The Misadventures of Gecko

The Misadventures of Gecko (or simply Gecko) is an American television series created by Ralf Hat. Just like the title of the series says, the series format follows the exploits of Gecko McKek, and his friends, who mainly go on adventures throughout their town, while battling villains, solving problems, and having fun times. The series is famous for its comedic, surreal humor.

The Gecko series received critical acclaim for it's unusual humor, themes, and atmosphere. It had many spinoff media including, web shows, shorts, books, two feature length films in 1998 and 2010.

The series was first pitched to Kingson on January 9, 1995, and had a very successful run from 1995 to 1999. All episodes are written by either Ralf Hat, Thatstuff, or a guest writer. The series officially ended with the season seven episode, All's Well, That ends Well, on November 23, 1999. The Gecko series is as well known to be sister series with Instruments & Instruments, and The Sherry Show.

Development
Ralf Hat was very imaginative during his childhood. He would often always draw, and write stories, usually featuring his stuffed animals. One stuff animal was beyond his favorite. A toy lizard in which he called Gecko. When had aged more, and got into computer graphic designing and animation, which led him into making a bunch of short films featuring Gecko, and other stuffed animals as characters.

Friends of Hat, including Thatstuff, helped Hat with many of the short films. In 1991, during Hat's third year at CalArts, he conceived the show. Using animation cels to animate, Hat managed to get the voices of the main cast of Billy West (Gecko), Tom Kenny (M-Bunny), and Richard Steven Horvitz (Fred). During the series mid development, Hat pitched the series to Kingson, which helped animate, provide actors, help produce, etc.

Pitching the series was easy, especially since Kingson was founded by Hat. The series was halfway finished development, a conception for the first few episodes had came, it took nearly $100,500 to produce the first three episodes each. Gecko first appeared on Kingson in 1994. As a result, the show was financed as an independent production by Deadpan Productions.

Main

 * Gecko: Gecko is a prime character of the series. Gecko is a rebellious, risk-taking, adventurer who has a taste for action. He lives with his friends in the mansion, where he usually stays at. While Gecko may be stubborn and selfish at times, he is mostly shown as compassionate.
 * M-Bunny: M-Bunny is the deuteragonist of the series. A heroic individual who acts like the leader, and main in the group, although unaware that Gecko is. M-Bunny usually examines himself as a hero to everyone, but is stuck in his imagination all the times. This expresses his vain personality. Other than this, M-Bunny can realize that he's going too far and attempt to prevent himself and others from committing wrong acts.
 * Fred: Fred is the silliest one of the group as well as the tritagonist overall. Fred is a small and innocent monkey who enjoys playing harmless pranks on everyone along with Gecko. Fred follows his friends who he finds to be both role models, but usually ends up getting stuck in a situation which he believes that his friends can get him out of.

Secondary

 * Dan the Man: Dan is the owner of the mansion, and the only human living in it. Dan is portrayed as a man of intellect rather than of action. Seen as respectful and compassionate than others, Dan often knows what's right or wrong, and helps the housemates with the usual problems. However, the main three characters often get on Dan's nerves, inserting a long load stress to Dan.
 * McTurtles: McTurtles is a wealthy and the complete optimist in the group. McTurtles comes from a long line of rich family members, known to be kind and considerate as well as him. He enjoys helping out people, but is a little light-headed.
 * Greeny: Greeny is McTurtles' best friend, cousin, and bodyguard who doesn't talks but instead makes noises like grunts and murmurs. Greeny is a strong but gentle turtle, and will only become violent if harm is done to him or any of the housemates.
 * Squirm-o Worm-o: Squirm-o is a silent antihero who appears to seem friendly and sweet, but is violent and merciless in reality.
 * Jessica: A kind, small, and emotionally timid white mouse who Gecko has a crush on. She is usually hurrying and worried about various things, and is always anxious to complete any task. She is a huge germophobe, and tries to make the mansion a cleaner place.
 * Crocks: A lean hardcore crocodile movie star with air of wariness that comes from living on the edge. He is mostly consumed by his own selfishness and tends to be often acting somewhat rude. However, Crocks does care for others when they are truly in need for help.
 * Yarnman: TBA
 * Woof Woof: Gecko's trusty companion who is an Alaskan husky puppy. Woof Woof is energetic and playful, as well as brave and very loving towards everyone in the mansion.

Minor

 * Babs: TBA
 * Snake & Eyez: TBA
 * Octi: A mysterious and wise octopus who serves as the mansion's chef. His eight arms allows himself to make a meal quickly as possible. Also, Octi appears to have multiple personality disorder, with eight different personalities.
 * Bearo: TBA
 * Brandon: TBA
 * Bunny Blue: TBA
 * Super Male Human Being: TBA
 * Brownie: TBA
 * Mr. Roach: TBA
 * Pups: TBA
 * Flashlight: TBA
 * Anna: TBA
 * Sarah: TBA
 * Benny: TBA

Writing
Writing an episode of Gecko takes nearly one week to fully complete. The writers consist of the series' creators as well as a couple minor writing staff. While writing, the crew commonly included punchlines, gags and more.

Animation
Animation is done with cels for the first three seasons, digital ink and paint for seasons four to eight, and Adobe Flash for season seven. Animation is done by Kingson Animation Studios. Animation is done in only nine days, which makes a rather cheap yet charming animation style.

Music
James L. Venable, a composer best known for his work on shows such as The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack, composed the theme song and the music.

Episodes

 * Main Article(s): The Misadventures of Gecko/Episode Guide

Gecko's Million Dollar Movie
On May 27, 1996, Ralf Hat announced a feature film based on the series titled "Gecko's Million Dollar Movie" would be released in spring 1998, and that production would start in 1997. The film was released on April 14, 1998, receiving generally positive to mixed reviews by critics and fans alike. The film follows the main characters on a journey to search for a rumored fortune worth 70 million dollars, only to save the mansion from bankruptcy.

Gecko 2010 film
In Early 2008, nine years after the series ended, it was announced that a second film was going to be released in late 2009, but was pushed to winter 2010. The film, titled "Gecko" follows the prequel story of how Gecko, M-Bunny, and Fred met each other and saved the mansion and the world from alien race. The film finalizes the series overall and was released on December 24, 2010, receiving positive reviews, and was a box office success.

Critical reception
The Misadventures of Gecko has received generally favorable reviews from television critics. Most critics would praise the writing, messages, and humor. The series currently holds a 8.0/10 on IMDB from a total of 1,827 reviews.

Cancellation
TBA

Video games
A number of video games based on the series were released over the years.

Spinoffs
In 2008, Kingson launched an official web series on its website entitled Gecko's House. The web show is one minute long for each episode and is currently running to this day.

Legacy
The show has been praised even after the last episodes in 1999 and has become amazingly popular worldwide. It is known to be a favorited 90's cartoon, having a large fandom, and the show is ranked 53rd on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series.

During an interview in spring of 2016, Ralf Hat and Thatstuff were asked about any further work on any ended series from Deadpan Productions. Hat responded with ''"I mean yeah...me and Stuff were actually debating on making revival of shows of Supervillains, The Misadventures of Gecko, or possibly even Instruments & Instruments". ''Ever since the interview no such talk about a revival for the series was stated.