Scottish Ninjas

K

Kunmui

New member
Synopsis:

A thousand years ago

A well liquored Scott wandered the seaside, discovered a mysterious bottle and drank its contents.

Unbeknown to him, it contained the trapped spirit of an ancient Japanese warrior!

Now with two spirits, the way of the Scottish Ninja was born!

He adopted three young orphaned lads to train in the ancient ways.

Now grown, they are sent to America to find their place in the world.

Once there, they begin their quest for booze, adventure, and the American dream!
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-Scottish Ninjas Trailer
-Aidan Character Vignette
-Finn Character Vignette
-Lachlan Character Vignette
-Dave Character Vignette

What do you guys think?

We are putting the final touched on a 20 minute pilot episode of Scottish Ninjas. But before we release it to the world, we are looking for some feedback and to talk shop with fellow artists and animation lovers.

All thoughts, questions and impressions are welcome. :)
 
Being a huge fan of the Ninja Turtles I find any odd combonation involving the word ninja to be entertaining and this is by far no exception.

Really great animation in the trailer. I'm looking forward to seeing how you use this concept to create a compelling story.
 
I dunno... I don't think even Aussie ninja warriors can top the hillarity of Scottish ninja warriors. The kilts alone make for a lot more visual gags.
 
It looks to be funny, but ultimately I'd have to see a full episode. If the show becomes another "cartoon with excessive content for the sake of making things edgy", then I probably won't follow.
 
It's too bad the trailer didn't have any voice acting. A major part of what makes a show entertaining is the voice acting, so it would have been cool to see (er...hear) some of it in action.
 
I have the exact same concerns when it comes to many cartoons these days. I can assure you that almost nothing we do on the writing side of this cartoon is done purely for edge sake. I don't believe in telling a joke if it forces a character to betray their true nature. Our humor mostly comes from the personality of our characters and how those dynamics react with the different situations they face.

On the story side of things, we are going to be dealing with some deep mythos established early on. Such as the ancient Japanese warrior trapped in the bottle. How did he get in there? Who killed him and trapped his soul? And how does such a warrior react sharing the body with an old, Scottish codger? Another theme we will tackle in the story is the adventure of immigrating to the new land and being a fish out of water. Seeing big city life through unjaded eyes. And of course there will be love, betrayal, and mysterious people from their past. Not to mention comical new villains, and supporting characters being introduced through out. So I can assure you that we have put a lot of thought into the story arcs and not just the edgy humor.

I want the humor to be the reason people first tune in, but I want the story to be why they keep watching. :)

Thanks for all the great comments. I'll post some more content here soon.
 
"The humor is what you tune in for but you stay for the story" now that's an excellent goal in making a new cartoon.

The story certainly sounds interesting and I'm all for more fish out of water and awkward situation comedy. The animation is quite good as well so the overall package (no pun intended) looks really well executed.

Looking forward to your pilot episode.
 
Adult Swim is of course a logical fit, so that will be a clear objective. But FX has come into our radar ever since learning about Archer. We have some connections at Fox, but weren't sure how useful they would be, since I never thought the FOX network would be interested in a show like this. But now that FX has put it's hat in the animation ring, I may have to pursue those avenues now. We will also pursue Comedy Central. Spike TV possibly. Microsoft's xbox market place content execs have already shown some interest. And while not as lucrative as television, it would allow more creative control. And with the relatively successful story of "The Guild" as well as xbox signing a deal with ESPN, Microsoft seems to be carving a place for itself in the world of distribution. So we may entertain that possibility as well.
 
Here are some character model sheets.

AidanTurnAround-1024x662.jpg


FinnTurnAround-1024x662.jpg


lachlanTurnAround-1024x662.jpg


DaveTurnAround-e1264308981240.jpg
 
I like the look of the animation,but the one question i have is are any of team behind this scottish at all ?

It lacks steak pies and string vests to me.


I hope it does not turn out like Seth Mcfarlane's Scotmans,because that was more of an insult than anything else.


Good Luck with it i hope to see this on tv one day :)
 
Those are all valid concerns. And yes, there are Scottish members of the team. Plus a dash of Irish. We even have a member who is a Jeet Kun Do instructor (but not Scottish). So we will be blending in plenty of Scottish folklore and Asian philosophy into the concept. I am not a huge Seth Macfarlane fan, so let me assure you this will not be his version of Scotsmen. There is meat behind the concept (or rather under the kilt), I can assure you. :) We've already plotted out multiple seasons worth of story arcs and created an in depth mythology behind the concept. We are sticklers for in depth story telling and character development. This will be anything but a shallow concept. We are aware that the concept of "Scottish Ninjas" is not enough to sustain a successful series alone. It is simply the vessel to tell a good story.
 
"Don't tell my wife" nice. Bad guys with fetishes for their weapons has been done plenty of times before but you gotta love it when it's done well.
 
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