Overview
Flapjack is a young boy raised by a talking whale named Bubbie. He leads a peaceful life until the duo rescue a pirate by the name of Captain K'nuckles, who tells Flapjack of an island called Candied Island, which is supposedly made completely of candy, and the sea around it is made of lemonade. Inspired by the adventurous pirate, Flapjack, Captain K'nuckles, and Bubbie get into strange predicaments and "misadventures" in search of Candied Island and the coveted, highly sought-after title of "Adventurer." The three spend most of their time in Stormalong Harbor, where they eat candy and get into mischief.
The show is largely built around a series of contradictions and contrasts. K'nuckles is developed as a "good for nothing" and disloyal, with Bubbie being more sincere and loyal to her adopted son.[3] Another contradiction is that of the "real adventurers" which are depicted as tough. The tough guys of the show are also depicted as hunting candy, which is the real treasure.[4] The candy seems to have alcohol like effects; including intoxication on consumption of large amounts, hangovers and dependence (Captain K'nuckles is always in possession of a "flask" of maple syrup).
The humor is considered "uncomfortable", building an awkwardness and deliberately misleading the appearance of the situation, before delivering the punchline.[5]
The backgrounds were chosen to be reminiscent of the 1800s.(It may be in the present, seeing as there are many present day objects like fans and garbage cans) The three main characters, Flapjack, K'nuckles, and Bubbie are drawn in a more "cartoon-like" style than the rest of the world, which is drawn in a more realistic manner. This lends contrast between the world of Flapjack and the "real world" of Stormalong Harbor.[6]
[edit] Production
Van Orman attempted to pitch the concept to Cartoon Network in 2001. He created a short and incorporated many childhood favorites, with visual inspiration from older adventure novels. His first pitch was rejected, but he received a lot of feedback, and re-pitched the concept in 2003.[2]
The series works with Screen Novelties to produce the stop-motion and title card portions of the show.[2]
Paul Reubens was originally selected to be the voice of Flapjack, but when Reubens did not show up on the day of recording, Van Orman himself decided to voice Flapjack.[2]
The opening theme song is sung to a tune that is similar to the tune of the 1930 folk song Big Rock Candy Mountain, with some similar lyrics, to help support K'nuckle's description of "Candied Island".
[edit] Creative influences
As a child, show creator Van Orman spent three years living near a bayou, where he was forbidden to socialize with a local fisherman. Disobeying his parents, Van Orman would visit the fisherman, who would tell tales of the sea. When he was 13, his family moved to Utah, but he was able to convince his parents to allow him to go back to Panama City Beach, Florida and stay with some family friends. During this time, Van Orman found a boat, and took it out in the middle of the night. Eventually getting lost, it took him three days to finally return. He was saddened by his apparent failure as an adventurer. But when he related these stories to his friends, they were more entertained by all the things that went wrong (the misadventures) than what went right.[7][2] After trying to live in the jungles of Mexico and eating out of dumpsters, Van Orman just chalked all these bad circumstances up as "part of the adventure".[2]
Van Orman was also fascinated by Dairy Queen commercials, which depicts landscapes made of ice-cream. He wanted to explore those fantasy lands, not so much to eat the ice-cream, but just for sheer exploration.[4]
[edit] Characters
- Flapjack
- An excitable, adventure-loving boy who was found and raised by Bubbie,the talking whale. Flapjack is very naive and oblivious to danger[2], so he's easily caught up in perilous situations. He is also extremely friendly and is often upset when someone does not respect a friendship. Spellbound by K'nuckles' stories of his days of adventure, he sets his sights on becoming a real adventurer just as his rolemodel K'nuckles. He is gullible enough to believe anything that will help him on his set goal, even if it makes no sense and is completely irrelevant. Flapjack believes that everyone in Stormalong is a friend and often takes them calling him various names and insults as compliments, often leading people (mostly K'nuckles) to believe that he has mental problems. However, it's been suggested that Flapjack is one of the few characters that knows how to read. Flapjack often makes squeaky noises when he walks, which gives a bit of a cute personality. He admires K'nuckles and considers him to be a good friend, though K'nuckles tends to lie to and manipulate him. His catchphrases are "Adventure!" (said whenever he gets excited), "What is going on here?" (said whenever something that he doesn't expect happens), and "Cannonballs" (said whenever something does not go right).
- Captain K'nuckles
- A washed-up old sailor who claims to be the greatest adventurer the world has ever known. Nowadays, he prefers to nap and drink maple syrup (in this series, drinking maple syrup has the same implications as drinking alcohol). While telling outrageous tales of past adventures and getting Flapjack wrapped up in his high seas hi-jinks. In reality, his stories are either completely false, or nowhere near as adventurous or amazing as he leads Flapjack to believe. He is a candy addict; he will do whatever it takes to get his hands on some candy. Because of this, he is incredibly selfish, putting the well-being of himself and the acquisition of candy above all else. Though he has a habit of taking advantage of Flapjack for his own needs, he is actually quite fond of him and will often attempt to get him out of trouble when a scheme of theirs goes too far, he also defends Flapjack when others try to deceive him, something that he does on a regular basis. Most of his body is composed of wood :his hands are wooden hands based on the best hand ever made, his legs are pegs, and his buttocks (his "sittin' muscle", as he calls it) is a wooden board. Because of his artificial body, he makes mechanical noises when he moves. K'nuckles spends most of the adventures with Flapjack trying to find Candied Island. He values his own well being and candy over all else. Flapjack often has to defend him when he is in trouble.
