Middlemost Post (TV series)

***Middlemost Post*** is an American-Canadian animated comedy television series created by noted *SpongeBob SquarePants* storyboard artist and director John Trabbic and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. The show revolves around the adventures of Parker J. Cloud, an exuberant and friendly rain cloud, the gruff, rule-abiding mailman Angus and their magical pet walrus, Russell, as they deliver packages and mail to the surreal citizens and locales of Mount Middlemost.

It premiered on July 9th, 2021 on Nickelodeon alongside *SpongeBob* spinoff *The Patrick Star Show*, with express sneak previews in the form of shorts being shown on Fridays throughout June 2021 respectively.

## Synopsis

Parker J. Cloud, an exuberant raincloud, lives and works in the Middlemost Post Office with Angus, a burly, rule-abiding mailman who cherishes his solitude and values efficiency, and Russell, their magical pet walrus whose stomach is so big that it doubles as a storage room. Together they journey through Mount Middlemost and the six territories of Somewhere to deliver the mail, while meeting some exceptionally quirky and peculiar people along the way. But as this loving and unconventional trio grows closer, they remain blissfully unaware that they have been brought together by one fateful stormy event.

## Characters

* Parker J. Cloud - An exuberant rain cloud that helps deliver mail for the Middlemost Post Office.
* Angus Shackleton - A gruff, burly, rule abiding mailman.
* Russell - The team pet, a walrus with a bottomless stomach.
* Lily - A grub wearing a mech suit, who is the owner and proprietor of the Somewhere Store in Somewhere City, inventor, and Parker’s best friend.
* Steve Peeve - The mayor of Mount Middlemost, who is always “peeved” because the S.S. Steadfast is blocking the sunlight.
* Ryan - Peeve’s short and innocent secretary.
* Ms. Pam - The sassy but sweet owner and waitress of the Middlemost Toast.
* Jelly - Pam’s pet pug.
* Gordy - A talking gourd in overalls.
* Terry - TBA
* Hammy - A hamster Parker finds and befriends, who later gets adopted by Terry.
* POSTBOT 3000 - A robot resembling Angus that Peeve ordered to compete against the Middlemost Post.
* Drone Parker - TBA

## Production

Around April 2020, John Trabbic began hiring for a non-disclosed animated project at Nickelodeon unrelated to his previous job, *SpongeBob SquarePants*. The show was eventually formally revealed by Nick in July 2020 with the working title of *The Middlemost Post*, ordered for a season of 20 half hours, and the show began development/pre-production. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had already struck without warning and forced everyone to isolate at their own homes. Nickelodeon's solution was to fit the entire crew with tools to work on the series from home regardless of the pandemic. Thus, the entire first season was conceptualised and produced remotely, becoming the first TV animated production to be created this way.

In October 2020, the name "*Middlemost Post*" was registered on the US Patents & Trademarks Office website, officially giving the series its final name. That same month, the first few images of what can be assumed to be the show's bible were shown off within Variety's "*2020 Animators to Watch*" panel during Trabbic's segment.

The series' release window was revealed during the *Nickelodeon Virtual Upfront 2021: Bring Your Kids!* online panel in March 2021. Reportedly, the short Challenges was shown during the upfront to investors only, and the characters made multiple background appearances in the wraparound segments. The first look at the series in motion was shown off on a sizzle reel for the *Nickelodeon Cartoon Universe* channel (formerly the Nick Animation channel), showing 4 seconds of footage from Challenges.

The show received a sneak preview in Nick's Shorts Showcase on June 11th, June 18th, and June 25th, 2021. A clip from Challenges was shown off in a sizzle reel for Nickelodeon's summer season for 2021. The show premiered on July 9th, 2021 alongside recent *SpongeBob* spin-off *The Patrick Star Show*.

The series is script-driven with slight board-driven hybrid elements and is animated with ToonBoom Harmony at Yowza! Animation in Canada. It bears similarities to their previous Nick project *Welcome to the Wayne*, but with much more expressive and goofy cartoon-style animation similar to Trabbic's previous episodes of *SpongeBob*. Stop-motion services are provided by Apartment D Studios in Los Angeles.

The theme song/main titles were storyboarded by Canada-based *SpongeBob* storyboard artist Benjamin Arcand, whose work includes *The Cuphead Show!*, *ToonMarty*, and the indie short film *Wackatdooo*.

It has been renewed for a 13-episode second season. This was announced on March 24, 2022. It is under the works of Nickelodeon currently.

## Gallery

An early pitch bible coverAn early variant of Mount MiddlemostEarly promo art of the main trioChristmas-themed crew swagModel sheets, with a storyboard from what appears to be "First Delivery"The preliminary series logoThe series' cover on streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon Prime
## Trivia

* Nickelodeon hired over 60 crew members remotely - mainly from Twitter and other social media - in just over nine weeks for the show.

1. ↑ https://uspto.report/TM/90231481
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/COEpxNBDUPA/
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/JohnTrabbic/status/1250806284015661056
4. ↑ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/benjaminarcand
5. https://deadline.com/2022/03/nickelodeon-renews-middlemost-post-are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-avatar-podcast-1234985266/