Cryptids, if you didn't already know, are
mysterious creatures, monsters, or animals as yet undiscovered by science. Prime examples include
Bigfoot (the image below is by the incredible SFX house
Nimba Creations),
Chupacabra (my cute version shown here), and the
Loch Ness Monster. When I was a schoolboy, I won a public speaking contest with a convincing argument about the existence of the Sasquatch, and I've been fascinated with
cryptozoology ever since. There's a cool crypto-blog
here if you're interested, and the
International Society Of Cryptozoology is the official site for serious enthusiasts (their logo features the formerly mysterious
Okapi).
So,this is where the inspiration for an animated cartoon came from. As I mentioned, various networks showed interest at one time or another. One wanted us ('us' being myself and the producer who optioned the rights, Fred Schaeffer) to make the concept "more like SpongeBob" and we briefly toyed with having the show set on a kind of wacky 'Cryptid Island' where all these beasts would be neighbors. One network asked us to add a human kid, another liked it without (all this tweaking and reworking done without any development money, of course), and eventually the concept as it stood mutated into something altogether different...
