Dr. Hamsterton - Euramco Pictures

CONCEPT
It’s CSI… for kids! Team Huh?! is a frenetically
paced 22 minute cartoon series that goofs on
ubiquitous forensic police procedurals.
The series centers around a boy genius named Zak
Huh?! and his team of scientist animals: Professor
McLuckLuck (a chicken chemist), Dr. Hamsterton
(a hamster mathematician and physicist), and
Dr. Barker (a dog engineer). They serve as the
forensic investigators for Special Agent Gwendolyn
Spendlethin, a gruff career agent for the Office of
Plausible Deniability (“The OPD”). The OPD is a
clandestine government intelligence agency that
spoofs government bureaucracy and inefficiency;
the pompous OPD Chief is a boob who squanders
money on absurd projects, but cuts funding for their
forensics lab, forcing Gwendolyn to go outside the
agency and work with Team Huh?!
Backstory
The World
Team Huh?! is set in Dogwood City, a fictionalized version of Atlanta.
Zak lives on Peachtree Lane, a quiet suburban cul-de-sac tucked
away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Dogwood (where the
intersection of Peachtree Boulevard and the Peachtree Turnpike grinds
traffic to a halt during rush hours).
Zak’s home looks normal enough, but a tall pile of laundry in his
bedroom hides another secret: hop into that pile and you’ll get sucked
down a pneumatic tube and dropped into an underground state of
the art laboratory staffed by animal scientists including: insufferable
know-it-all chicken/chemist Professor McLuckLuck, wacky food
obsessed hamster/physicist, Dr. Hamsterton, and stoic dog/engineer,
Dr. Barker.
Some of you may recall reading about how Zak came to be an orphan
from accounts in the science journals, but for the rest you here’s a
quick summary: Zak is the child of the esteemed husband and wife
astrophysicists Woodrow and Maybelle Huh?! and the younger brother
of Hank Huh?!, noted X-games champion, musician, zoologist and all
around teen super-genius. Woodrow and Maybelle’s communication
system went down during a space expedition to patch up holes in the
ozone and so Hank hopped into his rescue ship to find them; all three
disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Dr. Barker, Professor
McLuckLuck and Dr. Hamsterton were the subjects of Hank’s
unpublished paper on behavioral neurobiology in which he proved
that by tapping into unused parts of animal brains they were capable
of high level scientific reasoning. Since the disappearance the trio of
animal scientists has become a fiercely protective surrogate family to
Zak – though Zak has never completely abandoned the hope that his
family is still out there somewhere.
Tone
Cross Platform
Team Huh?! is one of those shows that defies demographics and
just makes fun stories. There’s no graphic violence or sexuality, and
the plots – which feature plenty of animals, gadgets and general
silliness – can be understood at a basic level by ages 6 and up while
another layer of satire and verbal humor is
designed for older audiences.
Team Huh?! has the potential to be marketed and used across many
platforms in a variety of ways, including traditional merchandising
(toys, clothing, etc.) and online fan pages, but with particular potential
to integrate educational software into role playing video games. So a
multi-platform strategy could include:
Team Huh?! is not an educational
cartoon. Yes, the show does
make math and science look
cool and, like adult forensic
procedurals, we intend to
feature actual applied science
elements in each episode.
We’d be delighted if teachers
use clips from the show to
introduce lectures. But we
don’t want the show to feel like
eating your vegetables. It’s a
little weird and a little wrong.
• Toys, clothes, and games, etc. It’s a cartoon with cute characters
and cool gadgets.
• Internet only blogs and videos from the characters.
• Video games. This is where more sophisticated science and math
education could be integrated with narrative video games. Players
would have to master missions that featured mission storylines,
action reaction game play and also complete labs or solve equations
in order to complete levels by solving a crime and thereby unlock
more sophisticated lab equipment and cool spy gadgets. Online
science software has already proven effective in boosting school
science scores (see, e.g., zingylearning.com). What’s more, the level
of time, energy, and sophistication evident in message boards used
to share video game tips and
cheats is staggering. In many
ways that kind of crowdsourcing
is now being openly embraced
as part of scientific methodology.
Games that truly incorporated
exciting game play with science
and math labs could greatly
broaden the reach of educational
software.
Zak Huh?!
…Zak Huh?! is the leader of Team Huh?!
Zak’s animated curly eyebrows are a Huh?!
Family signature as is the “Huh?! face”: when
he’s extremely puzzled his eyebrows pop up to
form a question mark and exclamation point
dotted by his eyes. When not navigating the
treacherous world of middle school he and
his team of animal scientists assist Special
Agent Gwendolyn Spendlethin as forensic
investigators.
