“Happy Tree Friends” creator, Kenn Navarro, has a new(ish) two-part web series called “D_Void,” and this time it’s set in space.
Way back in 1999 when Adobe Flash was a thing, a little controversial animated short called “Happy Tree Friends” premiered on the internet and a dedicated fandom was born.
Created by Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo, and Kenn Navarro for MondoMedia, “Happy Tree Friends” featured cutesy anthropomorphic woodland creatures that fell victim — perhaps with a nod to “Final Destination” — to freak accidents in horribly gruesome ways.
The series and its viscera have been compared to that of the show-within-a-show “Itchy and Scratchy” from “The Simpsons.” However “Happy Tree Friends” dials up the gore to max levels, including impalings, decapitations, disembowelments and so much more.
It quickly became a cult hit among the pop culture phenom with pricey episode DVDs, merchandise frequently found on the shelves of newly defunct Fry’s Electronics, and Comic-Con panels. One wonders why Funko hasn’t grabbed ahold of a license for nostalgia’s sake.
The show became a mainstay on G4’s Barbed Wire Biscuit. MTV’s European channel put it in their lineup with great success. Almost 20 years later, in 2016, “Happy Tree Friends” released its last series of fresh bundled episodes.
But the essence of the series lives on because original creator Navarro is back with all-new shorts and all-new characters. Although not a part of the HTF universe, D_Void instead stars a cat, a dog, and a bird (thus far) as fated astronaut maintenance workers in space.
The animated style has changed. No longer are our “victims” drawn in vibrant colors with overly cartoonish, bulbous-eyed, kawaii-type personas, the animals in D_Void are a bit more blocky and darkly shaded (the blood is still the same).
Keeping with the “freak accident” theme, this new show basically retains the bloody spirit of its predecessor albeit a little less graphic. There are only a few episodes so far, the last being released almost a year ago.
There’s no word on further episodes, but we are liking the direction this new offering is going.
Header image: “Happy Tree Friends” — MondoMedia