OK K.O.! Future Heroes

'''OK K.O.! Future Heroes (Also known as Aardman's OK K.O.! Future Heroes, working title being Shy Ninja Clubhouse''') is an American animated series for Cartoon Network. The show first premiered on Cartoon Network on December 7, 1996, as a 5-part television film. Unlike OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Shy Ninja talk and become the world's greatest hero. In Season 5, they added all OCs characters in the show as supporting characters. ''OK K.O.! Future Heroes'' is one of Cartoon Network's most commercially successful franchises; it received consistently high viewership in the United States on broadcast television and was the network's highest-rated show to date, and won numerous awards. Merchandise based on the series has also been produced, such as video games, home media releases, toys, and clothing.

Due to the show's success, a feature film titled ''OK K.O.! Future Heroes: The Fine-Pow Carded Movie'', was released in theaters on July 8, 2015. It was followed by ''OK K.O.! The Downfall in 2018, OK K.O.! Dawn of the Mutants in 2020, OK K.O.! Continental Battle and OK K.O.! Ultimate Course'', both set to be released in theaters on September 23, 2022 and November 18, 2024. As of May 2020, all prior seasons of the show were released on HBO Max.

A pilot for the spin-off series Neil's Robo-Toons aired in July 2003 as a season 9 episode of ''OK K.O.! Future Heroes''. Neil's Robo-Toons aired from October 11, 2007, to May 21, 2009; the series faced several years of hiatus, until a brief revival in February 2014 entitled Neil's Robo-Toons: Party Pals!, only to be cancelled after airing three unseen episodes that had been held over from the show's third season.

Plot
The series takes place on an plaza inhabited by heroes who are pleasant and kind, who know something of the outside world. the titular character, Shy Ninja, and her efforts to become the world's greatest hero while working at Gar's Bodega (run by Mr. Gar), a hero supply shop in Lakewood Plaza and go on various adventures to defeat Lord Boxman, a villainous arch-enemy of K.O.'s boss, Mr. Gar and the deadly large black ice frostgargoyle, Turbocharged.

Like The Looney Tunes Show and The Muppets (2015), this series makes use of slapstick and dialogue-driven with employment and rooming.

Main

 * Janice Kawaye as Shy Ninja, Turbo Shy Ninja
 * Stephanie Nadolny as K.O.
 * Mena Suvari as Enid, Victor, Isabel, Timmothy, Collin, Azir
 * Dan Castellaneta as Radicles, Gothcat, V-M4N, Lily
 * Messila Fahn as Dendy
 * Phil Marr as Neil, Spiky, Tall Teen
 * Clancy Brown as Montgomery Gator
 * Faye Mata as OK
 * Laurie Hymes as Icyln, Carl, Percy, Small Teen, Eve
 * Derek Stephen Prince as Baxter
 * Alex Hirsch as Arsenio
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Jojo, Dennis
 * Grey DeLisle as Color Heart, Briella, Preston, Timmy
 * Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
 * Cree Summer as Mechanica, Kira
 * David Sant as Pingu
 * Rodger Bumpass as Hood Sickle
 * George Kidder as Bloatincaid X
 * Kath Soucie as Denozzie Kappa
 * Peter Cullen as Mr. Gar
 * Tara Strong as Carol

