2006 American adult animated television pilot
Korgoth of Barbaria
is an American
adult animated
television pilot
created by
Aaron Springer
, a storyboard artist, writer and director for
Dexter's Laboratory
,
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
,
Samurai Jack
, and
SpongeBob SquarePants
, who previously created another failed pilot at
Cartoon Network Studios
called
Periwinkle Around the World
. He would later go on to produce
Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer
for
Disney XD
.
Genndy Tartakovsky
, creator of
Dexter's Laboratory
and
Samurai Jack
, directed the animation for the pilot. This was not the only time he worked on a pilot created by Springer, as Tartakovsky also produced and directed
Periwinkle Around the World
. It is the first Cartoon Network Studios production to be co-produced by
Williams Street
.
It was first aired in the United States on June 3, 2006, at 12:30 AM (
EST
) on
Adult Swim
. On June 18, Adult Swim ran a
bumper
announcing that
Korgoth of Barbaria
was officially picked up as a series, because of its critical and commercial success with garnering high ratings. Later events, including a formal petition to revive the show
[1]
and an Adult Swim bumper announcement mentioning its cancellation,
[2]
indicate that it was dropped before production began due to high production costs.
Overview
[
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]
As of
Comic-Con
2006 the show was scheduled to release sometime in spring of 2007. As of December 29, 2007, the only mention of the show on the
Adult Swim
website was an intro graphic with the words "you couldn't handle more than one anyway".
Adult Swim re-aired the pilot episode on the night of October 31, 2008, as part of an advertised "
Halloween
Stunt" night, where rarely seen programs such as
Welcome to Eltingville
and
Boo Boo Runs Wild
were aired, rather than the usual programming line-up for a Friday evening.
[3]
In November 2010, Adult Swim ran a bumper listing shows that were not picked up and brief reasons why. Korgoth was listed with the explanation as "too expensive".
[2]
Adult Swim re-aired the pilot (teased as a "surprise") on November 3, 2013, as a part of their
Toonami
block.
Adult Swim re-aired the pilot again on January 29, 2019.
Episode
[
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]
Summary
[
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]
From the Adult Swim website:
In a dark future wasteland, the great cities have risen and fallen, primordial beasts have reclaimed the wilderness and thieves and savages populate sparse, dirty towns. From the frozen north emerges a warrior known as Korgoth, and his merciless savagery may be his only key to survival.
Korgoth of Barbaria
followed the exploits of the eponymous Korgoth (voiced by actor
Diedrich Bader
),
[4]
and
parodied
Conan the Barbarian
, as well as the
sword and sorcery
subgenre
in general. The show was set in a
post-apocalyptic
world where sorcery and the remnants of technology exist simultaneously. The
heavy metal
/
thrash metal
musical theme was composed by
Lee Holdridge
.
[5]
Plot
[
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]
Korgoth is infected with a deadly parasite by Gog-Ma-Gogg and extorted to steal an item known as "The Golden Goblin of the Fourth Age" from the wizard Specules, who Gog believes to have recently died. He journeys with a group of Gog-Ma-Gogg's henchmen to Specules' castle, picking up a girl and killing several things along the way. The group reaches the castle and begin to plunder it. As Korgoth searches for the Golden Goblin, Specules returns, explaining that he was on vacation. Specules uses his magic to kill or incapacitate all but Korgoth, who proves too strong for the ridiculous creatures that the wizard conjures through
chewing gum
. As a last resort, Specules uses his magic directly against Korgoth; however, he is knocked off-balance and accidentally kills Korgoth's girl. Angered, Korgoth takes a two-pronged candle stick holder and impales Specules through the eyes, only to find that the wizard has magically transferred his head onto the dead girl's body. Specules proceeds to fly out the window. Korgoth returns to Gog-Ma-Gogg with the Golden Goblin (a simple novelty item) and gets the elixir for the deadly parasite, though the elixir takes many seasons to take effect. Korgoth is last seen walking away, pulling a cart full of medicine bottles.
Voice cast
[
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]
Home media
[
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]
Adult Swim
and distributor
Warner Home Video
released
Adult Swim in a Box
in October 2009, a
DVD
box set of a variety of different Adult Swim shows.
Korgoth of Barbaria
was featured on this box set on a special DVD along with
Welcome to Eltingville
, the pilot episode of
Perfect Hair Forever
,
Totally for Teens
, and
Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge
.
[6]
In June 2010, the bonus DVD from "Adult Swim in a Box" was made available for separate purchase on (the now defunct) Adultswimshop.com.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bring Back Korgoth of Barbaria
on petitionhosting.com
- ^
a
b
"Adult Swim Pilots Update"
. Bumpworthy.com. October 31, 2010
. Retrieved
May 16,
2011
.
- ^
"Animated Shorts: Max Atoms' Swan Song - 'Underfist'
"
. Newsarama. Archived from
the original
on December 5, 2008
. Retrieved
October 24,
2020
.
- ^
"Krod Mandoon vs. Korgoth of Barbaria: Which Spoof Winneth?"
.
WIRED
. Retrieved
July 7,
2017
.
- ^
Korgoth of Barbaria (TV Short 2006)
, retrieved
July 7,
2017
- ^
"Korgoth of Barbaria DVD release, as part of Adult Swim in a Box, 2009"
. Archived from
the original
on November 7, 2017.
External links
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