"Middlemost Post" News & Discussion Thread

[ToonJay723]

Former “SpongeBob SquarePants” storyboard artist John Trabbic III had just gotten a greenlight from Nickelodeon for his own animated series, “Middlemost Post,” about a rain cloud that just wants to make everyone happy, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, forcing Nick to close the studio’s doors and send all its artists home.

But instead of putting production on “Middlemost Post,” or most of its other animated shows, on hold, Nick brass outfitted the staffs with the tools they’d need to keep working.

“The leadership at the studio and on the shows really took the bull by the horns and pivoted very quickly, giving everyone the support they needed to work from home pretty effectively,” says Ramsey Naito, Nick’s exec VP of production and development. “There’s no question that there have been challenges, but the resilience, the determination, the passion for what everybody does really shows, because we’re 100% working from home.”

Naito says things started out with a lot of trial and error, logistically, “but we really pulled it together within a couple of weeks. We got computers out the door to everyone who needed them,” making sure everyone had VPN connections, troubleshooting internet problems and ensuring teams could stay in contact.

It seems to be working. Between 17 and 25 shows are currently in production remotely. Not only that, but Nick is adding workers. “We’ve hired 60-plus people over the last nine weeks, all remotely,” Naito says. Some of those folks are working on “Middlemost Post.”

It was just Trabbic and writer and co-executive producer Dave Johnson at first. “I think our actual start date was about a week before quarantine,” Trabbic recalls. “Then we started hiring people, and the show was birthed in quarantine.” Adds Johnson: “I have a staff of writers that literally haven’t met each other in real life, and we’re two months in.”

They may not have met in person, but the writers and artists are getting a good start on the show’s first episodes. Nickelodeon has ordered 20 half-hour installments, which it hopes to air sometime next year.

Along with Parker J. Cloud, an exuberant rain cloud that helps deliver mail for the Middlemost Post Office, the show features rule-abiding mailman Angus and their pet walrus, Russell. “It’s a chance for us to just let our imaginations go wild,” Trabbic says.

“This show, when [Trabbic] first pitched it to us, just was so unique,” Naito says. “It had all the qualities we look for. It was character driven. It had an ensemble that illustrated a really comedic relationship, with a backdrop that was fun and exciting. [And] it really feels original.”

Adds Johnson: “Parker is just a kid who’s learning life, but he [wears his] emotions on his sleeve, and because he’s a cloud, he’s pliable and can transform.”

The animators at Nick know exactly how Parker feels.

SOURCE

 

[SweetShop209]

Well, this sounds interesting.

 

[Perla Magica]

The real question is: will this new cartoon be as successful as Spongebob and The Loud House?

Judging by the character designs I doubt on this.

 

[Ghoster1987]

so i'm guessing this was the "untitled 2D animated series" that was on Nickelodeon animation's job listings

But i'm glad that something original is coming out from Nick. Even if this show is not going be good. At least it tells me the new management is willing to give new original Nicktoons a chance hopefully. Which before this announcement i was questioning on why are they greenlighting shows based on other IP like Star Trek, Garfield, and Big Nate for some reason and dumping the Cyma-greenlit stuff like Glitch Techs and who knows what happened to the Wonder Park series.

 

[RainbowCupcake]

This could be cute. The character designs remind me a little of Bunsen is a Beast. I can't wait to see it come out

 

[ToonsJazzLover]

This is the 5th cartoon to be ordered that was created by a SpongeBob artist after Chowder/Harvey Beaks, The Mighty B! And Billy Dilley.

It actually feel like a Nicktoon as it got a unique character design/art style and premise that already win me over right off the bat. Glad to see Nick is still thriving on original cartoons. Sure they had a rough decade in the 2010s but that was all Cyma’s fault. For those who are doubting on Nick Animation Reinssance, give them a chance (minus SpongeBob spin-offs, even if the CGI animation in KK might be good). I wish this happened sooner when cable ratings aren’t at an all time low, but Nick is making a much needed comeback

 

[Zanneck]

No confidence from me. It just feels like another Spongebob clone, just like Pinky Malinky secretly was. We need so much less of that, now more than ever.

I'd rather any of the following actually get made into shows, in its place (preferably on Netflix, where they'll get treated better and last longer - I'll never forget that Harvey Beaks, Welcome to the Wayne, It’s Pony!, and Glitch Techs still deserve to be treated better than they were, too.):
* Harpy Gee
* Planet Panic
* Monsters Abroad

All better choices over what's shaping up to be just another Spongebob clone, unfortunately. To be fair, those should have been on streaming services like Netflix, where they'd last longer and get better treatment, too.

