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seeksstaronmewni · 5 years ago

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The Future of Star Butterfly... or The End?

The end of @disneyanimation‘s/@disneyxd‘s finest franchise yet, @daronnefcy‘s Star vs. the Forces of Evil, is a time of great lamentation for me, as I love Star Butterfly to an insane extent (and thus the respective franchise).

I love Season 3 more than Season 4 (and in Season 3 is the most important reason why I love Star), but the show’s been little different since Season 2. The show changed very much after Season 1 (my favorite season) in character design, animation and the storyboard artists involved. SvTFOE is a really great show, but I personally see room for improvement, if Disney chooses to produce any future content, whatever media that is. Before we act on petitions for new content (try not to push Disney Television Animation too hard on this. It’s up to them, NOT Daron Nefcy, and Disney’s probably really busy with other shows at the moment), let’s consider some aspects of the show...

First, I note some specific things that I dislike about SvTFOE in general.

Mostly “Traditional” Animation: What happened to the animation? The animation started out in Season 1 (and the pilot) as what I call “model-rigged” animation (some call it “flash”), animated by @littledigits at Mercury Filmworks (The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Mickey Mouse, Wander Over Yonder). The visual approach appeared to be very cartoon-y, like WOY, and the attention to detail in not only character design but also the effects design, multi-layered background panning and camera de-focusing was present only in 13 individual (11-minute) season 1 episodes, and also in the 2017 “Interdimensional Scavenger Hunt”. Such things of those episodes are not in later episodes as they are only traditionally animated. Toon City’s animation seemed slow-paced and a little jerky to convey quick movements at times, which didn’t feel like that of Mercury. Now, I came to love model-rigged animation because of SvTFOE, but generally I prefer traditional animation, which is fairly fitting for the more dramatic, intense episodes of the series. The first Toon City episode, “Mewberty”, had a number of design/animation mistakes (i.e. the shots of the “My turn” moment). Of the 2 animation companies that were involved, Rough Draft Korea (which also worked on the Season 1 episode “Blood Moon Ball”) and Sugarcube, though Rough Draft does animation for some of the best in American animation, yet I prefer the visual approach of Sugarcube as the designs are much cleaner and look a little more on-model. The lines in Rough Draft episodes aren’t as smooth and the models kind of look more different (perhaps off-model) per shot and/or movement, but the animation Rough Draft did on Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII, namely Ashi’s fight scene, looks amazing. rwinger24 pointed some important elements lacking in the 2016-2019 episodes out: “Absent from the Mercury and Toon City animation (are) these animation principles- Anticipation- Follow through and overlapping action- Slow in and slow out (the Rough Draft Korea episodes miss this principle as the animation appears jarring/unnatural)- Secondary action(And notable absence of motion smears)... (and, like) 80s /90s cartoons sometimes (the picture bobbing/weaving from the telecine transfer, and not the constant use of 24 drawings like SVTFOE does (mostly from Rough Draft Korea).

Different, Less-Detailed Character Design?: The character design never looked more graphic and detailed than in Season 1, done by @cheyennecurtisart and @lynnvwang as well as @cunch. This’s particularly noticeable in the Mercury Filmworks episodes. The designs in the Toon City episodes aren’t as smooth and, the way the episodes are, not necessarily as exaggerated in cartoon-y fashion as the Mercury Filmworks episodes. The change in character design, which I noticed, is so drastic, that my follower rwinger24 suggested that I should make a post about the changes. As for the rest of the series, @aniramiart became the main designer along with @beckyandfrank / @tinykittenteeth. They do some good designs, given what Star endured or how she reacted at certain times, but most of them aren’t as detailed as Cheyenne’s. What I dislike most about this design change is that, regarding mostly Stephanie Ramirez’s designs (plus storyboard artists and Rough Draft’s animation), the character design of at least Star begins to resemble Gravity Falls a bit much, which detracts from the unique designs of SvTFOE in its first Season. Relatively, one of young Star’s designs in “Marco Grows a Beard” (Tyler Chen’s first episode) also resembled the character design of Gravity Falls, but that was still Cheyenne & Lynn Wang on the episode. On the other hand, the Season 2-4 designs look more on-model and smoother in the Sugarcube episodes. Otherwise, in potentially cartoon-y designs, it just doesn’t stretch as far as those of Season 1/Mercury episodes, though that wouldn’t exactly be fitting for the more dramatic episodes. The designs, of course, depend somewhat on storyboards. Perhaps the wackiest storyboards are by Ian Wasseluk (who rwinger24 references in the cartoon-y looking approach on the series), as well as Dave Stone (from Teen Titans GO!) on “Match Maker”.

Quiet (and typical) Sound Design: Throughout the show, the sound design’s style was very quiet. It’s more foley than SFX. The sound effects designed by both music score composer @brianwithanh and Advantage Audio’s Robert Poole (Season 1) and Heather Olsen (Seasons 2-4) are unique to the series and absolutely nothing I criticize. What I dislike of the sound design is that, given the very cartoon-y visuals (particularly Seasons 1-2), the sound design is more realistic than cartoon-y (save for very rare cases like the opening scene to Bon Bon the Birthday Clown, which was very deliberate as I imagine). Usually, Advantage seems to sound either too cartoon-y (i.e. The Fairly OddParents) or too quiet. In the case of more dramatic episodes, the cartoon-y sound shouldn’t be pushed. If Jesse Aruda, Roy Braverman, and/or Rich Danhakl did the sound design (Danhakl did the sound design of The Tom and Jerry Show at Advantage and edited sound on “Mathmagic” & “The Bounce Lounge”), their array of cartoon sounds would be better than the usual, very specific designs of Michael Warner, Robert Duran, Poole II and Olsen. The other main critique I give is that, like most sound services, the action-y sound effects (explosions, crashes, etc.) depend more on typical Hollywood Edge/Sound Ideas (that is “stock” sound effects) than the unique sounds of Joel Valentine and Skywalker Sound; there’re also the common, if applicable, use of “Cats Two Angry Yowls”, “Medium Exterior” Crowds and other cliche vocal recordings that are overused, particularly by Advantage Audio. Recording walla as well as other animals (or at least using lesser-used animal and crowd vocals) would be an improvement. Even the horse sounds used (rarely using one from the Sound Ideas Lucasfilm Sound Library) are mostly the typical, pitched-up if necessary. Compare that to an entire SFX library of horse sounds that Skywalker’s Nia Hansen (sound design assistant of Big Hero 6′s movie but not the show) recorded just for War Horse--and she was credited as only an apprentice [sound] editor!

