Ape Escape (Cartoon Series)

Ape Escape (Cartoon Series)

Information

Produced by	Frederator Studios Hawaii Film Partners Project 51 Productions Showcase Entertainment
Director	Karl Toerge
Writers	Mike Bell, Niki Yang, Adam Muto, Don Dougherty, Doug TenNapel, Karl Toerge, Andrew Dickman, Dave Cunningham, Mike Gray, Chad Coyle, Sam Henderson, Chris McDonnell, Kenny Pittenger, Ross Kolde
Episodes	38
Transcripts	English Transcript (37/38)

Ape Escape is a series of cartoon shorts developed by Frederator Studios, Hawaii Film Partners, Project 51 Productions and Showcase Entertainment which aired on Nicktoons in 2009. It is based on Sony Computer Entertainment's Ape Escape video game franchise, with characters and designs based on Ape Escape 2 in particular, and focuses around Specter's attempts to take over the world with his monkey army, while Jimmy, Natalie, and the Professor try their best to stop him.

Synopsis

"Evil monkey-genius Specter is plotting to take over the world by controlling his monkey minions through mind-controlling “pipo helmets”. Luckily for us, there exists twelve-year-old Jimmy, his best friend Natalie, and Natalie’s grandfather, the Professor, who are out to thwart the super villain at all costs. (Of course, it doesn’t hurt our heroes that Specter’s legion of apes is only slightly brighter than a box of bricks.)"

Development

Frederator first announced that they have obtained the cartoon rights to Ape Escape on May 31, 2007. Various talents were brought in to help including Doug TenNapel and Andrew Dickman. The character designs are based on Ape Escape 2, with Jimmy as the protagonist. The animations are primarily animated using Adobe Flash. The shorts were completed in 2008 and were sent to Nicktoons in 2009. The shorts were released on DVD in the United Kingdom by Lions Gate Home Entertainment on February 18, 2013. Cartoon Hangover, and by extension VRV currently have the streaming rights to the series in 2020.

Voice Actors

Voice Actor	Role
Annie Mumolo	Jimmy, Natalie
Greg Ellis	Specter
Eric Bauza	Professor, Pipo Monkeys

List of Shorts

Episodes in bold are shared between the two.

TV release

DVD release

1. I Scream 2. Knock Knock 3. Chalkboard Jungle 4. An Ape In the Neck 5. Blubber is Blubber 6. Monkey to the Nth 7. And A Side Order of Uki Uki 8. Paint Brush Off 9. Laser Eyes 10. Ape Date 11. Sorry Wrong Monkey 12. The Almost Perfect Plan 13. Him Can't Swim 14. Science Gone Bananas 15. Size Matters 16. Clearin' The Pipes 17. Belly's Big Day 18. For Sale by Monkey 19. Banana My Love 20. Who's Your Daddy 21. Baby Monkey 22. Driving School 23. The Dematerialist 24. Babes In Arms Way 25. Vacation 26. Smile 27. The Really Totally Expensive Clinic 28. Jimmy Needs A Helmet 29. Jimmy Makes A Spector of Himself 30. Egghead 31. Bananaween 32. Make a Burger 33. Time Machine 34. Gnomes 35. Stuck Together 36. Wrong Master 37. A Brain Is A Terrible Thing To Taste 38. Law and Odor

1. I Scream 2. Laser Eyes 3. Ape Date 4. Him Can't Swim 5. Size Matters 6. Clearin' The Pipes 7. Banana My Love 8. Driving School 9. And A Side Order of Uki Uki 10. Paint Brush Off 11. Science Gone Bananas 12. Who's Your Daddy 13. Baby Monkey 14. Vacation 15. Smile 16. Jimmy Needs A Helmet 17. Jimmy Makes A Specter of Himself 18. Egghead 19. An Ape In the Neck

Gallery

Characters

Jimmy

Professor

Natalie

Specter

A Pipo Monkey

Artwork

Promo art from Google Play

Promo art from Crave streaming service

Videos

Ape Escape - Trailer I Hawaii Film Partners I NickToons I Frederator Studios I Sony's Playstation

Ape escpae short I Scream

DVD version of I Scream

Ape escape laser eye and Date

DVD version of Laser Eyes and Ape Date

Ape escape cartoon shorts all

The remaining 16 shorts on the DVD

Trivia

• The end credits of each cartoon read "Based on the Playstation 2 game "APE ESCAPE"". This is a typo, as Ape Escape released on the PS1, and Ape Escape 2 on the PS2.
• Apart from the number of episodes, the TV and DVD releases actually have slightly different versions of the same cartoons. Here are some notable differences between them:
  • In the TV version of "Baby Monkey", Monkey wears red pants. In the DVD version, he wears yellow.
  • More subtle color differences such as the nurse's hair in "Baby Monkey" being orange instead of red, or the lizard being light green instead of dark green.
  • In the TV version of "Jimmy Makes a Specter of Himself", Specter's name is misspelled "Spector". This was fixed for the DVD.
• "Law and Odor" is spelled "Law and Oder" on Frederator.com.
• "Baby Monkey" and "Jimmy Needs a Helmet" feature monkeys wearing red pants, but without the boxing gloves or angry eyes of the red pants monkeys from the games.
  • A red pants monkey with boxing gloves appears in "Smile", but without the eyes.
• "Jimmy Needs a Helmet" is one of the few instances in the entire franchise where a Pipo Helmet turns green. In the case of Jimmy, the Pipo Helmet only turns green when he puts it on. Unlike Dr. Tomoki, the helmet has the opposite effect on Jimmy, giving him monkey intelligence and vocabulary.
  • This should be taken with a grain of salt, however, as Pipo Helmets in the show do not follow Ape Escape 2's rules on helmet lights, making red the standard color regardless of emotional state.
  • Green helmets also appear in the prototype Simian Cinema and Super Monkey Throw Stadium menu screens for Ape Escape 3.
• "Make a Burger" features 2 Pipo Monkeys playing on a PlayStation 2 Slim.
• The background music at the 0:44 mark of "A Brain Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" is a reference to Thriller by Michael Jackson.

References

Ape Escape Franchise

PlayStation Move: Ape Escape