PANIC AT THE D.I.S.C.O.

It’s all liquid in the end

Sometimes in this profession you find yourself caught up in one of those weird gigs where the vibe is just… unique. The working experience is just… cool. And your collaborators are just… right.

This was one of those. And you’ve probably never even heard of it.

I wonder how many folks these days even remember Liquid Television? For those of you that don’t, it was a weekly (I think) half-hour show that aired on MTV in the early 1990’s -- y’know, back when we all actually watched MTV -- that featured what I guess you could call “alternative” animation. Personally, I never really sat through a single episode, but to give it its proper due, it eventually spawned things that achieved more significant cultural impact like Beavis & Butthead and Aeon Flux.

In the early 2010’s, there was a fairly weak attempt to bring back Liquid TV. I call it “weak” because I honestly have no idea how they were going to bring it back (or who “they” even were). It was going to air on MTV, of course… but I vaguely recall that it also had an online component (as most things tended to). I do remember that they were trying to do it on the cheap. And, by “cheap”, I mean they didn’t want to spend any money whatsoever, if they could help it.

That brings us to the creative partnership between my own bad self, cartoonist Jim Mahfood and Scott Mosier… which quickly birthed the bizarre, animated extravaganza that was D.I.S.C.O. DESTROYER.

For die hard comicbook readers, Jim Mahfood should be a name you already know. If you don’t, then learn it. For movie fans, you might know Scott Mosier from his pivotal role producing the first decade or so of Kevin Smith’s films, from Clerks to Zack & Miri Make a Porno, as well as his work as one of Kevin’s early podcasting partners. He was also one of the directors on the Grinch animated feature.

I’ve known Mahfood for more than a quarter of a century now. We’ve collaborated on a few comicbook projects over the years -- from Spider-Man to Miami Vice Remix to Marijuanaman to Captain Victory -- and I consider myself lucky to count him as a friend. Mosier, I met through Mahfood, and he and I hit it off right away. Mosier is a real “no bullshit”-type of guy and that’s always going to appeal to me. The two of them had been working together on an animated series pitch for Disney… one that ultimately didn’t get picked up. Having had my fair share of projects that fell through, I could certainly relate. We were all in the mood to actually make something, so this Liquid TV opportunity seemed perfect for us.

The initial idea was Mahfood’s, with Mosier and I pitching in mightily to help build out the characters and the strange, surreal, 1970’s exploitation, demon-infested, muscle car world they would live in. After we wrote two short scripts, the three of us sat together in Mahfood’s Hollywood apartment, hand-drawing the loose storyboards that covered every single shot (of both episodes).

We quickly assembled a voice cast made up of a handful of our local actor friends and recorded/directed them ourselves. Mosier cut together the storyboards with the voice recordings on his computer at home to create complete, timed animatics. We gave those animatics to Titmouse, our favorite animation studio in Los Angeles. At that point, Mahfood really went to work, drawing his ass off to give the Titmouse crew the raw art materials needed to fully animate the scenes.

Seeing Mahfood’s art “move” on the screen was a huge thrill for me, personally. Oftentimes, an original artist’s work -- especially when it’s so detailed -- needs to be simplified and, quite often, sanitized and homogenized (to its detriment) in order to be properly -- or more easily, in most cases -- animated. But not in this case. Titmouse went above and beyond to maintain the authenticity of Mahfood’s linework. I mean, the finished product really looks like a Jim Mahfood comicbook (as opposed to a watered-down version of it). That, in itself, is an accomplishment I’m extremely proud of.

It was one of those times when the collaborative experience was so good and so fulfilling, I almost didn’t care what the ultimate outcome was. At least, that’s what I try to tell myself, considering how it did end up.

And now, for your unique viewing pleasure, here’s the first episode of D.I.S.C.O. DESTROYER…

From what I understand, the two shorts we made aired during the first two episodes of the relaunched Liquid Television on MTV. Of course, as I indicated earlier… no one was really watching MTV back in 2013. And while it says the episodes streamed on Hulu, I have no evidence that it ever did.

As for the animation itself, the budget limitations led us all in a stylistic direction that I actually got a big kick out of. The most recent example of the style of show we thought we could pull off had been Adult Swim’s Minoriteam from the previous decade (which, in itself, was an homage to both Jack Kirby’s artwork and the old Marvel Super Heroes animated show from the 1960’s -- a favorite of my comicbook-obsessed generation). It worked exceptionally well when it came to preserving Mahfood’s art in animation.

And for anyone who thinks I would dare to deprive you of the other episode we made… perish the thought. I mean, would I do that? Of course not. So feast your eyes on this very un-PC display of animated entertainment…

So, we made the thing and we all dug it. It was the entire Liquid TV endeavor that ended up going nowhere. Big shocker there. Once again, MTV in general was already dying a sad, slow death (in fact, I think the final death rattle occurred just recently).

But since our deal specified that the three of us owned the rights to our material, we eventually took it to a big streamer where -- despite the well-known, starf**king tendencies of the specific executive that worked there (at that time) -- we thought we might have a decent shot at selling it and making it into a series. But, of course, we ran into the problem you often do with starf**kers… they’re still f**kers. I mean, it’s right there in the word we label them with. And this guy was, true to form, as limp dicked at this streamer as he was at the other studios he had previously worked at.

(as you might have gleaned from the previous paragraph… but when I dredge up that particular memory, I’m still a little bitter about it.)

I dunno, guys. I thought it would’ve been a fun series. But at least Mahfood, Mosier and I had a good laugh making it. Sometimes, that’s the best you can hope for…

Joe Casey

USA