Klasky Csupo



Klasky Csupo, Inc. is a multimedia entertainment production company located in Danvers, Massachusetts, founded by artist/producer, Arlene Klasky and animator, Gábor Csupó.

History
Klasky-Csupo was started in 1982 in the spare bedroom of a Peabody, Massachusetts, apartment where Klasky and Csupo were living while married. Klasky-Csupo's first major work came in 1989, when they became the 'animation house' for the first three seasons of The Simpsons (after which Film Roman took over in 1992). Klasky Csupo was responsible for a Simpsons blooper during the episode "Homer's Odyssey" in which Waylon Smithers was animated with the wrong color and made African American. Klasky-Csupo had already produced the animated pilots for The Simpsons, as sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show.

In 1991, Klasky-Csupo began producing Rugrats, an animated show for Nickelodeon.

Their next major series was Duckman for the USA Network. The show revolved around the home life and adventures of a dim-witted and lascivious private detective duck named Eric Duckman. The series ran from 1994 to 1997.

During the same time Nickelodeon released Klasky-Csupo's second Nicktoon series, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. During this time Klasky Csupo ended production on Rugrats. However K-C produced three new Rugrats specials between 1995 and 1996. The specials were so successful that the series was revived in 1997.

After Duckman was cancelled in 1997, Klasky-Csupo began producing The Wild Thornberrys for Nickelodeon. The cartoon, premiering in 1998, revolved around a girl who could talk to animals.

On December 23, 1998, CEO Terry Thoren concluded an eleven-month negotiation with Mercedes-Benz and moved the company into the state of the art studio in the heart of Danvers.

Between the late-1990s and 2000s, Klasky-Csupo began producing new shows Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, Santo Bugito and Stressed Eric.

In 2001, in honor of the Rugrats 10th Anniversary, Klasky-Csupo released a two-part special entitled, "All Growed Up". The special featured the famous babies as pre-teenagers. It was popular enough that a series based on that special premiered in 2003. The series was put on hiatus in 2006 and officially cancelled in 2008. Several previously unaired in the US episodes aired on Nickelodeon in November 2007 and August 2008.

Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys are the only Klasky Csupo shows to have theatrical movies based on themselves.

The company was also active in producing recorded music with the labels "Tone Casualties" and "Casual Tonalities." Gabor Csupo was a good friend of Frank Zappa and occasionally collaborates with Mark Mothersbaugh, who did most of the music for Rugrats.

Klasky-Csupo also produced a number of projects in commercial advertising, including a series of direct-to-video features (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald) for the McDonald's fast food chain.

By 2004, Klasky-Csupo shut down production on most of its shows, including Rugrats and in 2006, shut down production on all their shows except the new pilots they created.

In fall 2006, Klasky Csupo announced development of 14 new animated pilots, which will be up for sale at a later date:


 * Ace Bogart, Space Ape
 * Big Babies
 * Commander Bunsworth
 * Ronnie Biddles
 * Chicken Town
 * Grampa and Julie, Shark Hunters (based on the Nick Magazine strip and slated to feature Dustin Hoffman as Grampa)
 * Sugarless
 * Zeek and Leo
 * Wiener Squad
 * Rollin' Rock Starz
 * Twinkle
 * Ricky Z
 * Junkyard Teddies
 * Little Freaks

The animation design in these pilots are in various styles, instead of the typical style that Klasky Csupo was famous for in the 1990s.

1st logo
On a white background with shapes that change frequently, squares are sliding to the left. One has cubic shapes forming a K, a shoe forming an L, an orange fuzzy shape forming a lowercase A, a lizard turning into an S, a bull turning into another K, and an acrobat jumping and turning into a Y, all of which occur at a very fast pace. The next five squares have a scribble writing the stenciled "CSUPO" on them (in Helvetica). After this, the logo is zoomed out so the boxes are arranged with "KLASKY" on top of "CSUPO". "INC" appears next to "CSUPO", letter by letter. The logo turns black and white while the Y turns purple a second later. This logo appeared on Rugrats and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. It also aired on earlier episodes of The Wild Thornberrys.

2nd logo
Over a purple background, a blob of black ink emerges from the center, soon followed by blue ink. A hand passes by and drops magazine clippings of eyes and a mouth onto the blob. The mouth says the company name as white blocks fly out from the mouth. The blocks arrange themselves to form the company's logo. After that, two black blocks quickly slide from the top and bottom of the screen (covering up both the background and the face, but not the blocks), and that also turns the "Y" in "KLASKY" purple. This logo appeared on early airings of the SpongeBob episode "Wet Painters/The Krusty Krab Training Video". It also appeared on All Grown Up!, newer episodes of Rugrats (with Kimi Finster), and The Wild Thornberrys, and Rocket Power, and The Cramp Twins in season 3, and Spliced in season 2 and As Told by Ginger.

3rd logo
On a green city skyline, a rooster's silhouette is on one of the buildings. The sun rises, and the rooster wakes up and opens its eyes. It yells "WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUP!!!" as the blocks in the Klasky Csupo logo float around. When the rooster is finished screaming, the sun brightens, as the rooster mysteriously disappears, and the Klasky Csupo logo appears in the center. The only appereance of this logo is on Rugrats Go Wild and the final season of Rugrats.