“Controversial” Content: The last thing I dislike, from more or less a Christian point-of-view, is that there are a few episodes that have material and/or images that I, for one, among many, would view as “controversial” or “polarizing”. I’m a little suspicious of some situations that may regard controversial subjects in a few other episodes as well, though no dialogue explicitly states such things. I can not say what that material is or what episodes have it, but I mean the best in concern for the sake of the series’ reputation. The least that we can do (and I certainly do), in all situations, is to pray for the salvation and sake of Daron Nefcy and her amazing team.

(BRIEF SPOILER!) Second, before we can give influence to anyone to contribute to the Star vs. the Forces of Evil franchise, we need an answer to this very important question:

Is this really the end of Star vs. the Forces of Evil?: It was always on my mind as to whether or not “Cleaved!” was more than the end of the main story linked throughout Seasons 1-4 (though the last villain, in Season 4, is Mina, from Season 2). Does Disney claim that it’s the series finale because they had to move on to other projects, or is the story of Star Butterfly, the Underestimated, at the true end that Daron Nefcy wanted? Think about Wander Over Yonder: it was cancelled after season 2, but, although that season wrapped up a story throughout that season (and began at the very end of Season 1), still there are more stories that could be told... if Disney wanted to produced new WOY content, with or without Craig McCracken. Also, (spoiler) Star is not gone; worlds collided, and there can be more adventures for the franchise (perhaps Hope Hadley or Charlie Booth/“Gustav” could get a spin-off?). Whatever more we want of SvTFOE or WOY, we must speak to Disney Television Animation about this and let them to know, NOT the show creators. Don’t ask Daron Nefcy about new SvTFOE content in the future; ask Disney TVA about that.

Third, in response to what I personally dislike about major changes in the series since SvTFOE Season 2, and as a devote fan of Star Butterfly / Star vs. the Forces of Evil, I wish to propose, to all of those at Disney Television Animation, suggestions of creatives who deserve to contribute their amazing talent to the future content of Disney’s most beautiful franchise yet.

Who should run the show?: As far as I know, creator Daron Nefcy suggested that she left Disney after SvTFOE (“I’ve been slowly cleaning out my office (I know, sad!)”) to do a voice on Nico Colaleo’s Ollie and Scoops, so, if Disney intends to produce any new content, then it may happen with Daron out. Who would I suggest to help run the show? Dave Wasson, Season 1 Co-Executive Producer/Supervising Director, could return. I strongly believe that Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (Samurai Jack, The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show) would be a very good choice in running the show, in addition to storyboarding, writing, directing, character design, and/or art direction; she produced Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus and was a major part of that film. Then, of course, for the sake of detail and action, Genndy Tartakovsky would be a great choice; he’s currently with Sony on a few projects and CN for Primal, so at least people from his team, like Paul Rudish of Mickey Mouse and Bryan Andrews and/or Mark Andrews of Sym-Bionic Titan, would be really good for directing. I certainly trust how good they are at both action and heart, on shows like Samurai Jack. As for really wacky, cartoon-y styles, I also would recommend Kyle A. Carrozza, @tvskyle from CN’s Mighty Magiswords, who is currently at Warner Bros. on Animaniacs, and Bob Camp from The Ren & Stimpy Show (also a storyboard artist for Sym-Bionic Titan and Suburban Daredevil), to contribute directing/producing and storyboarding. I would recommend @crackmccraigen, who "wanted to make Star when back when @daronnefcy pitched it to us at The Cartoonstitute. CN said no though.” However, so far, Craig left Disney; he currently produces Kid Cosmic for Netflix.

Who should write and storyboard the stories?: First, I suggest Tim Hodge (@baldmelon, The Tom and Jerry Show, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Aladdin, Mulan), who also worked for Disney, as well as @gadworks, @kalikazoo, @mikepelensky, Darrick Bachman (Samurai Jack, Mickey Mouse) and Richard D. Pursel (Tom and Jerry Tales, Mighty Magiswords, The Ren & Stimpy Show). For more action-y sequences, I’d look to Genndy Tartakovsky, Bryan Andrews and/or Paul Rudish; they sure know their action stuff. Lastly, I note Charlie Bean, David Krentz, Kyle A. Carrozza, Lynne Naylor-Reccardi, Will Finn, Stephen DeStefano, Jeremy Polgar (Samurai Jack Season 5, Teen Titans Go!) and Bob Camp, among others. Former writers/storyboarders Mike Mullen, @ianwasseluk, Scott O’Brien, Kyle Neswald, Kat Ketchum, @brettvaron, @giancarlovolpe and Dave Stone should return. A newer storyboard artist for Spongebob, April “Pinkie” Davis, has some humorous potential too and I’d highly recommend her. Josh “Zeurel” Palmer and @akron-squirrel are also very talented artists/animators who deserve a show.

