Friday, July 10, 2009
And we're back...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
More questions answered ....

Q: How is the order of elimination decided? Is is scripted from the beginning? Or do you actually wait until writing each episode to decide?
Yes and No. Way back at the beginning of the season -- before any writing takes place, we have what's called a "Writer's Summit". The Story Editors, Producers and Directors get together over the course of a few weeks and talk about what we would like to see happen in the season. Story ideas are pitched in, and character plot-lines and story arcs are roughed out. We break down the whole season into how we think it should happen. This includes who will be eliminated in which episode. Then the writing begins. All of these scratched out ideas start to fall into place and the characters and stories start to take on a life of their own. But, the situations have a way of revealing themselves naturally -- and on more than one occasion, we have changed the order of elimination because a certain storyline had become too much fun to do away with.
As far as the final episode goes -- we have actually written and produced multiple endings of the show -- so that no-one but a select few people actually know who the REAL winner will be. They may know the final 3 -- or even the final 2 -- but they won't know for sure who wins until it airs on TV.
Q: When You're Producing Episodes For The Show Do You Animate Episodes First Or Record The Voice Actors First,And Do Any Of The Voice Actors Add Lib To The Original Script?
A: All of the voice work is done first. Most of the actors come into the studio here in Toronto -- but a couple of them do their recordings remotely from places like Vancouver and Los Angeles. They stick pretty much to the script and record the lines AS WRITTEN -- but guys like Scott McCord (Owen and Trent) have a tendency to drop the odd ad-lib in. For instance, when Owen eats the entire fake food buffet in season two it was scripted that he tells everyone he's fine -- and that he has a gut like a goat. Scott recorded that then at the last second blurted out-- "nope! call 911". That line made us all laugh so we kept it in. Often our board artists think of funny gags too that need additional lines -- season one's "Purple Gerbil Fishpants" was coined by board artist Ted Collyer when he storyboarded the sequence when Owen got stung by bees. Since these new lines are often written long after the recording session, the actor's have to be called back to do the line. Sometimes the actor isn't available to record the new line before the scenes have to be animated. When this happens we record what's known as "scratch". One of the editors, or Todd or I will record the lines ourselves (There's a reason why some people are voice actors and some people are not) and the animator will animate to our voice. Then later on, the actor will have to watch the scene and say the lines to match the animation.
Friday, June 19, 2009
A Note About Posting

- No swearing -- I won't publish anything I wouldn't want my own kids to see.
- No flaming -- If you wanna fight, meet at the bike racks at recess.
- No email addresses, phone numbers, personal info etc. -- I've read some great posts and ended up not publishing them because people have included their email address. You really don't want the folks who read this blog tracking you down do you?
- READ before you WRITE -- if your questions or comments have been submitted before by someone else again and again, chances are I'm not going to publish them again and again.
- No saying bad stuff about the show -- JUST FOOLIN' -- all comments are welcome.
Keep the comments rollin in. And if there are specific questions you have about how the show is made, fire away. ~M
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thanks For Watching!!
"Cartoon Network’s Total Drama Action Premieres as Most-Watched Program of the Day on All TV among Kids 6-11, Kids 9-14, All Boys
New Animated Reality Series Rockets Network to Its Best Thursday Night Prime Time Performance Year-to-Date"
Friday, June 12, 2009
RANDOM SCREEN GRABS
Thursday, June 11, 2009
PLACES EVERYONE!!
Today's the big launch of Total Drama Action on Cartoon Network down in the good ol' U.S. of A. I know most folks up here in Canada have watched the first 6 or 7 episodes already (over and over again) so it's good to know everyone'll soon be caught up. Here's a bit of production info for fans old and new:
Total Drama Action is animated in FLASH. The main character models are drawn from a number of angles with multiple hand positions, eye-blinks, and full mouth charts. (We've posted the character rotations before) These pieces are considered MDP (Master Design Pack) and the animation crew skillfully moves them around to make the actions that you see in the show. For the most part, the master designs cover all the the actions that the characters need to do. Sometimes though, the characters need to be in a position, or make an expression that the animator just can't recreate. For this, our posing department creates scene-specific drawings. Here are some samples of the custom posing done for the first episode of TDA
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
TALENT TIME
Hey Kids!
Here are a couple of youtube clips of folks playing the theme. We love seeing this stuff. Send more!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Nominated for a 2009 ACT award

