Both animated series were originally produced for Nickelodeon channels, but premiered on Netflix as part of multi-year partnership between both companies. This marks the official Nickelodeon debut for both shows.
Nickelodeon España starting to air Pinky Malinky and Glitch Techs seems quite a sudden decision, especially for Nickelodeon, as they're crediting Cartoon Network Studios for the former:
Pinky Malinky is a fly-on-the-wall reality show that follows the everyday life of Pinky, an infectiously positive hot dog living in a human world. With his best friends Babs and JJ by his side, Pinky reaches for the stars in the small town of Sackenhack. Through his good spirits and sausage sensibilities, Pinky proves that a "wiener" is only one small letter away from being a "WINNER!"
Who knows what really happens when a video game starts to glitch? In Glitch Techs, two teens work at a game store as a front for their actual job: Hunting video game monsters who've broken out into the real world for a super secret task force, The Monster Hunters! Nickelodeon's animated adventure-comedy series follows two newly recruited kids as they battle video game monsters that come to life in the real world.
Stream a Mountain of Entertainment, including your Nickelodeon favorites on Paramount+! Try it FREE at ParamountPlus.com!
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has announced the exciting news that they'll be honoring Nickelodeon's popular animated series Glitch Techs, along with co-creators Eric Robles and Dan Milano, actor Zehra Fazal, who voices Zahra in the show, and writer David Anaxagoras as part of the 2021 MPAC Media Awards!
Now in its 29th year, MPAC’s annual Media Awards celebrates members of the entertainment industry, artists, and activists who promote inclusion and social justice through their craft.
Glitch Techs is one of the most diverse series ever produced by Nickelodeon Animation. The series features a strong female Muslim recurring character, Zahra, who provides inspiration to young Muslim audiences who finally see themselves reflected in an animated character. With so many young children at home throughout the pandemic, Glitch Techs is a fun, action-packed, inclusive, family-friendly show for the entire family.
“When you see Zahra, you don’t think of her as “the Muslim one”, you think of her as the sarcastic one, the cool one - who happens to be Muslim. And that is the goal” — ZEHRA FAZAL
Glitch Techs features a diverse cast, including a Muslim-American female character, Zahra. When developing Glitch Techs, Dan Milano and Eric Robles wanted characters that represented the audience it was meant for, so someone can see themselves onscreen. -
“True growth and learning happens when you’re surrounded by different perspectives. It’s so important to me to see people of my background not made foreign. We’re American.” — ZEHRA FAZAL
MPAC will celebrate members of the entertainment industry, artists, and activists who promote inclusion and social justice at a free virtual event, taking place on Saturday, March 20 at 5pm PT. To RSVP, visit: https://www.mpachollywoodbureau.org/events.
"Our honorees have done so by advancing authentic portrayals of Islam and Muslims, increasing understanding by reflecting the realities we live in, and by inspiring action and movements for social change," said MPAC. "Now in its 29th year, the Media Awards continues to honor innovative voices of courage and conscience who act boldly and intentionally in this critical time in history."
A massive congrats to everyone who worked on the show!
Congrats to Glitch Techs for winning the MPAC's Voices of Courage and Confidence award for it’s Muslim representation in the character Zahra!
In the early '10s, Nickelodeon had a very popular massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) called Monkey Quest. Launched in April 2011, the free-to-play game allowed players to create a monkey warrior avatar and gear up for battle as they embarked on an epic adventure, fighting evil monsters bent on stopping them from completing quests, joining tribes, and ultimately unlocking the secrets of the legendary Monkey King and saving Ook. The game amassed over 10 million registered users, and was so popular that Nickelodeon once planned to produce an animated series based on the title!
In 2012, Nickelodeon turned to Glitch Techs co-creators Eric Robles and Dan Milano to adapt the online game into an animated series - in fact, it's how Robles and Milano first met! During their time working on the Monkey Quest animated series, Robles shared his concept materials for a show about kids who use technology to capture digital creatures that escape from video games. Milano immediately became obsessed with that idea and together they formed a fast partnership, developing the concept into a 22-minute series for Nickelodeon Animation.
Drawing on their mutual love of Saturday morning cartoons, video games, Ghostbusters (Milano kept an arsenal of full-sized Ghostbusters equipment props handy in his office!), toys, and adventure films they soon brought their enthusiasm to both the Nickelodeon Artists Collective and their own custom think tank of show collaborators. By opening their creativity up to the input of others, they vastly expanded the potential for the show’s world, characters, and themes — raising the quality of the project to something they both felt was new, exciting, and challenging.
