Metalocalypse

**Metalocalypse** is an American adult animated television series, created by *Home Movies* co-creator Brendon Small and *Late Night with Conan O'Brien* writer Tommy Blacha, exclusively for Cartoon Network 's late-night programming block, Adult Swim, premiering on August 6, 2006 and concluding with a one-hour special, *Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem*, on October 27, 2013.

The entire series was made available at launch.

## **Premise**

*Metalocalypse* follows Dethklok, the biggest, baddest, and most famous heavy metal band in the world. The quintet, consisting of Americans Nathan Explosion (vocals), William Murderface (bass), and Pickles the Drummer, along with Scandinavian guitarists Toki Wartooth and Skwisgaar Skwigelf, have to deal with their fame and other situations in their lives, all the while being monitored by a government organization out to destroy them.

## **Production**

### Development

Brendon Small's show Home Movies ended its run in 2004, which freed Small to spend time with writer friend Tommy Blacha. They went to metal shows around the same time they were both trying to pitch shows to different networks. This was how they came up with the idea of doing a show about a metal band that was vastly more popular than The Beatles had been. They came up with the storyline, wrote a theme song, and had a friend Jon Schnepp design the characters. The series was originally called Deathclock, but the name could not be used due to an existing trademark. The show and the main characters' band were then renamed Dethklok. The show's title was then extended to Dethklok Metalocalypse, although the starring band still retained the name Dethklok. The title was finally shortened to Metalocalypse because the extended show title was too complicated. They pitched the show to Adult Swim, which greenlit it in 2005 with a 20-episode contract.

In developing the series, Small looked at the budget for what he considered to be the cheapest show to produce at the time on Adult Swim, Tom Goes to the Mayor. On asking Tim and Eric, who produced the show, Small discovered that their budget was $110,000 per episode. Small then went to Titmouse and asked if they could do Metalocalypse for under $110,000 per episode while still maintaining Small's vision. Titmouse responded they could do it for $109,099 per episode averaged over the entire season

### Release

The show's first season consists of twenty 11-minute episodes, the first of which premiered on the Adult Swim Video on August 4, 2006, and on Adult Swim proper the following Sunday. Metalocalypse was renewed for a second season consisting of 20 episodes which began airing on September 23, 2007, two days before the CD release of The Dethalbum. The second season also introduced an updated version of the show's opening theme (officially titled "Deththeme"), which had been rerecorded for The Dethalbum.

At San Diego Comic Con 2008, Tommy Blacha confirmed that the show would be renewed for a third season which premiered on November 8, 2009. The episodes of season three are 21 minutes long (30 minutes including commercials).

The fourth season returned to the original 11 minute run-time. Season four premiered April 29, 2012, and consisted of 12-episodes.

In Canada, *Metalocalypse* previously aired on Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block since September 2007, and later G4 Canada’s ADd (Adult Digital Distraction) block since June 2009. The series currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim since July 2012.

Actor Mark Hamill stated in 2013 that the fifth season of the show was currently in production. Brendon Small later denied this, stating that it had not yet reached production.

On May 10, 2013, Brendon Small and Adult Swim announced that a Metalocalypse one-hour rock opera special, Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem, was in the works. This special aired on October 27, 2013.

In April 2014, in an interview on *Steve Agee: Uhhh* podcast, Brendon Small stated that a fifth and final season was in pre-production and that he was waiting on a budget from Adult Swim. Small has since stated that he has begun exploring other ways of concluding the show, which may take the form of a special or a movie, and that he was in the early stages of planning.

### Cancellation

In March 2015, Brendon Small issued a statement saying that he had approached Adult Swim with the idea to do the finale as a "big mini-series," but was turned down by the network. It was later revealed that *Metalocalypse* had been cancelled; however, Small tweeted that he has plans "to service a final story and music — but not in way fans are used to".

In October 2015, Small announced a month-long social campaign, called "Metalocalypse Now", to have fans of the show contact Hulu and Adult Swim to convince them to co-fund the series finale to *Metalocalypse*, entitled: *Metalocalypse: The Army of the Doomstar - The Final Chapter*. As a result of the campaign, financial backers stepped forward to fund a final season, but Adult Swim declined to pick up the series. In a May 2016 interview, Small said he is "all but finished making Dethklok records"

## Reception

### Ratings

The Metalocalypse premiere was the #1 rated show in its time slot among males aged 18–34 and earned the network's best premiere delivery and ratings in 2006. Among the top ad-supported basic cable programs of the week, Metalocalypse ranked #12 among men 18–34 and #6 among men 18–24. The series premiere ranked #30 for the week among adults 18–34.

## **Trivia**

* The spelling of character's names change throughout the series.
	+ For example, Ofdenson's name is spelled Offdenson and Dr. Rockzo's name is spelled Dr. Rockso.
* Part way through the first season of the show, the band became endorsed by EMG pickups. Later episodes were changed to reflect the endorsement, with all pickups on the guitars and basses being changed to EMG.
	+ However, early episodes and the show's intro remained the same, with the guitars and basses using the original stock Gibson pickups.
* The music, written by guitarist/creator Brendon Small, was credited to the band and featured in most episodes.
	+ The animation was often carefully synced to the music with the chord positions and fingering of the guitar parts shown in some detail