Saul of the Mole People
Encyclopedia
Saul of the Mole Men is a live action show created by Craig Lewis, writer on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
. The series first aired February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim
. Described as "an ultra-patriotic Land of the Lost
set in the center of the Earth", the series is directed by Tom Stern and stars Josh Gardner
. Gardner is known for his previous collaboration with Stern on the television series, Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust
.
Lewis' primary inspirations behind this homage to 1970s-era Saturday morning
live-action television were Sid and Marty Krofft
(Land of the Lost
), Doctor Who
(Tom Baker
-era), and the Planet of the Apes franchise. On October 31, 2008 Adult Swim ran a special Halloween
marathon
just airing shows that had ended. Saul of the Mole Men was featured in the marathon, meaning the show has officially ended.
In the season 1 finale, Saul, Clancy, and Stromulus Guandor team up to defeat the Rock Assassins, which are actually Jim J. James and Jen. E. James' bodies combined to make a rock monster. With the combined talents of the "Scream of the Birdbats","Moleman Burrowing", and "Rockmaster Tumbling", they defeat the rocks, and Saul's old captains die in peace—only for Saul to confront Nathaniel Baltimore—his arch rival from the Tallahassee Geological License Review Board—who mysteriously appears. Suddenly, they find a spaceship, and everybody, including the floating pancake, clamber on. Clancy even lets his brother, Bertrum, on the ship, while it is still not known how he survived the rock attack in the previous episode. Once the team clambers on, Otnip stops their ship, and Clancy goes out in an apparent suicide mission to blow up Otnip and free the ship. The episode ends as they go into outer space, and the team, led by Saul and Fallopia, with Bertrum, Stromulus, Mrs. Burrows, Li'l Burrows, Nathaniel Baltimore, the floating pancake, and Chinacula the Chinese vampire is re-named Strata-Team Space. Thus ends the season.
Advertisements began airing on Adult Swim
advertising the show as STRATA instead of the original title, making the series appear much like . Subsequent advertisements, however, focus more on Saul and reveal the actual title of the show.
Saul often refers to his hometown of Buffalo, NY and reveals that he studied geology. Saul's presence is largely funny because of his endearing use of Buffalo English. His love interest is introduced as a creature perceived by locals as hideous and nearly beaten to death by the Mole Men. The beating is interrupted and the creature is revealed to be the lovely Fallopia. The Mole Men's perception of Fallopia's appearance is not unlike the Twilight Zone
episode "The Eye of the Beholder
".
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is an American animated television series created and produced at Cartoon Network Studios by animator Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls. It first premiered on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004, as a 90-minute television movie, which led to a series...
. The series first aired February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
. Described as "an ultra-patriotic Land of the Lost
Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)
Land of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....
set in the center of the Earth", the series is directed by Tom Stern and stars Josh Gardner
Josh Gardner (comedian)
Josh Gardner an American comedian and writer, is best known for his role as Gerhard Reinke, a bumbling German backpacker, on Comedy Central's cult-classic Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust. Gardner also wrote for Comedy Central's The Man Show, and the Fox series A Minute With Stan Hooper...
. Gardner is known for his previous collaboration with Stern on the television series, Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust
Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust
Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust was a mockumentary television comedy broadcast on the American cable channel Comedy Central in Spring 2003. It starred writer-comedian Josh Gardner as a German backpacker who has several misadventures as he travels around the world on small budget for the fictional...
.
Lewis' primary inspirations behind this homage to 1970s-era Saturday morning
Saturday Morning
-Album credits:*All tracks produced by Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Executive Producer/Concept: Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Engineered by Peter McCabe and Larry Fergusson....
live-action television were Sid and Marty Krofft
Sid and Marty Krofft
Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft , are a sibling team of television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs in the USA, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s....
(Land of the Lost
Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)
Land of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....
), Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
-era), and the Planet of the Apes franchise. On October 31, 2008 Adult Swim ran a special Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
marathon
Marathon (television)
In television, a marathon is typically the sequential broadcast of a single or a number of related television programs, most notably reflecting a theme....
just airing shows that had ended. Saul of the Mole Men was featured in the marathon, meaning the show has officially ended.