Unfortunately, in September 2014, Nickelodeon decided to close down Monkey Quest so that they could focus on other digital and mobile experiences. And it seems like the Monkey Quest cartoon series met the same fate. However, Robles has been sharing some awesome development and concept art from his time working on the animated series Monkey Quest on Twitter!
While we unfortunately never got to see the Monkey Quest animated series, fans can stream Glitch Techs on Netflix!
Would you have liked to have seen a Monkey Quest animated series? Let me know in the comments!
Sue Obeidi, one of the special consultants for Nickelodeon's popular animated series Glitch Techs, has revealed on Twitter that the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) will be announcing "some exciting news" about the series next week! The show's producers consulted with MPAC and Obeidi when they decided to add Zahra to the show's cast early in the development season one:
Episode 001: Age of Hinobi | Glitch Techs Rewatch Podcast
"In our inaugural episode, show creators Eric Robles and Dan Milano, and consultant Gabe Swarr, chat about how they created the show, the development process, and then we dive in to watch the show and discuss all the behind the scenes moments."
Eric Robles is treating fans of Glitch Techs by releasing the unpublished Glitch Techs Manual show bible that he and his Glitch Techs co-creator Dan Milano created for the show! Robles will be releasing new pages all week on his official Twitter account @LegitEricRobles. Check out the first pages below, and make sure to catch Nickelodeon's Glitch Techs on Netflix!
Originally published: Monday, January 11, 2021.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and Glitch Techs News and Highlights!
Originally published: Tuesday, December 08, 2020.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickmas on Nickelodeon and Glitch Techs News and Highlights!
The NickALive! Awards 2020 are here, celebrating the best of Nickelodeon in 2020!
In today's spotlight, we're taking a look at the "Best New Animated Series" category, giving fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite new animated series that premiered on a Nickelodeon channel in 2020! The nominees are: It's Pony, Glitch Techs (Netflix) and Ollie's Pack.
Vote in the polling gadget below, and make sure to tell me how you voted in the comments below!:
Composing Music for Cartoons (How to have a career) - Webinar / Q&A w/ Brad Breeck
Join Glitch Techs composer Brad Breeck for a Webinar and Q&A about composing music for animation.
"In this webinar I’ll focus on career stuff:
- How to prepare for a career in music composition for media
- Some paths into a career as a media composer
Some topics:
- My musical background and education
- How I got my first jobs as a composer and how I’ve build my career
- What the day to day is for a TV animation composer is
- What skills an aspiring media composer needs to develop
- My suggestions for some ways to break into the industry
I’ll be monitoring the chat as best I can so I can answer your questions and have a dialog.
Glee star Jane Lynch has been involved in a feud with Australian shock jock Kyle Sandilands for years - without even knowing it.
The actor appeared KIIS FM's Kyle And Jackie O Show on Tuesday to discuss her new documentary, Meet The Chimps, but was caught off-guard when Kyle brought up their so-called rivalry.
Sandilands explained that during his days judging Australian Idol, he was regularly nominated by Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Australia for being the best TV villain.
Jane, who played the villainous gym teacher Sue Sylvester on Glee, was also nominated for the award on several occasions.
'[Jane], would lose out here [in Australia] on the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards because I was on Idol at the same time as the 'nasty judge', and they'd always play you and I off against each other,' Kyle explained.
'And then I would win and I'd be like, "Oh, Jane's livid! Lynch is crazed, she hates me for it!" But you never would have even known,' Kyle mused.
'I had no idea. I forgive you for any horrible thoughts you've had about me,' joked Jane.
Bemused, Kyle's co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson interjected: 'I love that you won "the best villain" [award] Kyle. But Jane was just acting a villain, whereas you are the villain!'
Tongue-in-cheek: 'Yes you are, you are Australia's villain. I'm actually a very nice person,' Jane joked
'Yes you are, you are Australia's villain. I'm actually a very nice person,' Jane joked.
Meanwhile, Emmy Award-winner Jane is hot on the promotional trail for Meet The Chimps, a six-part documentary series that explores one of the largest chimpanzee sanctuaries in the world, Chimp Haven.
The series is narrated by Jane, and is streaming exclusively on Disney+.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2021 News and Highlights!
Could Nickelodeon have been planning a crossover between Glitch Techs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Update (9/13) -Glitch Techs co-creator Eric Robles has confirmed that a Glitch Techs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover was planned! Titled "Glitchy Mutant Ninja Turtles" (#209), the unproduced episode features TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman as the voice of Shredder, Glitch Mutant and "Booming Voice"!:
In a recent tweet, cartoonist Dan Milano (Greg the Bunny, Warren the Ape), a co-creator of Glitch Techs hinted that a Glitch Techs/Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover was planned at one stage!
