER REMOVED FROM OFFICE. THIS MUST BE ONLY FOR INTELLIGENCE MESSAGES ONLY.

You know that I talked about the underrated cartoon The Cramp Twins before, quite frequently in fact. It seems like it's my duty to go into detail with this show if no one else will. But even then; they're still some aspects I've yet to touch upon; whether it be the characters, the setting or the production history. One of those things I'll be discussing relates to one of its supporting characters, Seth Parsons.
For those unfamiliar, Mr Seth Parsons is one of the remaining swamp folk of the fictional town of Soap City. He lives on the only patch of swampland in the city, with his wife Lilly and family of six kids. He works by farming the land but he's also skilled at wood carving, handling creatures, magic tricks, acrobatics, comedy, he even has his own plumbing business to support such a big family. But what he's best known for is sharing his infinite wisdom of the swamp with his son Tony and Lucien Cramp. He's an overall handyman who cares about the swamp and his family, and the best father anyone could ask for. But what if there is more to this man than he lets on? What is he hiding from the Soap Folks? Could someone who's such a great family man be so suspicious? Join in as we unravel the clues to what is the real deal with Mr Parsons?

The swamp people have this saying; which translates to 'the deeper you go, the more you know'. To better understand the deal with Mr Parsons, we're going to have to look at the episode 'The Bad Seed'. For those who aren't familiar, this episode talks about a masked outlaw who once terrorised Soap City. I've discussed this episode before in my list of the best Cramp Twins episodes, but I didn't go into detail about it so not to spoil the crucial plot points. But now I want to use this chance to put those plot points into perspective. Though I do encourage you to watch the episode before you could read this article. Anyway, the Bad Seed was a juvenile delinquent who wore a mask to hide his identity along with his accomplice Little Hat. They were a dynamic duo who caused trouble by disturbing the peace, that is until they were caught and unmasked. By the end of the episode, it was revealed that the bad seed turned out to be non-other than Lucien's ancestor who looked exactly like him. And Little Hat was Seth when he was young. 
First of all, we see that Mr Parsons had a checkered past as one of Soap City's former criminals. It shows that even back then he had a connection with the Cramp family. We learn that Seth once had a rebellious side to his personality, back when he was young and did not know any better. Though if Seth and the Bad Seed were anything like Tony and Lucien, could it be possible Seth committed these felonies to stand up for the rights of the swamp people and revolt against the totalitarianism of the Soap people? Even though some of the crimes he committed have become tamed, could it be that the bad seed was a misunderstood anti-hero? Like a western version of Robin Hood, who knows? Seth even stole a page from the City's records which shows him being unmasked. Though he admits he took it because he likes how he looked in the picture, rather than keeping people from knowing about his past. 

Which begs the question, how has Mr Parsons been alive for so long? You cannot say that it wasn't that long ago, because there's evidence that proves otherwise. As its shown, the Bad Seed was alive sometime during the old west. It's also indicated that he did this when Soap City outlawed wearing odd socks under penalty of hanging. So how could he have possibly survived all these years and not look so incredibly old? We have ourselves a conspiracy theory here people.
The swamp has had a fascinating echo-system, but who would guess that one of its inhabitants would be the most intriguing? I'm willing to believe that Seth's vast knowledge and wisdom comes from living for hundreds of years. Despite this, he appears to still be agile and was able to have children. Now The Cramp Twins was always grounded in reality, and yet Seth was one abnormality to be walking among the neighbourhood. Could it be possible that Mr Parsons was cryogenically frozen for many years, or maybe he has a special swamp herb that keeps him alive, or here's a crazy thought he might have used supernatural forces to gain immortality? Alas, we never got an answer, and fans of the show are still wondering to this day. I can't say for certain that my speculations are true, as I've yet to contact any of the crew members regarding this. But surely the people behind this show could have given us revelations for Pete sake.

