User:Lolcatistan/A Cat among Lions: The Argosy/MTM Story

1933-1983: Boomer and Shires Era
Before 1983, Argosy was defined by two names: Aldo Boomer (1896-1984) and Michael Shires (1910-1994). Shires' son, Michael Shires Jr. (1938-2010), was also involved in the company.

In the animation unit, Boomer was the mastermind behind Catnip Cat and Gussy Goat. In the comics unit, Shires created several iconic characters, most notably Gum Girl.

1983-1993: Lopez Era
In 1983, Argosy had just merged with former rival MTM, and was looking for a "refresh" for its animation unit. The solution was to hire "zine" author Paul Lopez (1954-1992) and his understudies, Ellen Peck (b. 1961) and Nathan Blake (b. 1962). Peck sketched a drawing of a cat for a new MTM production logo, but accidentally sent it to the Argosy unit, where it became known as "Aaron".

In 1989, Argosy Entertainment was acquired by TVS, which owned Argosy's longtime rival AoFM (producers of the Daniel and Cindy series).

Lopez allegedly sexually abused Peck, and forced her into a relationship. This lasted until late 1992, when Lopez died in a car crash from drunk driving.

1993-2006: Argosy Golden Age
After the death of Lopez, Argosy underwent a reorganization, and Lopez' understudies, Peck and Blake, were placed in charge of the animation unit. Blake proposed a show based on "Aaron", the cat in the Argosy production logo, drawn by Peck in 1982, which had been used in a short series by Lopez. The duo were given near-infinite money to hire anyone they wanted. The higher-ups at TVS (which was being acquired by IFE at the time) were expecting former Disney, Warner, or DreamWorks talent. Instead, they got Robert Stainton (b. 1952), an inventor from Chicago who created an early computer animation method, Rotanimation (or Rotan). Stainton ran the Chicago Rotanimation Studio, owned by the Sony Wonder unit of the Sony conglomerate (which also distributed Sesame Street VHS tapes), which had already helped produce the live-action/animated hybrid series Jeff Jones for ADTV.

The series, The Aaron Show, was officially co-created by Peck, Blake, and Stainton, "based on characters by Ellen Peck and Paul Lopez". Like the Twisted World of MTM before it, it was a variety show featuring a wide cast of characters, but unlike that series, it had a more clear focus: a "core" of 6 characters.

Rise of Marifransia
In 1994, Portland, OR-based independent producer Marifransia Studios, founded by John Caidin, which had mainly produced shows for Oregon's ADTV franchise OBC, signed a "program supply deal" with Argosy. As a result, two new series appeared, Stella and Adriana by young Singaporean-American animator Stella Liu (b. 1979), and the "delightfully weird" Greeny Phatom by Stainton colleague Ulises Tobar (b. 1956). Both of these shows were long-lasting, running until 2021 on ADTV Kids. Argosy handled international distribution, while OBC owns the licensing rights.

Interactive unit under Bullard and Nam
The Aaron franchise was successful enough to inspire video games. Argosy executives did not want the "unplayable schlock" made by companies like LJN and Acclaim, so they contracted Raleigh, NC-based company North Carolina Data Input (NCDI), run by Peter Bullard (1953-2016) and his understudy Jihee Nam (b. 1983). NCDI had a stellar track record of SNES-CD games, including the widely-beloved Super Mario CD. The results were two series: Aaron & Salli RPG for the Nintendo and Squaresoft consoles, and Koko's Adventure for the Sony PlayStation and Rapier Game-Fi lines (and later the Nintendo 64).

Not before long, Bullard and Nam were given their own IP. The pieces were put together slowly: a parody of "way past cool" platformer characters like Sonic and Bubsy, in the form of a "cross of Mario, Bob Marley, and Ralph Wiggum", navigating a sadistic platformer inspired by the Japanese "Syobon Action" game which had been circulating in email attachments at the time. The character needed a name, however; the inspiration came from Bullard's two sons, Mitchell Bullard and Morgan Bullard. Therefore, we got the Mitchell van Morgan series. The first game, a launch title for Nintendo's Game Boy Color and Rapier's Playcat Plus, was praised, despite its difficulty; mainly due to the MAD-Magazine/classic-Simpsons-inspired humour poking fun at video game cliches.