A little history about Glitch Techs: when Nickelodeon originally picked up the show in 2016, they initially ordered 20 episodes for season one. The series then got picked up for an additional 10 episodes. These 10 episodes were written, storyboarded and designed before Nickelodeon placed on the show on hiatus, so unfortunately never got animated and are sitting inside Nickelodeon’s server. However, if enough people watch Glitch Techs, which finally debuted on Netflix in February, there is a chance the remaining episodes will be made.
Whilst retweeting a piece Glitch Techs fan art, Dan mentioned "All I can say is peeps r really gonna want those currently unfinished eps of ours to get produced. Thx for this awesome art!!!"
What makes Dan's comment more interesting is that the fan art features Donnie from Rise of the TMNT as a Glitch Tech.
Could this mean that a Glitch Techs/RTMNT was once planned by Nickelodeon? It's certainly not impossible, looking at the facts:
-- Both shows are animated by Flying Bark Productions
-- Both shows shared some of the same staff whilst in production at Nickelodeon Animation.
-- Nickelodeon is producing a Rise of the TMNT animated movie for Netflix.
- TMNT (as a franchise) has crossed over with other franchises before, including Batman and Power Rangers.
Even if there was Rise of the TMNT/Glitch Techs crossover once planned, unfortunately it seems like there's little chance that we'll get to see it. Glitch Techs ended production in January 2019, and Rise of the TMNT is speculated to be out of production at the moment, too.
The only real chance that we'll see this crossover, if it was indeed once in the pipeline, was by tuning in and spreading the world about Glitch Techs, which is available now on Netflix, and the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie which is set to debut on the streaming service soon.
What do you think? Would you like to see a Rise of the TMNT/Glitch Techs crossover? Let me know in the comments!
Original source: Anime Superhero Forum /@SweetShop209.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Glitch Techs News and Highlights!
Which Techs Are the REAL Ones? 🤺 Glitch Techs | Netflix Futures
When Zahra, Miko, High Five, and Mitch snag the latest glitch, they run into another Glitch Techs team who call themselves the “real” techs. As they fight over experience points, the question arises, “Shouldn’t we all be on the same team?” Our heroes’ hacked gauntlets suggest otherwise… Glitch Techs is now streaming on Netflix.
‘Animation through the Ages’ will examine career longevity, challenges, and keys to success with industry veterans offering insights from their own career journeys and experiences.
On September 26, The Animation Guild will host a panel, “Animation through the Ages,” at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), where participants will discuss career longevity and how to thrive at every stage of an animation career, from your 20s to your 60s and beyond.
The panel will explore the challenges each age group faces and offer insights from professionals on their career journeys and the key to success.
The Ottawa International Film Festival has been hosting screenings, exhibits, and workshops since 1976. This year’s event will take place online from September 23 to October 4, 2020. Passes will provide access to screenings, talks, and the whole virtual OIAF experience. Most events will be recreated virtually, such as studio and school booths; networking events; parties; and even the festival favorite, the pumpkin carving contest! New this year is the Artist Gallery, providing an opportunity for participants to have their work seen by studios and recruiters.
Nickelodeon will also be hosting a series of programs at OIAF, in which the network and its creators will share insights into the business of animation for artists and students, featuring masterclasses, a panel with Nickelodeon creators and an Ask Me Anything Session. More information about Nick's "Art+Biz" program can be found here.
Animation Through the Ages
WHEN: Saturday, September 26, 2020 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm EDT
WHERE: Live Stream and VOD for festival pass holders (tickets/passes available here)
WHO:
Reem Ali-Adeeb is a supervising character designer on Little Ellen, she was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. She has previously worked as a character designer and supervising designer on shows such as Harley Quinn, Green Eggs and Ham, Teen Titan Go!, and DC Super Hero Girls.
James Baxter is the director of character animation at Netflix Animation. Originally from Bristol, England, he has worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. He then ran his own eponymous studio producing animation for Enchanted, Kung Fu Panda, and more.
Alan Bodner is the art director on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Funhouse. An Emmy Award-winning artist, he did art direction Disney’s Tangled series, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series, and The Iron Giant.
Jessica Borutski is the supervising director of Nickelodeon’s The Loud House. She started her career on The New Ren and Stimpy and went on to redesign Looney Tunes for Warner Bros. In addition, she imagined the book Bunnicula into an animated TV series and creatively produced it for Cartoon Network International.
Joel Lee is a visual development/background artist at Netflix Animation. Raised in Singapore, his career includes work at ShadowMachine as a background designer and painter.
Latoya Raveneau is a director on the upcoming Disney+ series, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. Brooklyn born, she has storyboarded/assistant directed on such projects as Disney Junior’s Puppy Dog Pals and the Adult Swim series, Final Space.
