An award-winning animated micro-short comedy web series following the exploits of an engaging and inventive skull and his oddball crew of benevolent pirates as they navigate their way through some unbelievable situations, this series is based on four original shorts from Seat of the Pants Film Lab. Yorick, the skull from "Hamlet", becomes disgruntled with the lack of opportunities for a prop skull at the Globe Theatre, so strikes off on his own, inventing some companions (and meeting others). Eventually he and his crew become Benevolent Pirates and embark on adventures covering virtually every trope in sci-fi and fantasy. (See "Yorick and the Anachronauts" )
New episodes have been coming out since October, 2018. Originally produced in stop motion, the series completely converted to 2D animation in Season 2.
You can watch the serialized adventures of Yorick and his companions (collectively known as "The Anachronauts") on their YouTube channel by clicking on the crew below!
There are also two compilation films based on some of Yorick's adventures (click on poster to be whisked away to Vimeo to watch the fun):
AND.... Yorick's tribute to the use of Rossini's music in classic cartoons (think Golden Age Warner Bros.)
Yorick and the Anachronauts
I find my short Anachronaut films and webseries really difficult to categorize, and as a result trying to find my way through the maze of film festivals and knowing who might "get" what I'm doing is tricky. My "Yorick" creations are a peek into a very personal and idiosyncratic world. Giving these short films and webseries episodes a broad definition like "fantasy" or "geek interest" is just that, too broad. So-called Geek Culture itself is an immensely vast universe of different interests and passions, bound together by fine wires of "in jokes" that may (or may not) include references from books, comics, gaming, tech, film, retro pop culture, science, etc., etc. See what I mean? It can seem "esoteric, arcane, obscure and abstruse" (to quote the Anachronaut Declaration of Purpose) to those not in that particular loop. "Yorick" is full of these types of references. So how on all of the billions and billions of planets am I supposed to nail down a category or a label for the Anachronaut world?
What, then, might you find in an Anachronaut short? I think it would be far easier to list what you would not find, and come about a definition by exclusion: you will not find anything to do with of-the-minute news or pop culture, mainstream music, celebrities (or those who wish they were), what's trending or viral, what passes for reality. The world of the Anachronauts has its own rules and code of conduct. It is a gentler, kinder and funnier world (despite the explosions, which are those "special film explosions" which don't ever seriously hurt anyone) far removed from the mainstream. It is a world of acceptance where differences don't matter as long as you're nice; a world where a talking skull and a construction crane can be family. That sounds pretty corny, but it's my world. Because, you see....I am Yorick, and Reality is overrated.
In an Anachronaut short or episode you might find: an erudite skull, robots, Shakespearean references, weird inventions, rewritten history, anthropomorphic rodents, pirates, automatons, alternate technologies, anachronisms (of course), art history, music (traditional and original, not pop), classic film references, magic (the art, not the game, and usually hand-in-hand with technical aspects), ghost ships, classic literature references, philosophy, brain power, twisted philology, the scientific and artistic processes, astronomy, vintage pop culture...and lots of tropes. All of this filtered through the unwritten (but strict) principles and ethics of this world.
And so you see my problem; how to categorize these films and find an audience? If anyone out there has any ideas, let me know; Yorick is listening.