Stone Quackers is an American adult animated television series created by Ben Jones. The series premiered October 27, 2014 on FXX as part of their Animation Domination High-Def block.
| Stone Quackers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Black comedy[1] |
| Created by | Ben Jones |
| Developed by | Angela Petrella Ben Jones |
| Creative director | Ben Jones |
| Voices of |
|
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme |
|
| Composers |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Editors |
|
| Running time | 10–12 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | FXX |
| Release | October 27, 2014 – July 3, 2015 |
Despite the Animation Domination High-Def block originally airing on Fox, Stone Quackers itself is the first original show to premiere on FXX.
Plot
edit
Set in the fictional island city of Cheeseburger Island, the series revolves around the surreal[2][3] misadventures of two ducks, Whit and Clay (respectively voiced by Whitmer Thomas and Clay Tatum), along with their friends Barf (voiced by Ben Jones) and Dottie (voiced by Heather Lawless), and the incompetent Officer Barry (voiced by John C. Reilly), and neighborhood kid Bug (voiced by Budd Diaz).[4]
Production
editStone Quackers was created by Ben Jones, who also created The Problem Solverz for Cartoon Network. After leaving Cartoon Network, Jones began working with Fox Broadcasting Company on their new animation block, Animation Domination High-Def. During this endeavor, Jones pitched Stone Quackers to Fox as a program for the block. In a July 2013 interview, Jones described this series a "more pure, raw, uncut expression of the same artistic impulse"[5]: 84 that manifested Alfe, a character from Solverz. Jones was only allowed to describe that "there will be feathers" in the series.[5]: 84
Characters
edit- Whit (voiced by Whitmer Thomas) - Whit is a slacker who is prone to erratic behavior and severe lapses of judgement. He is a yellow duck who wears a red hat.
- Clay (voiced by Clay Tatum) - Like his best friend Whit, Clay too is a slacker. He is a blue duck who wears a gray hat. He owns a pet bicolor cat named Gothfield, (reference to Garfield).
- Barf (voiced by Ben Jones) - Whit and Clay's fat friend Barf is dim-witted and suffers from poor impulse control, very similar to Alfe from The Problem Solverz, who Jones also voices using the same voice.
- Dottie (voiced by Heather Lawless) - Whit and Clay's friend Dottie lusts after Officer Barry, but mental illness prevents her from forming a relationship with him.
- Officer Barry (voiced by John C. Reilly) - Barry is an inept police officer who faces abuse from his family at home. He delivers internal monologues whenever he appears. In "Hemispheres", Barry states that he is French-Canadian; his fellow officers think he is Italian.
- Bug (voiced by Budd Diaz) - Bug, a child from the neighborhood, is usually depicted as naive and childlike, but with a tendency to occasionally make darker and more sinister statements.
Episodes
editNote: The order and titles of episodes differ on streaming and VOD websites.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Stone Quackers V" "Hurricane" | Noah Garfinkel, Ben Jones, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | January 8, 2015 | |
|
The ducks try to survive a hurricane. Meanwhile, Officer Barry deals with his family as the storm brings out the worst in them. | |||||
| 2 | 2 | "Stone Quackers II" "Brown Bomber" | Noah Garfinkel, Ben Jones, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | January 22, 2015 | |
|
Barf goes on a rope swing; calamity ensues. Clay becomes obsessed with a photo of an ex, but is healed by the power of dance. | |||||
| 3 | 3 | "Stone Quackers I" | Noah Garfinkel, Ben Jones, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | January 29, 2015 | |
|
Barry checks in on the ducks. Barf drives a tractor into the canal. The ducks go to a party and almost get an old acquaintance murdered. | |||||
| 4 | 4 | "Stone Quackers IV" "The Runes" | Joseph Carnegie, Noah Garfinkel, Ben Jones, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | February 5, 2015 | |
|
Whit and Clay discover a new sound to get them out of trouble. Barry stops disturbance between Dottie and her ex. Barf puts snake eggs in the house. | |||||
| 5 | 5 | "Stone Quackers III" | Ben Jones, Noah Garfinkel, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | February 19, 2015 | |
|
The ducks start a whirlpool vortex in Officer Barry's pool. Clay experiences perspiration issues in the summertime heat. Barf gets into trouble while eating a hot dog. | |||||
