Happy Tree Friends
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2008-07-17T00:26:51Z
FlamingSilmaril
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{{Refimprove|date=February 2008}}
{{Infobox Television
| show_name = Happy Tree Friends
| image = [[Image:HTF Opening Sequence.png|300px]]
| caption = Happy Tree Friends title card
| genre = [[Black comedy]]<br>[[Graphic violence|Gore]]
| creator = [[Rhode Montijo]]<br>[[Kenn Navarro]]<br>[[Aubrey Ankrum]]
| developer = [[Rhode Montijo]] (1999-2005)<br>[[Kenn Navarro]]<br>[[Warren Graff]]
| starring =
| voices = [[Kenn Navarro]]<br>[[Rhode Montijo]] (1999-2005) <br>[[David Winn]]<br>[[Dana Belben]] (1999-2005)<br>[[Ellen Connell]] (2006-Present)<br>[[Warren Graff]]<br>[[Aubrey Ankrum]] (1999-2006)<br>[[Liz Stuart]]<br>[[Nica Lorber]]<br>[[Jeff Biancalana]] (1999-2005) <br>[[Peter Herrmann]]<br> [[Michael "Lippy" Lipman]]<br>[[Francis Carr]]
| theme_music_composer = [[Jim Lively]]
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| country = {{flagicon|USA}} United States of America.
| language =
| num_seasons = Three (Internet)<br> One (TV series)
| num_episodes = 124<br>
61 Internet Shorts<br>
39 TV Series Segments <br>
8 Smoochies <br>
6 Kringles <br>
9 Irregular Episodes<br>
1 Music Video<br>
1 Video Game Bonus Cartoon
| list_episodes = List of Happy Tree Friends episodes
| producer = [[Liz Stuart]]
| executive_producer = [[John Evershed]]
| location =
| camera =
| runtime = 1 to 4 minutes (Internet) <br> 21 minutes (TV) TV series episode segments are 7 minutes.
| network = [[G4 (TV channel)|G4]]
| picture_format = [[Flash animation|Flash cartoon]]
| audio_format =
| first_run =
| first_aired = Internet Series: 1999-present <br> TV series: October 2, 2006-present
| last_aired =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| related =
| website = http://www.happytreefriends.com
| imdb_id = 0770762
| tv_com_id = 66153
|}}
{{Infobox TV ratings
|show_name=Happy Tree Friends
|usa_tv=TV-14 (original rating)<br>
TV-MA (some episodes)
}}
'''''Happy Tree Friends''''' is a [[Flash cartoon]] series by [[Mondo Mini Shows]], created by [[Rhode Montijo]], [[Kenn Navarro]] and [[Aubrey Ankrum]]. Since its debut the show has become a popular internet phenomenon and has won a [[cult following]].
As indicated on the official site, it is "not recommended for small children". Notwithstanding the cute appearance of its characters, the show is extremely [[violence|violent]], with nearly every episode featuring blood, gore, and violent gruesome deaths.
While the violence of these deaths is comparable to that of ''[[The Itchy & Scratchy Show]]'' (the short cartoon featured on ''[[The Simpsons]]''), the portrayal of death in ''Happy Tree Friends'' is more [[Graphic violence|graphic]] and anatomically correct, depicting bloodshed and dismemberment in more vivid, exaggerated detail.
The show is nearly free of dialogue; however, when the characters do speak, their words are severely [[garble]]d. Though it is obvious what each character's reaction is, their words can barely be understood. The exceptions to this are Pop and Lumpy, who can occasionally be easily understood when they speak. They have garbled speech as well, but can actually be understood on most occasions. According to the website, the idea for ''Happy Tree Friends'' was conceived by Rhode Montijo when he drew a yellow rabbit, slightly resembling the character Cuddles, on a piece of paper and wrote "[[Resistance Is Futile]]" underneath it.
