Oddballs (TV series)
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Oddballs | |
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Genre | |
Created by |
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Voices of |
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Composer | Ben Bromfield |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Editor | Megan McShane |
Running time | 15–17 minutes |
Production company | Netflix Animation |
Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | October 7, 2022 February 24, 2023 | –
Oddballs is an American animated sitcom created by James Rallison and Ethan Banville. The series debuted on October 7, 2022.[3][4][5] The show features a total of twelve 15–17 minute episodes in its first season, and eight in the second and final season, which was released on February 24, 2023.
Premise
[edit]Oddballs takes place in the fictional town of Dirt, Arizona. It follows James, a bubble-shaped kid who goes on bizarre adventures with his best friends; a dim-witted crocodile named Max, and, as of the 4th episode, a time-travelling girl named Echo. During each episode, James's rants and questioning of social norms often end up in a disaster.[3]
Cast and characters
[edit]- James Rallison as:
- James, a fictionalized version of Rallison, resembles Rallison's avatar on his YouTube channel. He is a bubble-shaped teenage boy who enjoys insane misadventures and going on rants, including subjects like toasters, trophies and line-cutting.
- Sagu, a talking cactus that houses James' trailer/treehouse.
- Julian Gant as Max, an anthropomorphic and dim-witted crocodile who is a failed genetic experiment gifted with human intelligence and voice, James's next-door neighbour and best friend. He was previously seen in the music video for Rallison and David Brown's song "Life Is Fun".
- Kimberly Brooks as Echo, a time-travelling teenage girl who comes from the future and loves eating food, as she comes from a future where processed food went extinct as the result of James and Max's action of giving sentience to Toasty/Declan. Although best friends with James and Max, she sometimes clashes with the former due to her egotism and not believing that she's from the future.
- Carl Faruolo as:
- Greg, Max's father.
- Stuart, a stereotypical bully slime blob who is capable of possessing people and a proficient chess player.
- Erika Ishii as:
- Jenna, Max's sister works at the "You Break, I Don't Judge" electronics repair shop.
- Liv, Max's mother shows a cold and calculating demeanor towards him.
- Scott Menville as Toasty / Declan, an artificially intelligent toaster created by James and Max who becomes evil.
- Kari Wahlgren as young Toasty
- Harland Williams as Patrick, James' father who is usually mild-mannered and submissive.
- Debra Wilson as Louise, James' mother who is an astrophysicist, shows a stricter attitude towards her son.
- Gary Anthony Williams as Mr. McFly, an anthropomorphic fly teacher at the Dirt school.
- Nicolas Cantu as:
- Smooth/Wrinkly Jason.
- Emily Eiden as Maz Scare-Ah, a goth unicorn.
- Fred Stoller as Food-Ball Joe.
- Parvesh Cheena as Principal Loudspeaker.
- Stephen Stanton as Chef Throgbort.
- Misty Lee as Roxanne.
- Paul Rugg as Doctor Bolster.
- Bob Bergen as Geefus.
- Jane Lynch as Grand-Ma.
- Ethan Banville as Bob Awman.
- Courtenay Taylor as Doctor Squats.
- Ryan George as Byron Sellers.
Production
[edit]In early 2020, James Rallison and Ethan Banville pitched their new series to Netflix, which was subsequently picked up by the streaming service in August of the same year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, the entire production of the show was done remotely. Despite this, the first season of the show was set to premiere later in the year, as Rallison announced in a video. In September 2022, the official trailer for the first season was released on various YouTube channels, along with an official release date of October 7. Rallison also uploaded a video detailing the process of pitching the show and creating its screenwriting bible. The second season of the show was announced in January 2023, with an official trailer released shortly after and the season airing on February 24 of the same year. The show was animated using ToonBoom, with Hallis Blaney serving as animation director. However, in May 2023, Banville announced the cancellation of the show and the release of a graphic novel called Oddballs: The Graphic Novel, which features five stories originally intended for the show. Ultimately, Oddballs ran for just 20 episodes and two seasons on Netflix before its cancellation.[6]
Episodes
[edit]Series overview
[edit]Season 1 (2022)
[edit]{{Episode table |background=#4E5871 |overall= |season= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |released=y |episodes=
11"Raising Toasty"Carl FaruoloJames Rallison, Ethan Banville & Carl FaruoloOctober 7, 2022
22"Breaking and Entering"Jouchelle MirandaJames Rallison, Ethan Banville & Carl FaruoloOctober 7, 2022
33"Wanted Dead or a Fly"Annisa Adjani & Sarah SohDarin HenryOctober 7, 2022
44"Line Cutters"Chelsea KerDarin HenryOctober 7, 2022
55"Boy with Two Brains"Sarah SohEthan BanvilleOctober 7, 2022
66"Emo Like the Wolfstank"Annisa AdjaniNick LopezOctober 7, 2022
77"Behind Frenemy Lines"Jouchelle MirandaValencia ParkerOctober 7, 2022
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 8
|EpisodeNumber2 = 8
|Title = Pillow Fight Club
|DirectedBy = Jouchelle Miranda
|WrittenBy = Darin Henry
|OriginalAirDate = October 7, 2022
|ShortSummary = On the advice of Dr. Bolster, the parents of Dirt decide to ban all risky activities, preventing the kids from releasing their energy through play causing Max to rage out as unable to destress.James, Max and Echo decide to have pillow fights in secret in order to have an outlet. They soon decide to bring the other kids into the group and start an underground pillow fight club in the RV. Unfortunately, Max's parents eventually discover his involvement and take him to Dr. Bolster's laboratory, where he is held captive. James and Echo assemble a squad called "Pillow Team Six" to rescue him from the lab. Using their pillow fighting skills, they infiltrate the lab and reach the area where Max is being held. There they are confronted by their parents and Dr. Bolster. Before they are captured, James throws his special pillow to break the glass suspension tank where Max is being held, freeing him. Max, now enraged from having been unable to destress causing him to turn into a {Hulk}-{like} {monster}, starts destroying the lab and attacking Dr. Bolster and his guards. The squad fights Max with their pillows in order to make him calm down. Their parents, having watched the situation unfold, decide to abandon Dr. Bolster's advice and join in the pillow fight.