Who should contribute visual design?: Luckily, Cheyenne Curtis returned for a few episodes after Season 2; she currently works at Nickelodeon but might like to help on the designs. In point of fact, she should be “Lead Character Design”. I’m not sure if it was Cheyenne or Lynn Wang who did the really graphic character designs (Match Maker, Brittney’s Party, The Other Exchange Student, etc.), though hopefully Lynn Wang could occasionally contribute to future SvTFOE content, with or without Cheyenne. Among the 2 (and perhaps Jennifer Goldberg as well), the new character designers I’d suggest to contribute would include Jeremiah Alcorn (@alcornstudios, Teen Titans Go!, Wander Over Yonder), Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Samurai Jack), Carey Yost (The Powerpuff Girls, The Ren & Stimpy Show), and April “Pinkie” Davis (Spongebob Squarepants). I’d also recommend Bryan Arnett (Wander Over Yonder, The Mighty B!), Adam Rosette (who did designs for the original test pilot or something in 2014, according to the IMDb), Craig Kellman (The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Dexter’s Laboratory), and Kyle A. Carrozza and Lindsay Smith-Carrozza (Mighty Magiswords), among others. As for the location design, it changed little, but I’d still refer to The Parpan Brothers, Season 1 art directors @joshparpan & @justinparpan (currently art directors at CN for @victorandvalentino) and perhaps their assistant Jason Stebbings. David A. Dunnet and Larry Murphy are very good cartoon location designers. Certainly, Stephen DeStefano (@stephendestefano, Samurai Jack, Mickey Mouse, The Ren & Stimpy Show) would serve as a swiss army knife of visual design in storyboards, character design and location design! I’m not concerned about most of the prop designs either, though Dustin d’Arnault is a rising talent in cartoon props/effects design, like Chris Battle. I’m not too concerned about effects design, referring to the original one, Tony Unser, and the last one, Eric Gonzalez, but contributions from Dustin d’Arnault and the amazing MIchel Gagne would do wonders for the show. As for newer, fresher talent, @akron-squirrel, Josh “Zeurel” Palmer and Scott Forester are some excellent choices for new creatives visual development.

Should the show/new content onward be in a “Scope” aspect ratio, like 2.40:1? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Tigtone and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal are in a “letterbox” widescreen format, and it’d look more cinematic to do the shots in a director-envisioned “CinemaScope” format.

Who should direct the animation?: The main timing supervisor Shaun Cashman was a part of The Powerpuff Girls and Sym-Bionic Titan, so that’s good for the *traditional* animation (not to mention timing director Patrick Gleeson, who animated the works of Don Bluth), but personally timing/animation directors and supervisors should include Genndy Tartakovsky, Tony Fucile (perhaps a stretch, but he’s really good), and Robert Alvarez. Rough Draft’s designs should look a little smoother IMO, though I generally prefer Rough Draft over Sugarcube. Of course, for the more comedic SvTFOE content in the future (but not limited to cartoon-y scenes), I want Megan Ferguson to return, preferably with Mercury Filmworks. Mercury could at least help animate background layouts and visual effects for the traditionally animated episodes. Still, I learned from Final Space and namely the Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure episode “Cassandra’s Revenge” that “puppeted” animation can work very well in more serious, cinematic scenes that aren’t as “cartoonish”. Additional animation contributions from Gabe del Valle and Josh “Zeurel” Palmer would be good to reference too.

Who should contribute sound design?: First and foremost, if I had to pick one and only one sound designer, I’d look to Joel Valentine, a private contractor who generally did cartoon sound for only Cartoon Network Studios until Craig McCracken got him to contribute to Wander Over Yonder Season 2, perhaps leading Joel to work currently on Disney’s Big City Greens (still also on Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal). He does both cartoon and action sound on a very unique level, and he proved to be very realistic with vocal sfx (babies, crowds, animals) in Samurai Jack Season 5, making very scarce use of Hollywood Edge SFX. I also really like that castanet sound he uses for characters shaking for any reason. With or without Joel, my devote follower @rwinger24 prefers Spongebob sound designer Jeff Hutchins to contribute; Jeff has a hilarious sense of cartoon sound design, and not only did he learn from Joel, but he also received from Joel The Producer’s Sound Effects Library AND Joel’s ADAP library, with which Jeff could replicate the unique sound styles of Joel, like he did before. Jeff also tends to work at Hacienda Post, where founder and supervisor Timothy J. Borquez could contribute and consult sound design just as his team did at Horta Editorial on The Ren & Stimpy Show, which also has its own stylized array of SFX--and this would work very well for a show with design and animation as detailed in comedic fashion as Ren & Stimpy (think “Brittney’s Party”). It was rumored on IMDb that Warner Bros. Sound (division Audio Circus) worked on SvTFOE; Jeff worked there too, and I guess that they could contribute. Then, of course, the show deserves contributions from Skywalker Sound, namely designers like Tom Myers, Steve Boeddeker, David Acord, Frank Eulner and Al Nelson, as well as Chris Scarabosio, Kyrsten Mate and Nia Hansen; Matthew Wood & David Acord are also a good team in voices (I’d even go so far as to suggest Ben Burtt to contribute). With Skywalker, there’d be better selections for action sfx (like explosions or ricochets) and other SFX in general, plus more realistic vocal sfx and walla. I also like the works of Robert Hargreaves (DigiPost.TV) and Glenn Oyabe. Among Joel, Hacienda and Skywalker, still, I intend not to cut Advantage Audio out; the series’ sfx and Brian H. Kim’s sounds are probably there, as are the series’ foley artist John Lampinen, but I would want Jesse Aruda and Rich Danhakl to be in place of Poole II or Olsen. (as of September 10th, 2019 A.D., Danhakl replied to me in an e-mail, “Count me in for the toonie Star spinoff (I’ll pass the message along to Jesse [Aruda] and Roy [Braverman])!”) A main proposition to approach the series’ sound as a whole, as Ben Burtt suggested in an article, is this: “You don’t achieve the final cut of your movie the first time that you cut it. [(Picture) Editing is] too big of a job. You assemble the first cut based upon all of your best available knowledge. You’re finding your way through the story. You’re checking notes, a script, and seeing what the material might dictate. Then you build each successive cut, and you see what’s wrong and what’s right. It takes time and a series of developmental steps. No director want to rush through it. The same process should hold true for sound design. There needs to be a development phase where you have the same type of time to experiment, fail, and nurture the sound design to full bloom in all its beauty.” Speaking of Ben Burtt, he might as well contribute since it seems that he does little sound design for projects these days. Previously I made a post about the important emphasis of the series’ sound design.