Eric Robles is the co-creator and executive producer of Nickelodeon’s and Netflix’s newest animated series Glitch Techs. He worked previously as the creator and executive producer of Nickelodeon’s five-time Emmy Award-winning Fanboy and Chum Chum, and he has held lead designer roles at DreamWorks Animation, Walt Disney Animation, Universal Studios Creative, Cartoon Network, MGM Animation, and The Jim Henson Company.
Alex Salyer is a director on Q Force! Among the numerous shows he has worked on are Bojack Horseman, Tuca and Bertie, HarmonQuest, The Simpsons, Party Legends, and Andy Cohen Diaries.
For more information about the 2020 Ottawa International Animation Festival Virtual Experience, visit https://oiaf2020.ca.
Check out this awesome animatic from an unproduced episode of Glitch Techs! Original script by Ashly Burch (Ridley, K. Moon, Goblin, Various in Glitch Techs, and Chloe Price in Life Is Strange).
Wi-Fi Mike-Toons: Against COVID-19 | Episode 1: The Creators of Glitch Techs | Mike-Toons Network TV
For the first time ever, Eric Robles and Dan Milano, the creators of Glitch Techs are here to talk about their show and fan questions. Get to know the story of Glitch Techs and Fanboy and Chum Chum and the wonders of being a creator!
Fans have been enjoying Glitch Techs ever since Nickelodeon's long-awaited animated series finally bowed on Netflix with its first 10 episodes ("Part 1") in February - and fans don't have long to go until they can watch the next 10 episodes! Netflix will premiere Glitch Techs season two on Monday, August 17, 2020!
Nine episodes released on Netflix on February 21st and wrapped up in the final episode with the leadup and eventual karate tournament. It didn’t leave on any particular sort of cliffhanger, however but there are still questions that are left to answer.
The episode Titles for Glitch Techs season 2 are: "The Glitch Modder," "Ping," "Ralphie Bear Is Back," "BUDS," "The New Recruit," "Find The Glitch," "The Real Glitch Techs," "Settling the Score," "I'm Mitch Williams" and "BITT Prime".
Glitch Techs season two episode guide:
Episode 1 - "The Glitch Modder": Miko realizes that being a little weird can be awesome when she meets Ridley, a glitch modder with a mind-blowing lair filled with creative wonders.
Episode 2 - "Ping": High Five seems unusually glum on a job at a game store to take care of a mysterious cube-shaped glitch from the first video game ever.
Episode 3 - "Ralphie Bear Is Back": High Five's childhood dreams come true when the pizza arcade brings back a retired birthday party robot. But it's the miserable opposite for Miko.
Episode 4 - "BUDS": Miko suspects that something is very, very wrong when Mitch suddenly starts acting nice. At a bizarre party, High Five sees that she might be right.
Episode 5 - "The New Recruit": Ridley resurfaces with a newfound desire to become a Glitch Tech. Miko and High Five are delighted ... but they have no idea she's hiding something.
Episode 6 - "Find the Glitch": While gathered together to play a deduction game, the Glitch Techs begin to wonder if there's a glitch pretending to be human among them.
Episode 7 - "The Real Glitch Techs": High Five figures it's no big deal to break a rule while glitch hunting — until he inadvertently triggers a feud with Techs in the neighboring town.
Episode 8 - "Settling the Score": Miko declares war when a new gamer in town beats her high scores at the arcade. But their showdown soon spirals out of control.
Episode 9 - "I'm Mitch Williams": An alert at a house infamous for glitch-heavy activity sets Mitch on edge. When Miko and High Five get there, they learn why it's so personal to him.
Episode 10 - "BITT Prime": Phil threatens to replace the laggy BITT with a newer model. To save the bot, Miko and High Five poke around inside to fix him themselves.
Calling the new episodes "season two" is a tad misleading, as its really the second half of season one. Nickelodeon originally picked-up Glitch Techs for an 20-episode first season. A second season was commissioned, however, Nickelodeon halted production half-way through. If Glitch Techs season one is successful, there is a chance that the remaining 10 episodes will get animated.
Glitch Techs co-creator Dan Milano revealed on Twitter that the producers created a special role for voice-actor Cree Summer (Rugrats, All Grown Up!)! Cree will voice Geri Lawson, (namesake of Gerald Lawson, pioneer of the game cartridge.)