|LineColor = 4E5871
}}
99"Grandma's Boy"Chelsea KerKathleen Chen & Brian PolkOctober 7, 2022
1010"Blood Excuse"Jouchelle MirandaNick LopezOctober 7, 2022
1111"Almost Home Alone"Annisa AdjaniDarin HenryOctober 7, 2022
1212"Nugget Nonsense"Annisa AdjaniNick LopezOctober 7, 2022
}}
Season 2 (2023)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1 | "The Show Mustn't Go On" | Annisa Adjani | Nick Lopez | February 24, 2023 | |
After watching a biographical musical about the Statue of Liberty, James expresses dislike at it and, to prove his point that people would like anything with the right hype, starts a bet with Echo to create a musical of his own. Basing his musical on Benjamin Franklin and his kite experiment, James (going under the alias Biff Granwell Bonanza) is overcome with his "genius" to the point where he becomes the main and only star of the musical. Although the theater is packed on the day of the musical, the audience ends up seeing it as a comedy and walk off to watch the Statue of Liberty musical again. James, who spent all the money on the musical, ends up having his teeth extracted by Echo as payment for the bet. | ||||||
14 | 2 | "Partners" | Annisa Adjani | Jennifer Burton & Darin Henry | February 24, 2023 | |
Mr. McFly starts a class experiment where pairs of students take care of a baby (in the form of a bag of flour), promising a pizza party as a prize. Despite James wanting to work with Max, the latter bails on him due to fear of messing up the task - as a result, James is paired with a slug named Irma who mishandles the baby and Max is paired with a student named Acorn. After Irma leaves him for Stuart, James attempts to raise the baby by himself, impressing Max. However, a short blackout ensues, during which Max and Acorn's baby is destroyed. Although James is blamed for the baby's "death", the class finds out that the pizza boxes Mr. McFly had prepared were empty - unable to afford a pizza party, Mr. McFly destroyed Max and Acorn's baby after Max left James, whom McFly thought he could rely on them, to ensure that the class fails. He apologizes and uses all of his money to hold a pizza party for the class, during which James forgives Acorn and James and Max's friendship is renewed. | ||||||
15 | 3 | "School Poolers" | Jouchelle Miranda | Darin Henry | February 24, 2023 | |
After missing the school bus, James and Max find an abandoned golf cart. Naming it Dumpy, they let their classmates hitch rides on the golf cart through a "school pool" system, only to soon grow tired due to increasing demands. The next day, while attempting to tell their classmates the school pool is cancelled, Stuart arrives in a buggy and James challenges him to a race. While stealing Echo's pulse generator that she has created to defend them from Toasty, to boost Dumpy's power, James injures his foot and Max ends up driving Dumpy during the race. Although the pulse generator helps them win, Dumpy crashes and is destroyed, causing James and Max to start riding the school bus again; despite that, they are relieved to see Stuart suffering with his own school pool system. | ||||||
16 | 4 | "Body Swap" | Jouchelle Miranda | Megan Gonzalez | February 24, 2023 | |
When James stands up to Stuart for bullying Mr. McFly, Stuart invites him to a fight after school. An anxious James attempts to use Echo's body swap technology to make Max switch bodies with Echo, although Echo ends up distracted by food. James soon finds out that Max switched bodies with Mr. McFly, who is now in Echo's body. James brings Mr. McFly to Stuart's fight, only to find out that Stuart wasn't arranging a fight against James - instead, Stuart wanted to team up with James to fight some girl scouts he angered. Mr. McFly flees from the battle and James and Stuart are beat up by the girl scouts. After the battle, James restores everyone back to their own bodies and finds out he has detention for fighting. In retaliation, James switches bodies with Echo, much to her dismay. | ||||||
17 | 5 | "The Class Act" | Chelsea Ker | Reese Harvey | February 24, 2023 | |
Revolved by teachers eating snacks confiscated from students, James organizes a heist with Max to steal the snacks back from the teachers' lounge. However, during the heist, James is mistaken for a substitute teacher due to a fake mustache accidentally created by a stain of chocolate milk. He is sent to take care of a kindergarten class, and impressed by his tactics to calm down the class, Principal Loudspeaker makes him Teacher of the Month. A jealous Mr. McFly sends Stuart to James' class, and despite Stuart causing trouble at first, James successfully manages to get Stuart on his side after telling him about the confiscated snacks. He starts another heist involving Stuart and Max, but gets caught. James confronts Mr. McFly, resulting in a touched Principal Loudspeaker lifting the ban on snacks. Echo then arrives to fly James away from the school. | ||||||
18 | 6 | "Moral Report" | Chelsea Ker | Pang-ni L. Vogt & Aaron Vaccaro | February 24, 2023 | |
