hits1990

[hits1990]

Character sheet for Stephanie, our resident vampire, as well as some early concepts!

If you want to see more of her, go check out our Halloween music video linked below!

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Happy Tuesday from the Interstellar School Station's favorite catboy!

Stay tuned for our roll call to meet some fresh faces you'll see in the background of the station...!

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Will there be any fight? Or aliens to scared do to humans having nukes?

There's definitely a lot of tension due to humans having nuclear weapons, which is something the aliens are very cautious about.

As of right now, the peace is being kept with the hope that the human-alien integration project will be a success. But Earth's attempt at joining the Galactic Confederation is fragile, and high schoolers don't tend to put a lot of thought into things like intergalactic politics...

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Give it up for our first Halloween music video!

Our animators worked tirelessly on this MV, which was originally set to debut next Halloween. Instead, the team was so excited by their progress that they decided to upload their progress early. With exclusive behind-the-scene pipeline shots, you can really get a feel for our creative process at the studio.

Stay tuned for our crowdfunding announcement (coming soon), and please feel free to support us by sharing the MV as well as links to our other socials and et/sy!

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Some mockup stills from our pilot!

Featuring Will, Anna, and Nikolay with appearances from new characters: Princi-Pal, the school station's AI principal, and Eleanor Robyn O'Carney, the harried and often exhausted vice principal!

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What makes yours different from everyone else's projects taking the theme "school in space?"

Communism!

Just kidding. Mostly.

Being serious, HitS is a melting pot of our love for many genres— high school anime, scifi, Saturday morning cartoons... All of our staff have different favorite genres (detective noir, action adventure, horror, etc.) and have had fun getting to riff off of those and bounce ideas off one another. Our studio head and show creator is also a major history buff and has had a blast hiding little Easter eggs in episodes for other history nerds to pick up on.

We can't spoil too much here before the pilot actually airs, so you'll just have to keep watching to find out for yourself!

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That means a lot to the entire team! We're a small bunch so every bit of positivity gets shared with everyone, and it genuinely makes our day! We hope you keep following the show because we have some pretty cool things cooked up in the coming future :D

Roll Call... Anna Maurice!

From: Germany

Born in former East Berlin, Anna has a very different view of the space station than the other human students. Raised to be wary and street smart, Anna never passes up an opportunity— whether that be for a hot meal, a place to stay, or a spot at the prestigious Interstellar School Station.

Let it be known that just because she had to be scrappy growing up, does not mean she's willing to compromise on her personal principles— Anna is very dedicated to her image as a pierced, punk outcast, and her unapologetic confidence earns her quick friends (much to her surprise).

Still, space isn't all it's cracked up to be. The station is big, but being stuck between four walls looking out at the sterile vacuum of the void is enough to make anyone crave a cigarette or two...especially when they aren't exactly qualified to be there.

Especially when they may have hacked into the United Nations database to enroll themself in an elite space program that the others spent months preparing for.

Oops.

[hits1990]

Give it up for our first Halloween music video!

Our animators worked tirelessly on this MV, which was originally set to debut next Halloween. Instead, the team was so excited by their progress that they decided to upload their progress early. With exclusive behind-the-scene pipeline shots, you can really get a feel for our creative process at the studio.

Stay tuned for our crowdfunding announcement (coming soon), and please feel free to support us by sharing the MV as well as links to our other socials and et/sy!

[hits1990]

Roll Call... Conrad!

From: Unknown planet

Hiya there, Toots. Now in deep space, there aren't many ways to keep yourself busy, see? You could read, take up a job, explore outside...or, if you're like Conrad, the shapeshifter, you can tune into human air waves.

On the outer edges of the galaxy, Conrad grew up listening to human radio and watching early human television, waiting eagerly for the signal to cross vast expanses of time and space to reach his planet. As something of a human weeb, he's gone to painstaking lengths to craft his humansona, even taking up the lingo.

The problem, doll? Well, folks don't really talk like that anymore. Donning a fedora and some outlandishly out of date slang (as well as bizarre ideas of what passes as human friendships and romance, Conrad sets out to befriend the human students and make his dreams a reality.

Conrad's species of catlike shapeshifters tend to look down their noses at him, and he's about as fond them as they are of him. It's not easy finding your place in the galaxy when you could be anyone and anything and still feel completely lost. Being one of the humans might be different from everything he's ever known, but it would still be better than what he has now.

Now if only he could get rid of those darn cat ears.

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Roll Call... Nikolay Patrushev!

From: USSR

This man...er, young man! This young man comes from the land of bitter winters and strange folk tales, boasting a tall stature and impressive physique that makes you think, "Woah. They really do make them different in Russia."

Even though he can be prone to bouts of sulkiness and patriotic zeitgeist in equal turns, Nikolay immediately takes it upon himself to mother hen the other human students aboard the space station. After all, country affiliations aside, they have to stick together right?