==History==
===Beginning===
While working on [[Mondo Mini Shows]], [[Rhode Montijo]] drew on a little piece of scrap paper a character who would later become Shifty. Then he drew on a spreadsheet poster a yellow rabbit that bore some resemblance to Cuddles and wrote "Resistance Is Futile" at the bottom. Montijo hung the poster in his workstation so others could see the idea, and eventually the idea was pitched to, and accepted by, the Mondo Media executives.<ref>[http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/features/52004/Gruesome_Fun_With_Happy_Tree_Friends.html Gruesome Fun With Happy Tree Friends<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1999 Mondo gave [[Aubrey Ankrum]], [[Rhode Montijo]] and [[Kenn Navarro]] a chance to do a short for them. They came up with a short named ''Banjo Frenzy'' which featured a dinosaur (an earlier version of [[Lumpy (Happy Tree Friends)|Lumpy]]) killing three woodland animals (earlier versions of [[Cuddles (Happy Tree Friends)|Cuddles]], [[Giggles (Happy Tree Friends)|Giggles]], and [[Toothy (Happy Tree Friends)|Toothy]])
with a banjo. From there Mondo gave them their own internet series, which they named ''Happy Tree Friends''. They got new writers and animators to work on the show.
===Success===
Shortly after its internet debut in 2000, Happy Tree Friends became an unexpected success, getting over 15 million hits each month<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.coldhardflash.com/2005/04/kenn-commandments-part-1.html|title=The Kenn Commandments.|first=|last=|publisher=coldhardflash.com|date=[[April 05]], [[2005]]|accessdate=2005-04-09}}</ref>, and being shown in film festivals.<ref>[http://www.annecy.org/home/index.php?Page_ID=1715&film_id=20035037&palmares_year=2003&back_page=452 Annecy International Animated Film Festival<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In some countries, the episodes can be seen on television. They can be seen on the French, Dutch, German, Polish, Filipino, Brazilian, Lithuanian, Italian, British and Latin American [[MTV]] channels, the Greek Mad Music Channel, the Russian 2x2 channel (though it was pulled from the station following a warning from a government group{{Fact|date=July 2008}}), the Canadian television channel [[Razer]], the American television channel [[G4 (TV channel)|G4]], the Czech musical channel Óčko and on the Australian Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) network. On [[June 10]], 2005, the shorts were shown during [[Attack of the Show!]]. A series, ''Happy Tree Friends and Friends'', began to air on [[August 29]], 2005, as part of the late night [[Midnight Spank]] block, owned by [[G4 (TV channel)|G4]]. The series also features ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law]]'', ''Retarded Animal Babies'' and ''[[Angry Kid]]''. The series has been reformed into its own show, rather than as a part of a compilation as before. Happy Tree Friends has also gained a collection of [[Yahoo Messenger|Audibles]] and an "IMVironment" for [[Yahoo!]]'s instant messenger. It is featured on many websites on which flash cartoons can be watched, such as [[YouTube]], [[Atom Films]], Purple Twinkie, [[Albino Black Sheep]] and the official Happy Tree Friends website. On select 2007 [[Ozzfest]]s, some Happy Tree Friends episodes were shown on the big screen.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
Encouraged by the show's success, its creators have released four DVDs (''First Blood'', ''Second Serving'', ''Third Strike'' and ''Winter Break'') containing the episodes shown on the website and others that have not been released. A collection consisting of the first three DVDs and five bonus episodes, ''Overkill'', has also been released. Two episodes, ''Stealing the Spotlight'' and ''Ski Ya, Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya!'', are only available in the Happy Tree Friends: Winter Break DVD.
Happy Tree Friends is currently one of the most downloaded [[iTunes]] podcasts and over 1500 fan-made videos have appeared on [[YouTube]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=happy%20tree%20friends&search_sort=relevance&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&uploaded=|title=HTF Youtube videos.|first=|last=|publisher=youtube.com|date=[[September 15]], [[2007]]|accessdate=2007-09-15}}</ref>.