Tuesday, May 05, 2009
EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Well some of your prayers have been answered. At long last the complete first season of Total Drama Island is being released on DVD. It comes out AUGUST 18th and you can preorder it now on AMAZON.com
I found out about it here.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Total Drama In The City
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
OPENING storyboard


QUESTIONS ANSWERED

- yes
- no
- yes
- yes
- no
- red
- yes
- sometimes
- never
- yes
I'll leave it at that.
In answer to some of your other questions ... season 3 is already in preproduction. And nope, we're not directing it. While we LOVE the TDI/TDA series, with other projects on the horizon for Todd and me we felt we couldn't commit to another full year on the show. And we sure wouldn't want to leave anyone in the lurch. Rest assured, the show is in good hands. Keith Oliver is taking the helm as director. He knows the show inside and out -- he's been on it as animation director since day 1 of season 1. He's not going to let any of you down.
As far as what's happening to the blog ... well this is our personal blog. It's not funded or maintained by any of the companies involved with making TDI/TDA. Todd and I have been doing this ourselves since the show first went into pre-production (with everyone's permission to show artwork and stuff of course). Because we're interested in these things ourselves, we wanted to show anyone who cared what goes on behind the scenes when making animated shows. What's cool is that soon it became a bit of a fan hangout (over 1.5 million views) where you all shared theories and and your thoughts on the episodes. We have to say -- that was an unexpected bonus.
So when the time comes that neither of us are working on TDI anymore, I imagine the blog will cease to be. We enjoy the instant feedback we get from all of you, and hope that when that day arrives we'll get the same dedication from fans on our next production.
toodles, Mark (Thorny) Thornton
Friday, February 06, 2009
That's All Folks!!! NOW WITH MUSIC!!!
Monday, January 26, 2009
SPOILERS????
Thursday, January 08, 2009
TDA Premieres today online! -- UPDATE
Hey everyone! (IN CANADA) -- Over on Teletoon.com the first episode of TDA is now online.
The big Television Premiere is this Sunday at 6:30pm -- but if you can't wait, you can watch it on the web. For those who can't see full episodes yet -- here's the opening titles. Be sure to click on high quality.
People are a bit upset about the Geo-Fencing I see. But due to broadcast regulations and stuff like that, the online episodes are only available to those with Canadian IP addresses. It goes both ways folks -- we can't watch anything on cartoonnetwork.com here either.
Monday, January 05, 2009
COOL
Found this on Youtube today -- if anyone has a better copy let us know.
oh -- and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Golly thanks!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday with your friends and family.
Our pal Megan and her sister sent us these pictures of some Christmas ornaments they made.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
I guess some people watched it ...
Thanks for watching! ~mCartoon Network's debut of the finale of the animated reality series Total Drama Island on Thursday, December 11 at 9p, as part of the Har Har Tharsdays block (7-10p), set a new record becoming the top telecast among Tweens 9-14(1,559,000) for the network ever, and the most watched show among K6-11(1,592,000) since September 8, 2000 (Premiere Premiere, 9p). The show was the top program of the day across all TV among K2-11 (1,968,000), K6-11 and Tweens 9-14, as well as being the top telecast ever for the network among Girl Tweens 9-14.
A second season of Total Drama Island, entitled Total Drama Action premieres on Cartoon Network in late spring 2009.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Finale!!
Monday, December 01, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
THE WINNER IS ......
Friday, November 07, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!! -- UPDATE -- Permisson Please

This is what my house looked like for Hallowe'en.
Too bad I only had about a dozen kids come by. What am I going to do with all the left over candy?

