Stripperella

Stripperella is a 2003–2004 American superhero adult animated comedy series created by Stan Lee for Spike TV, which has since rebranded as Paramount Network.[2] The lead character is a stripper named Erotica Jones who is secretly the superhero/secret agent Stripperella.[3] The series was produced by The Firm and Spike Animation Studios. It is rated TV-MA in the United States.

Stripperella
DVD cover R1
GenreSuperhero, science fiction[1]
Created byStan Lee
StarringPamela Anderson
Joey Lauren Adams
Mark Hamill
Thomas F. Wilson
Dee Bradley Baker
Jon Cryer
Sirena Irwin
Tom Kenny
Kid Rock
Maurice LaMarche
Vince McMahon
Jill Talley
Composer(s)Amotz Plessner
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Stan Lee
Kevin Kopelow
Heath Seifert
Producer(s)Kevin Altieri
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)The Firm
Network Enterprises
Spike Animation Studios
DistributorCBS Television Distribution
Release
Original networkTNN/Spike TV
Original releaseJune 26, 2003 (2003-06-26) –
April 1, 2004 (2004-04-01)

Background

Stripperella's powers include enhanced reflexes and senses, an astonishing intelligence, superhuman strength, jumping extremely high, "sexy" martial arts and "killer" moves. She has twice claimed to be impervious to all temperatures and weather conditions, but this has only been casually tested on screen. She generally has access to a number of Bond-esque, super-technological devices of questionable usefulness. She is also able to use her extravagant blonde hair as an effective parachute.

She has a brother named Chipperella (Jon Cryer), who also happened to be a stripper living the double life as a superhero and secret agent. He was briefly mentioned when Stripperella temporarily lost faith in her crime fighting abilities after having been shrunken by Small Fry. He appears in a flashback as a hunky blonde and is affectionately referred to by Erotica and Chief Stroganoff as "Chip." In a humorous anecdote, Stroganoff tells Stripperella that her brother's memory was erased, later being mostly restored except for the word 'quit' which was forever erased from his memory.

Stripperella debuted on Spike TV in summer 2003 and lasted one season with 13 episodes. Anderson described it as not being a raunchy show, despite obvious double entendres and topless nudity (which was blurred out when shown on Spike TV).

The animation style changed halfway through the show's run, becoming brighter and revamping the looks of many of the show's major characters. Stripperella, for example, was now drawn with a cowl having larger eyeholes, similar to Batgirl's. Fellow stripper Persephone now had a darker complexion and an accent that inexplicably changed from episode to episode.

In Australia, Stripperella began airing uncensored on SBS TV, starting Monday March 13, 2006 at 21:00 local time (9:00PM), after having previously been restricted to early-morning airings on the Nine Network. In the United Kingdom, Stripperella is aired uncensored as part of the U.K. incarnation of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. In Germany, the show aired uncensored on Comedy Central Germany available for all audiences. In Italy, it is aired on FX Italia, uncensored and unrated; in Latin America is transmitted by MTV Latin America; and in Brazil was transmitted by Multishow.

Recurring characters
  • Erotica's workplace TenderLoins features the wishy-washy owner Kevin (voiced by Tom Kenny), swishy bartender Leonard (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), and dancers Persephone (voiced by Sirena Irwin) who is promiscuous and switches accents, and naive and good-natured country girl Giselle (voiced by Jill Talley). The newest member, the antagonistic Catt (voiced by Joey Lauren Adams), gets hired in TenderLoins under false pretenses of being an Amish virgin.
  • The main competition of TenderLoins is SiliCones, a strip club owned by Dirk McMahon (voiced by Vince McMahon) who openly admits his obsession for Erotica to work at his club.
  • Stripperella works for the agency FUGG under Chief Stroganoff (voiced by Maurice LaMarche). Other recurring FUGG members include technicians Hal and Bernard (voiced by Tom Kenny and Greg Proops), and Special Agent 14 (voiced by Tom Kenny).
  • There are two recurring villains: Cheapo (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), the world's cheapest bad guy, and Queen Clitoris (pronounced kli-TOR-is) (voiced by Sirena Irwin), a woman who lashes out on society for her facial appearance.
  • Reporters Skip Withers (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Margo Van Winkle (voiced by Jill Talley) appearing when TV news coverage is needed. Weird Al has appeared twice without any lines.

Episodes

Note: What follows is the chronology according to the DVD release. Spike TV aired the episodes out of order. The air dates have not been changed.