Supporting

 * Hynden Walch as Dynamite Watkins, Miss Quantum, Snake
 * Jeff Bennett as Colewort, Topher, Driver, Plaque, Point Trooper, Swift
 * Tress MacNeille as Potato, Punching Judy, Drupe, Gertie, Ginger, Mega Football Baby, Grapple, Biki, Phoebe, Punching Trudy
 * Jim Cummings as Lord Boxman, Boxman Jr., Gar-Man, Mecha-Maw, Robbie
 * Samuel Vincent as Darrell, Crinkly Wrinkly, Cookie Man, Gregg, Point Trooper, Drone, URL, Gauntlet, Pickle, Frat Boy 2, Gregg, Point Trooper, Drone ("Mystery Sleepover"), URL, Gauntlet, Pickle, Nerd 2, Janner
 * Brianna Knickerbocker as Shannon, Chillcat, Tumbles, Mrs. Gnarlio, Vormulax, Kid, P.O.I.N.T. HQ, Barista Pup, Wavezilla, Grandma
 * E.G. Daily as Mikayla, Krissa, Monkey, Genesis
 * Shannon Chan-Kent as Gladys, Ms. Mummy, Foxy, Cherry, Ball Monster, Rippy Roo, Baby Teeth, Glitter Starlight, Tumbles, Plazamo ("Dark Plaza"), Hamster, Classmate 1 & 2 ("You're a Good Friend, Shy Ninja!")
 * Kenan Thompson as Raymond, Co-Bruh, Rex, Announcer ("Beach Episode")
 * Liliana Mumy as Elodie
 * Jason Issacs as Nick Army, Pird, Ernesto, Face of Fear, Male Lead, Soloist, Anxious Ricky, Wistful Pete, Drone
 * Maurice LaMarche as Turbocharged
 * Arnie Pantoja as Whisker the Puffin
 * Lizzy Caplan as Lucy the Arctic Fox

Trivia

 * The character design's style is reminiscent of the original designs much akin to the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes with having it mixed with My Life as a Teenage Robot-styled animation.
 * Similar to The Looney Tunes Show and The Tom and Jerry Show, This show is not just well known for its source material and its wide array of characters, but also having cameos of Cartoon Network shows appeared in one show.

Production
To promote ''OK K.O.! Future Heroes'', Cartoon Network's Chief Content Officer Rob Sorcher hinted many times in an interview that it would become a full series. On March 9, 1996 on PlayStation's Blog, Chris Waldron VP of Games & Digital Products for Cartoon Network announced a series in the works, along with a video game. The series was premiered by Cartoon Network on December 7, 1996. The pilot episode for What a Cartoon! was aired on June 12, 1995.

Unlike many animated programs, which are inked on paper and then scanned for coloring, OK K.O.! was drawn in pencil. The animators pencil each frame on paper using a light table, and then color them digitally on a layer beneath the transparent line work, to retain a hand-drawn quality. For Renzetti, it was important for the audience to "never forget that these are drawings." This was partially inspired by the first season of The Simpsons, which had a loose, rough quality to its animation. In addition, the show's design sense is akin to the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes with having it mixed with My Life as a Teenage Robot-styled animation.

Animation
The show's animation was outsourced to ten animation studios:


 * the Canadian Jam Filled Entertainment (which would later work on the animation for The Loud House and DC Super Hero Girls (2019)),
 * another Canadian Mercury Filmworks (which would later work on the animation for Wander Over Yonder),
 * Industrial Light & Magic (which would later work on the animation for Small Soldiers and the 2007 Transformers film trilogy)
 * SunMin Image Pictures (which would later work on the animation for OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Avengers Assemble, Steven Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Ben 10 reboot, Justice League Action, and Infinity Train)
 * Animal Logic (which would later work on the animation for The Lego Movie, Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, and the 2018 Peter Rabbit movie)
 * Framestone (which would later work on the animation for Chicken Run, Avengers: Infinity War, and the 2021 Tom and Jerry movie)
 * the Filipino Snipple Animation (which would later work on Looney Tunes Cartoons, Unikitty, and Green Eggs and Ham (2019))
 * the South Korea Digital eMation (which worked on a majority of Cartoon Network original shows like OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Batman: Brave and the Bold, Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall, and more recent entries in the Scooby-Doo franchise),
 * Jim Henson's Creature Shop (which worked on the creature effects for the Lost in Space film and Where the Willd Things Are),
 * another Canadian Yowza Animation (which worked on the animation for Osmosis Jones),
 * Sony Pictures Imageworks (which would later work on Hotel Transylvania franchise and Smallfoot)
 * the Japanese Science Saru (which worked on the animation for Night Is Short, Walk On Girl and Ride Your Wave),
 * Montreal Tonic DNA (which would later work on Looney Tunes Cartoons and the Animaniacs revival),

Also, all episodes are made by two hand-drawn animated softwares, Pencil2D and Toon Boom Animation.

Andrea Torrejon and Robert Alvarez serves as the series' animation directors and lead animators.

Film
A feature film, ''OK K.O.! Future Heroes: The Fine-Pow Carded Movie'', was released in theaters on July 8, 2015.