P.S. This is a peek at what the best costume earns you.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
It's Official!...UPDATE
The article says there are 15 of the original contestants coming back - that's true. There are 15 players plus Chis and Chef, to make up 17 characters returning.
NO NEW CHARACTERS ON TDA
JUST 17 PEOPLE FROM SEASON ONE
15 PLAYERS - ??????????????? *
1 CHEF - CHEF
1 HOST - CHRIS
* FOR REAL
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Labour Day Fun






and other fun things to do like playing in a Bakugan tournament.
My kids got cool prizes like this Teletoon hat
and these sweeeeet Teletoon playing cards with the loveable Lindsay on all the diamonds.
If you live in the Toronto area and are looking for something to do on the very last day of Summer Vacation, you might want to check out the Teletoon 2008 Tour
Tomorrow (Sept 1st) is the last day.
Thanks go out to all the great folks we met. We had a blast.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Gemini Award Nominations are in...
Chop Socky Chooks
(Decode Entertainment Inc., 2006 Aardman Animations Limited, CSC Productions Inc.)Miles Bullough, Neil Court, Steven DeNure, Pete Lord, Dave Sproxton, Beth Stevenson, Jacqueline White
Leon in Wintertime
(Folimage, National Film Board of Canada)Emmanuel Bernard, Marie-Josée Corbeil, Christine Côté, Pascal Le Nôtre
Ruby Gloom
(Nelvana Limited)Scott Dyer, Pam Lehn, Doug Murphy, Merle Anne Ridley, Rita Street
Storm Hawks
(Nerd Corps Productions V.I. Inc.)Asaph Fipke, Ken Faier, Chuck Johnson
Total Drama Island
(Fresh TV Inc.)Tom McGillis, George Elliott, Brian Irving, Jennifer Pertsch
Monday, August 25, 2008
More Ratings ...

We're humbled. Thanks all.
Source -- http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Younger_viewers_49/But_one_group_s_not_into_it_Teen_girls.asp
Thursday, August 21, 2008
ANSWERS...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Your Questions Answered .... ?
- What's this special? And when will it be on?
The 1 hour special is in the works right now. It's a fun visit with the whole cast of season one as they celebrate after the grand finale. That might not sound too dramatic or exciting -- but you have to have figured out by now that Chris can't just stand by and let the campers enjoy themselves. You'll have to wait until the fall to see what he has in store.
- Two versions? What's up with that?
There's been a lot of talk about the differences between the shows airing in Canada and those in the good ol' U.S. of A.
I mentioned in an earlier post that broadcast standards differ from region to region -- and some words and situations that are acceptable in one place just don't fly in others. Take "crap" for instance. Who knew that a little word would cause such a buzz. I've seen a few youtube videos showing the corruption of young American minds as they are exposed to that horrible 4-letter word.
Up here it gets used willy-nilly. I think it might even be in our national anthem -- or is it in the theme to Hockey Night in Canada? I'm not sure -- but I hear it a lot.
(It turns out willy-nilly is considered vulgar in 4 other regions and will have to be replaced - m.)
Another reason for the different versions -- is that producer's thought it'd be cool to mix it up a bit and let our new audiences enjoy the show without any spoilers. It turns out that some people like to ruin other peoples' fun by telling them the endings to movies or books -- letting them know what's in the Christmas present they're about to unwrap -- and telling the birthday boy that there's a surprise party waiting for him. To those people ... Ha!
See if you can spot the differences.
Like I said -- we get LOTS of mail -- and a whole bunch of questions. Please keep em coming. Understand that we don't want to give too much away about the next season -- but if you have any questions about the process of making the show... fire away!
We'll do our best to give you the answers.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Somethin' new before season 2
Hey Folks!
We've had lots of requests for new stuff from the upcoming season 2 of Total Drama Island,
but we're not allowed to talk to much about it. We'd hate to spoil things for the folks just getting season one on Cartoon Network.
What we do think we can share though, is a snippet from the upcoming 1 hour special.....
That's right. A special episode. A bit of a reunion if you will.
Bringing back everyone from season 1.
There'll be laughter, tears and fist-fights with crocodiles!!!




These board panels are by our good friend Troy Quane. He boarded a few eps for us last season too. We were lucky to have him help us, as he was really busy with a little project called "ENCHANTED".
Troy was the Storyboard Supervisor on Enchanted -- If you want to see some more great boards check out his site.
Todd and I are going to try to put as much development art and behind the scenes stuff up as we can -- but we need to do it without spoilers.
Keep watching!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
TDI OPENING TITLE SEQ...
Friday, June 13, 2008
Woo Hoo!
Thanks again!Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
SEASON 2 -- UPDATE

Sunday, March 02, 2008
SEASON 2's a secret -- BUT LET EVERONE KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVED SEASON ONE!!!













































































































































