I pray every day of my life that Star vs. the Forces of Evil as a franchise of Disney will be blessed with creative talents who I really admire, and I hope for the best. Speaking of Hope, I find supportive/background character Hope Hadley, created by character designer Cheyenne Curtis, to be an interesting and attractive character, so I wonder if Cheyenne (who works at Disney) and Disney (who owns the rights to Hope) would create something out of her, as I said before--and Cheyenne thinks about this possibility: “If I ever get a cartoon show it’s my goal to have multiple episodes throughout the season with rain.” Either way, my devote follower @rwinger24 would agree with some of my choices (particularly of sound and Jeff Hutchins).

If you’re a devote SvTFOE fan and you agree with any of these decisions, then SHARE THE POST! Let Disney know, and see what Daron Nefcy also thinks of this too (even if she can not return). I also encourage you to share IMDb lists of Creatives for Future SvTFOE Content and the same for Cheyenne Curtis’s cartoon show and/or this Tumblr post summarizing names of those to join and return on SvTFOE, so that we--and the amazing creatives whom we admire--can be a part of the unique franchise of SvTFOE! I love Star Butterfly enough to want to spark an influence, however we can.

Besides that, Samurai Jack seemed to end after Season 4, but it returned after 12 years, 5 months and 14 days with Season 5. God knows what new content/media Disney could produce (with or without Daron Nefcy) in the future!

Tweet version here. Share that too!

Finally, forget not to share also this complimentary post listing some of the most important creatives for Disney TVA to recruit for new SvTFOE content!

I thank you for sharing, noticing and/or reading the post.

If you wonder why I love Star much, see this post (spoiler if you saw not Season 3 yet)

BTW, if you like The Powerpuff Girls and/or relative team members, check this post out too (and share it if you agree)!

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seddm · 7 years ago

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Daron’s Q&A at Creativa Fest

I transcribed the questions Daron answered to during a panel at the Creativa Fest 2017. Below, a summary of what she said; after that, a complete transcription. Thanks to Alfrely on YouTube for having provided the video!

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Continues after the Keep Reading

RECAP

- Daron has an idea for the series' finale.

- The original plan was for Marco not to have any friends: "Star and Marco are kinda like these only children, and they connect together, and they have like this special bond", but Disney executives wanted him to have male friends as well, and they came up with Alfonzo and Ferguson. Since they didn't really know what to do with them, they have been absent from S2. They are going to "come back a little" in S3.

- Daron has no real reason for Marco being Mexican, she just wanted him to be the average angelino.

- Daron originally pitched the show, when she was still a CalArts student, to Cartoon Network (to Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti) for a project called “The Cartoonstitute”. They didn’t want to make anything out of it, but later Renzetti introduced her to Nickelodeon,where a one minute short was created, without them wanting to tale it any further, though. She eventually pitched it to Disney, where a pilot episode was and then greenlit into a full show (the whole process took about a year).

- In Blood Moon Ball, when Marco heard a voice talking to him, seagulls sounds were supposed to play, making it immediatly obvious how the one speaking was the Sea Captain in the frame, but the sound was forgotten during the episode's mixing. What or who he is might be “a bit” relevant in the future.

- There will probably be more "Tomco moments". “I am a fan of Tomco myself” said Daron, laughing.

- Daron couldn't say if we're going to learn something about Star and Tom's past, but there will be more on them.

- According to Daron all the dimensions seen in the show are “in the same space”, as if they were always “on the same planet”, but in different dimensions [imagine it as a stack of papers, the scissors allowing to go from one to another]. But, at the end of the day, “It’s fantasy. I think we are always like trying to make it logical, but I also think that at a certain point if you overthink it nothing probably actually makes sense”.

- Daron is happy to see the fandom being so excited about shipping, but also believes that fans likes to be “upset”, and that a show has to keep things interesting, no one would watch a show that were to be just “"Star and Marco get together and they will be like so happy, the end”. She also specified that they don’t let the fandom influence their writing, and that it’s understandably impossible to make everyone happy.

- Jackie is not a mermaid, nor magical. She sees her as a typical Venice Beach girl who is into skateboards and the ocean. And Janna is not a witch.

- Daron sometimes sees a fan theory and thinks "Oh that was really good!" (in relation to the show being written so much in advance compared to what airs). She also mentions liking a theory about Moon having been an exchange student in Toffee's dimension [specifying that's not what they actually did.]

- Adam had to audition to be cast as adult Marco in Running With Scissors, since Daron initially think his voice would have been too young sounding.

- Since Star has been a thing for Daron years before the show's production began, she doesn't really feel like she's "talking to Star" when she talks to Eden -while several of the crew members do feel that way, same with Adam.

- There's some shared background to Moon and Toffee's story.