Glitch Techs co-creator Eric Robles teased the next 10 episodes of Glitch Techs on Friday, June 19 by unveiling a awesome action sequence from the upcoming episodes on Twitter! Along with the video, Robles alluded that fans will finally get answers to some of the questions they have such as who is High Fives father and more lore on the Hinobi Company, captioning the video by saying: "Who else can’t wait for the next TEN episodes of #Glitchtechs ?!!! Action, comedy, adventure and a series mystery to solve!!!! What’s up with Miko being unable to get mind wiped? Where’s High Fives dad? Who’s Ridley? What’s up with Mitch? What’s the deal with the Hinobi Company?"! Check out the video below!:
Who else can’t wait for the next TEN episodes of #Glitchtechs ?!!! Action, comedy, adventure and a series mystery to solve!!!! What’s up with Miko being unable to get mind wiped? Where’s High Fives dad? Who’s Ridley? What’s up with Mitch? What’s the deal with the Hinobi Company? pic.twitter.com/ssiETWiiAR
— Dan Milano #BlackLivesMatter (@DanMilano) July 21, 2020
Update (9/7) - Dan Milano has revealed that the Glitch Techs season two episode "Find the Glitch" was inspired by the classic Star Trek episode "The Menagerie"!:
The "Find the Glitch" episode of #glitchtechs was inspired by the classic #startrek episode "The Menagerie," which had recycled clips (from an unaired pilot,) as the basis for a dramatic character trial. Just one of MANY influences the legacy of #generoddenberry had on GT. pic.twitter.com/84lClrFPbC
The "Find the Glitch" episode of #glitchtechs was inspired by the classic #startrek episode "The Menagerie," which had recycled clips (from an unaired pilot,) as the basis for a dramatic character trial. Just one of MANY influences the legacy of #generoddenberry had on GT.
Who knows what really happens when a video game starts to glitch? In Glitch Techs, two teens work at a game store as a front for their actual job: Hunting video game monsters who've broken out into the real world for a super secret task force, The Monster Hunters! Nickelodeon's brand-new animated adventure-comedy series follows two newly recruited kids as they battle video game monsters that come to life in the real world.
This brand new animated series features High Five and Miko, two gamers who are recruited into the world of Glitch Techs: kids who battle the video game glitches that enter our world through faulty game consoles!
In the world of Glitch Techs, Hinobi is a huge gaming and tech company that makes massively popular video games consoles. What Hinobi customers do NOT know is that their games sometimes glitch and release dangerous video game creatures into the real world! That’s when the company send the Glitch Techs: a trained support team equipped with an arsenal of fantastic gaming gear, including the gauntlet, designed to capture video game pests and out them back where they belong!
Once a glitch is returned, the Techs must remove any evidence it was there – including the memories of any witnesses! Not only do Glitch Techs fight for the safety of the city, they also work at Hinobi stores, helping customers with tech support and service needs.
Enter Miko and high Five – new recruits who fight glitches and reformat witnesses all before the store closes at 5pm. Talk about a crazy job! Respect the Tech!
Glitch Techs stars Ricardo Hurtado as High Five, Monica Ray as Miko, Luke Youngblood as Mitch, Sandeep Parikh as Haneesh, Zehra Fazal as Zahra, Josh Sussman as Bergy, Eric Lopez as Papi, Dan Milano as BITT and Scott Kreamer as Phil, as well as Scott Kreamer, Betsy Sodaro, Ashly Burch, Greg Nix, Dee Baker, Stephanie Sheh, Jolene Kim, Felicia Day, Cree Summer, Roshon Fegan, Rachael Russakoff, Nolan North and many more. Dee Bradley Baker (Legends of the Hidden Temple, American Dad) and Stephanie Sheh voice Miko's parents, Jane Lynch (iCarly, Glee) will guest star on the series. In addition to voicing some characters, Felicia Day was also a consultant for the series.
Glitch Techs comes from Eric Robles (Fanboy & Chum Chum, The X's, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan) and Dan Milano (Greg the Bunny, Warren the Ape), both hailing from Nickelodeon's Artist Collective, an internal artist-led development program, and is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif.
On his Twitter co-creator Milano described the influences and inspiration behind the animated show, “Being childhood fans of the paranormal investigation genre, Glitch Techs is absolutely Eric Robles’ and my love letter to Ghostbusters and Men in Black with plenty of X-Files, Buffy, Doctor Who, Star Trek, and dozens of other stuff we and our collabs grew up on.”
Although there isn't any official Glitch Techs merchandise available to purchase just yet, fans can purchase Holographic Miko & Ally Sticker on Lacelle's official webstore.
Glitch Techs Part 1 is available to stream on Netflix today!
We Made an Animated Show for Nickelodeon and Netflix to Break Stereotypes
Creators Dan Milano and Eric Robles break down the wild and wonderful development of Glitch Techs as it enters its second season.
Produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Netflix, Glitch Techs is an animated sci-fi comedy series about a unique team of teens that protects citizens from real-life video game creatures, or “glitches.” The underdog series, frozen in production by Nickelodeon before finding a home on Netflix, is gaining traction with fans as both a surprisingly earnest love letter to gaming culture and clever science fiction for the entire family. With 10 new episodes dropping this month, co-creators Dan Milano and Eric Robles look back on the creative trajectory of their series and the influence of their collaborative crew.
Back in 2015, in his office at Nickelodeon Studios, Eric kept a box of ideas under his desk. His first animated show Fanboy and Chum-Chum had finished production and, like many creators, he was expected to come up with other potential properties as part of an overall creative deal. Over time, boxes upon boxes filled up with sketches, doodles, pitches and thumbnail storyboards. Some were based on whims, others on months and months of development, but all inspired by childhood and the kinds of shows he’d grown up with.
Nickelodeon’s head of development at this time was Jenna Boyd, who had suggested that Eric meet with Dan, a TV/feature writer she felt would make for a good creative partner. They connected over mutual interests and began developing a series based on a video game the company was looking to adapt. But as interest in that idea waned, Nickelodeon studio head Russell Hicks urged Eric back toward his box of ideas, where Russell had unearthed a sketch of a boy and a robot fighting video game monsters under the handwritten title “Glitch Techs”...
Smash cut to a year later as Glitch Techs was being green-lit to series by Nickelodeon Animation. And we, its creators Dan Milano and Eric Robles, were largely focused on our pie-in-the-sky list of goals for what the series could become. First and foremost, we wanted action - true to the kind that made us race out of bed when we were kids to watch on Saturday mornings with a bowl of sugar cereal. Second, we wanted to mix a grounded character tone with supernatural humor, paying tribute to properties which had helped shape our childhoods like Ghostbusters and Men in Black.
Never during any of those initial talks did we discuss cultural diversity, gender tropes or moral thematics. We were just two more boys in the animation sandbox, playing with our toys and waxing poetically about how cool it would be to bring them to life. Although our backgrounds were fairly different, by the time we met we’d each been in the industry for over a decade. (Dan is from the Northeast with a bachelor of fine arts degree and a background in puppeteering, and Eric, a self-made artist from the Los Angeles area, had originally planned on a career in law enforcement.)
As we developed the idea of Glitch Techs and shared it with others, we grew exponentially more excited as we discovered its creative potential. A show that could play with video game genres offered an intimidating amount of options for both visual styles and conceptual ideas. In these early stages, particularly in the exploratory artwork, the characters were our action figures and the world was one big playset - complete with vehicles and accessories. Truly, it was like the old Kenner Star Wars commercials come to life, with us even making the verbal sound effects to the set-piece images.
The enthusiasm of development spread quickly to members of the development team, including Phil Rynda, who arranged a presentation for Nickelodeon Corporate centered on the idea that the Glitch Techs world was an original IP with the potential to allow kids and gamers to become recruits and invest their imaginations into the show.
Cynical Expectations... and a Roadmap
Meanwhile, the changing world around us had made it clear we could no longer take gender inclusion for granted. As our two lead characters developed into a male/female relationship dynamic, it was obvious that as role models they could be an example and help to normalize a healthy ideal to children, including our own. But even by this point, the heart of the show had yet to surface.
Once the show was green-lit, we decided to bring in some writing consultants, particularly from the gaming culture, to widen our understanding. Through friends, contacts and network connections we were able to amass a group of writer/creators, many with direct ties to the gaming world. Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh were well known for The Guild and Legend of Neil, Ashly Burch had written for Adventure Time and her own gamer-centric series of web shorts, Hey Ash Whatcha Playin. Mike Mika was a game designer and studio head from Other Ocean Studios and a beloved gaming fan/historian. Gabe Swarr, a devout gamer, had been developing several projects for Nick at the time, including the interactive game Roboburger, before going on to develop the new Animaniacs for WB. Aaron Lemay was Senior Director at Odisi Games and creator of The Gamers Way, Jeff Trammell was a gamer and young winner of Nick’s writing fellowship, Sarah McChesney was a writer/performer developing for HBO, Brad Bell had co-created the web series Husbands, and David Anaxagoras was writer/creator of the Amazon series Gortimer Gibbons: Life on Normal Street.
To break ice with the group, we asked the consultants to list their most cynical expectations of a Nickelodeon series about video game culture, not expecting that their answers would become the clearest roadmap for the missing element of our show - its conscience. They picked apart the way force typically was celebrated more than intelligence. We discussed the “nerd” tropes that continued to paint anyone who expressed passion, emotion or even a hint of obsession as abnormal underdogs - despite such feelings being the norm among so many in the audience. Gamers in particular were often shown as toxic, lazy, intolerant and detached from reality. References to nerd and gamer culture were typically pandering, lacking any real understanding or nuance. Among them, “gamers” and “female gamers” were treated as separate concepts, with the latter being treated as some rare unicorn - despite the actual demographic being closer to 50/50.