Though his strange folk tales are mostly relegated to his time in the "Russian Boy Scouts" (which seem to be much more violent and militaristic than the American Boy Scouts) and bizarre camping stories, there is something a bit off about Nikolay.

Sometimes he'll get this far away look in his eye or talk about events he couldn't possibly have been alive to see.

But that's impossible— he's just a regular high school student like the rest of them. Right?

Right?

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Roll Call... Anna Maurice!

From: Germany

Born in former East Berlin, Anna has a very different view of the space station than the other human students. Raised to be wary and street smart, Anna never passes up an opportunity— whether that be for a hot meal, a place to stay, or a spot at the prestigious Interstellar School Station.

Let it be known that just because she had to be scrappy growing up, does not mean she's willing to compromise on her personal principles— Anna is very dedicated to her image as a pierced, punk outcast, and her unapologetic confidence earns her quick friends (much to her surprise).

Still, space isn't all it's cracked up to be. The station is big, but being stuck between four walls looking out at the sterile vacuum of the void is enough to make anyone crave a cigarette or two...especially when they aren't exactly qualified to be there.

Especially when they may have hacked into the United Nations database to enroll themself in an elite space program that the others spent months preparing for.

Oops.

[hits1990]

Roll Call... Liu Jun!

From: China

Devastatingly smart, pretty, and with a wicked sense of sarcasm to boot, Liu truly does have it all. Capitalizing off of her family's high standing and the privileges that affords means her life should be easy.

Should. It should be easy.

While people like William want nothing more than to scorn the chance they've been given and jump ship, Liu grips this opportunity with iron fists.

Utilizing all of her quick wit and cunning, she aspires to graduate top of her class so that she can mold her future with her own hands. If that means she has to surpass everyone in her way, even her own government, well. It would be worth it.

A chance to be who she wants to be, love who she wants to love? That would be worth every sacrifice in the world.

The plan is foolproof— she has it all figured out.

And then Anna Maurice shows up, and her plans somehow seem closer and yet more far away than ever before.

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Roll Call... William McCallister!

From: United States of America

Will is a shoe-in for the human-alien high school integration project; a good, corn-fed boy from Wyoming, his mom's a career politician and his dad is an Army general. There isn't anyone better fit to represent the USA than him!

Which is the exact line of thinking that he hates.

Will's life on Earth is good. More than good, really. He has everything he could want: a big house, a cow named Doggy, and (most importantly) the freedom to do whatever he wants.

Now listen...Will's seen what happened to Neil Armstrong. Guy goes into space once, and now he's That Guy for the rest of his life. Shuttled up into this giant, metal box against his will (hah), William can read the writing on the wall: if he stays, he'll be forced to talk about high school over and over again. For the rest. Of his. Life.

Determined to come up with a plan fool proof enough to overpower good ol' nepotism, Will (accidentally or otherwise) enlists his fellow humans in his quest to get kicked off the space station, determined to cause as much chaos as possible in the process.

Forget about his parents— William will pull himself up by his own bootstraps if that's what it takes.

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Like the idea. Was this inspired by the show "the earth guy?"

We hadn't heard of it before but just watched the pilot, and it's awesome! It's great that "high school in space" is becoming its own genre of anime. XD High in the Sky: 1990 started concept planning around 3 or 4 years ago, taking influences from classic anime (Ouran, Hetalia, Detective Conan), Saturday morning cartoons, and classic Disney animation. So "The Earth Guy" is new to us! As fans of animation ourselves its always so cool to see productions thriving and the animation community + fans supporting each other!!

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Welcome to High in the Sky: 1990!

Welcome students to the first-of-its-kind Interstellar School Station!

Now, we may not have gotten here the...ahem...traditional way, but we made it and that's what matters!

So, without further ado— come one, come all! Welcome to High in the Sky: 1990!

What is High in the Sky: 1990?

High in the Sky: 1990 is an up-and-coming series about being stuck in school...in space!

In 1982, humans and aliens established first contact. What happens next is a bunch of bureaucracy mumbo-jumbo. We had nukes, they didn't, agreements were made. That simple right?

Well, when humanity is the engineering powerhouse of the galaxy it is!

Now, in the year 1990, it's time for Earth's last ditch effort at joining the Galactic Confederation: the first ever human-alien high school integration project.

Geared towards molding the perfect diplomatic ambassadors for Earth's galactic future, this program will put our five protagonists through their paces: finding love, their place in the galaxy, and perhaps the most difficult task of all...surviving high school.

At Montanimations, we've been hard at work to bring you this original series.

We've been, up to this point, a completely self-funded studio with our team of passionate animators working as hard as possible to make this vision a reality.

Now, after many months of hard work and planning, we are ready to share our passion project with you.

As an indie studio, community engagement is the core of our belief system, and your help keeps the studio running like a well-oiled machine. As we wind down from the release of our very first music video and ramp up towards our Kickstarter announcement, we are calling on all of you to help our team make this dream a reality.

We hope you end up loving High in the Sky: 1990 just as much as we do!