Charlie the Unicorn

Charlie the Unicorn is a 2005 Flash animated comedy short film and viral video created by Jason Steele of independent film company FilmCow in Orlando, Florida. The short follows Charlie, a lethargic unicorn, who is taken by two other unicorns on an adventure to the mythical "Candy Mountain." However, as it turns out, the journey is a trap, and Charlie gets hoodwinked by the other unicorns.

Charlie the Unicorn
Directed byJason Steele
Produced byJason Steele
Written byJason Steele
StarringJason Steele
Music byJason Steele
Edited byJason Steele
Production
company
FilmCow
Distributed byFilmCow
Release date
November 26, 2005 (2005-11-26)
(Newgrounds)
January 2006 (2006-01)
(FilmCow)
April 30, 2006 (2006-04-30)
(YouTube; original)[1]
January 10, 2008 (2008-01-10)
(YouTube; official)[2]
Running time
4 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Steele originally created the video as a birthday present for his mother; the video was partially credited to her and was released by her under the username "TypeQueen" on Newgrounds, where it rapidly gained popularity. The video was later uploaded onto YouTube by Geoff Swanson, where it gained large viewership and continued to increase in popularity, leading to a series of sequels and spinoffs.

The video was a viral hit, accumulating 67 million views and gaining worldwide praise. A merchandising line was later produced, as well as three sequels and a parody series titled charlie teh unicron [sic]. The first three episodes in the series were released to DVD in 2009 as part of The FilmCow Master Collection.

Plot

In a quiet meadow, Charlie, a unicorn, is resting, before he is awakened by two other unicorns. As Charlie awakes from his slumber, the other two unicorns inform him that they have found a map to the mythical "Candy Mountain," and that he must come with them on their journey. Charlie initially refuses and goes back to sleep. The blue unicorn begins to jump on Charlie, insistent that he should come, and both begin to pester him with details of the mountain, causing him to begrudgingly give in to their demands. The trio begins their journey in a forest, where the two lead Charlie to a Liopleurodon; the two unicorns converse with the Liopleurodon, who supposedly guides them on their quest with a simple roar. The trio then crosses a bridge, much to the delight of the pink and blue unicorns, who repeatedly tell him that they are on a bridge.

When the trio arrives at Candy Mountain, the letters of the CANDY sign come to life and the "Y" sings a song, closely resembling the tune of Klarinettenmuckl-Jodler,[3] (also known as The Clarinet Polka) welcoming Charlie to the mountain and imploring Charlie to go into the cave. After the letters explode, Charlie reluctantly goes into the cave. The other unicorns say goodbye as Charlie is locked inside and knocked out by an unknown assailant. When he awakens in his original spot, he realizes that they have taken one of his kidneys. The video then immediately ends with the credits.

Characters
  • Jason Steele plays Charlie the Unicorn, a grouchy lethargic unicorn who is badgered by his two unicorn companions to travel with them to the mythical Candy Mountain.[4] Charlie speaks with a North Eastern American accent. He acts cynical throughout the trip and fails to believe that such a place could be real.[5] To his surprise, the Candy Mountain turns out to actually exist.[4]
  • Steele also plays two gender-ambiguous blue and pink unicorns, named Lolz and Roffle, though their names are never mentioned and only came to light when the original script was uploaded on his website.[6] They convince Charlie to travel with them to the mythical Candy Mountain.[5] Throughout the video, the two lead him into several nonsensical situations, including receiving directions from a "magical" Liopleurodon and crossing a "magical bridge of hope and wonder".[7] By the end of the video, the trio reach Candy Mountain, where the two and the Candy Mountain marquee letters convince Charlie to enter the mountain cave.[4] Creator Jason Steele has revealed very little about the two in the following Charlie the Unicorn videos for humorous value, most notably their genders and, until March 2016,[8] their names;[9] he claims to believe that his characters are "somewhat scary"[10] and "more interesting"[11] when a small amount of information is revealed about them.
  • In his first musical role in the Charlie the Unicorn series, Steele performs the singing voice of the Letter "Y",[9] an anthropomorphic letter who resides alongside letters "C", "A", "N", and "D" on the Candy Mountain marquee. He performs the musical number "The Candy Mountain Cave", accompanied by the other letters.
  • An unintelligible Liopleurodon (/ˌleɪəˈplʊərədɒn/ in the video as opposed to /ˌlaɪoʊˈplʊərədɒn/)[9] character billed as the Magical Liopleurodon was also featured in the video.[7][12] The character (presumably) communicates in his species' natural call, and is called upon by the blue and pink unicorns to guide them to Candy Mountain.[13]

