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Pups ‘n’ BIG - 2007

Pups and BIG is conceived as a children's animated television show aimed at 6-12 year olds.

“When Pups becomes home to a megalomaniac giant flea called BIG his life changes forever. Now Pups is finding out just how much fun life can be when adventure rides with you...”

I created a bunch of artwork and wrote a ton of short comic pages then flew to Los Angeles and pitched it to Craig McCracken (Powderpuff Girls) at Cartoon Network as well as the people at Nickelodeon

I was so naive! But in hindsight it was a ballsy move. Of course nothing happened, the idea was underdeveloped and I didn’t work for them and THAT’S NOT HOW IT IS DONE! I didn’t know that until I undertook the expedition.

Anyway when I watch the animation in my head its funny and I think there is a lot of sweet humour in it as well as a lot of scope for slapstick and action.

But here it sits on the pile of ‘what-might-have-been!’

About pups and big:

Although at first Pups was worried about having a flea he quickly found out Big was great to have around. Together the two of them get into all kinds of adventures Pups would be far too timid to get involved in on his own.

Pups does all the things a normal kid does and a whole lot more besides thanks to Big, who loves to make a drama out of any situation. Despite his host's concerns Big usually gets Pups to play along with his nutty schemes, at least until it all goes wrong, which it normally does. But by working together the two friends always work out a way to save the day.

Their friendship is pretty unusual because, as you would expect, fleas aren’t the most welcome visitors in Dogtown. Pups tries to keep Big a secret from his parents who would be furious if they knew their son had a filthy flea living with him. But getting Pups into trouble doesn’t seem to occur to Big too much so Pups has to do a lot of covering up for his partners mischief. A few of Pups close friends know about Big but he generally tries to keep him a secret.

Big gets his name from his size – he’s really Big for a flea! This means that the famous strength and jumping skills of a regular flea are scaled up; Big can jump over a house and lift a fully loaded refrigerator. Big also has great powers of persuasion, if he whispers something into someone’s ear without them knowing they often think they have thought of it themselves and do it! This can come in very handy in a tight spot. It’s all these powers that he lends to Pups, which makes their friendship so special.

Pups name suits him too, he’s quite small for a dog his age and as a result not everyone takes him seriously and bullies tend to pick on him. However, since having Big around (to help him with his flea powers), Pups has surprised a lot of people with his daring and athleticism, though no one suspects its Big doing the work.

Big makes himself at home in Pups’ fur, within which he seems to be able to store huge amounts of stuff. If the pair ever get into trouble Big always seems to pull something from the depths of Pups’ hair to help them. We never see inside Big’s furry home so we can only wonder at just what goes on in there.

Pups is basically well behaved and the voice of reason and consideration but is easily swayed by his dinky pal. Big is the voice of mischief but will eventually take heed of Pups, for without him where would he be? Together they explore the consequences of being both good and bad.

As the pair confuse each other whilst trying to understand the world around them they manage to find their way into absurd and increasingly wild situations but between them and with a good dose of luck, they always manage to make it home in one piece.