The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish Executive Producers Talk New Sequel, Leaving Timmy Behind and More
We got to talk with The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish's creative team about the new sequel, new god kid, Easter Eggs and more!
Making a The Fairly OddParents Sequel
Cosmo and Wanda become Hazel's Fairy Godparents in The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish
- Nickelodeon)NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: As someone who watched the Oh Yeah! Cartoons and then a lot of the original series, I think what surprised me the most about [The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish] was the fact that it's more like a sequel than a full reboot. So now that I have the creative team here, I wanted to ask what the impetus was behind pursuing this new era of the franchise as another step, rather than just completely wiping it clean and starting over?
DAVID STONE: Well, in the earliest days of this, we wanted to make another Fairly OddParents, but we've already made a lot of Fairly OddParents.
LINDSAY KATAI: Live-action even.
STONE: The thing is it becomes iconic in different ways. It's iconic visually, has a really strong look. It is very distinct, but then also it becomes iconic in the characters. So you can't toss it all out and just start all over, and just keep the core concept, you have to bring some stuff with you and you have to leave some stuff behind. I think if we were to continue on with, say, Timmy, but then not bring Cosmo and Wanda, that would be just bizarre. It almost seems like the natural thing to do is keep Cosmo and Wanda and continue on with them as they go into the future. In the original series too, there's precedent for that in the sense that they've had other fairy god kids before. I think one was Crocker, I believe was their god kid, at one point. So it only makes sense that continuing into the future they would continue to have more god kids.
KATAI: Yeah, they're the ones still doing it. The god kids have to leave it all behind at some point.
Introducing the new Godkid, Hazel
Yeah, that was always the bummer from the original. Once you get older, that's it. And that's kind of what ties into my next question here. This also kind of feels like it's grown up. Because Hazel deals with a lot of different stuff than what Timmy did. There are a lot more emotional issues and a lot more stuff that kids might deal with now rather than just the absent parents or the evil babysitter. And so, what went into going that route with the new god kid at the center of it all?
KATAI: For one, it was just a way to set this show apart by having a very different kind of god kid who makes different kinds of wishes. That's just a really easy way to start telling different kinds of stories. I think also it just feels a little more now, to be telling a more emotional story, versus Timmy's more wacky external factors that I think a lot of kids today might not accept neglectful parents as being okay or funny, or a babysitter with a chainsaw. There are things that you can get away with in the early 2000s, late '90s, that you can't now. We can't tell a story about a babysitter with a chainsaw, so we have to look inward. It was born of necessity, but became inspiration, so to speak.
Moving Forward Without Forgetting the Past
That attention to detail for the past, but also not being afraid to go into the future, is what I also see in the art for the show. That it's full CG, but we get these 2D shout outs, like the Doug Dimmadome original design appearing and the title cards. Was that something that was meant to further tie it into the original series?
DANIEL ABRAMOVICI: Yeah, definitely we wanted to tie it into original series. We also introduced, if you notice in the background, there's shadow arcs that was used in the original series. We had some discussion if we want to keep doing that in the update, and we did. And we also painted into the frames to make it feel a little bit more 2D, so that it wouldn't go full CG.
What's something from the original that you all wanted to make sure that was in the new one? Something like a spirit, some core that you wanted to make sure that was in this sequel?
KATAI: I think you hit on it just then, the spirit. The absurdist sense of humor for sure. Just the kind of core zaniness of the original series. Even as we're telling maybe sweeter, more heartfelt stories, we wanted to keep that energy, that comedic energy that the original had.
STONE: Yeah, wish gone wrong is kind of the thing. Most of the time Timmy would make a wish and it wouldn't really always work out so great. Same thing could be said for Hazel. Motivations for the wish are a little bit different, but the way things go, and they spiral, and kind of turn out the least how we expected, that remains.
Sneaking In Easter Eggs
Speaking to the unexpected, I did not expect to see as many Easter eggs from the original in this new series too. There are some blatant ones like "obtuse rubber goose" directly shouted out from the original theme song. And there's even stuff like casting like Carlos Alazraqui, who is Hazel's teacher here, but he was Mr. Crocker in the original, and more cool stuff like that. So when bringing in these Easter eggs, is there something in particular that you wanted to shout out and make sure that you got that nod in?
KATAI: I think we wanted to make sure fans of the original felt appreciated and respected, and we knew that taking Timmy out was going to be a huge turn off for a lot of people, but it had to happen in order to tell new, fresh stories, and we were committed to bringing Hazel in and who Hazel is. But we wanted to make sure fans knew that we still cared about what they thought and that we knew that there was a heck of a lot of show that came before this new one, and that we remembered it and we shared their love of it. So we wanted to bring those kinds of elements through like, Hey, we're not throwing everything out. All of that still exists for you to revisit and go back to. We're just playing with some new characters now.
Where's Timmy?
Cosmo and Wanda in The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish
- Nickelodeon)So speaking of Timmy, I do have to ask, because of all the attention to detail and design and everywhere else. It's likely going to cause a debate, but there is one character in the premiere. I won't outright say it, but he's a dead ringer for the older Timmy from the pilot of the original show. So I just wanted to get a little insight. Is this Timmy or a potential future Timmy?
KATAI: It's not Timmy, it's not Timmy. Timmy still exists. This is a visual send up of that, of one of the first episodes where Timmy wished to be grown up and this is what he ended up looking like. I know a lot of fans are very committed to that ending of Channel Chasers, and I think that our show does not overwrite that at all. Because Cosmo and Wanda took a 10,000 year vacation through space and time. They still have future god kids. It could be Timmy's kids, who knows? So...Timmy exists elsewhere and people's ideal of what his ending can be can remain their ideal. Cosmo and Wanda won't be done after Hazel, but Hazel is their current god kid. We wanted to tip our little pink hat to Timmy here and there, so we have other visual gags referencing Timmy as well, but I don't know if we want to spoil right out of the gate, but that's just one of them.
STONE: The one you're speaking of particular, we all just thought the design was hilarious. We kind of wanted to use it.
KATAI: So actually, any time we need some grown-up to stick in there, I think we use this adult, not-Timmy. He's in it quite a bit, but it's not Timmy.
It's so good to get a concrete answer on that.
KATAI: We didn't want to make people wait on, do we see Timmy? Don't we see Timmy? Because the fact is, no, you don't, and so we don't want to tease this thing that you're not going to see. We might see him in the future if we get more episodes ordered. That's certainly not off the table, but we wanted to focus on Hazel for the first bit of the show. Because this is Hazel's time. We have Ashleigh [Crystal Hairston] voicing her in the room and she does such an amazing job both in the writer's room and in the voice booth.
Just as a final comment, Ashleigh does a great job as Hazel. I love it. I love her as the new god kid. I can't wait to see 20 episodes, potentially more. You did mention Channel Chasers, so hopefully maybe specials and movies, who knows, right?
STONE: Sounds good to me.
KATAI: We're ready with stories, if that were to present itself, the opportunity.
The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish premieres on Monday, May 20th on Nickelodeon.
Trending Now:
-
1McDonald's May Have a Jujutsu Kaisen Collab in the Works -
2Nintendo Switch Sale Discounts Two of the Most Acclaimed Games Ever to Under $2 -
3Where to Start Demon Slayer Manga After Season 4 Finale -
4Chris Pratt Speaks Out on Joining James Gunn's DCU After Superman Set Visit -
5Stranger Things 5: Final Season Is Like "8 Movies" With "Very Long" Episodes