News

For perhaps the most active period in its history, Cracked Egg Studios was intertwined with an entity known to many as "the club." In fact, it was that club's newsletter that was first to report on studio activity decades ago. The studio drew many actors and crew from club membership, and in turn the club provided screenings and advertising for a number of productions, so much so that it was once criticized as existing "just to sell [the studio's] DVDs." But the club was actually a lot more than that, and it had a rich history from its inception into its "breakdown."

Towards the end of 2005, Cracked Egg Studios agreed to film a documentary about the club. This film covered a period as far back as 13 years prior, a time the documentary and its makers considered "ancient" and "prehistoric." Though it was not the first version, it was released in the format most people know, now 17 years ago on June 10, 2006, as one of the first releases ever on the studio's then-fledgling web site. The documentary was removed when the web site relaunched in 2022 after its COVID hiatus, due to licensing issues.

Today, we finally present to you our remaster of that Free United Club of Kids documentary. This remaster was particularly challenging, because some of the footage had been recorded over and lost permanently only months after the original was filmed, and because other portions of the footage had begun deteriorating.

This remaster features increased resolution from its native 480i and a wider color gamut. Some artifacts remain, such as staircasing along extremely high contrast borders, but the original version's problem of interlace fields being baked into the visuals is completely resolved. The dialogue track has been rebalanced, and the previous score replaced with new music that we tried to make as similar to the original as possible. Licensing issues have been resolved not only in the score, but also in stock photos, some artwork, and certain other historical photos. Some member photos were changed, and some members who previously had no photo have been added. An ending credits sequence has been added, and several people who were uncredited in the original have been credited. Also, a license plate was removed.

Since the final episode of The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita was delayed in late December, we wanted to provide a progress update and reassure everyone that the project has not been shelved.

Roughly 48 hours before the intended release, technical issues had prevented the editor and VFX artist from accessing the last 25% of the raw animation data. After the holidays passed and clear heads could better evaluate at the situation, we accepted that the data was lost and that that portion of the episode would need to be completely reanimated. At the same time, we also decided to send a number of scenes for "reshoots," additional second unit animation, and since we were already past the deadline, why not go all out on VFX to really polish things even more.

Now we're about a month out from those decisions and can report we are about 50% through that additional work. Ironically, on January 30, the problematic files decided to uncorrupt themselves; however, the new plan proceeds regardless to ensure the final product is the best that it can be.

After the debacle before release in December, we are hesitant to set a new release date at this time. But rest assured that work on the episode continues tirelessly, daily, and it will be published as soon as it's ready. We thank the fans and all the cast and crew for their support and their patience.

Happy New Year! As promised, here's a little Christmas nugget circa 1998 or 1999, featuring Teddy Phillips and his sixth grade teacher, who manages to pull a Teddy on Teddy in this educational comic (graphic violence / parental discretion advised). It has been digitally restored and colorized for this web release.

Merry Christmas from the staff at Cracked Egg Studios! We hope everyone is having a wonderful and memorable holiday.

Unfortunately after scheduling conflicts had already contributed to an already tight post-production schedule, the emergence of technical difficulties over the weekend brought it to a halt. Sadly these issues cannot be resolved while tech support is now on holiday, so the release of The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita's final episode that was expected today is delayed. We intend to release it as soon as the issues are resolved and post-production can be completed, which we hope will be before the new year.

We know the fans were awaiting this episode with high anticipation, and we apologize that the wait will be just a little bit longer. We will release some more Christmas content throughout the week to tide everyone over.

When The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita was cancelled in January 2002 before the less than half-written season finale could be completed, fans were left to wonder what was going to happen to Bongo, Nakita, and their bundle of joy Salvador.

Now, in 2022, for the first time ever, the saga will be completed. Join us December 26, as we celebrate the holidays with the Oldhaus/Poops household and all your other series favorites in what every other Christmas special merely aspires to be!

In the last episode of The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita that aired in the original series run, Nakita reminisces about her days running an unused car dealership.

After the fourth episode, the showrunner Nick Phillips seemed to suffer from writer's block. Thus he falls back on what he at the time considered foolproof comedy: car accidents.

The fifth episode "These Things Happen" begins with a clip show of earlier moments in the season, and later scenes borrow heavily from situations already presented earlier, with some child abuse thrown in. It injects a full scene from another series Bongomon, implying that The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita is set in the same universe. And it concludes with another sample 3D Movie Maker project called "Sprog: The Film Star."

"These Things Happen" suffered from reverting from the narrative style of more recent episodes to the more experimental approach of the early season. That, combined with extended memory sequences that were easily confused with present day sequences, led to a story that was difficult to follow and for audiences to engage with. Nick Phillips started writing a final episode, but the original series run was cancelled before it could be completed.

A notable moment in this episode occurs when it pokes fun at an established filmmaking element: the scene transition. In one scene, the driver of a vehicle becomes aware of a transition in progress, causing them to crash.