- Writing is Daron's favorite part of making an episode, and she doesn't impose her ideas, but goes with the best one, discussing it with her crew. She also feels like, while the original idea for the show is hers, it would have never become as big as it is now without all the people working on it.

- There's going to be more about Eclipsa.

- Daron has ideas for other shows, but hasn’t really had time to develop them so far, being busy on Star.

- Star is her favorite character, as she is "close to her heart".

- StarFan13 was originally a one-time gag in Brittney's Party (boarded by Ian Wasseluk), but they then liked and kept using her.

- What Star did in Storm the Castle is a "precursor" to dipping down, she was channeling magic through her.

- Daron wanted to do some kind of "cameo crossover" with Rick & Morty and Gravity Falls, placing a common object in a scene, but while they ended up doing it, she didn't manage to. Talking about the idea of an actual crossover, she “feel like it could be... maybe Gravity Falls, maybe...?”.

- While some might have saved themselves, most of Ludo's old monsters died in the explosion in Storm the Castle.

- Daron doesn't know yet what she's going to do once the series is over, she might take a break, or eventually make a new show.

- Daron wishes Disney would do SVTFOE toys, and suggest fans to bother them to do it [Disney apparently values a lot people asking for products at their stores, when it comes to choose what merchandise to make]

- While talking about the show's animation, Daron said that they "had some troubles-", but then got interrupted and didn't pick up the question again. This might be related to the " number of difficulties producing the first season" she mentioned in this interview.

- While drawing a Marco on a fan’s book, Daron accidentally gave him heart cheeks, thus making the first official (?) Marar cosplay. If you want to hear Daron almost saying “Oh shit”, click here.

- Daron sometimes gets surprised by seeing fans liking episodes or scenes that she felt like were bad. "I think people connect with different parts of the show". She chose not to say if she has least favorite episodes, as not to lessen all the hard work everyone puts into the show, but said that first season was a little rough, since they still had to figure out things.

- Mewberty, Blood Moon Ball, Storm the Castle, Into the Wand and Face the Music are (among) her favorite episodes, and she was very excited about Ludo in the Wild.

- Most of the tapestries in Into the Wand were designed by one of the storyboarders, Jushtin Lee, and then got turned into the final designs seen in the episodes by background and layout artists.

- There are going to be songs in future episodes as well.

- There are probably going to be more guest stars in S3, but that's something for Disney to announce.

- We might see Star's "mewberty form" again [related post by show’s producer Hammersley].

- Daron designed Star and Marco, but for most of the other characters she just gives rough sketches or ideas to the designers. She described Hekapoo to Becky Dreistadt, the artist who designed her, as "a kinda fiery elf thing".

- Daron is not familiar with drawing Tom, since she didn't design him. It kinda shows.

- We might get to know what Lekmet's role in the Magic High Commission was, and Daron answered to a question about him being really dead or not with "Well he's gone to ashes, so...".

- Daron wants her characters, and villains, to have a perspective, and she feels like they did that with Toffee, comparing him to a Magneto-like character, who is not wrong, but is going about things the wrong way. He has "his own perspective" about how Mewmans treat monsters.

- Daron and Cheyenne Curtis (S1 designer) drew "like 100 dresses", since the executives at Disney were very concerned about it, not wanting them to be too girly or to have puffy sleeves (but Daron managed to put them in S2).

- The livechats, which were Disney's idea, are not “totally canon”, but they had an outline.

- The Star and Marco Guide To Mastering Every Dimension was supposed to be published after the first 14 episodes in S2, and the events into it are a little bit after Bon Bon The Birthday Clown and before the episodes that aired in February.

- As seen in Crystal Clear, Eclipsa, frozen in Rhombulus’ crystals, moved her arm, and the glove remained stuck in place just like Star's socks.

- Daron can't tell where Toffee's finger ended up when Star's room disappeared from Marco's house, nor if the color coding of dimensions in Heinous' metallurgy book in St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses has a connection to the wand/magic.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTION

Q- Do you have a finale planned for the show? A- Yeah, I kinda got an idea.

Q- What happened to Al & Ferg A- It's funny like you know pitching a show for a network and stuff, so... and Disney is so awesome, they just let me do so many cool things in the show and they've been like so awesome, they really are trying to do amazing things in animation. But one of the things they really wanted for the first season with Marco, is that they were like "He doesn't have male friends. And we want him to have male friends 'cause we want him to be more... male, I guess? I don't know." So I didn't know... my original plan was for, you know it's like Star and Marco are kinda like these only children, and they connect together, and they have like this special bond. And I didn't really see Marco as having like friends. So I had to came up with some friends, so I created Ferguson and Alfonzo. I have to say that I didn't feel like I was getting a lot out of them. Like I really didn't know what to do with them. They are - they do come back a little in the 3rd season, I can tell you that. They are not gone forever, but honestly, I really didn't know what to do with them, they were kinda hard for me to write. But I'm glad that you like them. It was almost becoming a joke, we were like "Oh, we don't like them". They are in the comic, though.

Q- Why is Marco Mexican? A- Well so, you know, I grew up in Los Angeles, and I just wanted Marco to be your average angelino, so he's mexican, makes sense, you know? So no real reason other than that, you know. Asker: he looks a lot like you husband Daron: yeah a little bit, there's my husband, everybody look at him. I'm just embarrassing him a little bit

Q- In the Blood Moon Ball chapter there was this voice that talked to Marco, will we get to know who it was? A- Ok, that's a funny story too. So the voice is supposed to be the Sea Captain in the frame. And when we were doing the animatic. You know when we do the animatics, it's all the storyboard drawings, and they are all timed to be animated, we had the sound effect of seagulls, right? So that when you saw the picture you heard the seagulls, you'd knew that it was the sea captain. But when we did the final mix of the episode, the mix is like... we put all the final music and sounds and dialogues together, and check the levels and make sure that all- it's what you see on TV, for some reason the seagulls dropped down. We forgot, we didn't notice the seagulls were gone. And then when it was on tv there were all these people like "Who was talking to Marco? Was it the moon? Was it-" and I was like "Ah damnit we forgot the seagulls!". So it's the sea captain. Who does actually... maybe tie a little bit later. You'll see.