===TV Series===
{{seealso|List of Happy Tree Friends episodes}}
Happy Tree Friends gained its own TV show in 2006<ref>{{cite news|url=http://mt.happytreefriends.com/writersblog/|title=TV series blog|first=Warren|last=Graff|publisher=happytreefriends.com|date=[[August 07]], [[2006]]|accessdate=2006-07-08}}</ref>. It was first shown at [[Comic-Con]], 2006 and some of the segments were shown on the website a few weeks prior the show's premiere. The Happy Tree Friends TV series premiered on [[September 25]], 2006 at midnight on G4. Each half hour episode of the TV series contains three 7 minute segments. So far 39 segments have been aired, making 13 full episodes for Season 1. Pictures of the first 6 episodes can be seen on G4's website. The Canadian channel [[Razer]] currently airs the show in syndication as do the [[Citytv]] stations throughout Canada.[http://www.citytv.com/vancouver/tvshows_56506.aspx] The show is also broadcast on [[MTV]] in [[Europe]] and [[Latin America]]. It was also shown on [[Paramount Comedy 1]] in the UK from [[May 11]], [[2007]] for a short time, with occasional reruns afterward. It has also been shown on [[MTV One]] in the UK from September 7, 2007. According to the writers a second season is planned, but it is unknown when or if it will air.
===Comics===
{{seealso|Happy Tree Friends comics}}
In June 2008, the [[YouTube]] user Klakkid started on plans to create a Happy Tree Friends comic, a series of newspaper comic strip style comics based on the Happy Tree Friends series. The first in the series was "Snow problem". The deaths of the characters are not as gory as those in the official series, reflecting a desire to appeal to a wider audience, including children.
==Show characteristics==
All the characters are [[anthropomorphic]] animals, and many of them show two front large buckteeth when they smile. All the Happy Tree Friends except for Lumpy and Sniffles have the same pink [[Care Bear]] or Care Bear Cousin heart-shaped noses. In early episodes, most characters played the roles of children doing childish games. However, as the series progressed the age concept was dropped, and now characters act variously like children, teenagers and adults in different episodes. The only characters who are unaffected by this concept are Pop and Cub, who always act like an adult and a child respectively, and characters whose roles usually aren't affected by age, such as Splendid or Cro-Marmot.
At the beginning of each episode, the characters are typically found in everyday situations (also, they are often seen singing or humming the same tune). However, these situations always escalate into violence and the inevitable deaths of those involved and/or innocent bystanders, mostly because of very unfortunate, surprising accidents with otherwise harmless instruments. The show's characters sometimes appear not to notice other characters' deaths/injuries, despite clear indications (such as blood coming out of the latters' mouths), or they seem to quickly overcome their fellows' deaths. The only episodes where none of the characters died (merely being maimed) were [[Nuttin' But the Tooth]], "Sucker for Love pt. 1", "Out on a Limb","Asbestos I Can Do", and "False Alarm pt.1". Otherwise, every episode has had at least one death.
The continuity of the series does not seem to be affected by the frequent deaths of the characters, as they always appear alive and well in episodes subsequent to those in which they were killed.
Each episode starts with introduction credits resembling a children's book, which portrays the show's logo, the episode title (which is usually a pun) and the cast. Internet episodes have a typical duration of a maximum of four minutes. Usually only a few of the characters are used in a single episode, but occasionally larger episodes have been released where most of the characters appear. TV episodes last about half an hour, having three segments of about seven minutes.
Currently, new episodes are released once a month. An episode list can be seen on the official website, which contains a list of older episodes available on demand from the site. However, some of these episodes are only available for a limited time, as this list is exchanged with other episodes every other week.
==Fall Out Boy music video==
{{main|The Carpal Tunnel of Love}}
[[Fall Out Boy]]'s music video for "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" is an episode of Happy Tree Friends. Fall Out Boy is featured in the music video, appearing as cartoon bears, along with Cuddles, Giggles, Nutty, Toothy and the Mole. Lumpy causes the death of all the characters in the video, including himself. All of them die the same type of graphic, bloody deaths that are featured in the series.
==Characters==
There are 20 main characters in the Happy Tree Friends series, all of which have unique personalities and appearances. There have been many 'minor' characters that have appeared on the show, some appearing many times and some appearing only once.
