Footbirds (cancelled New Zealand animated series, '90s)
Jan 8, 2022 10:01:10 GMT
lammyvox, pinkasketch, and 1 more like this
Post by scheepers on Jan 8, 2022 10:01:10 GMT
This is a cancelled animation project that sadly doesn't have enough information available for it to get a page on the LMW, but I thought that it was quite interesting nonetheless.
Footbirds was a planned animated series that started production in 1993. It was co-created by Brent Chambers, the current co-director of Flux Animation Studios. Most information about Footbirds comes from 2013, when Brent Chambers was featured in online news articles for being a co-creator of what was then a new animated series for preschoolers, Wiki the Kiwi. I have found two online news articles about Wiki the Kiwi that mention Footbirds; the following is from an article from the website "Stuff":
And this paragraph from another news website, "Scoop", tells us a little bit more about the project:
Both articles imply that Footbirds was cancelled but do not say so outright.
Also in 2013, a trailer for Footbirds was uploaded to the Vimeo channel of Flux Animation Studios. Interestingly, both of the online news paragraphs only describe Footbirds as being about kiwi birds. The Footbirds intro instead shows four characters that are each a different kind of bird; a kiwi, a kakapo, a swamphen, and a light purple bird that can't be identified. The villains are shown as being two rats, which are massively harmful introduced species in New Zealand in real life.
Unfortunately, the uploaded intro did not come with any kind of explanation of the circumstances regarding the production of Footbirds and why it was cancelled. There is, however, a document from 2015 where Brent Chambers does explain why Footbirds was cancelled:
So as it turns out, Footbirds only failed because of the selfish and unfair actions of a few higher-ups who didn't care about the project.
Perhaps this subject would be worthy of a LMW page if there was some kind of evidence that production material besides the intro existed, but there isn't.
Footbirds was a planned animated series that started production in 1993. It was co-created by Brent Chambers, the current co-director of Flux Animation Studios. Most information about Footbirds comes from 2013, when Brent Chambers was featured in online news articles for being a co-creator of what was then a new animated series for preschoolers, Wiki the Kiwi. I have found two online news articles about Wiki the Kiwi that mention Footbirds; the following is from an article from the website "Stuff":
The idea of a series with a kiwi at the centre was born two decades ago when Mr Chambers began work on Footbirds, which was to be an animated adventure comedy about kiwis and their conflicts with introduced species.
And this paragraph from another news website, "Scoop", tells us a little bit more about the project:
Twenty years ago, Brent began work on Footbirds, an animated show that was to be a comedy adventure cartoon show about kiwis and their conflicts with introduced species. Back then the series got traction with internationally acclaimed Producer and Director Yoram Gross, best known for adapting Australian children’s book and film characters into animation for young audiences.
Both articles imply that Footbirds was cancelled but do not say so outright.
Also in 2013, a trailer for Footbirds was uploaded to the Vimeo channel of Flux Animation Studios. Interestingly, both of the online news paragraphs only describe Footbirds as being about kiwi birds. The Footbirds intro instead shows four characters that are each a different kind of bird; a kiwi, a kakapo, a swamphen, and a light purple bird that can't be identified. The villains are shown as being two rats, which are massively harmful introduced species in New Zealand in real life.
Unfortunately, the uploaded intro did not come with any kind of explanation of the circumstances regarding the production of Footbirds and why it was cancelled. There is, however, a document from 2015 where Brent Chambers does explain why Footbirds was cancelled:
5. What was your most “valuable” success and/or failure?
“Footbirds” was the first TV venture that got traction, Yoram Gross came on board as co producer with a sale to channel 7 in Australia, and we had TVNZ on board from NZ, the deal fell over when my employer at the time (Freelance Animators ltd ), took our local development money and spent it on their own “Bird“ project, I took my gear and walked out of the studio that very day, valuable lesson - “be very careful with who you trust”.
“Footbirds” was the first TV venture that got traction, Yoram Gross came on board as co producer with a sale to channel 7 in Australia, and we had TVNZ on board from NZ, the deal fell over when my employer at the time (Freelance Animators ltd ), took our local development money and spent it on their own “Bird“ project, I took my gear and walked out of the studio that very day, valuable lesson - “be very careful with who you trust”.
So as it turns out, Footbirds only failed because of the selfish and unfair actions of a few higher-ups who didn't care about the project.
Perhaps this subject would be worthy of a LMW page if there was some kind of evidence that production material besides the intro existed, but there isn't.
