The Detour on TELETOON

Hello Friends,

The past couple of weeks have been a little nuts. I'm still getting settled in over at MySpace. We're nearly 900 members, and climbing steadily. It's been really cool interacting with all of you. I'll do my best to reply to your comments and emails. It just might take a while, so bear with me. Oh yeah, and I'll be adding some pretty sweet goodies to the site over the next couple weeks, so keep dropping by to check out all the wicked updated goodness.

And now, as promised, here's another batch of answers to all your questions:

Q: "Is this really Pete Williams?"

A: If you mean Pete "El Duro" Williams the Ultimate Fighter or Pete Williams the NBC News correspondent, then no. But if you mean Pete Williams the Creator of UnderGrads (and live-action version of Nitz Walsh), then yes. And if blogging here isn't proof enough for you, I have a closet full of green sweater vests to back me up.

Q: "How long have you been animating/illustrating?"

A: Well, I've been drawing ever since my motor skills would allow. An interest in animation was quick to follow. In grade school, I remember creating epic stick figure battles in the corners of my text books. Then on my 12th birthday, my parents bought me a used Super 8 camera, light box, and butt-load of celluloid. After that, it was game over. I was hooked. And all hope of a social life went right out the window.

Q: "In your interview, you said you're from New York. On your profile, it says Canada. What's the deal?"

A: Born and raised in New York, but currently living in Toronto, ON.

Q: "How many episodes were just animated versions of the "I've finished a bottle of tequila, and 2 pints after that," stories or were they more just remembering the crap one went through during college?

A: As much as it would be fun to say that we wrote these episodes drunk…in all honesty, I wasn't even drinking yet. Much like Nitz, I was religiously against all forms of alcoholic debauchery. An annoying hang-up that I have since shed, with a little help from Josh "Bobby Whiskey" Cagan and those loveable, beer guzzlin' Canucks.

Q: "I believe the most important question that hasn't been asked. Did the "An MTV cartoon character is based on me and my exploits" work as a tool for seduction?"

A: It worked like a charm on this one girl. She ended up marrying me.

Q: "Your profile says you're married…was it to anyone on the show?"

A: I married someone who worked on the show.

Q: "How have your friends reacted to the show? Has it gotten you any flack or attention?"

A: Actually, you can read all about their reactions in an earlier post…"UNDERGRADS: EXPOSED!"

Q: "Did Cal wear sandals all the time in real life too?"

A: Sandals were definitely a consistent part of his "uniform". But in his defense, the guy did work part-time as a lifeguard...guy. (slurp)

Q: "When was Rocko's last name mentioned in the show?"

A: It's actually mentioned subliminally.

Q: "On the Undergrads.tv website, who does the voice of Rocko on the answering machine? Is it you, or is it the other guy who also did Rocko's voice?"

A: The answering machine is all me.

Q: "How long would it take to do lines for an entire episode? What's the most takes you had to do for one scene?"

A: Typically, it took one full (8+ hour) day to record all the characters for an entire episode. I'd record all my lines (Nitz, Cal, Rocko, Gimpy) in the morning, and the rest of the actors would come in to do their lines in the afternoon. The most takes I ever had to do for one scene? Well, I think the number may have sky-rocketed into the low teens for Nitz and Cal's brutal rendition of "Like A Virgin". Yeah…me no sing so good.

Q: "Are you doing any voice work these days?"

A: No. Anybody hiring?

Q: "Why did MTV can it after only 1 season?"

A: I imagine they cancelled it because it just didn't get the ratings. (And I imagine it didn't get the ratings because MTV barely promoted it, and ran us up against "The Simpsons". Brilliant!!!)

Q: "If you're able to do more seasons of Undergrads, will each season constitute one year? So, will there only be a possible three more seasons of Undergrads?"

A: Correct.

Q: "How much does a season of this show cost?"

A: How much you got?

Q: "Who has the music licensing for this show, Decode or MTV/Viacom?"

A: Actually, we had to create two versions of the soundtrack…one for MTV, and one for Decode. Reason being that MTV had its own licensing agreement with the record companies, giving them free reign over a wide selection of popular hits. On the Decode version of the show, we had to replace all the MTV tracks with less expensive stuff from indie bands. And in my opinion, the indie stuff worked better.

Q: "Was the music in ‘work study' supposed to sound similar to goodfellas, as to the fact there's a scene in the film where a main character is talking about how the money was at one point?"

A: Abso-friggin-lutely. Our composer on the show, Jono Grant, is a master of sound-alikes. If it had been any closer to that Goodfellas song, we probably would have been sued.

Q: "Throughout the show, there were tons of nods to Good Charlotte. Was that an honest love of the band or more in the whole, hopefully they'll help promote us type of thing?"

A: Sorry. Did you say something? I was staring longingly up at my poster of Benji and Joel. Actually, they were the only band who would talk to us. I became a fast fan. They're really a great bunch of guys.

Q: "So are you really a Blink 182 fan?"

A: I was at the time we wrote/produced the show. I even used one of their songs in the original 8-minute UG pilot (which I'll be posting online soon).

Q: "My friend said there was going to be an undergrads movie, what happened?"

A: That's news to me. Or is it?

Q: "Did the screaming scene in "Screw Week" draw any inspiration from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis." ?

A: Ralph W. Emerson? No. Josh A. Cagan? Yes.

Q: "Was there any significance to the building names? (Chilton Hall, McQueen Library, etc)"

A: Well, I know that Cagan named Chilton Hall after Alex Chilton, lead singer of the classic power pop group Big Star. I can't remember if McQueen had any significance.

Q: "More personal question, from someone currently attending NYU: Which dorm(s) did you live in? I'm assuming you were a film & TV major, and if so, can you name any of the film & TV professors you had? I'm curious to see if we shared any."

A: I lived in Rubin Residence Hall for my entire 1.5 years stay at NYU. But Jene Yeo (Jesse) and some of my other friends lived at Carlyle Court, so I spent a lot of time over there. And here are the few teachers I can remember: John Gurrin (Sound/Image), Jim Brown (Sight & Sound Video), and Sue Perotto (Intro to Animation).

Q: "I'm still searching for that DVD... I wonder where they sell it?" and
Q: "Where's a good site to buy the Undergrads DVD?"

A: Search no longer! Rumor has it, it's available at your local Wal-Mart (although I hear they don't stock many copies). But rest assured, the DVD is definitely available at both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

Q: "Why is the dvd censored?"

A: Unfortunately, the cartoons were built censored. No un-blurred or un-bleeped versions exist. That aside, did you really want to see Cal's junk?

Q: "When is the show on?"

A: God bless Teletoon. They're actually re-airing Season 1 Monday thru Thursday at 11:30pm. Of course, this does absolutely nothing for our American fans…which is precisely why we'll all be flooding Cartoon Network with emails! Won't we?

And in case anybody missed it, here's a link to "How You Can Help" get UG a second season.

Thanks again to everyone for doing their part. Keep spreadin' the word!

If you feel the need to express yourself, send it here. We may not feel the same way about expressing ourselves to you.