As creators, we cannot express the excitement of deconstructing all these elements or the value of having such a diverse group of individuals express what shows and video games had meant to them growing up and what had been sorely missing from their diet of esteem and inclusion. Other kids were now not only sharing the toys in the sandbox, they were giving them a higher purpose. And clearest of all was that these ideas did not require lessons or speeches or spotlights of any kind in our series. All they needed was honest inclusion. They were a factual part of our and our childrens’ everyday world. All we needed to do was write what we all knew and reflect the world we saw, rather than lean back on what seemed typical of children’s TV.
At no point did this feel like homework for us. At no point was this a threat to our creative points of view or considered a compromise of our grand, creative vision. It felt eye-opening and enriching and promised to make the world exciting and relevant in a way we would not have accomplished on our own, especially while being distracted with all the daily challenges that producing entails. It was also just fun to sit with others and deconstruct which of our favorite books, shows, movies and games we truly loved and why. In every case, it was a matter of intimacy, a feeling that those stories spoke to us on a level that felt earnest. Suddenly, we wanted Glitch Techs to be more than fun, we wanted it to ring true, and we wanted it to connect with an audience the way we had felt a connection to the shows we loved. And most importantly, we wanted the consultants who’d given us their time to know we had truly heard them and that their input would be embraced.
Checking Our Guts
Although off to a good start, it was clear the characters should not remain archetypal and that they be defined by more than a single trait (a shortcut often employed in early development). Context and motivation in our stories would be key. Nobody, not even our digital AI glitches, would be cast in the role of a villain. Ideally, audiences would be able to understand all sides of a given conflict, whether they agreed with the character’s motives or not. Supporting characters were treated like main characters, ensuring there were truly no small parts and that even the smallest lines were an opportunity to showcase strong personalities.
While hiring, it was important to look for diverse talents and to make ourselves open to those individual points of view. Once we saw how outside input was elevating our project, we became hungry for more. We might get along with a writer or an artist because they shared inspirations and senses of humor, but that feeling of comfortable fraternity that might have normally made for a hire in the past was now seen as a potential roadblock. It was important that everyone come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives on the material. After all, what does it benefit the creativity of a show to hire multiple people with the same foundational ideas?
Building an original IP amid the hundreds of licensed properties that so many studios were developing during this time was an exciting prospect. Glitch Techs was wholly original, but of course felt familiar enough due to homaging so many genres. It seemed to be the perfect Trojan horse for fresh ideas and so we started to revise our goals concerning gamer culture. We wanted the show to be a love letter to the very best that gaming and fandom had to offer, while also modeling behavior that would work against the potential for toxicity. We wanted to take a well-rounded look at gaming concepts and avoid overt lessons so viewers could draw their own conclusions. We wanted to celebrate the power of being informed, the value of vulnerability and the practice of healthy emotional intelligence.
All of these things required deliberate application and presence of mind to maintain. Inclusivity in our media culture is improving all the time, but for children of the ’80s like us, the truth is that some of the most insidious forms of exclusion come when we get tired and let our brains default to auto-pilot. There are moments where we would catch ourselves - or allow others to point out that we had resorted to things that were typical, reliable and sometimes tainted.
Over the years we’d both found that crews were used to some creators asking genuinely for diversity, but also unconsciously pushing against it when actually faced with creative details they found foreign or unfamiliar. We needed to remind people to not second-guess themselves OR us when designing darker skin tones, or in policing “classic” gags that might come at the expense of characters’ bodies, intelligence or esteem. Those weren’t always obvious to us, so many things made it through various stages before they were rooted out, while others we failed to find may well have made it into the show. Despite that, the willingness to deconstruct and check our guts amid the other challenges of making a show was something that we had to not only become familiar with, but actively appreciate.
Listening to the Team
When writer David Anaxagoras suggested adding a Muslim female to the cast, Nickelodeon suggested we ensure a thoughtful depiction by taking on a consultant. As a result, we met with Sue Obedi of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who graciously consulted on our scripts and animatics. What would be the point of including characters for children to truly identify with if we allowed ourselves to accidentally misrepresent their truth?
It helped that instead of waiting for a studio to assign us a consultant late in the process, we made it an organic part of our early writing process. This allowed for most changes to be implemented well ahead of time, leading to interesting changes that came with unforeseen benefits, rather than forced changes added begrudgingly to otherwise “perfected” work. That said, sometimes a piece of feedback WOULD come to us late, or at a stage where we were not particularly in the mindset for consulting.