- Bubbie
- A talking whale who acts as an over-protective mother[2] to Flapjack and gives him a lot of advice that he rarely follows and she, at times, doesn't follow either. She claims that she found Flapjack wrapped in seaweed. Strangely, despite this, she seems to know when Flapjack's actual(perhaps the day she found him though it is unclear if that would his birthday) birthday is. She prefers the "safety" of Stormalong to the dangers of the open seas. Regardless of how much trouble K'nuckles and Flapjack get into, she will always look out for Flapjack and wait for him at the shore or docks. She's also confirmed as the fastest whale in the sea, but she doesn't like to brag. She also acts as K'nuckles' ship, as well as his and Flapjack's 'house' as they live in her mouth. When she's bored, she'll often spy on the other residents of Stormalong underneath the docks through peepholes. Bubbie is generally hostile to K'nuckles, though this is quite justified, as he tends to dupe Flapjack into doing things that she does not approve of, but more often than not, she seems to eventually forgive him, as she normally ends up allowing him to come back to live with her and Flapjack. Voiced by Roz Ryan.
[edit] Recurring Characters
- Peppermint Larry
- The owner of the Candy Barrel who supplies candy to Flapjack, K'nuckles and the rest of Stormalong. While he comes off as overly friendly (and somewhat mentally unstable), he often treats Flapjack and K'nuckles quite poorly and sometimes has outright villainious intentions, giving him a sort-of two-faced personality. When they do not have money for candy, Larry feeds them unreliable clues to help them find Candied Island. Larry is married to his beloved candy-wife, who is, as her name suggests, a woman made entirely out of various kinds of candy, as well as a source of his frequent bouts of paranoia and psychosis, as he constantly believes that his 'wife' is either cheating on him or attempting to kill him. On numerous occasions, he has made it clear that he hates pickles, as seen when his candy-wife "poisoned" him with pickle juice and when the couple washed ashore on "Pickled Island" while in search for Candied Island. Larry's candy-wife is a non-speaking role, and most of her appearances are stop motion segments, and she falls apart multiple times. He and Candy Wife have adopted a (very large) daughter named Candy. Voiced by Jeff Bennett. Larry has a fondness for performing with puppets, and entertaining others with puns.
- Doctor Barber
- A barber who resides in Stormalong Harbor. In the time the series was set in, barbers and doctors were indeed the same job. He owns a barbershop and a clinic which are right next to each other and are connected. Unlike Peppermint Larry, Dr. Barber often comes off as having malicious intentions, though he usually means well and is normally kind towards the two. Dr. Barber is also a semi-sailor who is attempting to find Candied Island; he stole what he thought was Flapjack and K'nuckles map to Candied Island, at which time it was revealed that he's unable to read. He and his floor-sweepers all sing and act like a barbershop quartet. However, while his floor-sweepers always sing whenever they speak, Dr. Barber himself rarely does so. Dr. Barber has a monster that lives under his floor that he feeds all the hair-clippings that are produced from shaves and haircuts. It's revealed that he has been collecting hair to create the "perfect barber" to give the "perfect haircuts", using the hair and some fish heads he gets from Flapjack and K'nuckles. Despite the mess that comes of it, he takes responsibility and tries to stop the monster, though he fails. It's implied, however, that he hasn't given up on this endeavor. This may explain the creature living under his floor. He often mixes up haircuts and surgery by saying "You, sir, look like you need a surgery. If you don't feel too good we also have haircuts." He is voiced by Steve Little.
- Eight-Armed Willy
- A gigantic, evil octopus, feared by everybody in Stormalong. He is so large, he wears a galleon as a hat. He is despised by Flapjack and K'nuckles and is constantly trying to lure them into his cave. He wears an eyepatch. Voiced by Richard McGonagle.
- The Inventor Twins
- Twin brothers who create steampunk-like technology, such as the R.A.M.P., Alpha-Whale, M.U.S.L., and the Grand Flying Contraption. The water-based brother (who hates Bubbie, and is overall evil) is referred to as the Inventor, while his air-based brother (who is in love with Bubbie and is more inclined towards good) is referred to as the Professor or the Inventor's Brother. They apparently despise one another, though they nearly reconciled at the end of one episode, the water-based one destroyed the air-based one's Grand Flying Contraption, causing his brother to destroy the Alpha-Whale in revenge. Voiced by Jeff Bennett.
