By popular demand, I now return to discussing the evolution of my animated cartoon concept,
Cryptids. In
Part 1 I discussed the original concept, and why the anthropomorphic version didn't fly, and in
Part 2 
I wrote about my interest in cryptozoology more generally. Now then... one particular network who shall remain nameless loved the basic concept of the Cryptids pitch, but was looking for an "action-comedy, not a comedy-action" show. Now, I love a good adventure cartoon as much as the next guy, and I told them I thought I might be able to rework the pitch. I immediately went for a kind of
Hanna-Barbera action show look from the mid-'60's... like Mighty Mightor, Space Ghost, Galaxy Trio, and especially Jonny Quest and the
Herculoids. I absolutely love the work of Doug Wildey and Alex Toth... great monster drawings! So I drew up a bunch of creature sketches, and reconceived the team as human adventurers. The basic story was the same... our stars were Cryptid-friendly heroes who, instead of solving mysteries like Scooby-Doo,
wanted to keep them a secret. The network loved the idea and I spent some weeks rewriting and sketching... all on spec and without a development deal, of course. Getting a network to cough up seed money is like getting blood from a stone! You know how this ends. They passed on the show after several months of suspense. But it ain't over yet...
