Loki Director Kate Herron Shares Inspirations Behind Miss Minutes Video

The first episode of Loki dropped on Disney+ this week, and fans are already loving the Tom [...]

By Jamie Jirak

The first episode of Loki dropped on Disney+ this week, and fans are already loving the Tom Hiddleston-led series. A new fan-favorite character is Miss Minutes, the animated clock voiced by Tara Strong. Marvel fans were already going crazy for the character before the show even premiered, and the first episode featured her in an animated TVA instructional video, which explained the organization's history. This week, Twitter user @samsummers0 took to the social media site to share a little animation history behind the video. The thread caught the attention of Loki director, Kate Herron, who shared it.

"If, like me, you were really taken by the animated TVA instructional video in yesterday's #Loki premiere, here's a quick (non-comprehensive!) thread on some of its animation influences," @samsummers0 wrote. "One of the biggest seems to be the series of space documentaries Ward Kimball made for Disney's TV show in the 1950s. It combined graphs and diagrams with simple, angular characters and thick lines, for a consciously 'modern' look that didn't draw attention from the facts."

"This 'Mid-Century Modern' take on animation is most closely associated with United Productions of America (UPA). Fudget's Budget (1954) is most reminiscent of the Loki scene, with its mock-educational tone and graph-paper backgrounds," they added. "One of the earliest examples of this style is the 'A Few Quick Facts' series (1944-45). These were instructional videos made for US military personnel by UPA and other studios. The stripped-back look and use of symbols and diagrams was both cost-effective and easy to understand."

"Lastly, there's probably a raft of touchstones for the design of the animated TVA offices, but for me it really evoked the crazy perspectives and angular red paths of Maurice Noble's designs for the space station in Duck Dodgers (1953)," the thread explained.

"This thread is awesome. Our #MissMinutes hand-drawn presentation video in #loki was made by the excellent people at @TitmouseInc, who are behind one of my favorite shows #VentureBros," Herron replied. You can check out the thread below:

Loki follows the version of the character after he escaped with the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. In the new show, he's picked up by the Time Variance Authority, who plans to force him to assist in fixing the timeline he helped break. The series offers the exciting opportunity to introduce new versions of various characters from across the Marvel multiverse. In addition to Hiddleston, the show is set to feature Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant. In a recent interview, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige teased that Loki and Mobius "will be one of the most popular pairings we've ever had at Marvel."

New episodes of Loki will drop on Disney+ on Wednesdays. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of