The Brothers Flub

The Brothers Flub
The cover of Plan C: Panic!, depicting Guapo (left) and Fraz
Genre	Comic science fiction
Created by	David Burke Laslo Nosek[1]
Voices of	Scott Menville Jerry Sroka Charlotte Rae Ron Hale Christine Cavanaugh[2]
Theme music composer	Nathan Wang[2]
Country of origin	United States Germany
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26 (52 segments)
Production
Producers	Bonni Freeman (coordinating) C.J. Kettler (executive) Geraldine Clarke (supervising) Jodey J. Kaminski (associate) Salaam Coleman (Nickelodeon executive) Wolfgang Heidrich (Ravensburger Film + TV executive)
Running time	approx. 22-26 minutes (2×11-minute episodes)
Production companies	Ravensburger Film + TV Videal Sunbow Entertainment Sony Wonder Television
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon (United States) Super RTL (Germany)
Release	January 16, 1999 (1999-01-16)[3] – January 8, 2000 (2000-01-08)[4]

The Brothers Flub is an animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment and co-produced by jigsaw puzzle manufacturer Ravensburger. It aired in the United States on the television network Nickelodeon. The show's title characters are a pair of alien brothers named Guapo and Fraz, both of whom work as couriers, who travel throughout their universe to deliver packages to a different planet in each episode of the series. It ran from January 16, 1999, until January 8, 2000.^[5]

Summary

The Brothers Flub takes place in outer space. The show's title refers to its two central characters: a pair of blue-furred alien brothers named Guapo and Fraz Flub. Guapo is shorter and fatter than his brother, and is a lighter shade of blue. Both wear bodysuits, shoes and caps.

In the series, they work for a company called RetroGrade Interdimensional Couriers, of which a green-colored female alien named Tarara Boomdeyay is the boss.^[1][6][7] Other characters at their job include a female alien named Valerina and an older orange, male alien named Squish. The brothers, who are couriers, travel through their universe in their spacecraft (called the Hoog) to deliver packages to various planets.^[7][8] Each episode features a different planet with a different characteristic, such as "The Land of Oversized Games", which comprises life-sized game pieces such as a pinball machine,^[9] or "Hip City", a planet inhabited by beatnik aliens.^[10]

History

Cindy Barth of the Orlando Business Journal said that "although still an untested property, optimism is high for the Brothers Flub" because of Sunbow's record and staff members.^[11]

Production

The creators marketed the series for children ages six through eleven.^[12] Sunbow contracted with Animatics, an Orlando, Florida-based company, allowing for Animatics to create the storyline and the storyboard for the series.^[11] Laura Sullivan, the senior director of marketing of Sony Wonder, said in a 1999 Promo article that the series attracted equal numbers of male and female children and that it was "very Nickelodeon-looking."^[12] The series was delayed for a year from its original scheduled debut.^[13]

Episodes

Cast

Main cast

• Guapo Flub: Jerry Sroka
• Fraz Flub: Scott Menville
• Tarara Boomdeyay: Charlotte Rae
• Squish: Ron Hale
• Valerina: Christine Cavanaugh

Additional voices

• Richard Horvitz
• Mariette Hartley
• Joe Lala
• John Kassir
• Jerry Sroka
• Tim Curry
• Candi Milo
• Jeff Bennett
• H. Richard Greene
• Michael Bell
• Pat Fraley
• Sally Struthers
• Roger Rose
• Kevin Michael Richardson
• Jennifer Darling
• Bruce Eckstart
• Tom Shell
• Gayiel Von
• Nick Bakay
• Tress MacNeille
• Harvey Korman
• Estelle Harris
• Marsha Clark: Judy Hen
• Stuart Pankin
• Gregg Berger
• Gary Littman
• Vanessa Marshall
• Peter Ratray
• Dee Bradley Baker
• Lori Alan
• Jim Ward
• Billie Hayes
• Michael Horton
• Tom Kenny
• Tommy Widmer: Bob

Crew

• Charlie Adler - Voice Director

Merchandising

The Brothers Flub was used in several promotional deals for various brands. Fast food chain KFC announced that it would use the characters in a kids' meal, while Carl's Jr. and Hardee's branded tray liners and bags with The Brothers Flub images.^[12] GNC planned to include The Brothers Flub yo-yos in its children's vitamins, while department store chain Macy's used the characters in their back-to-school advertising flyers.^[14] Skechers started a sweepstakes that distributed Skechers and The Brothers Flub-branded items.

VHS release

Sony Wonder released two videocassettes of the show in 1999. These were entitled Plan C: Panic! and Doom Wears Funny Tights!.^[15][16] Each one featured four episodes of the series. Both tapes are now out of print and hard to find.

VHS releases were planned for the series by Maverick in the United Kingdom, but in the end, no releases came to fruition.^[17]

Reception

The Brothers Flub was panned by critics. Joanne Weintraub of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel described the show as "a rare clinker with all the noisy hyperactivity of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and little of the cockeyed charm."^[18] The Hollywood Reporter called it "a somewhat vacuous effort that lacks the charm and substance of much of Nick's other programming" but added "now and again [the creators] hit on some clever high jinks."^[8] Writing for the Lakeland Ledger, Evan Levine thought that the show had a promising premise, but thought that its humor was mean-spirited.^[19]

References

External links

• The Brothers Flub at IMDb

This page was last edited on 23 March 2024, at 04:41