For the re-release, some small changes have been made to the episode to improve audio audibility, text legibility, and to correct timing issues. In addition, color saturation in memory sequences has been reduced to make the story easier for audiences to follow. After consultation with Nick Phillips, the "Sprog" sequence has been dramatically cut down to improve pacing and narrative throughline. The original ending credits sequence has been replaced to be consistent with earlier remastered episodes.

Nakita has been a bit strict with the students at her preschool, and rumor has it that the school board has taken notice.

Nick Phillips continued The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita with "Crisis" in fall 2001, and explores the question that's been on everyone's minds since episode 1: Will Bongo and Nakita ever get together?!

"Crisis" features more adult themes than previous installments, covering such topics as unemployment and language barriers. In the latter half, called "The Trip to Mexico," Bongo discovers he can't do anything on his vacation because he doesn't know Spanish. Nick Phillips wrote and voiced this segment while he was studying Spanish in his free time, using it to practice and improve his own ability in the language.

In the episode, Bongo gets a gig as an actor on a movie called "Venus 31." The entire Venus 31 sequence is copied from a sample project that was provided with the 3D Movie Maker program.

The episode includes a commercial break, which advertises the T.J.'s Cracked Egg Studios movie Skelly, a remake of Skelly 2, from which the episode also includes a reenacted scene during its end credits. Interestingly, "Crisis" credits cast and crew involved with the making of the Skelly clip even though it was played as a commercial.

Some small changes have been made to the episode to improve audio audibility, text legibility, and to correct timing issues. The original ending credits sequence has been replaced to be consistent with earlier remastered episodes and to spare viewers the agony of sitting through the extremely slowly rolling original credits.

Thirty years ago today, October 30, 1992, Teddy Phillips was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, when he gave a live performance to patients and staff, of a story-book animation production he called Th (pronounced ð, as in "this").

Th was considered to be completely lost and faded into myth. For many years, it was a subject of much debate among studio archivists and fans who were not there to see it, over its place in studio history. But beginning in 2008, some behind-the-scenes photographs were discovered. And in 2022, additional photographic evidence and analysis led to Th reclaiming its title as Teddy's first movie.

Recent analysis gave archivists a high degree of confidence that photographs of all cels had been found, enabling Cracked Egg Studios to finally release this video adaptation of Th for its 30th anniversary.

From a cultural perspective, Th is also notable for being shot in portrait mode 15 years before cell phone video made it popular to do so.

After the Earth exploded, Nakita survived. Now she goes in search of air.

In protest of The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" segments not being considered canon in their series, the third episode of The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita continues where "Halloween I" left off.

"Halloween II" was made in 2001, almost a full year after "Halloween I," but continues just moments after the end of "Nakita's Pocket Pita," answering the question of how a sitcom would even continue after the world explodes. It is the last episode to feature Ted Phillips as a writer.

"Halloween II" continues its homage to The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, and takes a moment to criticize some horror copouts such as "it was all a dream." Prescient in its exploration of the diverse-casting debate almost 2 decades before it began in earnest, this episode features the most diverse cast compared to prior episodes, notably casting a seven-year-old girl to play a fifty-year-old man. And viewer beware: "Halloween II" even tries its hand at parodying Bongomon by attempting to take long distance travel without jump cuts to a new extreme (analysis pending).

The episode concludes with a "Nakita Quickie," which like previous "Bongo Quickies" is not an original work; it was copied from a sample project that was included with the 3D Movie Maker program.

Some small changes have been made to the episode to improve audio audibility, text legibility, and to correct timing issues. Additional rotoscoping was performed to enhance believability of some scenes. The original ending credits sequence has been replaced with one that is more readable, but still uses the out-takes from the original.

Nakita has opened an unused car dealership, and the fief is at it again!

While the second episode of The Adventures of Bongo and Nakita seems to start off like a normal day like any other in Chinatown, we can't forget that the episode's title is "Halloween I."

The first two segments, "Car Crash" and "Ghost" were originally made in 1998 using 3D Movie Maker trial version and remade in fall 2000 with some scenes added. The third segment "Nakita's Pocket Pita," a name Ted Phillips insisted upon, was created specially for the 2000 release, although as a parody of previous installments and trial version movies, as it followed the 1998 shorts' 3D Movie Maker trial version limitation regarding character models to an extreme.

"Halloween I" pays homage to The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, by similarly using a creepy font for credit sequences, as well as giving most cast and crew horror-themed pseudonyms.

The episode is also notable for introducing the iconic song "Cars for Sale," and for including the only extant footage of the 1999 remake of 1998's Skelly 2, which was called simply Skelly.

Some small changes have been made to the episode to improve audio audibility and text legibility and to correct timing issues. The original credits sequence has been replaced with one that is more readable, and the final minute or so of the episode has been intercut with it to improve pacing.