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Villainous is a Mexican animated television series, produced by A.I. Animation Studios for Cartoon Network and HBO Max, created by Alan Ituriel, a veteran of the animation industry in Mexico[1][2][3] It is based on his 2012 webseries and was picked up by Cartoon Network Mexico as a miniseries, since first aired on 10 shorts in 2017, primarily for the "Cartoon Network Anything" app. The series is co-produced by Cartoon Network and AI Animation Studios. The series has since expanded onto a media franchise consistent of books and tie-ins.
On October 11, 2021, Ituriel's A.I. Animation Studios revealed that the series will be released on HBO Max Latin America and on Cartoon Network Mexico and it premiered on both platforms on October 29, 2021.[4][5] The series premiered on the streaming platform Max in the US on May 23, 2023.
Plot[]
Villainous is the story of Black Hat Org., run by Evil Handyman, Black Hat (whose name is a synonym for villain, a reference to black-hatted evil cowboys from western movies) and his team of three less-villainous aides.[6] Black Hat is trying to sell various evil inventions created by Dr. Flug and desperate to achieve his evil aspirations. However, things usually end up going wrong for him as the brilliant innovations tend to have small and often comical flaws.[7]
Production[]
Due to the success of the episodes released on YouTube, talks for a full series are underway, but for now, the miniseries will be promoted on the Cartoon Network Anything App, Cartoon Network's YouTube channel, and eventually television.
The Villainous concept was pitched by Alan Ituriel at a contest run at the Pixelatl Festival in Cuernavaca, called IdeaToon Summit, in 2014. He met some Cartoon Network executives there and the concept was judged to fit the 6-11 year old demographic for Cartoon Network Anything original content. Villainous has garnered very positive reception on Cartoon Network's online platforms, leading Cartoon Network to decide to continue their own "Pitch Me" competition through at least 2017 in an aim to find more web original shows. Villainous is the first of what Cartoon Network hopes to be many successful short projects for their app and YouTube channel.
A TV pilot was released on June 8, 2019,[8] with the Spanish-language version released seven days earlier, while a full-length series is currently in development.[9] Ituriel later confirmed that season one is currently in production,[10] while also announcing a new character, with a backdoor pilot later debuting as the Victor and Valentino episode, "Villainy In Monte Macabre."[11][12][13] Unlike the shorts, due to Warner Bros. merger with Discovery and the COVID-19 pandemic, while simultaneously produced in both languages (with scripts still written in English), the series was recorded in Spanish first at SDI Media in Mexico and dubbed in English afterwards replacing most of the original cast with a Miami-based cast at VOA Studios Miami, released on November 24, 2022.[14][15][16]
On October 11, 2021, it was revealed that the series will be released on HBO Max Latin America and on Cartoon Network Mexico and it premiered on both platforms on October 29, 2021. and on the US streaming platform Max on May 23, 2023.[17][18]
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Shorts[]
Phase One[]
- "The Perception of Evil"
- "Ice Cream of Fear"
- "Bigger, Badder"
- "Squeak"
- "Horribly Heavy"
- "Wearing Evil"
- "Bad Security"
- "The Portrait of Evil"
- "Sculpting Evil"
- "The Note of Destruction"
Phase Two[]
- "Horrible Holidays"
- "The Foul Flower"
- "Demencia wuz here"
- "Black Hat Organization: 2018 Anniversary"
- "Trap-ical Resort"
- "Black Hat Challenge I"
- "Black Hat Challenge II"
- "Black Hat Challenge III"
Specials[]
Orientation Videos for Villains[]
- "The Lost Cases of Ooo"
- "The Lost Cases of Rhyboflavin"
- "The Lost Cases of Boxmore"
- "The Lost Cases of Townsville"
- "The Lost Cases of Elmore"
- "Guide for an Evil Conquest"
- "The Lost Cases of the Future"
- "The Lost Cases of Beach City"
- "The Lost Cases of the Park"
- "The Lost Cases of the Tree House"
- "Q&A Black Hat Organization replies"
Episodes[]
Pilot[]
Crossovers[]
Season 1[]
Gallery[]
Promotional Artwork[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- Villainous is the first animated show Cartoon Network Mexico has greenlit.[2]
- The show is also animated in-house at A.I. Animation Studios in Mexico.[3]
- The series' initial shorts and pilot were first recorded in English at TRACKS Productions, using an Atlanta-based non union cast (with the exception of Ituriel who records in-house at A.I. Animation and Markiplier who records remotely in LA) as CN has a subsidiary studio in Atlanta.[19] The Spanish version is dubbed afterwards with local talent at the Dubbing House in Mexico.[20] However, the first season, as a result of Warner Bros. merger with Discovery as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit still with scripts written in English first, was recorded in Spanish first at SDI Media in Mexico with the English track for the episodes being dubbed afterwards instead. The TV series is dubbed (including the pilot, which will be re-recorded) at Studios VOA with a new Miami-based non-union cast and the track was released on HBO Max Latin America on November 24, 2022 and on the US streaming platform Max on May 23, 2023.[21][22]
- According to Kevin Manthei, all of the animation footage he receives to score for the series was recorded in English, albeit with temp voices (most provided by Ituriel himself).[23]
- Starting with Season 1, while the series' is scripted and temp voiced in English for the most part, the lip-sync animation alternates between both languages depending on the episode and can have a preparatory mix of both language lip-syncs. This was due to the series' production halting due to the merger and pandemic, in which most of the pre-production was initially supposed to be produced and finalized in English much like the pilot and shorts. As a result, the mid and post production shifted their language production for the show to Spanish for time efficiency. The written-language in the series also alternates as well.
- For "The Orientational Videos for Villains", A.I. Animation Studios had to semi-work with the original creators and writers for the selective shows in said videos in order to make their videos more authentic and true to the properties.[24] The Orientational Videos were made specifically for the Cartoon Network LA-audience so they were not dubbed.
- A slight controversy came about for the series when selective artists and animators from A.I. Animation Studios talked about their abusive working conditions and lack of credit during their experiences working on the show.[25][26][27] As a result, most of the artists left the series and immediately began worked on the online series, Helluva Boss, created by Vivienne Medrano (Hazbin Hotel), after she inquired them.
- The series is often compared to the animated web series Hazbin Hotel due to the similarity in the theme of both properties. Coincidentally, many Villainous alumni work on both Hazbin and Helluva immediately after leaving the show.
- Alan Ituriel, creator of Villainous, is also aware of Hazbin, but refuses to do any drawing requests featuring characters from the series due to copyright reasons with the exception of the FAN SERVICE stream due to the more loose rules of that stream.[28]
- Vivienne met Ituriel during her trip to Mexico and received a Black Hat drawing for her sketchbook.
- Much like the Orientation videos, each episode would contain an Easter egg cameo of a character from a Cartoon Network series. The credits of each episode will also credit each cameos' specific creator as well. Although most speaking-characters cameo has their Spanish voice actor reprise their roles, the English version, due to union restrictions as the series isn't sanctioned with SAG-AFTRA, does not have the English cast do the same and instead has those particular scenes muted or changed in the English track such as the episode "Boo!-Lldozing", which has Bulldozer only screaming loudly when he sees the "We Bare Bears" characters.
- In the United States, Warner Bros. announced that the first five episodes of Villainous and the pilot episodes on Max, which was take place in the chronological order and production order, since the beginning of Warner Bros. Studios' 100th anniversary celebration on April 4, 2023.