Zak’s parents and older brother disappeared
in space years ago in an ill fated mission
to patch up the ozone layer so his animal
scientist friends: Dr. Barker, Dr. Hamsterton,
and Professor McLuckLuck have become his
surrogate family. He can be very shy in public,
but he lets his untamable hair down (up?) and
laughs freely when it’s just him and the team.
He loves a good zing, a stealth zing, or even
the rarely attempted triple reverse zing (That’s
a zing of a reverse zing of an original zing!).
When not keeping the streets of Dogwood
City safe from crime, Zak tries to solve
the mysteries of human interaction. He’s
infatuated by his seemingly unattainable
neighbor Jazz and dreams of getting his first
kiss from her.
Like a lot of kids – even of the adult variety
– Zak is much more aware of his limitations
than his strengths. He’s not an athlete like
his older brother Hank. He’s not renowned
like his astrophysicist parents. He’s not brave
like Gwendolyn (he’s afraid of the dark and
keeps a data log of monster under the bed
inspections). He’s not popular like Jazz. But
someday his brilliance will outshine them all.
“You’re so money and you don’t even know it.”
– Vince Vaughn, Swingers
Yeah you are Zak.
“I’m just your regular kid genius orphan, just trying to get by.”
– Zak Huh?!
Special Agent Gwendolyn Spendlethin
...curmudgeonly career OPD secret agent
Gwendolyn Spendlethin wants to do is babysit
an orphaned adolescent and three animals,
but with her own forensics lab shuttered by
government budget cuts, she has little choice.
In her 50’s and a bit frumpy, Gwen looks
more like a school teacher than a field agent.
That is until she’s forced to act: she carries
a taser gun and she’s highly skilled in hand
to hand self defense techniques. She comes
from farm stock which gives her a folksy
kind of common sense and a childhood filled
with physical chores explains why she’s a
lot stronger than she looks. She knows how
“Never work with children or animals.”
– W.C. Fields
“Tell me about it.”
– Gwendolyn Spendlethin
to put the screws to a suspect during an
interrogation. She’s a dogged all business
investigator and she often clashes with her
petty and incompetent Chief and Dogwood’s
Sheriff Slade, who’s more concerned with
who’s case it is instead of actually solving the
crime.
Gwen is single and married to her career.
She respects Zak for his ingenuity, but she
treats him like an adult colleague rather
than a little boy without a mother. She gets
very uncomfortable around open displays of
emotion. Still, under her gruffness one can
sense a growing maternal bond with Zak.
Professor McLuckLuck
…Professor McLuckLuck rules the laboratory
roost, analyzing samples when the rest of
the team is out collecting evidence. His most
trusted source of information is anything that
comes out of his own mouth. He’s arrogant,
pretentious and supercilious (he likes to use
words like “supercilious”). He can’t take it as
well as he dishes it out however. For instance,
when he’s forced to enter the “best in breed”
at the county fair, he dismisses it as nothing
more than a superficial beauty pageant, but
he’s mortified that he doesn’t make the finals.
He insists that he’s an expert flyer, but no
one has ever actually seen him fly. He can be
condescending to his colleagues and frankly
to everyone. But when it comes to chemistry
there’s no denying he knows his field. And
when it comes to Zak his heart is always in
the right place.
“You’ll tell me your secrets, wont you?”
– Professor McLuckLuck
(to his evidence sample)
Dr. Hamsterton
…Dr. Hamsterton is a hamster and the
team’s resident physicist and mathematician.
He always has an emergency snack or two
hidden in his flexible cheeks. He can be a bit
defensive about his physique and treats his
hamster wheel like a treadmill (“I’m going
to get some cardio in”), though he’s already
thinking about what he’s going to eat the
second he begins a workout. He’s known
to get a little manic when he has too much
sugar.
Hamsterton is a goofball and a dreamer. He
pursues ideas because they’re intellectually
fascinating to him and he’s not very
practical. When he solves his first crime
using probability modeling – a bank robbery
spree – he thinks it’s just a math puzzle. He’s
smitten with Agent Spendlethin and doesn’t
understand why a middle aged woman
wouldn’t want to date a hamster (“Is there a
no fraternization policy at the OPD?”).
Because he’s so tiny Hamsterton is often
popping out of pockets, purses, or backpacks
where he’s hitched a ride. He also travels
by “hamstercopter” – a special helicopterbackpack mounted with a surveillance
camera designed for him by Dr. Barker.
“I’m not lazy, I’m nocturnal.”