At least it'll have more energy to it than The Loud House, but that's easy to pull off when you're not forced to actually develop your characters over time and make them more relatable to your audience with each new episode / season (something TLH actually does right in later seasons for me, specifically with the Sisters, Rita, and Lynn Sr., anyway...).

 

[90'sKid]

Looks like another "Lolsocrazyrandoms" type show with an obnoxious perpetually happy protagonist.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[SweetShop209]

Chris Battle is doing character designs for the series. He's worked on shows and movies like Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls 1998, Xiaolin Showdown, El Tigre, Dan Vs, Teen Titans Go, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs, Scooby Doo Frankencreepy, and Phineas And Ferb Candace Against The Universe.

 

[Ghostbuster]

John Trabbic III has been named as one of Variety's Top 10 animators to watch!

John Trabbic
“Middlemost Post”

Feeling trapped in his job as a journeyman carpenter, Trabbic “quit my job and decided to pursue my dream of animation.” “I cut my teeth” working on the pilot for “Chosen” at Floyd County Prods. That led to “Pig Goat Banana Cricket” and then to Nickelodeon where he worked on “SpongeBob SquarePants” for four years as a storyboard director on more than 30 episodes. “The cartoon-ness and the wackiness and the homage to the old school Looney Toons, stretchy, squashy animation seemed to be kind of more in my wheelhouse,” he says, recalling a past boss reprimanding him for drawing “too wonky.” “My instincts are to go cartoony and draw in that kind of fashion versus realistic, tight and clean.” And that is what he loves about his latest show, “Middlemost Post,” which he is working on for Nickelodeon to air next year. To Trabbic, a recovering addict, the story about a “reformed rain cloud, who doesn’t want to rain on people any more, he just wants to brighten people’s days,” is also about his own evolution. Besides the animation, “it leans into humor and I am incorporating stop-motion sets.”

Among his heroes are Tex Avery, “one of my favorites, he’s my hero,” he says, while others are “Sergio Aragones, he’s the guy who did ‘Groo’ and Mad magazine; Basil Wolverton, another Mad magazine guy. My dad was big into the alternative comics, the ’70s [Fabulous Furry] Freak brothers and hippy-type stuff and that’s what I gravitate toward because that’s what my dad was into and that’s what he just had laying around the house versus like superheroes and stuff.”

And bringing it full circle, Trabbic has been showing his 10-year-old son his animation. “What better way to test your stuff on somebody than to show your own kid. He’s the audience, you know.”

 

[SweetShop209]

Jessica McGinnis is a background painter for the show.


Here's the screenshot of her resume from her website.

 

[SweetShop209]

It looks like the show will come out in the summer.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Nick Animation recently rebranded their YouTube page, offeriing a first look at Middlemost Post!:

 

[SmileyToonatic]

Nick Animation recently rebranded their YouTube page, offeriing a first look at Middlemost Post!:

Wow! Haven’t been on these threads in ages! Feels good to be back!

Anyways, Middlemost Post, from the looks of it, is promising. I love the designs, first and foremost. Knowing that the creator of the show, John Trabbic, who was also a storyboard artist on SpongeBob SquarePants, gives us some insight of what we’re in for. His trademark wacky style is definitely here! I love his expressive work! Plus this is the third show we got from a SpongeBob crew member (C.H. Greenblatt’s Chowder and Erik Wiese’s The Mighty B!) and I loved both of those! Middlemost Post could be the next Chowder and Mighty B! Fingers crossed!

 

[Ghoster1987]

I wonder if Middlemost Post is animated with ToonBoom or traditional 2S animation outsourced to korea or both like PGBC which was kind of jarring

 

[ToonJay723]

I wonder if Middlemost Post is animated with ToonBoom or traditional 2S animation outsourced to korea or both like PGBC which was kind of jarring

You can do hand drawn animation on ToonBoom and Flash. There's hand drawn on paper, hand drawn on tablet, and puppet rigs.

 

[SweetShop209]

The show comes out in July.

You are being redirected...

 

[SweetShop209]

Malcolm Pryor is working on the show.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Pryor created finalized character turnarounds and expression cycles for the series. https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-pryor-9446451b3/

 

[TrustyCranberry]

wondering if the viacomcbs upfront on the 19th will reveal any more footage or information regarding its premiere date, i have a feeling it'll be largely ignored in favour of paramount+/rugrats/whatever else but a man can dream