We’ve had to literally force ourselves to stop mid-way through a justification about a gag. It slows down the day. It opens us up to criticism and potential adjustments we don’t want to make or discuss. But because we’ve replaced our notion of “compromise” with “collaboration," we learned to listen. In many cases, we would discuss details of context and intent. But when there wasn’t time for an entire discussion, we allowed ourselves to just trust. At the end of the day, most of these notes should not require justification.
If we trust and respect our team, if something was important enough for them to bring up, we had to assume it would be important to others. Over time we found that the willingness to adjust these kinds of details only served to elevate them, providing the show with an originality and nuance we can look back on and be so very proud of.
When depicting gamers, it was important to stay true to the mindset. In our pilot, we devised the initial meeting between our co-leads as one in which our male lead, Hector (aka High Five), is shoved by the antagonist and helped up by our female lead, Miko. Looking back, we’d drawn subconsciously on the trope of a bullied individual meeting up with an ally, who shows up conveniently in an almost western-style heroic fashion. But the context of the scene was an online game, and one that writer Ashly Burch took issue with. “What kind of gamer in a PVP match stops to help some rando?” she said. “If anything, she’d think, ‘Sucks to be him,’ and happily move on with one less competitor to worry about.”
This seemingly small suggestion was one that did require a significant re-board at a time when we were absolutely NOT in the mindset to make changes. But by spending the time on the solution instead of the problem, we not only addressed the note, but developed a far better meeting for our characters, now revised as them literally being thrown TOGETHER by the antagonist. This made Five being victimized a problem for Miko as well. He was now in her way, and for her to advance she needed to deal with him. The two characters remain out for themselves, but now as they parted ways we were able to establish them with a common rival - motivating them to team up more organically later in the sequence.
Connecting With the Fans
We screened our animatics in Nickelodeon’s newly-built screening room, placing them on the big screen where everyone could get a cinematic feel for what we were creating. Among our crew and those who would visit, a great deal of the commentary was around the characters and dynamics as being not just fun, but earnest, relatable and often surprising. Though we never lost sight of our child demographic, we were endearing ourselves to people our age and older - kids of the ’80s who ate that same sugar cereal on Saturday mornings but now appreciated the value of having them fortified with vitamins. There’s still plenty in the show that feels familiar, things that can be called out as traditional, things that will qualify as tropes, intended or unintended. But on the whole we found that there was so much more for us to enjoy and felt encouraged that others might feel the same.
When we look at Glitch Techs we see everything we set out to create. A fun tribute to Saturday Morning cartoons that draws on gamer culture in a genuine way and uses the genre as material for relatable stories rather than a gimmick to trigger nostalgia. It is earnest and open-hearted and, though it is in no way perfect, we take great pride in being its co-creators and far more in being true fans of our crew, who helped us make something that surprises and entertains us no matter how many times we watch.
Ultimately, the conscience of the show is what evoked the passion of its talent, who like us became addicted to deconstruction and collaboration. They not only gave us so much of themselves during production but in their continued support long after. Through word of mouth and custom artwork, the team has used the #glitchtechs hashtag to share their pride. They’ve connected with the fans who have validated their work for us all and whose constructive opinions help shape it for the future.
At a time when we are all so desperate to look ahead to a better world, we are deeply thankful to have helped bring about something that lets young faces to not only see themselves on TV, but in a world where they are all united equally as a team. If the Glitch Techs audience continues to grow on Netflix, we hope they and Nickelodeon Animation will allow us to produce more shows utilizing what we’ve learned. Regardless, we will take these lessons to all of our future productions. While it was always our dream to build strong entertainment, Glitch Techs gave us our first taste of what it means to truly help build a strong community.
‘Glitch Techs’ Season 2 Is Better, Brighter, and Bolder Than Ever | Saturday Mourning Cartoons Review
Glitch Techs Season 2 arrived on Netflix just last week. This new batch of 10 half-hour episodes continues the adventures of glitch-hunters Miko and Five and their all-star team of Hinobi technicians. New relationships will be explored, new insight into families and friends will be revealed, and tons of pop culture and video game Easter eggs will be scattered all over the place, virtual and IRL. But how does Season 2 compare to the fantastic first season released earlier this year?
As gamers from a certain generation, there’s a lot to love about Glitch Techs. But you don’t need to get all the references (we certainly didn’t) to enjoy this beautifully animated, wonderfully acted, smartly written, and brilliantly executed animated series. Right now, we’re at the end of the current selection of episodes originally ordered into production by Nickelodeon before the show went to Netflix, but there is so much more story to tell, mythology to explore, and mysteries to solve. Glitch Techs deserves at least one more season to continue their story, so be sure to tune in ASAP to make some noise for this fantastic series!