[UNSOLVED]

One thing is for sure, that Seth Parsons is the character who drew us into the history behind Soap City, the swamp and the people who inhabit it. The fact that he has a dark past and the mystery around him make him a complex character. If only we had clarification on these backstories, as well as Seth's. Tell me in the comments below what you think is the reason Seth has been able to live for so long. With these entertainment companies exploiting people's nostalgia, I think The Cramp Twins needs to have a proper conclusion. If you're a fan of the show or you just want it to tie up the loose ends, please contact Cartoon Network Europe or m4e in demand for it to be revived. Go to social media sites and type the hashtag #bringbackthecramptwins. Or you could sign this petition here: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-the-cramp-twins
With your help and support, then this speculation will be put to rest.

"And we can have forever" 
"And we can love forever,"
"Forever is our today".

"Who waits forever anyway?"

Thursday, 15 March 2012

Whatever Happened to Brian Wood

Animators they have really seem to have become a part of the art community, they really have the integrity to bring their artwork to life. Animation has touch the hearts of children and adults alike and we owe it to these masters to have made us laugh and cry with these revolutionary flicks. Out of all the animators in the world there is one who has been on my mind for so long; that persons name is Brian Wood.
For those who are unfamilar with this fellow Brian Wood was known for his creation The Cramp Twins. It was a well done cartoon based on a graphic novel it had original character designs, interesting stories, great characters and it's catchy theme song. Telling the story of 10 year old twins Wayne and Lucien Cramp who make it through the modern world with their constant sibling rivalry it has proved it's self to a hit among young children and teens and I also like to consider it as one of my all time favourite program. (As you can see I've added it to my top 10 animated shows list)
 
One thing that has bothered me since the show's cancellation is what the dickens has happened to him over the years, I mean I have searched his name over the web and have found barly anything to do with him. There is no profile of him on Wikipedia and I've seen no website of his not even a blog. The only images I've found of his work (that are not Cramp Twins related) were these (below)


                                                                                                                                                                           Things like this makes me wonder why Brian Wood never went on to make another great cartoon like cramp twins or even another childrens book. Also how come no one has written about him on Wikipedia didn't he have any friends or colleagues that could have written a profile for him.
 Where the hell has he been all these year!
If I knew better I say that the people at 4Kids abducted him and left him on an desserted island at the edge of the earth to die. Or maybe they threw him into a space shuttle and blasted him into space where he got sucked into a black hole. Well even so it's a shame that people will never see another new product by Wood, it's also a shame that I've never have been able to find Wood's website infact I don't understand why he hasn't made a website, and even if he did how come we have not been able to find it .
But despite this I have been so lucky enough to find two animated short films made by Wood himself "Mr Jessop" and "School Disco"
Mr Jessop
Made during Wood's college days, Mr Jessop is a simplictic tale about a man who goes to the train station with dark, graphic occurances that make this a unique combination of surreal twisted doodles with the mature conflict that occures in real life. It's the same equavilant of a childhood crayon drawings on acid.

School Disco
Wood's next animated short was School Disco, which illustrates different points of views of high school students. This short is definately one of Wood's more mature pieces, it shows his ability to adapt slice of life events to animation. It even feels rememisent of those nights of attending such school discos as well the club scene of the 90s. This was probably the influence behind the Cramp Twins episode "Dance Pants"; infact you'll find alot of resemblance to that show in the character design. 

Overall as well as creating the cult classic The Cramp Twins, Brian Wood has made some strange mature expressionist toons in his lifetime.Although it really sucks when theres not much about him on the web and that he just disapered from the world of animation. I don't understand why someone who could have made a great cartoon like The Cramp Twins fade into such bitter obscurity for so long that it feels like he left the face of the earth. His work is alot better than anything that Dreamworks Animation have made in the past 7 years and way way way way way better than anthing and mean anything that the producers of that Problem Solverz show could make (BTW that show is gonna suck) But I digress it was great to find his early shorts, as a fan of the Cramp Twins i really think it would do justice to see this man return to animation.


If you know what happened to Brian Wood for the past 6 six years, where he is and why he never made another product ever again or if you know the proper web address of where you can see his work for real than tell me at the comment box below. I would really appreciate it.

......................and Brian Wood where ever you are we just want you to know; we really miss you u_u