Q- How was it to pitch the series? A- I was kinda lucky, I went to school at CalArts in Los Angeles, and a lot of our teachers are actually coming from the studios to teach. You know so they are coming from CN, Nickelodeon, Disney... to each class, and you have the opportunity to know the teachers. And somewhere I heard that cartoon network, actually, they were taking pitches, they were taking pitches from students, from anybody. You just had to sign up, and it was called "Cartoonstitute". So I signed up for that, and I had been drawing Star for a little bit, and when I got the opportunity to pitch for Cartoonstitute I came up with a plot and some of the characters, and I actually pitched it to Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti, which was amazing, I was like twenty. You know, Star is like ten years old, I created Star like ten years ago. My original pitch to them... and you know, CN ultimately didn't want to do the project, but I made a connection with Rob and Craig. So when I was in my fourth year at school Rob recommended me to Nickelodeon, so I brought it to Nickelodeon, they liked Star, so we did a one minute short that we produced, and they ultimately didn't want to take it any further, so... and I was like out of school, trying to find a job was very hard, it took me like a year to find a job, I was very broke, and then I brought it to Disney, eventually, and they wanted to try it! So then we made a pilot, which is a long process, right? It was very exciting just to get the pilot, and then I... I don't know how many pilots a year they do. I mean I feel like if I had to guess, maybe Disney they hear like a hundred pitches, and then they take like 10 pilots- probably less, probably more like five pilots, and then maybe they pick one to make a show. So it's very exciting to get to the pilot phase. And that took about a year, just to make the pilot, and then they tested it on kids and- you know there's a whole process for that, and in the meanwhile I was working at different studios, I was working at Warner Brothers doing a little bit of animation, I did storyboard revisions at Nickelodeon. Which is actually a really good- if anybody, like you know, wants to work in animation like at places like CN or Disney and stuff. Storyboard revision is a really good step in the door, you are basically cleaning up storyboards and stuff like that. And they were eventually like "Ok we want to make it into a show", and I was like "Aaah!", very exciting. But yeah, so... I think the thing I'm happy about with Star is that it really... I pitched a lot of other things too, but I feel like Star was close to my heart, like it was important to me, and I think that came through, you know? Like I think that if you are coming up with the ideas there has to be like a personal connection, or it's just not- or else you are just making something to sell them I guess, and it's never going to feel authentic, you know?

Q- I really love Tomco, so are we going to see more Tomco moments or episodes like Friendenemies? A- Oh, ehm- I can say... probably yes? There will some more Tomco happenings. I am a fan of Tomco myself.

Q- Will we know more about Star and Tom's past relationship in the future? A- There will be more on Star and Tom. I can say that. There will be more on them. I like Tom, Tom's fun.

Q- There's a theory about Jackie, that she's a mermaid, that she's half Mewman A- I like the theory that she's a mermaid, but... she's not a mermaid. She is, she's- I feel like she is like a Venice Beach girl, she likes skateboard, she's into the ocean... but she is not magical. Although I do like the theory, like you know she is a mermaid, and Janna is a witch, you know, it's cool... but not real.

Q- What's your favourite fan theory A- There are so many that are really cool. It's funny because you know sometimes- we are writing the show so far ahead, like right now we are writing the fourth season, since it takes so much to produce the episode, so we are like so ahead, sometimes I see fans came up with some things and I'm like "Oh, that was really good". But you know I- god, there was this whole one that people had that was like that Moon was an exchange student in Toffee's dimension, kinda like Star is to Marco. I was like "Oh that's a cool idea". We never did that, but that's a cool idea [inaudible part about her looking at theories on Reddit?] sometimes they say something and I'm like "Oh they already know, they already guessed!" Like I know people are excited about Eclipsa, so that's cool.

Q- How is it working with Adam McArthur like in Running With Scissors A- He's great. I mean, Adam has has such- all the actors, Adam and Eden and... Ryder Strong, who is Tom, everybody, the cast is so good. Alan Tudyk is Ludo, everyone is really great. Oh my god, I got to work with Jeffrey Tambor, who is Glossaryck. It's so cool. But yeah, Adam is like he is so- what's cool about Adam is like he, you know, as opposed to like Eden, she is on, this television show she is very busy, Adam is busy too, he does lot of acting, but he makes time to really interact with all the fans and stuff. "Running With Scissors", I got a story about that. So I was gonna cast- since he sounds so young, Adam, I wanted to cast, like, a manly man to do adult Marco, I was gonna cast somebody else, 'cause I didn't know Adam could do it, but he was all like "Let's try" and he did a great voice and I was like "Ok, you're good". He was like "I had to do try outs to be myself". Sorry.

Q- When you talk to Eden Sher, since she's the voice of Star, do you ever feel like "Oh my god I'm talking to Star"? A- Well, I mean I know someone of the crew, like sometimes Eden comes around, to say hi to the crew and stuff. Or you know, we do a party for the crew and she'll be there. And other people from the crew would come up to me and be like "Oh my god she sounds just like Star". For me, I mean, we had try outs, so Star was kinda real before Eden, I guess. [inaudible] but I guess Star was a character already. So for me maybe not, does it make sense? And people tell me the same about Adam too, "Oh my gosh he is Marco". Actually Marco has a funny story, he was like at a comic convention thing, he got snubbed by a Star fan. He saw a girl in a Star costume and he was like "Can we take a picture together?" and she's like "No!" and she walked away. And I told Adam he should have called after her, you should have been like "Staaar!". You gotta be careful not to snob people at comic conventions.

