AWOL

I've neglected my post! I went AWOL there for a little while. My apologies. I guess it's kinda tough keeping a blog on a dead topic...like beating a dead horse, eh? hehe. Well, to throw you guys a bone of sorts, here's a pic I dug up on the googles. It's fan art of Korgoth. Drawn by John Beauchemin on his blog: http://sketchblaargh.blogspot.com/

I dig it! right on.

Conan the Barbarian threadless tshirt

Pure barbaric genius! Why didn't I think of this? And what better timing with the whole Conan/Leno debacle. I haven't bought a shirt off threadless in years. It's definitely tempting! Has Conan ever done an Arnie skit?

http://www.threadless.com/productplay/2308/Late_Night_Barbarian?streetteam=whysteriastar#top

YES WE CAN

Uh....Yes we could've. Adult Swim posted this cocky/smug advert awhile back on their home page. And I think this just goes to show how out of touch with reality Adult Swim has become. Not picking up a masterful epic series over a talking, walking ass? It's like polishing a turd. No matter how you package it, it's still going to stink. Assy Mcgee was funny for about the first five minutes of the entire series then became routine and predictable.

We can handle more Adult Swim, it's just that you never gave us a chance to prove you wrong.

Kick Out the Korgothian Jams

Kick out the Jams with Korgoth soundtrack! Did you know the music from the pilot was recently released as a soundtrack? Dust off your keytars and mullets. It a throw-back to heavy metal the music and Heavy Metal the 80s cult classic animation. The soundtrack was written by Lee Holdridge a movie composer, who has many movie soundtracks under his belt like Splash, and the classic Beastmaster! It's a combined soundtrack with another movie, one from 1985. I can't say that I remember it, but then again I was only 3 in 1985.

Here's a blurb about the soundtrack:

"BUYSOUNDTRAX Records presents the original soundtrack to TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000, featuring music composed and conducted by Lee Holdridge for the 1985 horror comedy written and directed by Rudy De Luca (High Anxiety, Silent Movie, Caveman), starring Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley, Jr., Geena Davis, Carol Kane, John Byner, Jeffrey Jones and Michael Richards. Also included is the composer’s music for the 2006 animated comedy television pilot, KORGOTH OF BARBARIA."

I'm gonna try and send Lee Holdridge some spam about maybe posting a short clip from the soundtrack.

Here's a link to buy!

http://buysoundtrax.stores.yahoo.net/tr6koofbaors.html

Interview with Justin K. Thompson

Greetings minions! On my neverending quest for Korgothian relics and snidbits, I recently emailed a batch of questions to Justin Thompson (whom I've sung his praises fairly often on this site.) He so kindly responded to my spam with many interesting tidbits of information regarding some behind-the-scene information regarding the making of Korgoth. So me and him sat down over a computer screen, and well, several thousand miles separating us for a short, quaint interview.

And here it is:

Me: First of all how long have you been involved in the cartoon industry?

JT: About 17 years. I got a lucky break from a design apprenticeship at Film Roman in 1993.

Me: How did you become involved with Korgoth? And did you know or had you worked with Aaron Springer prior to being involved with the production?

JT: I met Aaron through the producer, Genndy Tartakovsky. I had done a lot of work for Genndy on other things and he recommended me to Aaron when he needed a BG designer for his first pilot project "Periwinkle" - another brilliant Springer show that should have been a series - and I did the backgrounds for that.

When he started making Korgoth, I was lucky enough that he asked me to do the backgrounds and, of course, I couldn't resist. The storyboards were some of the funniest I'd ever seen and the subject matter is a personal favorite.

Me: You laid out and designed the background while Bill Wray painted the background, correct?

JT: Correct.

Me: What was that process like and how did you come up with the look and feel of the backgrounds in Korgoth?

JT: Bill and I worked very separately. I did the background designs, handed them to Aaron, and he passed them to Bill. Bill did the paintings with input from Aaron alone. I was just as delighted to the see the end result as you were.

When I was designing them I was mainly inspired by my own endless love of corny fantasy art and Aaron's brilliant character designs.

Me: How long did you guys work on producing the pilot for Korgoth?

JT: I did all the backgrounds for the pilot in about four weeks. I'm not sure how long the entire process took.

Me: At what point was production stopped on Korgoth? And were any additional episodes/snippets created before word that Adult Swim hadn’t picked up the show.

JT: I'm not sure, really. That's an Aaron question.

Me: What was your first reaction when you realized Korgoth wasn’t going to be picked up by Adult Swim?

JT: Grave disappointment. Followed by anger. Then denial. Then acceptance. And then murder. ;)

Me: I guess the biggest thing that people would like to know is if you think Korgoth could ever live again? Do you think the project might be resurrected sometime in the future?

JT: I have no idea. Let's hope.

Me: What projects are you working on now?

JT: Well, I just finished work as the Production Designer on "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" last Summer and I'm still at Sony, doing visual development on new projects.

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And there you have it. Great interview! I am by no means Katie Couric or Dan Rather, but I thought that was pretty rad. Thanks Justin!

Stay tuned! More content coming...

Never-Before-Seen Korgoth Sketches!

Boy, do I have a treat for you guys! After some investigative work, I've been staking out the artists' websites involved with the creation of Korgoth. I've been staked out at Justin K. Thompson's blog squeakypen.blogspot.com for quite awhile drooling over all of his artwork. He has alot of amazing cartoon work on this blog. Justin was the background designer for Korgoth of Barbaria. He layed out all the backgrounds for the show. And, after finally getting up enough guts I emailed him on a whim to see if he'd give me any insights into Korgoth. And not only did he reply but he sent a few background sketches from the show!! Well I had to do a little begging for them...And let me tell you, holy shit are they good! Check these bad boys out! (click on them for larger versions.)

Aren't those awesome!? I could just stare at them for hours, but I better not because I don't want to get fired at work. I love the Floating Castle and Gogmagog's cave!

Beggars can't be choosers, but I want to see some more!

Thanks so much for sharing Justin!

Adult Swim, eat your heart out.

This artwork is the copyright of Justin K. Thompson. It is illegal to publish or print any such artwork or text without the written permission by the artist or copyright owners.

http://www.squeakypen.blogspot.com

Korgoth Background painting #3-Ice Mountain

I came across alot of beautiful background paintings from Korgoth on William Wray's blog.(http://madaboutcartoons.blogspot.com) He so kindly posted this way back in 2006. Number 3 is from the scene when they're journeying to Specules's castle going around a bend on a mountain. Look at that Woolly Mammoth frozen in time! Love it!

The background was designed by Justin K. Thompson(http://squeakypen.blogspot.com/) and painted by William Wray.