Game Over (TV series)
| Game Over | |
|---|---|
 The Smashenburn family | |
| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Created by | David Sacks |
| Voices of |
Patrick Warburton Lucy Liu Rachel Dratch Elizabeth Daily Artie Lange Marie Matiko |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
David Sacks Dave Goetsch Ross Venokur Jason Venokur Marcy Carsey Tom Werner Caryn Mandabach |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Carsey-Werner Productions |
| Distributor |
Carsey-Werner Distribution The Program Exchange |
| Release | |
| Original network | UPN |
| Picture format |
480i 4:3 (SDTV) 1080i 16:9 (HDTV) |
| Original release | March 10 – April 2, 2004 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Game Over is an American adult computer-animated sitcom created by David Sacks (who would later become president of Nickelodeon Animation Studio), produced by Carsey-Werner Productions, and broadcast on UPN in 2004. It was cancelled due to low ratings.
Game Over (the title was inspired by the phrase "game over" that commonly concludes video games whether the player loses or finishes the game, depending on which video game he or she plays) focused on what happens to video game characters after the game ends. The show recounted the lives of the Smashenburns, a far-from-ordinary suburban family that lives in an alternate video game universe.
The show made numerous references to video games and even featured certain game characters as cameos. For example, Crash Bandicoot appears on a Got Milk? billboard whilst creatures from Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee appear in one of the episodes.
Marisa Tomei voiced the character of Raquel Smashenburn in the series' unaired pilot episode, but scheduling problems saw Lucy Liu take over the role for the actual series.[1]
Game Over was heavily hyped by UPN before its debut. Some were skeptical of Game Over due to UPN's track record with their cartoons, but the show generally received positive press upon its airing.[2] Despite this, only six episodes were made, which aired on a variety of different days – the fourth and fifth episodes were broadcast on April 2, 2004, and the sixth episode ("Monkey Dearest") was not aired.
Characters
- Rip Smashenburn, a Grand Prix driver who races every day and crashes his car all the time. (Patrick Warburton)
- Raquel Smashenburn, a covert agent who fights monsters and is vaguely similar to Lara Croft. (Lucy Liu)
- Alice Smashenburn, a cynical yet socially conscious 14-year-old. Is part of a beach volleyball team, but wears a hoodie instead of a skimpy bikini. (Rachel Dratch)
- Billy Smashenburn, a 13-year-old hoping to become a rapper. (Elizabeth Daily)
- Turbo, their pet, a 300-pound talking doglike creature who robs pawn shops and smokes cigars. (Artie Lange)
- The Changs, including Dark Princess Chang (Marie Matiko), a family of Kung-Fu-fighting Shaolin monks who live next door.
- Another Next door neighbour who talks to Rip in first person perspective.
DVD release
Anchor Bay Entertainment released all six episodes of the series as Game Over: The Complete Series on DVD in North America on June 28, 2005.[3]
References
- ↑ Dave Goestch of Game Over Archived 2008-01-27 at the Wayback Machine., UGO.
- ↑ TELEVISION REVIEW; Video Game Heroes: Just Folks, The New York Times, March 10, 2004.
- ↑ Game Over - Complete Series Archived 2006-11-16 at the Wayback Machine., TVshowsonDVD.com.