Production

Independent animator Jason Steele initially conceived Charlie the Unicorn in 2005 as a flash animation test for his mother, who enjoyed unicorn-related conversation.[9] Steele first imagined the video's plotline when he was running around his house, chanting "La la la!" repeatedly, then quickly envisioned the majority of the plotline shortly thereafter; according to Steele, the video's conception happened "all at once; there was no editing."[9] The video is primarily structured around surrealist humor[13] and dark humor. Steele claims that the former was inspired by musician Logan Whitehurst, who frequently communicated with Steele via e-mail and composed the theme song for his 2003 computer-animated short film Secret Agent Bob;[14] he describes the latter as "contrast[ing] to how bright and cheerful" the video's atmosphere is.[15]

Steele drew Charlie the Unicorn using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash, and animated it in After Effects and edited in Final Cut Pro.[11] The audio was recorded using Amadeus Pro, and the music was recorded with Logic Pro.[11] The video also contains a musical number titled "The Candy Mountain Cave", featured during the sequence where Charlie refuses to enter the Candy Mountain Candy Cave, sung by the mountain's marquee letter "Y", who is backed by his partners "C", "A", "N", and "D". Although the blue and pink unicorns were originally chosen to sing the song, Steele was unable to use their voices to sing at a rapid pace, and resorted to using the Letter "Y" instead.[9]

Reception
"Charlie the Unicorn proves that something doesn't have to make any sense at all to earn a cultlike following. The animated adventure centers on a group of unicorns venturing to Candy Mountain — "the land of sweets and joy, and joyness" — through the guide of a liopleurodon. Created by animator Jason Steele, the pilot episode gained 46 million views, sparking a series of follow-up adventures."

Time magazine.[13]

Charlie the Unicorn has become increasingly popular since its inception. Following its posting on Newgrounds in 2005, Geoff Swanson of YouTube posted a copy of the video on the website in 2006, where it rapidly gained popularity.[9][16] It reached a total of approximately 8 million views internetwide in 2007.[17] The video climbed to forty-six million views in March 2010.[13][18] It currently has 68 million views on Geoff Swanson's YouTube upload, and 35 million views on FilmCow's official YouTube upload.

Online magazine Salon described the video as "The unlikely adventure of a crotchety unicorn" and stated "We often feel like Charlie the Unicorn. Annoying, brightly colored colleagues poke at us with their curly horns as we snooze at our desk, promising far-off, sugar-coated delights. Do we muster the energy to follow them, hoping some sweet payoff will break the unbearable bleakness of our daily existence? Can they be trusted?"[19] The series has also attracted a number of celebrities, including British television personality Alex Zane, who has openly considered himself a fan of Charlie the Unicorn,[4] and entertainers Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn.[20] Brian Hamlin of The Hollywood Reporter considered the video to be "incredibly dumb and annoying" yet "really funny and weird too full of unicorn joyness and music."[21] In 2009, Time named Charlie the Unicorn number 49 in their list of "YouTube's 50 Best Videos", stating "Charlie the Unicorn proves that something doesn't have to make any sense at all to earn a cultlike following."[13]