James, obsessed with a maze on a cereal box, expresses his disdain for oral reports. For a class assignment, he makes one up about Dirt's secret treasure and uses the cereal box's maze as a reference. He ends up causing Mr. McFly, and soon most of Dirt, to start a treasure hunt. While planting fake treasure with Max, James finds a treasure chest with real gold inside. However, Captain Fibeard, the cereal's mascot, chases them. He and the rest of Dirt corner James and Max on the edge of a cliff, causing James to confess about the treasure being made up. Captain Fibeard is revealed to be Mr. McFly, who was aware of James' made up report due to him liking the same cereal brand. James is given a perfect score for the confession (which ended up serving as an oral report) and he and Max head home while Mr. McFly is cornered for assisting James' lie. | ||||||
19 | 7 | "Mayor Max" | Annisa Adjani | Anna Salinas | February 24, 2023 | |
James, Max, and Echo are disappointed to find the fireworks festival cancelled, and head to the mayor's office to protest. There, they learn that the mayor is a dog named Snuffles who refuses to approve the festival, due to the fact that dogs find fireworks scary. James and Max end up running a mayoral campaign for the latter, successfully overthrowing Snuffles. However, Max, seemingly greedy with power, starts acting like a dictator and refuses to approve the festival, causing James to attempt to conspire with Snuffles to ruin Max's reputation by revealing his secret. Instead, James finds out that Max was planning a firework festival all along using Dirt's rarely-used missile defense system. Snuffles, wanting to assassinate Max, uses a satellite's laser to attack; in retaliation, James directs the missiles to the satellite, successfully stopping Snuffles' attack while making fireworks that impress Dirt's citizens, although half of the Moon is destroyed in the process. Elsewhere, at the bread factory, Toasty attaches himself to a robotic body he created, planning revenge on James and Max. | ||||||
20 | 8 | "Toasty's Goodbye" | Chelsea Ker | James Rallison, Ethan Banville & Carl Faruolo | February 24, 2023 | |
Toasty, who has aged into a teen, learnt to talk, and chose the name Declan, attacks Dirt and confronts James and Max. James attempts to bring back Declan as a son again, and it works out well until Declan remembers their original intention to use him to create the perfect toast when they attempt to serve him breakfast, who then plans to bring all appliances to life. After Declan flees, James and Max read a toaster manual, learning that Declan's weakness comes in the form of a round object. While gathering round objects around the city, they are ambushed by Declan, who is joined by other appliances brought alive through the power of his smart chip, and a fight ensues. Echo is forced to join James and Max in the fight after Declan destroys the food she was collecting. They soon find out that bagels are Declan's weaknesses, and corner him at the bread factory. Declan ends up creating the "perfect" toast during a confrontation and James quickly feeds it to Declan in a last-ditch attempt before he can annihilate him, making him change his ways and swear to focus on making the perfect toast for the world, once again accepting the name Toasty. Before he can do so, though, Max kills him anyways with a bagel despite Toasty's change of heart. James and Max, apparently having not learned their lesson, then attach Toasty's memory card to a waffle maker, and take it in as their son instead, seemingly re-causing the same chaos that Toasty would have caused, which is proven when another person from the future named Harmony appears, but Echo kicks him back in the portal for later, saying she hates spoilers. |
References
[edit]- ^ "Youtube Creator James Rallison's Animated Series 'Oddballs' to Premiere on Netflix in 2022". Netflix Media Center (Press release). June 23, 2022.
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (January 18, 2023). "Netflix Kids Dates Adam Sandler Movie 'Leo,' 'Magician's Elephant' & More for 2023". Animation Magazine.
- ^ a b Lang, Jamie (June 23, 2022). "'Oddballs' Series Coming To Netflix From Youtube Creator James Rallison". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ "Netflix orders Oddballs series". Advanced Television. June 23, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ TheOdd1sOut (September 16, 2022). Oddballs – Official Trailer. Retrieved September 16, 2022 – via YouTube.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Banville, Ethan (May 21, 2023). "Oddballs Graphic Novel! and Odd BTS - The Show Mustn't Go On". Youtube.
External links
[edit]- 2022 American television series debuts
- 2023 American television series endings
- 2020s American animated television series
- American children's animated adventure television series
- American children's animated comedy television series
- American English-language television shows
- Netflix children's programming
- Television series based on Internet-based works
- Television series by Netflix Animation
- Television series impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Television shows set in Arizona