Then, in 1991, Nickelodeon ushered in a new era of groundbreaking animation on TV by launching the networks first three original animated series (Nicktoons): The Ren & Stimpy Show, a show full of crazed energy and gross jokes that followed adventures of a temperamental little Chihuahua and dopey Cat; Rugrats, based on the daily adventures of a group of babies; and Doug, about the friendships and trials of a sweet sixth-grade boy. The trio marked a major shift in kids cartoons.
Chris Viscardi, senior vice president of content development at Nickelodeon, sits on an oversize sofa that's part of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. The sofa is part of the oversized living room meant to give visitors the feeling of being kids again. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
"Those three series really kind of redefined what is animation for kids," said Chris Viscardi, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Content Development, Franchise Properties at Nickelodeon told The Orange County Register. "There was nothing like them on in the kids space at the time." They were edgy and irreverant, with occasional adult humor and occassional vulnerability.
Artwork on display at the “Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation” show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. The exhibit is a collection of art and artifacts from 25 years of Nickelodeon's portfolio of animatied series. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
Now, Nickelodeon and Cal State Fullerton are marking that history with a new exhibit at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" runs from Saturday 16th April to Sunday 22nd May 2016.
(For the uninitiated, "Happy Happy Joy Joy" is the title of a fan-favorite Ren and Stimpy song)
Storyboard drawings from the "Dora the Explorer" series on display at the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. The exhibit is a collection of art and artifacts from 25 years of Nickelodeon's portfolio of animatied series. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
Cal State Fullerton has long had ties to Nickelodeon. CSUF alum Russell Hicks leads content development at the network. Nickelodeon artists have come to the school to give animation students feedback on their work. CSUF students have become Nickelodeon interns. CSUF alumna Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz created one of the network's recent shows, Shimmer and Shine, about twin genie sisters.
Mike McGee, right, director of Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton, with first-year graduate student Amena El-Mekhgiange. Mekhgiange is one of the students who painted the drawings of Nickelodeon artist-animators on the wall at the entrance to Begovich Gallery where the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show is opening Saturday. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
"We've had a great relationship with Cal State Fullerton," Viscardi said. "If we were going to do a retrospective, this was the place where we wanted to do it."
Pencils that form part of the SpongeBob SquarePants sculpture at the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
Be a kid again
For this exhibit, the Begovich gallery has been transformed into a wild mix of color, sound and movement. The show is interactive, informative and educational, as one would expect from a Nickelodeon project, said Mike McGee, director of the Begovich Gallery.
Part of the storyboard for the Fish-N-Chumps episode of "Rocko's Modern Life," an animated series created for Nickelodeon. The storyboard is part of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
White walls have been covered with blue, red, orange and yellow. Adults can be kids again with the over-sized retro living room that starts the exhibit: a huge green couch, giant TV and jumbo cereal box featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles put visitors back into their 8-year-old selves.
Essie Nagler, of the design firm Struck, checks the Rube Goldberg-inspired sculpture titled "Where Do Ideas Come From," by Andrew Smith. The sculpture is part of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
Farther in, a 13-foot tall enraged-looking Squidward Tentacles from SpongeBob SquarePants towers on one wall. A SpongeBob SquarePants sculpture made from almost 6,500 pencils, representing the number of pencils that would be used to create one episode drawn by hand, was commissioned for the show. So was a Rube Goldberg-type invention, a giant head made from industrial scraps and even a discarded French horn, symbolizing the inner workings of an artist's brain.
Character drawings of 'Bessie Higgenbottom' for the pilot episode of animated series "SuperScout", "So Happy Together", at the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. The series was co-created by Amy Poehler and went on to become "The Mighty B!". / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
"The whole focus of the show is about the creative process," from the germ of an idea to loose sketches to storylines and finished art, said Dana Lamb, CSUF Professor emeritus in entertainment art and animation.
When Nickelodeon began building its cartoon lineup, it broke from the norm and the expected, Lamb said. Nickelodeon's cartoons were a new direction, "that definitely was not Disney and not Warner Bros. and not anybody else."
A mural of Squidward Tentacles, from the "SpongeBob SquarePants" animated series, graces a wall at the Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton. It's part of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening on Saturday. The exhibit is a collection of art and artifacts from 25 years of Nickelodeon's portfolio of animatied series. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
Shift in cartoons
The early Nickelodeon cartoons became favorites not just with little kids but teenagers, too, who liked Ren and Stimpy, for example, for its rude humor and high-pitched energy. They were something different than the He-Man and other hero cartoons that preceeded them, Viscardi said.
"A lot of shows that were on TV that were for kids were basically there to sell toys," Viscardi said.
"When Nickelodeon came on the map, they went the opposite direction of that," he said. The network "just had creators bring in their visions for the kind of cartoons they wanted to (create) and stories that they wanted to tell."
Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy and Doug were different from the traditional shows, in no small part because Nickelodeon allowed their creators to have free rein, according to Viscardi.
Dana Lamb, Cal State Fullerton professor emeritus of Entertainment Art and Animation, stands next to a sculpture near the entrance to the Begovich Gallery. The sculpture is part of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening on Saturday at Gallery. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
That's what the Begovich exhibit tries to capture. Original art, sketches, models, notes, even maps of imaginary lands lay out the creative process. For that reason, this is also a show for those interested in animation, whether they're professional animators, students or just fans.
Visitors can flip through show "bibles" from three series: Doug, SpongeBob SquarePants and Rocko's Modern Life, about an Australian wallaby trying to adjust to life in the United States. These are, in essence, the shows' instruction manuals, covering everything from characters' personalities to early sketches and plot outlines.
Struck, the Salt Lake City-based creative firm hired to create the exhibit, has worked in interviews with show creators, character art and storyboard sketches in unique ways. TV screens with interviews are set into giant models of paper scrap sketches. Maquettes, small models of characters, on display will be a rare chance to see the three-dimensional figures animators work with. Art of the worlds Nickelodeon characters inhabit, from Doug Funnies's house to the Shimmer and Shine sisters' bedroom, are also part of the exhibit.
Pencils that form part of the SpongeBob SquarePants sculpture at the "Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation" show opening Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Begovich Gallery. / Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register Staff Photographer
The show ends with clips and art from Nickelodeon's newest animated series. Visitors will get an early look at The Loud House, about a boy with nine sisters and Pinky Malinky about a teenage boy-hotdog who tries to navigate the human world of high school.
After a quarter century and more than 60 animated series, it's a fitting time to look back, for the network but also for those who grew up with Rugrats and the rest, Viscardi said.
"In some ways, they love those shows now just as much as they did when they were kids, which I think is a real testament to Nickelodeon and the creators who made those shows that they last, that they're timeless."
Happy Happy Joy Joy: 25 Years of Creator-Driven Animation
Where: Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Parking at Arts Drive and State College Boulevard, in the Nutwood Parking Structure.
When: Saturday-May 22. Public reception 4-8 p.m. Saturday. Museum hours: noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturday
Cost: Free, parking is $2-8
More info: fullerton.edu/arts
Check out the official 25 Years of Nickelodeon Animation Tumblr blog for more fantastic Nickelodeon memories, and remember to watch all your '90s Nickelodeon favorites on The Splat, your late-night destination for your favorite childhood Nickelodeon cartoons and live-action shows!
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