Merchandising lines produced by a partnership consisting of FilmCow and retailer CafePress as well as Hot Topic have been launched in response to the video's popularity; the merchandise features various quotes from the video and generally features the pink and blue unicorns, although Charlie appears occasionally, and is sold in several forms including t-shirts, pins, coffee mugs, and bandannas.[22][23]

Sequels, spinoffs, and parodies

Five sequels have been released: Charlie the Unicorn 2 (2008), Charlie the Unicorn 3 (2009), Charlie the Unicorn 4 (2012), Charlie the Unicorn: The Grand Finale (Part One) (2019), and Charlie the Unicorn: The Grand Finale (Part Two) (2020). On February 23, 2016, Film Cow released a video called "Charlie the Unicorn: The Grand Finale Kickstarter" in which it was announced that there was a thirty minute finale planned. On February 24, it was announced in a live stream of Charlie the Unicorn that, if enough money for the finale was raised, Aubrey Plaza would be hired to voice all of the characters. Steele released the first part of the "Grand Finale" on YouTube on October 10, 2019, expecting to follow it up with five more parts. The second part was released on June 15, 2020.

The cast of Charlie the Unicorn also appeared on May 23, 2008, in the music video for Weezer's single "Pork and Beans". The music video was directed by Mathew Cullen of the video production company Motion Theory[24] and features many internet phenomena, including Charlie and the blue and pink unicorns.[25][26][27] The character of Charlie first appears in a sequence parodying the G.I. Joe public service announcements starring animated versions of the band as children, where the character Gung-Ho of the G.I. Joe franchise appears as their mentor and notably has a tattoo of Charlie on his chest.[25] All three unicorns appear at the end alongside the band and various other phenomena.[25]

On November 22, 2008, as a feature of the YouTube Live streamed event, the cast of Charlie the Unicorn were featured in a short film directed by creator Jason Steele featuring YouTube Live colliding with real life, causing several various memes to come to life, namely Rick Astley making a comeback and the world's weather conditions being altered in favor of raining chocolate.[28] The short sequence was promoted with a forty-three-second video depicting Charlie and the two unicorns attempting to defuse a bomb before being attacked by a large group of seagulls; the short had no connection whatsoever to the video it was promoting other than advertising purposes.[29]

On March 1, 2009, creator Jason Steele released a video to accompany Hot Topic's Charlie the Unicorn merchandising line titled Charlie the Unicorn and the Tomb of Horrors; the video follows Charlie and the two unicorns scaling an ancient chamber inhabited by "The Weasel," a shamanist weasel who has attempted to call upon forces of evil that laid waste to the world ten thousand years prior.[30]

The video "Charlie the Unicorn at Playlist Live" was released on the 28th of March, 2013.

Steele also produced a parody series consisting of four shorts and titled "Charlie teh Unicron". "Charlie teh Unicron" is based around "what the Charlie the Unicorn series would be like if it was written by random internet people".[31] Another parody, "Charlie the Yannicorn" was made in 2013.[32] That same year, during the Detective Heart of America: The Final Freedom Kickstarter, another parody "Charlie the Unitective Heart of America" was released, featuring Heart of America as Charlie. Although not released on FilmCow's main channel, it can be found on a playlist.[33]

Multiple livestreams featuring Charlie answering questions, telling jokes, and just generally talking to the viewers were conducted on the FilmCow YouTube channel as part of a promotion for the finale Kickstarter in early 2016. As of December 2017, only "Charlie the Unicorn's LIVE Oscars Spectacular!" - a stream which ran at the same time as the 88th Academy Awards - has been made publicly available (though unlisted) since the original streams were conducted.[34]

A game titled "Charlie the Unicorn Dating Simulator" and a storybook titled "Charlie the Unicorn: Lost in Dream Space" were released by Steele in 2016. According to Steele, the storybook is "an illustrated side-adventure that takes place a little while after the end of Charlie the Unicorn 2".[35]