– Dr. Hamsterton
Dr. Barker
…Dr. Barker is a Scottish terrier and the
team’s engineer and driver. He’s great with his
paws and can build or fix just about anything.
His keen sense of smell is also invaluable for
crime scene investigating.
Dr. Barker is the most serious member of
the team. He’s stoic and brave by nature,
though he does have a yellow smiley face
squeaky ball that he plays with when no one
is watching.
Barker was the Huh?! Family’s first pet
– an adopted rescue shelter dog. He was
Zak’s older brother Hank’s first subject in
his attempt to tap into animal brains and
teach them science. He’s fiercely loyal and
protective of Zak. He spent time as a stray
before getting picked up by the shelter,
making him the most worldly and streetwise
member of the team. He doesn’t like to talk
about his time on the street though. In fact,
he doesn’t talk at all. Because he’s a dog. A
talking dog? Don’t be ridiculous.
“Woof.”
– Dr. Barker
Jasmine “Jazz” Flatbush
…Jazz is the rich “it” girl of Dogwood middle
school. She has a competitive streak that can
get the best of her at times, but Jazz is not
a mean girl and she’s adored by the popular
kids, the jocks and the teachers alike.
Jazz’s father is a wealthy classist who spoils
his daughter and believes that their wealth
proves they are better than other people. Her
mother is a trophy wife, generally loving, but
not hands on. Jazz loves her parents, but
she’s trying to be more substantial and less
materialistic than they are.
When not in the grips of a competitive
rage, Jazz hates to hurt any one’s feelings.
She does sometimes take her wealth and
popularity for granted though, and with so
many people vying for her attention and
affection, it’s hard to know where you stand
with her.
“Daddy, I want to ride the bus, my friends are on the bus!”
– Jazz
Supporting Characters
The Chief
Bombastic and mercurial, The
Chief is the bane of Gwen’s
existence. Everything he does
impedes Gwen’s investigations,
but he’s always happy to take
credit when she solves the
crime. In his defense, he’s more
delusional than malicious.
Mr. Tipple
Good natured, but oblivious, Mr.
Tipple loves teaching and praises
Zak’s brilliance in ways that seem
almost designed to get Zak in
trouble with the bullies.
The Bullies (TJ, Hammer and House)
The stars of the football team,
TJ (the quarterback), Hammer
(linebacker), and House (lineman)
are Zak’s chief antagonists –
classic grade school bullies.
Their relationship with Zak is
fluid: at times they can drop the
antagonism and work together
with Zak, but such détentes are
only temporary.
Sheriff Slade and Deputy Don
Sheriff Slade is always warning
Gwen not to interfere with “his”
investigation. His investigative
technique involves a lot of
screaming at suspects hoping
they’ll confess and locking on to
his initial theory in spite of the
evidence. Deputy Don is fresh out
of the academy and just wants to
keep his job.
Episode Summaries
Wedgie Proof (Series Pilot)
Gruff special agent Gwendolyn Spendlethin is in pursuit of the
notorious Midnight Bank Robbers, but she’s getting very little support
from her pompous boob of a Chief who’s cut the funding to her
forensics lab. Instead, he’s diverting funding to his quest for the
most sophisticated wedgie proof underwear ever devised. Zak – no
stranger to bully on underwear crime – has designed his own wedgie
defense system and the Chief wants it at any cost. A reluctant Gwen is
dispatched to acquire Zak’s technology, but when she sees the forensic
potential of Zak and his animals’ lab, Team Huh?! is born.
Chicken in the Henhouse
Professor McLuckLuck must go undercover at Sam ‘n Ella’s family
farm when a projectile vomiting epidemic is traced to Dogwood City’s
egg supply. Feathers fly (literally) backstage at the county fair as rival
hens vie for best in show. Accusations of sabotage are levied between
Sam n’ Ella’s and rival Humpty Dumpty farms. Sheriff Slade threatens
to shut them both down until the source of the epidemic can be found,
but distinctive pollen traces in a boot print leads the team to another
suspect: monopolist agro-mogul, Cornelius Highlander.
Two Manet Crooks
The Fast and the Furriest
A priceless Manet painting on loan to the Dogwood Art Museum
vanishes from a locked, guarded, and windowless room in the middle
of the day. Is it just a coincidence that an insurance policy makes the
painting worth more to the museum lost than found? Meanwhile,
Penelope Ingénue – a new transfer student from French Lick, Indiana
– bedazzles the boys and challenges Jazz for “It Girl” supremacy.
Zak is tempted to reveal his secret agent identity to Penelope. A Diet
Dogwood Cola and candy bomb; evidence of a fight with only one set
of shoe prints; and nail polish traces on a picture frame are among the
clues the team must follow to discover the art thief’s identity.