On July 9, 2008, it was revealed that there will be a new character, voiced by [[Ken Pontac]]. Ken then went on to state that "there will be more than one new character".{{Fact|date=July 2008}}
{{seealso|List of Happy Tree Friends characters}}
==Video game==
{{main|Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm}}
A video game titled ''[[Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm]]'' was released on [[June 25]], [[2008]]. It was developed by [[Stainless Games]] and [[Sega]] for [[Xbox Live Arcade]] on the [[Xbox 360]] and the [[Personal Computer|PC]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=happytree&lid=gp_happytree&lpos=allgamelist_title|title=Sega announces Happy Tree Friends False Alarm|first=|last=|publisher=sega.com|date=February, 2007|accessdate=2007-09-15}}</ref> Writer [[Ken Pontac]] previously posted a blog on the Happy Tree Friends website telling fans about the adventures of the staff making the game, but it was ended before the game's first slated release date in Spring 2008.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://mondo.happytreefriends.com/about_the_show/videogame_blog.html|title=Ken Pontac's video game blog.|first=Ken|last=Pontac|publisher=happytreefriends.com|date=February, 2007|accessdate=2007-09-15}}</ref>
==Controversies==
Many parents have expressed concern about the graphic content of ''Happy Tree Friends''. One parent even complained about the show in a letter to the [[Washington Post]] when she saw her 6-year old son watching the show.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/21/AR2005102102315_pf.html|title=What's Up, Doc? A Bloody Outrage, That's What|first=Katherine|last=Ellison|publisher=The Washington Post|date=[[October 23]], [[2005]]|accessdate=2006-07-08}}</ref>
The warning "(CV CARTOON VIOLENCE Not recommended for small children or big babies)" is displayed in two places on the home page of the Happy Tree Friends website in very small type in the bottom left hand corner, and in larger, but subdued type on the right hand side under the bulletin board section. Neither the "About the Show" nor the FAQ page indicates that the show is not appropriate for young children. However, the episodes themselves contain the warning in large font before the cartoon begins.
In February 2008 Russian Media Culture Protection Department (Rossvyazohrankultura, a regulatory body for TV in Russia) issued warnings about Happy Tree Friends and [[The Adventures of Big Jeff]], claiming that the shows "promote violence and brutality, harm the psychic health and moral development of children, attack the social morality; all of this being a violation of license agreement".<ref>[http://www.rsoc.ru/site/news/?id_news=559 Russian Media Culture Protection Department]{{Ru icon}}</ref> The department warned [[2x2 (TV channel)|2x2]], which broadcasts the show, to remove it from air to avoid legal issue. The channel appealed to the evaluation ordered to Versia company ([http://www.versia.org]), which denied the accusations.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Music and sound-effects
!Job title
!Person
!Description
|-
|Sound Engineer
|Jim Lively
|The music featured before, after, and during each and every episode of Happy Tree Friends is composed by Jim Lively, the sound engineer for Happy Tree Friends. Lively has been in the sound business since the age of 16. Lively primarily works in sound design and dialog editing, although he continues to mix music. <ref>[http://www.conlanpress.com/html/jim.html Conlan Press: The situation was dire<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
|-
|Foley Artist
|Francis Carr
|Foley artist Francis Carr joined the team later on in development. Usually working with sound engineer Jim Lively, he has been able to expand his career. Francis Carr is also noted for being the voice of Russell.