References
  1. Charlie The Unicorn. 30 April 2006 – via YouTube.
  2. Charlie the Unicorn. 10 January 2008 – via YouTube.
  3. "Klarinettenmuckl-Jodler - Franzl Lang".
  4. Potton, Ed (2009-04-18). "Alex Zane on his favourite things". The Sunday Times. News International. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  5. Batanchiev, Tula (2008-10-19). "Editor's Column: I'm a believer". The Heights. Boston College. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  6. Steele, Jason. "Charlie the Unicorn script" (PDF). FilmCow. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  7. Nilsson, Ryan (2009-09-07). "Bruins have fun on the run: Team focused on climbing mountain". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  8. Steele, Jason. "Fathomas (Jason Steele) comments on Reddit". Reddit. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  9. Steele, Jason (2009). Commentary for Charlie the Unicorn, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  10. Charlie the Unicorn Adult Swim Pitch, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. 2009. Kunaki.
  11. Steele, Jason. "FAQ - FilmCow :: Videos and Animations". FilmCow.com. FilmCow. Archived from the original on 2010-08-28. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  12. Armorer, Nakeisha (December 2007). "An online revolution". The Blue Print. Paul J. Hagerty High School. 3 (2): 12.
  13. Time Staff (2009-03-29). "Charlie the Unicorn - YouTube's 50 Best Videos". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  14. Newitz, Annalee (2000-01-06). "Logan Whitehurst: The John Keats of Nerdcore". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  15. Steele, Jason (2009). Commentary for Charlie the Unicorn 2, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  16. Parr, Ben (2009-05-25). "Top 20 YouTube and Video Memes of All Time". Mashable. Mashable.com. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  17. Steele, Jason (2007-01-15). "Charlie the Unicorn: Nearly 8 million views internet-wide?". Spatula Madness Production Blog. FilmCow. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  18. Virginian-Pilot Staff (2009-04-21). "Cultural touchstones courtesy of YouTube". The Virginian-Pilot. Landmark Media Enterprises. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  19. K.J. (2006-05-23). "Charlie the Unicorn: Candy Mountain". Salon. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  20. Steele, Jason (2009-04-22). "Llamas with Hats on AOTS". The FilmCow Blog. FilmCow. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  21. Hamlin, Brian (2009-11-15). "A cautionary tale of correspondents and unicorns". The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  22. Youngstrom, Kimberly (2009-06-05). "Viral Video Phenomenon Charlie the Unicorn a Real-World T-Shirt Success - A CafePress Cultural BarometerTM Report". Business Wire. Reuters. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  23. Steele, Jason (2008-03-27). "This post is for you. No, you. Yes... yoooouuuu". Spatula Madness Production Blog. FilmCow. Archived from the original on 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  24. Anitai, Tamar (2008-05-30). "The Man Behind the Memes: An Exclusive Interview With Weezer 'Pork and Beans' Video Director Mathew Cullen". MTV Buzzworthy. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  25. Sarno, David (2008-05-30). "Mathew Cullen, director of Weezer's 'Pork and Beans,' shares some secrets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  26. Carlson, Nicholas (2008-05-24). "Weezer understands how to work YouTube: allude to these 24 viral videos". Valleywag. Archived from the original on 2008-05-25. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  27. Staff Writers (2008-05-28). "Spot the memes in Weezer's Pork and Beans". News Limited. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  28. Steele, Jason (2009). Commentary for YouTube Live "Charlie the Unicorn" Video, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  29. Steele, Jason (2009). Commentary for YouTube Live "Charlie the Unicorn Promo", in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  30. Steele, Jason (2009-03-01). "Charlie video now up on HotTopic.com". The FilmCow Blog. FilmCow. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  31. charlie teh unicron.
  32. Charlie the Yannicorn. 17 February 2013 – via YouTube.
  33. Charlie the Unitective Heart of America. 30 November 2013 – via YouTube.
  34. Charlie the Unicorn's LIVE Oscars Spectacular!.
  35. Steele, Jason (2016-02-23). "Charlie the Unicorn: The Grand Finale". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
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