Q- Some theories say that Moon and Toffee had a relationship, not necessarily romantic... A- Well you saw the scroll (tapestry?) right? You saw "Into the Wand". So yeah, there's, there's... there is a background to them

Q- In the episode Mathmagic it was revealed that there is this multiverse. We saw multiple realities of Mewni, the Earth. So I was kind of confused, does it mean that Mewni and Earth exist in like one universe. For example, you can build a, I don't know, a spaceship or something to travel from Earth to Mewni? A- Well, I was like- I always liked the idea of other dimensions, I always thought that was cool. So I guess everything is in the same space. That's why they use scissors and they kind of cut into different realities, so they can kinda go through, but they are all on the same planet, I guess. I know sometimes it feels like it's other planets- I don't know. It's supposed to be- it's all like a dimension, that you can kinda travel through with the scissors. I think it- it's fantasy. It's always like- I think we are always like trying to make it logical, but I also think that at a certain point if you overthink it nothing probably actually makes sense. I like the idea of different dimensions, that's cool. So they are all in the same space, and uh- they are connected, you know?

Q- How do you feel about the fandom making all... weird relationships and... do you feel pressured by some people going "We want Tomco, we want Moonfee, we want everything"? A- That's so funny. I mean, you know- I'm very excited that the fans can be excited for whatever they want, you know? I mean, any "-co" they like, that's great. We don't really let that affect the writing in the show. Like I don't look at that when I'm writing the show. You can never make everybody happy, there will always be people- but I also think people like to be upset, you know? If you think about what's the show, what is like- what show would it be if it were just "We're gonna have Star and Marco get together and they will be like so happy", the end. There's no show, what is that show? No one would watch that show. So you have to keep it exciting.

Q- When you are working on an episode what part do you like the most? A- I like the writing, I guess... yeah, I like the writing and I like working with the team, like, it's amazing- you know, I've been on the show, I don't even know how long, I feel like I've been working on the show forever, I think it's been four years, I think? And some of my crew have been with me since the very beginning and I see them everyday and I really love my crew and they are really really cool, and I think the most fun part for me is- yeah, it would be, you know, the pitch of a boarder, there would be the boarders, the director, me, the writers, and we'd be going "Oh why isn't this working" or "How can we make this better", if someone has an idea it's like "Yes let's do that" and it's so cool that- like I love working collaboratively and it's amazing to see... I don't know it's just like- I came up with this one idea, you know, the idea was this big, but then it got this big this big this big, bigger and bigger, and I feel like I could have never made it this big, but then with all these great people who really care, you know, and it only gets better 'cause they care. I think the worst thing like anybody like a boss or like a show runner, I think the worst thing you could do is just go like "No this is my show, it's my idea. It's all about me, it has to be my idea, maybe you got a good idea, but let's use only my idea" cause I think it's, I mean, A) it's not fun for anybody, and B) I don't think you're going to get the best thing. My theory is always like- the best idea wins. You know if there are like three people with different ideas on how to do something I always try to go "Ok what's interesting let's do this idea", you know. So it's- it's good, I like it.

Q- Are we going to see in the season something about Eclipsa? A- Yes I think you're going to see more Eclipsa

Q- Do you have any ideas for other series? A- I do! You know, sometimes I come up with ideas, but I don't really have time to develop them ,as the show is really... consuming, you know?

Q- Who is your favorite character in the show? A- Star. Star is close to my heart (asker asks about Starfan13) I like Starfan13. You know I think who came up with Starfan13 was Ian Wasselik, he was a storyboarder during the first season. He just had her in that episode, you know with the locker? It's like "I filled my locker with pictures of you!" and I liked it, you know, so we kept using her.

Q- Did Star dip down in Storm the Castle? A- Yes. She did dip down, like a precursor to dip down, she was definitely like channeling, you know?

Q- Would you do a crossover? A- You know, I really want say I know... I know Alex Hirsch, I know Justin Royland, and I was like "I want-" 'cause they all go into dimensions, and I was like could we place an item, and they kind of did, and then I- didn't get to do it. It's just that's hard to coordinate that stuff, but... like if it were like a real crossover? I feel like it could be... maybe Gravity Falls, maybe...? (someone says "Mabel and Star would be really good friends") I think so. Yes, they are very- very positive people. (someone says "Why not Rick and Morty?") I do like Rick & Morty too, although I feel like Star and Marco would get in trouble, it'd be really bad for them to hang out with Rick and Morty.

Q- What happened to the monsters who were in the castle when it exploded [in Storm the Castle]? A- I think they might be dead. Maybe not all of them, some of them probably got out, but I think some of them are dead.

Q- What do you plan to do after the end of the series? A- After the end of Star? I don't know! I hope the series can go for a long time, you know? But you never know... So after Star I'll maybe just do another show, eventually, maybe take a break. But uh- 'cause it takes so long, you know? I've been on Star for maybe four years already, so...

