Shapes

***Shapes*** is an American animated television series created by *Ralf Hat*  for MTV. *Shapes* follows the action-packed and somewhat weird adventures and of a trio of shapes: *Square*, *Triangle*, and *Circle* who (along with their workmate *Rector*) work at a shipping company, ran by their easily angered, serious boss *Cube.*

Hat, and many others held a conference at Deadpan studios in March of 1998, to come up with three new series to add in the company's library. Six animated pilots were shown, and three of them were finally picked up for further production (Kitchen, Spooks, **Shapes**). The crew changed the animation, actors, and even audio format as the series was currently in development. Hat pitched the series to MTV, which immediately accepted the show. The creators used traditional animation software to animate, storyboards, and hired nearly thirty five people to help work on the show. MTV announced the show to air on television on May 17, 2001, but was delayed due to an error in the studio. It aired in June 18, 2001. Original, Shapes was going to receive the TV-Y7-FV rating for fantasy violence, however, executives believed that the show was a bit "edgy" to be given a light rating. It was finally given a TV-PG and light TV-14 rating for its violence, and crude humor.

Shapes: Race Against Time, a film adaptation of the series, was released in theaters on August 15, 2005.

The series airs in broadcast syndication outside the United States and has been released on various DVD sets and other forms of home media, including video on demand streaming.

## History

Hat, Australian12345, and many others held a conference at Deadpan Studios in March of 1998, to come up with three new series to add in the company's library. Six animated pilots were shown, and three of them were finally picked up for further production (Kitchen, Spooks, **Shapes**). The Shapes pilot revolved around the main guys: Square, Triangle, and Circle on a mission to fight off evil stick figures which plan to get them fired from their job. The crew changed the animation, actors, and even audio format as the series was currently in development. Hat pitched the series to MTV, which immediately accepted the show. The creators used traditional animation software to animate, storyboards, and hired nearly thirty five people to help work on the show. MTV announced the show to air on television on May 17, 2001, but was delayed due to an error in the studio. It aired in June 18, 2001. Original, Shapes was going to receive the TV-Y7-FV rating for fantasy violence, however, executives believed that the show was a bit "edgy" to be given a light rating. It was finally given a TV-PG rating for its violence, and crude humor.

The first season of Shapes was a hit according to the viewing charts for MTV. MTV immediately announced a second season, which was even more of a success for the channel than the first season. After the second season, MTV called for a third season, which premiered on television in TBA, 2003 and ended on TBA, 2004. During the production of the third season, the main crew focused on making a film for the series (which would later be known as: *Shapes: Race Against Time).*

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## Cast

* **Andy Berman** as Square
* **Tom Kenny** as Circle
* **Johnny Galecki** as Triangle

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## Production

### Writing

Writing a full 20 minute episode of Shapes takes is in fact simple compared to many other shows. Hat and Australian usually come up with strange and awkward ideas and form somewhat hysterical plots around them. Episodes are planned out on storyboards. They are then read by the writing crew, who can add or take away from it. Scripts are then given to the actors to read, so that they can be comfortable acting it out.

### Animation

Animating Shapes is quite easy as animating other series. Episodes are animated traditionally by hand using paper which is then digitally composited and painted with digital ink and paint.They are illustrated by storyboards in the process of each episode. They are then sent to Saerom Animation in South Korea to be published.

### Music

The music usually consisted in Shapes is remade rock songs from the 60's to 90's era.

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