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1"Beauty and the Obese, Part 1"Kevin AltieriKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertJune 26, 2003 (2003-06-26)
In the premiere episode, Stripperella must face-off against her first threat, Dr. Cesarean, a plastic surgeon who's injecting beautiful models with deadly implants that make them gain weight and become obese.
2"Beauty and the Obese, Part 2"Kevin AltieriKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertOctober 2, 2003 (2003-10-02)
After discovering the villain responsible for turning several supermodels hideously fat, Stripperella learns that one of them has been "booby-trapped" with a bomb disguised as a breast implant.
3"Crime Doesn't Pay…Seriously, It Really Doesn't"Troy AdomitisKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertJuly 3, 2003 (2003-07-03)
Stripperella goes up against that low-rate villain, Cheapo, a criminal whose idea of a prime robbery would be knocking over an 89 cent store.
4"Everybody Loves Pushy"Troy AdomitisKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertJuly 10, 2003 (2003-07-10)
Stripperella discovers the truth behind the success of Pushy Galore's home shopping networks, which is that Pushy's products have been the product of forced slave labor, genetic maniuplation of animals, and the flesh of her husbands.
5"The Wrath of Klinko"Kevin AltieriKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertJuly 17, 2003 (2003-07-17)
Klinko, a copy store master, uses his copy machines to brainwash customers into criminals and carry out his multiple dirty deeds.
6"You Only Lick Twice"Kevin AltieriKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertJuly 24, 2003 (2003-07-24)
We're introduced to the evil Queen Clitoris who, from her hidden island hide-out, uses her computer to hold the world hostage as she made various demands, one of which is the sexy Armando. However, it would turn out to be part of her scheme to launch a nuclear winter with her and Armando as the last two people on Earth.
7"The Bridesmaid"Mario PilusoSteve HollandFebruary 12, 2004 (2004-02-12)
After being the bridesmaid and never the bride 226 times, Molly Lumpkin goes on a citywide rampage. Kidnapping grooms from weddings, Lumpkin plans to choose one to marry and kill the rest with a laser engagement ring. Stripperella must stage a fake wedding and risk her very own "Mr. Right". This is the first episode for which the animation style is altered.
8"Evil Things Come in Small Packages"Mario PilusoSteve HollandFebruary 19, 2004 (2004-02-19)
Small Fry wants to shrink everything down so he can be big and tall. Stripperella runs to ruin his plans but she gets shrunk. The Chief talks to Stripperella and convinces her that being small doesn't matter. So Stripperella goes and wins. Meanwhile Cat, fellow stripper, learns about Erotica's secret double life. The problem is, she keeps getting hit in the head and forgetting it…then learning it again…then getting hit in the head again. Finally, Stripperella returns to normal size, but her breasts are much larger than normal size. Stripperella wants her breasts reduced to normal, and by the next scene, they are, if not a little smaller.
9"Eruption Junction, What's Your Function"Mario PilusoSteve FreemanFebruary 26, 2004 (2004-02-26)
Someone is kidnapping all the smart kids at high school and it's up to Stripperella (disguised as student "Kathy Teria") to stop the kidnapper. This episode also has a brief musical number, performed by several young men chasing Stripperella.
10"The Evil Magicians"Mario PilusoKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertMarch 4, 2004 (2004-03-04)
Erotica is up for the Stripper of the Year Award in fabulous Las Vegas, but Stripperella has to stop a pair of robbing masked evil magicians. Can Erotica get the award? Will Stripperella foil the crooks in time? And will Kevin ever get his money back?
11"Cheapo by the Dozen"Mario PilusoKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertMarch 11, 2004 (2004-03-11)
Cheapo's back and ready to steal several bars of copper worth at least $16, with the help of Erotica going under the alias Robin Stuff. Meanwhile, Kevin gets into trouble over a misunderstanding in a casino, lands in jail and wins a Hawaiian vacation.
12"The Return of the Queen"Mario PilusoKevin Kopelow & Heath SeifertMarch 18, 2004 (2004-03-18)
Queen Clitoris comes again, and this time she wants Stripperella dead! So Clitoris hatches a fiendish plot and lures Stripperella into her lair on a secluded island. Can Stripperella get off the island in time to save her own life?
13"The Curse of the WereBeaver"Mario PilusoSteve HollandApril 1, 2004 (2004-04-01)
An asthmatic motorist runs off the road to avoid hitting an animal and slams into a tree. He is bitten by the animal—a glowing werebeaver—and he turns into a giant glowing werebeaver that runs amok, chewing through anything made of wood and terrorizing the population. Stripperella must stop this rampaging werebeaver without violating her ethics on harming cute furry animals.

Critical reception

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the show a positive review, saying that it was "unexpectedly clever, albeit sometimes crude", and that its "tongue in cheek" humor was reminiscent of the 1960s Batman series.[4]

Home media

The Complete DVD boxed set released on February 22, 2005 contains uncensored versions with a new opening theme replacing the original Kid Rock song.[5] Recently, Paramount and Viacom have allowed Mill Creek Entertainment to acquire the distribution rights to any future DVD reissues.

Comic books

Originally there was to have been a promotional Stripperella comic published by Humanoids Publishing (publishers of Métal Hurlant magazine) alongside the animated series,[6] but creative differences between Spike TV and Pamela Anderson saw it canceled before publication.

In 2003, ex-stripper Janet Clover, a.k.a. "Jazz", a.k.a. "Stripperella", filed a lawsuit in the Daytona Beach, Florida circuit court against Viacom, Stan Lee, and Pamela Anderson, claiming she is Stripperella's true creator and Stan Lee stole her idea when she discussed it during a "private dance session".[7] Clover filed the original suit herself without an attorney as she said she couldn't afford the $6,000 lawyer fee.

The lawsuit attracted the attention of local media, and the story was picked up by the Associated Press and national media, including People and Entertainment Weekly, upon which attorneys in New York City learned about the case and subsequently offered their services. Clover moved to dismiss her own suit before it could be challenged and had a practicing attorney refile it, specifically targeting Lee. This as well as creative differences led to the show's demise.

gollark: I have 766 tabs open and that's just on my laptop.
gollark: LIES!
gollark: I can stop trying to run this through arbitrary OCR tools then.
gollark: `less`
gollark: They have some kind of weird binary format then.

References
  1. Erickson, Hal. "Stripperella [Animated TV Series]". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 798–799. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 602–603. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  4. Owen, Rob (22 June 2003). "TV Reviews: Cartoons for guys premiere on Spike TV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  5. Lambert, David (December 5, 2004). "Stripperella – Uncensored DVDs for Stan Lee/Pamela Anderson Cartoon". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on September 15, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  6. "Humanoids to publish Stripperella one-shot". ICV2. 2003-03-28.
  7. "Will the real Stripperella please..." Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
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