| 6 | 6 | "One Last Bad Prank" | Noah Garfinkel, Ben Jones, Heather Lawless, Sean O'Connor, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | October 27, 2014 (sneak peek) February 19, 2015 (official debut) | |
|
After being reprimanded by Dottie, the guys commit to one last prank before going straight. The situation quickly escalates out of control but no one knows why. | |||||
| 7 | 7 | "Blue Feathers" | Ben Jones | March 6, 2015 | |
|
A Blue Velvet parody in which Clay decides that they're going to play "bad guys" for the day and Dottie discovers evidence of a brutal crime. | |||||
| 8 | 8 | "TwentyOneTwelve" | Ben Jones | March 6, 2015 | |
|
Dottie tries to get together with Officer Barry while Clay and Whit attempt to deal with a mouse problem. Note: This episode was originally going to be titled "Rattenstein". | |||||
| 9 | 9 | "Caress of Steel" | Ben Jones and Corinne Marshall | March 20, 2015 | |
|
Dottie encourages the whole household to lose weight after Barf crashes through the ceiling. | |||||
| 10 | 10 | "Power Windows" | Ben Jones, Clay Tatum, and Whitmer Thomas | March 27, 2015 | |
|
Barry tries to make it to his yearly review, but a string of bad luck makes it difficult. Meanwhile, Whit and Clay find a briefcase full of money and fight over how to spend it. | |||||
| 11 | 11 | "Hemispheres" | Toph Eggers, Ben Jones, Sean O'Connor, and Angela Petrella | July 3, 2015 | |
|
When Barry is fed up with getting messed with by his fellow cops, he turns to the guys for advice. | |||||
| 12 | 12 | "A Farewell to Kings" "The Bug Show" | Ben Jones, Corinne Marshall, and Angela Petrella | July 3, 2015 | |
|
Bug falls in love with a mysterious skateboarding girl (voiced by Miley Cyrus)[6] and goes to extensive lengths to win her over. | |||||
Broadcast and reception
editIn December 2013, comedian Sean O'Connor revealed Stone Quackers as one of his additional projects for television.[7] Meanwhile, Fox announced in April 2014 that the Animation Domination High-Def block would cease broadcast on June 28, 2014, though its programs will continue on digital platforms.[8] As a result of this, development of the show became unknown.[9] Stone Quackers was ultimately moved to FXX, where a special preview aired at midnight on October 27, 2014. A short Vine video was also posted by the network.[10]
Dan Nadel—a former publisher of Jones[11]—of The Comics Journal called it Jones' best creation after Problem Solverz.[10]
Spin-off
editOn May 1, 2015, a spin-off of Stone Quackers, Gothball, was released as a 10-episode web-series that ran weekly on ADHD's YouTube channel.[12] The series stars the bicolor cat Gothball (voiced by John O'Hurley) who interacts with the other characters where he was originally called Gothfield. The series ran from May 1, 2015 to July 3, 2015.
References
edit- ^ "Shows A-Z - stone quackers on fxx - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
- ^ "Understanding the Hushed Beauty of Ben Jones' Duck Stoner Series, 'Stone Quackers' - Splitsider". splitsider.com. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
- ^ "Artist Interview: Ben Jones Jams About Painting, Sculpture And Stone Quackers - Beautiful/Decay". beautifuldecay.com. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
- ^ Blabber, John (October 28, 2014). "Review: Stone Quackers 'Halloween Episode'". Bubbleblabber. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ a b Hannah Stouffer (July 2013). "Ben Jones". Juxtapoz. 20 (150). High Speed Productions: 78–87. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ "Miley Cyrus cameos as a skateboarding heartthrob on Stone Quackers | EW.com". ew.com. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
- ^ Staff writer (December 11, 2013). "Comic O'Connor to record live show at Comedy Attic". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ Keveney, Bill (April 17, 2014). "Fox time-shifts its Animation Domination focus". USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi (May 2, 2014). "Kibbles 'n' Bits 5/2/2014: No More ADHD". Comics Beat. The Beat. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ a b Nadel, Dan (October 24, 2014). "Inhale Exhale". Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ Nadel, Dan (April 4, 2011). "Artistic Modern Funnies: Ben Jones' Problem Solverz". Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on April 7, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ "GOTHBALL TRAILER - YouTube". youtube.com. 24 April 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.