Q- Is the show classic animation, or does it use puppets? A- Ok so it's like a bunch of things- we had some troubles with- oh shi- [Daron realizes that she was drawing, while signing for the fans, heart cheeks on Marco, interrupts herself and doesn't continue with the answer later]

Q- Do you think Disney is going to make a Princess Marco action figure? A- I wish they'd do toys! Everybody should keep bothering them to do the toys... but I... yeah, princess Marco, he's- he's fun

Q- Is there any episode or character you don't like? A- Oh! I- I don't know, you know it's funny 'cause there are certain episodes you are just "Oh this is terrible" and then it goes on TV and people like it, you know? Or some people like part of it, and it makes me feel better, I think people connect with different parts of the show. First season was a little rough, you know? 'Cause you are figuring stuff, but... I mean, I could say- I don't know, I don't wanna diss any of them, 'cause everybody works hard on them you know. I can tell you some of my favorites, first season definitely I loved Blood Moon Ball, Mewberty, Storm the Castle... Into the Wand is very nice- I really loved Ludo in the Wild, I was really excited.

Q- Did you design the tapestries in Into the Wand? A- No, they were actually- so the storyboarder who did that, Jushtin (Lee), he had those in the storyboards and they were really cool, and then our painters and layout people followed up on them and made them really awesome. And uh, our characters have designers too, you know, fleshed out from the board, but Jushtin originally came up with a lot of those.

Q- How was working with Patrick Stump? A- Oh my god, that was really cool. That was one of my favorite episodes too. That was cool, that was like so... our casting- we have like a casting person it was her idea to hire Patrick, and like oh man, it was awesome, and he was so nice. And each time someone has to sing in the show- something about singing just gets to you, you know? Like when Adam sang in Friendenemies, our supervising producer Dominic Bisignano tried it.

Q- Will we get more songs in the future? A- I- yeah, I think so. Songs... well yeah, there are some songs. God, they're like so all over the show, that I'm trying to remember like where- where they are.

Q- Are they going to be more special guests in the future? A- I- probably, I can't tell you that. That's one of those things like Disney castings, you know they want like to "get the story".

Q- Are we going to see Star in her mewberty form? A- Maybeee.

Q- Will we see new villains? A- I can't give spoilers guys!

Q- Did you design all the characters on the show? A- Uh- well I designed Star and Marco, and I have the ideas, like a rough sketch. You know what's awesome? Like, running a show is like- I have like Becky Cheyenne Stephanie- I have like characters designers who are really good, so I can just do some crappy thing and give it to them and it's like "woooa" it's like amazing, and that's really fun. Like I remember that with Hekapoo, Becky designed her, and I was like "Ok she gotta be like this kinda firey elf thing" and Becky did like this whole page full of things and I was like "That one!" and that's exactly what she is. And that's very lucky for me. But like- like with Tom, for instance, I didn't design him, I think it was Cheyenne? Someone asked me to draw Tom earlier and I was like "Uuh no sorry!" 'cause I don't know him as well, you know? But Star and Marco, I designed them.

Q- What inspired you, or how did you come up with Toffee? A- So Toffee kinda came from like- you know Ludo started as a villain, right? But he was not a scary villain, he's a goofy villain, which is fun too, but I wanted somebody who is a real nemesis, some really evil foe to fight. And I've never been really like- all the characters in the show, everyone has a perspective, you know. I really don't those kind of over the top villains who are just "Hahahah I'm evil I'm going to take over the world!". You know, it's not very interesting. So I always wanted the villain to have a perspective, and definitely with Toffee, I always thought of him more like a Magneto character. You know, like he is not wrong, but he's going about things the wrong way, you know? So I think it's more interesting. 'Cause I think you guys noticed, but we hinted to it- we begin to hint to it, but, you know the Mewmans are not maybe treating the monsters the best, and that's something Star is really learning about, and Toffee of course has his own perspective about it.

Q- Did you design all of Star dresses? A- Ok so the dresses were the funniest thing. It was like, you know- there are the executives, at Disney, you know, this guy, he was very concerned about the dresses. Like me and Cheyenne, I think we drew like a hundred dresses. And I wanted her to have different dresses, but he was like "We don't want puffy sleeves, we don't want it to be too girly" and I was like "Oh my gosh we drew so many dresses". But I think the one she ended up with are cool. And in the second season I got the puffy sleeves.

Q- What's going on with Eclipsa's arm in Crystal Clear? A- I can't tell you what's up with that- I can tell you her arm it's not missing, and it just looks like that. But uh- well, I want you to know that this is not a spoiler or anything, but, like, you know how Star was trying to get her foot out of there? So Eclipsa she just got her glove kinda in there

Q- Is Lekmet really dead? A- He's kinda gone to ashes, so... I love Lekmet, he's so sweet too. And poor Rhombulus, right? They are so- they are so close

Q- Are we going to know what was Lekmet's job? A- Yeah I think so, yeah.

Q- (talking about livechats) A- They are fun like, this was Disney's idea, these livechats- we got to have a good time. I wouldn’t say they’re, like, totally canon, just because it's... we try to like, ya know, make it in—we got like the outline.

Q- (talking about the Star and Marco Guide To Mastering Every Dimension) A- The book was actually written- season 2, it was written- it was supposed to come out after the first fourteen. So it's a little bit after the first fourteen and before the ones that aired in February, you know? So it's not quite... to the ending, you know?

Q- In Running With Scissors was actually there something between Hekapoo and Marco? A- I don't know, Marco went a long time- on his own...

Q- (talking about Marco being mentally 30) A- You know he's always been an old soul, I feel like, and I think that, uh, just, he's an old soul, still. But he has his memories.

Q- At the end of the season we see Star's room disappearing from the Diaz's house. I was wondering what happened to Toffee's finger- A- I can't tell you that!

Q- In Miss Heinous' metallurgy book there were colors for the many dimensions, and Earth was color green, which was also the color of the wand. Is there a connection or- A- I can't tell you!

Q- What is Starfan13 going to do now without Star? A- I don't know-

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #star vs evil #star butterfly #marco diaz #daron nefcy

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