Plot
A series promo featured brief introductions for the crew on the use of a subterranean drill module. The team, known as STRATA, included Captain Jim J. James, Lieutenant Jen E. James, Robot, Kiko the Mute Wildboy, and the "rest" of the STRATA action team (which included Saul Malone (Gardner) and Don Rogers, a man with a shovel). The main character, Saul, is seen in the background in many of these scenes. All of the characters are killed within the first few seconds of the first episode, except Saul, Robot, and a revived Johnny Tambourine.In the season 1 finale, Saul, Clancy, and Stromulus Guandor team up to defeat the Rock Assassins, which are actually Jim J. James and Jen. E. James' bodies combined to make a rock monster. With the combined talents of the "Scream of the Birdbats","Moleman Burrowing", and "Rockmaster Tumbling", they defeat the rocks, and Saul's old captains die in peace—only for Saul to confront Nathaniel Baltimore—his arch rival from the Tallahassee Geological License Review Board—who mysteriously appears. Suddenly, they find a spaceship, and everybody, including the floating pancake, clamber on. Clancy even lets his brother, Bertrum, on the ship, while it is still not known how he survived the rock attack in the previous episode. Once the team clambers on, Otnip stops their ship, and Clancy goes out in an apparent suicide mission to blow up Otnip and free the ship. The episode ends as they go into outer space, and the team, led by Saul and Fallopia, with Bertrum, Stromulus, Mrs. Burrows, Li'l Burrows, Nathaniel Baltimore, the floating pancake, and Chinacula the Chinese vampire is re-named Strata-Team Space. Thus ends the season.
Advertisements began airing on Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
advertising the show as STRATA instead of the original title, making the series appear much like . Subsequent advertisements, however, focus more on Saul and reveal the actual title of the show.
Saul often refers to his hometown of Buffalo, NY and reveals that he studied geology. Saul's presence is largely funny because of his endearing use of Buffalo English. His love interest is introduced as a creature perceived by locals as hideous and nearly beaten to death by the Mole Men. The beating is interrupted and the creature is revealed to be the lovely Fallopia. The Mole Men's perception of Fallopia's appearance is not unlike the Twilight Zone
Twilight zone
-Television series and spinoffs:*The Twilight Zone, the anthology television series and its franchise:**The Twilight Zone , the 1959–1964 original television series***Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 film based on the original series...
episode "The Eye of the Beholder
The Eye of the Beholder
"The Eye of the Beholder" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:...
".
Cast
| Actor | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| Josh Gardner | Saul Malone Johnny Tambourine |
| Frank Potenza | Robot (voice) |
| Hugh Davidson Hugh Davidson (actor) Hugh Davidson is an American actor and screenwriter, best known for his work on the Adult Swim television series Robot Chicken.Davidson made his acting debut in the 2001 film Pledge of Innocence. He later guest starred on television shows such as Reno 911!, Arrested Development, and Will and... |
Bertrum Burrows (voice) |
| Jeff Bennett Jeff Bennett Jeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name... |
Clancy Burrows (voice) |
| Irina Voronina Irina Voronina Irina Voronina is a Russian model and Playboy Playmate for January 2001.- Biography :... |
Fallopia |
| Dana Snyder Dana Snyder Dana Snyder is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian, best known for playing Master Shake on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force show, and the film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, both part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim franchise.- Early life :Dana Snyder was born in... |
STRATA Operator #1 |
| Gary Anthony Williams Gary Anthony Williams Gary Anthony Williams is an American screen actor who most recently appeared in Weeds and Boston Legal. Additionally, he is known for his recurring role on Fox's Malcolm in the Middle as "Abe" Kenarban. He has also been known for the comedy series Blue Collar TV as a regular cast member... |
STRATA Operator #2 |
| Arturo Gil Arturo Gil Arturo Gil is an American dwarf actor who has appeared in many films, television programs, and commercials including Spaceballs, Monkeybone, The Fantasticks, Dirty Work, The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, Silent Tongue, and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.- Filmography :* Agent One-Half * Estudio 2*... |
Lil' Lil Burrows |
| Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on the Comedy Central series Reno 911!. His voice-over work includes the role of Bobbi Fabulous on Phineas and Ferb, the Taco Bell chihuahua, Denzel Q... |
Stromulus Guandor the Birdbat Leader (voice) |
In other media
- Saul Malone is featured in the Foster's Home for Imaginary FriendsFoster's Home for Imaginary FriendsFoster's Home for Imaginary Friends is an American animated television series created and produced at Cartoon Network Studios by animator Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls. It first premiered on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004, as a 90-minute television movie, which led to a series...
episode called "Cheese A Go-Go". Frankie is carrying a package addressed to Saul Malone, whose address is 1134 Williams Street, also a reference to the Williams StreetWilliams StreetWilliams Street Productions, LLC, operating under the name Williams Street, is a division of Cartoon Network, which is owned by Turner Broadcasting, an operational unit of Time Warner...
production company that produces Saul of the Mole Men. - The Poor Clancy's Almanack episode inspired the Adult Swim special Young Person's Guide to HistoryYoung Person's Guide to HistoryYoung Person's Guide to History is a two part television special produced by Funny Garbage, the creators of Saul of the Mole Men, and features most of the same actors and creative team...
.
External links
- Official website at AdultSwim.com