Evening, geeks!
Big Eyes checking in from Fantastic Fest! Last night I caught Tenacious D’s POST-APOCALYPTO, a six part animated story. Every frame was hand drawn by Jack Black himself! So, there wasn’t necessarily much actual animation as there was a bunch of still frames. Black is a musician and an actor, not some kind of tweening peasant!
Before the screening, Black and his partner Kyle Gass gave us a personal introduction!
Apparently Black and Gass put this project together, and are currently trying to pitch it to get a full animated show going. If anybody picks it up, I would think Adult Swim would, because it’s well… very “Adult Swim-y”. The art was perhaps a step above 12 OZ MOUSE, and the meandering story would definitely appeal to Adult Swim’s audience. This is not to say that it was bad.
The story begins with Black and Gass sitting stoned in their apartment when they realize that they need to pay rent. Somehow that triggers a domino effect that eventually leads to the end of the world and they must wander a post-apocalyptic setting and find a way to survive.
POST-APOCALYPTO was actually a lot of fun with its goofy visuals. And there were dicks. SO MANY DICKS. SHORT, GIRTHY DICKS. Speaking of dicks, they tore into the Trumps pretty hard with some political commentary sprinkled in. The story for the most part seemed to kind of happen, some of it is pointless, but still entertaining. Things do tie up in the end alright. What does matter is the spirit in which the story was told, which is what really made the animations worth watching. That spirit was just that Jack Black kind of silliness we’ve grown to know and love over the years.
What was best about POST-APOCALYPTO is the music. Of course it was, and the songs were great! There were some beautiful melodies and great lyrics, and they had better be, because those songs are being released on their next album also titled POST-APOCALYPTO. The new album is currently available for pre-order on vinyl and CD. You can sample the album right now on their Soundcloud.
I would like to see POST-APOCALYPTO become a show, but they gotta get some actual animators on it to make it into something great, and I’m sure that’s what will happen if it get picked up.
There was some interesting Q&A after the screening.
The immediate burning question on my mind was when the heck PICK OF DESTINY 2 was happening. Tenacious D had supposedly announced the film earlier this year. To much of my disappointment (and many others’, I’m sure) Black and Gass told us that POST-APOCALYPTO was pretty much it. There is no PICK OF DESTINY 2 movie in the works. Boo-hoo.
I believe someone had asked about reference being used for all of the dicks Black drew. He responded by sharing that Picasso had pleasured himself to his own work, and so Black had to do the same to get the “right angles”? Maybe that wasn’t the best way for him to explain that, but I get just using himself as reference.
Black admitted that there was some influence on the animated shorts from HEAVY METAL.
After the Q&A, a handful of people tried to bumrush Black and Gass, but they were shoved off by Fantastic Fest workers after being reminded that they were imminently heading over to the stage next to perform a few songs. I’ve been pretty excited about their musical performance since I found out I’d have the opportunity to see them live! I quickly hurried over to the stage and made my way to the front. People were packing in there pretty tight, but I’ve been to a handful of metal shows and know how to make my way to the front with my drink intact.
Tenacious D gave the people immediately what they wanted: “Tribute”.
The energy started high with that first song, but then eventually staggered. Gass seemed fine, but Black was looking positively exhausted. I think that perhaps he was pretty worn out from his time in Hollywood this past week since he had just joined the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Black was forgetting how his own songs went, and they even halted a single song a few times so he could remember. Now that I think about how forgetful he was being, maybe he was just a baked potato at that moment.
At the end of their musical performance, Tenacious D did the typical thing of throwing out some goodies to the audience. They threw out two things: guitar picks that said “Pick of Destiny” on them, and well… I caught the piece of white fabric, assuming it was a T-shirt. When I unfolded it, I found that it was just a plain, white, brand new hand towel. Nothing printed on it, nothing referred to them. It was just a goddamn hand towel. Was this in error or do they just not give a fuck anymore?
I was very excited to see their musical performance. But now I’ve found my delight overshadowed with disappointment.
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Anyways, watch Tenacious D’s chapters of POST-APOCALYPTO that will be uploaded weekly on YouTube, starting Friday!
~Big Sad Eyes
