So Estevan and I have been busy lately coming up with an idea to pitch to Nickelodeon and take part in their Nickelodean Comedy Shorts Program. We’ve been discussing a potential short to pitch at the company to maybe turn into a show. We’ve never done anything like this. Nor did we initially understand how to. Two weeks of research later, we’ve finished our idea for Carl and Wade (In Space).

I’m extremely glad at the outcome of this process, regardless of Nickelodeon picking up the idea or not. We had fun creating the characters and came up with a slew of ideas we could potentially use outside of this pitch. We might even be turning this series into a comic book, if anything at all. Carl Steadman and Wade Wolfe are our two new favorite characters that we’re hoping will eventually turn up somewhere in the media world.

The submissions program asked for up to four different treatments, a couple of character designs, and character descriptions in less than 1,500 characters. Unfortunately, I’m an idiot, and I read that two weeks ago as “1,500 words,” so these descriptions may be a bit longer than what Estevan and I pitched originally to Nick. The full idea is below.

Yes, the last names for both are inspired by a famous author/artist

Character Descriptions:

Wade is a hefty tyrannosaurus-rex complete with a huge body and a small brain. He’s rugged and daring, always seeming to brave what Carl cannot. His voice is heroic, and even if Wade is slightly dimwitted, he manages to save the day or at least pull Carl through the fire. He acts impulsively and without hesitation to much of Carl’s dismay. Wade thoroughly enjoys trash talking others and showing off, which often causes Carl to get dragged into situations with him.

As stated, he’s a t-rex, so his arms aren’t long at all. This really gives Wade a huge disadvantage with pushing buttons and pulling levers, but he does try to use his tail for most things he can’t do with his hands. Wade’s figure is huge and often intimidating to others, and his voice is fierce, but the context of his words make Wade seem a bit less of a threat in some situations.

Carl is a smart dinosaur with a sharp attitude. He tends to be a worrywart the majority of the time. He is much smaller in size than Wade, so he doesn’t offend or trash talk as much as his t-rex buddy, but he does have a bit of a negative mouth regarding others behind their backs. Carl is intelligent, but social inept, which makes him an easy target for others to tease and make fun of. He’s musically talented and enjoys dancing, the arts, and singing.

Carl is an herbivore, shaped like a big lizard. He’s green and a bit cute looking. He’s the voice of reason for Wade, but that doesn’t always work out. The two are always together and always look out for each other, especially being on a planet that they don’t recognize. Carl is very curious, and at times he’s extremely emotional, crying and whining at different aspects of his life. Wade teases him for this on occasion.

Treatment Ideas:

While the duo is walking away from their ship, they decide that they both are dehydrated and are in desperate need of water. They look everywhere in the surrounding area for water, but they come across a waterfall of pink goo coming from a giant crystal. The two begin to argue, verbally fighting about who has to drink the goo first, until Wade slaps Carl into the ocean of pink goo using his tail. Carl flops around and pulls Wade in the liquid, due to panic in an attempt to stand up, but Wade falls in soon after. After a couple of seconds of bubbling noises, both of the dinosaurs emerge from the goo with physically different bodies. Wade’s arms are no longer t-rex size, and to his delight, he now has man-arms. Carl’s head, however, has unfortunately shrunk half its size. Carl begins freaking out and hysterically crying while Wade enjoys his new set of arms by flexing.

My Little Shop of Horrors idea might've been taken too far for a kid's show...so we changed it a bit.

Wade and Carl run into a singing plant while walking toward a nearby alien city. The plant plays different melodies and musical notes while lighting up. Wade continues to walk, but Carl is fascinated with the plant and attempts to start a rhythm going with it, using his own talent of music and his beautiful singing voice. The two begin to jam out together while Wade sits and watches, annoyed at Carl’s singing and the plant’s high pitched screeching. All of the sudden, a flock of birds singing the same notes Carl and the plant were singing come swooping down, aiming to peck at the duo. Wade freaks out and the plant starts to pull itself out of the ground, revealing its true form as a giant bird. The two begin to run to safety.

The duo is in a desert and run into an animal who is chewing on a plant. The two begin to discuss mounting the animal and riding it to a nearby city, but neither of them understands what the animal is capable of. Carl approaches the animal and begins to gently pet its head while talking very softly and calling the animal cute. Wade laughs at Carl, and proceeds to jump on the animal, but his weight makes the animal collapse and flatten. Wade promptly stands up and stares at the animal with an upset look while Carl slaps Wade and calls him a monster for killing the being. The animal then inhales very deeply and balloons his body back into shape. “Wade and Carl stare at the beast, who was just flattened, as he takes another deep inhale and looks at Wade while exhaling and blowing off into the sky, yelling out the word “jerk,” as he floats away in the distance.

Once again, we had fun doing this, and it spawned multiple different ideas in the process. We’re happy with the two characters we’ve created, and we’re ready to morph them into heroes, be it on Nick or not. I’m ready to give Wade a laser and Carl the ability to shoot venom on different moons/planets, fighting off alien hordes and rescuing their dinosaur families.

Etc.

Treatments and descriptions written by Kevin Cortez
Illustration and character ideas by Estevan Sanchez