An adorable long haired kitty melts the hearts of security guards at
Dogwood City’s maximum security penitentiary. Too bad they don’t
realize she’s actually a hairless Chihuahua in disguise loaded with
tools to break out Omar Von Turbo, the head mechanic and brains of a
notorious gang of street racing thieves! Bite marks on a sandwich lead
Zak to discover the ruse. Dr. Barker loads Zak’s algae powered fuel
cell into his newly created car – the Road Dogg – and he infiltrates the
underground world of street racing to settle an old score from his days
as a stray.
Twin Idols of the Internet
Pop singing identical twins Jason and Justin Bubbler have become viral
internet sensations and Jazz is thrilled when they announce Dogwood
City as the opening stop on their first concert tour! Even more exciting:
the winner of the talent show will get front row tickets to the concert!
The concert promoters approach the OPD in secret when Jason
Bubbler disappears and they receive a hefty ransom demand. Jazz is
hyper competitive and it can make her a little crazy. Her rich father
hires the most expensive voice coach in town except that it’s not clear
if she can sing at all since she’s suffering from debilitating stage fright.
Zak encourages her even though he can’t understand the fuss over
their synthesized pop. Will Team Huh?! solve the kidnapping before
the concert? Voice analysis and DNA evidence lead to a shocking
discovery. Jazz brings down the house with an unsynthesized rendition
of the Bubbler Twins’ hit.
The True Socialites of Dogwood City
Trouble is brewing on the set of the popular reality TV show “The True
Socialites of Dogwood City” when the jewels of the self-absorbed
stars begin disappearing. How can this be happening when there are
cameras following them around all the time? (or is it the other way
around?) And it’s hard to narrow the list of suspects because they
all keep pointing fingers at one another and making new enemies
everywhere they go. Prof. McLuckLuck scoffs at reality television as
junk food for the mind, but when he accidentally befriends one of the
socialites while looking for clues, he gets caught up in the gossip and
the glitz. Dr. Hamsterton uses Snell’s Law of light refraction to discover
the jewels’ hiding place.
Hack a Zak
Newly minted J.D., Dr. Shaquille O’Neal is defending a friend accused
of a spree of nighttime burglaries in Dogwood City. In spite of
overwhelming physical evidence and eye witness testimony, Shaq
knows his friend is innocent. Is he being framed? While in town,
Shaq is throwing a charity one on one basketball tournament with
the winner getting a pair of Shaq’s autographed size 22 sneakers. Dr.
Shaq’s dunkology colleagues, including Dr. Dunk and Dr. Dunkenstein,
vie for the prize. Jazz wants those sneakers and when a last minute
injury forces her out, Zak hopes to impress her by beating Shaq with
the help of his latest invention: the bionic sneaker. The shoes make
Zak nearly unstoppable – unfortunately they don’t help him shoot free
throws. Shaq consoles Zak telling him that everyone has different
talents and sharing with him how much he and his family have always
valued education. Team Huh?! tries to help Shaq with his case, but
all their findings corroborate his client’s guilt. That is until DNA tests
from a saliva sample on a hot dog reveal adenosine deaminase – the
sleepwalking gene!
Team “Team Huh?!”
Greg Germany (co-creator)
A self confessed nerd with
a lifelong love affair with
cartoons, Greg has taken
a circuitous route to Team
Huh?! He’s been a dancer, a
musician, a DJ and even a
model. One day on a cruise ship
bound for Hawaii, Greg woke
from a dream and decided to
trademark the word “Huh?!”
The cartoon came later. Huh?!
Jonah Safer (co-creator)
Jonah is a screenwriter who
grew up writing and drawing
cartoons. He took a detour to
law school and Texas where he
represented criminal defendants
accused of fraud, price fixing and
insider trading. But he craved
a less ethical group of people
and turned to the entertainment
industry. He produced a television
documentary about the CIA, got
his MFA from Tisch School of
the Arts, and has been writing
ridiculous lies ever since.
Paul Ciaravino (illustrator)
Paul was born and raised in Red
Bank, New Jersey and currently
lives in Brooklyn, New York. He
earned a BFA in illustration from
the School of Visual Arts. He has
done illustrations for children’s
books, editorials, comics, he’s a
licensed tattoo artist and blah,
blah, blah, he drew the pictures.
Brett Tunick (layout)
Brett is a native of Atlanta who
studied design at the Savannah
College of Art and Design. He
did in house graphic design at
Hodges-Mace before moving
to New York to pursue his two
great passions: branding and
pancakes.