|}
[[Image:Kenn Navarro.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Happy Tree Friends creator [[Kenn Navarro]]]]
{| class="wikitable"
|+Crew
!Name
!Position
!Years
|-
|[[Kenn Navarro]]
|Director, Animation Director, Writer
|1999 – present
|-
|[[Rhode Montijo]]
|Director, Art Director, Writer
|1999 - 2004
|-
|[[Aubrey Ankrum]]
|Director, Writer, Storyboard artist
|1999 – 2006
|-
|[[Warren Graff]]
|Story Editor, Writer
|2000 – present
|-
|[[Ken Pontac]]
|Story Editor, Writer
|2004-present
|-
|[[Jeff Biancalana]]
|Writer, Animator, Storyboard artist
|2001 - 2005
|-
|[[David Winn]]
|Writer, Animator
|2003 - present
|-
|[[Alan Lau]]
|Animator, Writer, Director, Storyboard artist
|2001 - present
|-
|[[Jason Sadler]]
|Animator, Writer, Director
|2001-present
|-
|[[Mark Fiorenza]]
|Writer
|2000 – 2003
|-
|[[Brad Rau]]
|Animator, Storyboard artist
|2001 - present
|-
|[[Roque Bollestros]]
|Writer, Animator, Director, Storyboard artist
|2001-present
|-
|[[Paul Allan]]
|Writer, Animator, Director
|2000 - present
|-
|[[Nica Lorber]]
|Animator
|2000-present
|-
|[[Michael "Lippy" Lipman]]
|Storyboard artist, Animator, Director, Writer
|2000 - present
|-
|[[Peter Herrman]]
|Storyboard artist
|2000 – present
|-
|[[Jim Lively]]
|Sound Designer, Music
|2000 - present
|-
|[[Francis Carr]]
|Foley artist
|2004 - present
|-
|[[Jerome Rossen]]
|Music Composer
|2005-present
|-
|[[John Evershed]]
|Executive Producer
|2000-present
|-
|[[Liz Stuart]]
|Producer
|2000 - present
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Awards
!Show
!Year
!Category
!Laureate
|-
|rowspan=2|[[Annecy International Animated Film Festival]]
|2003
|Best Animated Short Film Made for the Internet
|''Eye Candy''
|-
|2007
|Best Animated Series For Adults
|''From Hero To Eternity''
|-
|rowspan=3|[[Ottawa International Animation Festival]]
|2004
|rowspan=2|Best Animated Short Made For The Internet
|''Out On A Limb''
|-
|2005
|''Mole in the City''
|-
|2007
|Best Television Series For Adults for the episode
|''Double Whammy Part 2''
|}
==See also==
*[[Mondo Mini Shows]]
*[[Thugs on Film]]
*[[The God & Devil Show]]
*[[Schadenfreude]] - the underlying principle of this cartoon's humor{{Fact|date=June 2008}}
*[[G4 (TV channel)|G4]]
*[[List of Happy Tree Friends characters]]
*[[List of Happy Tree Friends episodes]]
*[[List of Happy Tree Friends DVDs]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://mondo.happytreefriends.com/ Official Happy Tree Friends Website]
*[http://www.mondominishows.com/ Mondo Minishows Official Site]
*[http://forum.happytreefriends.com/ The official Happy Tree Friends forum]
*[http://mondo.happytreefriends.com/about_the_show/videogame_blog.html Happy Tree Friends Video Game Blog by Ken Pontac.]
*[http://www.happy-tree-friends.yoyo.pl/english/ Unofficial Happy Tree Friends Website]
*[http://www.happytreefriends.biz International Happy Tree Friends fan-site with all episodes and bonuses, daily updated]
*[http://www.happytreefriends.wikia.com Happy Tree Friends wiki]
*[http://dl.sega.com/downloads/videos/htf_podcast1.mov Podcast interview with creator Kenn Navarro and writers Warren Graff and Ken Pontac]
*[http://www.youtube.com/user/MondoMedia HappyTreeFriends Episodes on MondoMedia's Youtube Account]
===IMDB profiles===
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770762/ Happy Tree Friends TV series] at [[The Internet Movie Database]]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387273/ Happy Tree Friends Volume 1] at [[The Internet Movie Database]]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392089/ Happy Tree Friends Volume 2] at [[The Internet Movie Database]]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430170/ Happy Tree Friends Volume 3] at [[The Internet Movie Database]]
{{Happy Tree Friends}}
[[Category:Happy Tree Friends| ]]
[[Category:Flash cartoons]]
[[Category:G4 television series]]
[[Category:Animated internet series]]
[[Category:Animated television series]]
[[Category:2000s American television series]]<!---Based upon G4 television broadcast-->
[[Category:2006 television series debuts]]
[[Category:Fictional mammals]]
[[Category:Internet memes|Happy Tree Friends]]
[[Category:Black comedy]]
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