Douglas Richard TenNapel ( ; born July 10, 1966) is an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

, writer, cartoonist, video game designer, and comic book artist whose work has encompassed animated television, video games, and comic books. He is best known for creating

Earthworm Jim ''Earthworm Jim'' is a series of platform games featuring an earthworm named Jim who wears a robotic suit and battles the forces of evil. The series is noted for its platforming and shooting gameplay, surreal humor, and edgy art style. Four game ...

, a character that spawned a video game series,

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

, and a toy line. He is also the creator of the animated television series '' Catscratch'' (2005–2007), which aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, and was itself a loose adaptation of TenNapel's comic book limited series ''

Gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...

''.

Career

TenNapel began as an animator on '' Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series''. He soon began working in the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

industry on projects like 1993's '' Jurassic Park'' and '' The Ren & Stimpy Show: Stimpy's Invention'' for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

and ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'' for the

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

and Sega Genesis. In 1994, he created

, the character that would star in

Shiny Entertainment Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim (video game), E ...

's video game, toy line, and cartoon series. Shiny Entertainment head David Perry later commented on working with TenNapel, "I wish I could find 100 Dougs, then I realized I was lucky to have been able to work with one. He is crazy talented, both crazy and talented! He also generates an enormous amount of amazing content and ideas, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sleeps with a sketch-book!" In 1995, he left Shiny Entertainment and founded his own company, Neverhood, with several other former Shiny employees. Working for

DreamWorks Interactive Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to Mi ...

, Neverhood created ''

The Neverhood ''The Neverhood'' (released in Japan as ''Klaymen Klaymen: The Mystery of Neverhood'' and referred to in the English version's intro as ''The Neverhood Chronicles'') is a 1996 point-and-click adventure video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. a ...

'' for the PC and PlayStation. The sequel, entitled ''

Skullmonkeys ''Skullmonkeys'' is a platform video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation. It is the sequel to ''The Neverhood'', and rather than being an adventure game, it is a platformer. Players again take con ...

'', followed in 1998. On television, TenNapel was the creator of the ''

Project G.e.e.K.e.R. ''Project G.e.e.K.e.R.'' is an animated television series that premiered on CBS on September 14, 1996. It was created by Douglas TenNapel, creator of ''Earthworm Jim'', and Doug Langdale, the developer of ''Earthworm Jim'' the animated series, and ...

'' cartoon series for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. He was also a consulting producer on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

series ''

Push, Nevada ''Push, Nevada'' is an American mystery television series set in the fictional town of Push, Nevada. It premiered on September 17, 2002 on ABC, and ran for 7 episodes before it became one of the first shows to be canceled during the Fall 2002 s ...

'' with

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...

. Towards the end of the 2000s, he also created two shorts for

Frederator Studios Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio which is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc. It was founded by Fred Seibert in 1997 with its first series launching in 1998. (Seibert resigned from Frederator in Augu ...

and

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

, "Solomon Fix" (computer generated 3D) and "Squirly Town" (traditional 2D). As a graphic artist and cartoonist, TenNapel released his first comic book in 1998: ''

'', a surreal epic based on his real-life cats, Simon, Waffle, Gordon and Mr. Black, in a war against dogs and insects using giant robots as weapons. The cats from ''Gear'' would eventually become the

series '' Catscratch''. TenNapel did the cover art for several of Five Iron Frenzy's albums, including a sculpture for their live album, '' Proof That the Youth Are Revolting''. TenNapel has also created album covers and artwork for several

Daniel Amos Daniel Amos (aka D. A., Dä) is an American Christian rock band formed in 1974 by Terry Scott Taylor on guitars and vocals, Marty Dieckmeyer on bass guitar, Steve Baxter (musician), Steve Baxter on guitars and Jerry Chamberlain on lead guitars. ...

CDs, The 1999 tribute to the band, ''

When Worlds Collide ''When Worlds Collide'' is a 1933 science fiction novel co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie; they also co-authored the sequel ''After Worlds Collide'' (1934). It was first published as a six-part monthly serial (September 1932 through Fe ...

'', the ''Neverhood'' soundtrack '' Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood'' and others. ''Flink'', a graphic novel by TenNapel, was released in late 2007 through

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

. ''Monster Zoo'' was released in early summer

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. In May

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

his graphic novel ''Power Up'' was released. Between January and October 2009, TenNapel was a regular contributor to

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 b ...

' "Big Hollywood" section, covering topics from movie reviews and the state of the comics entertainment industry to criticisms of the Obama administration and the

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...

. In July 2010, his graphic novel '' Ghostopolis'' was released. In 2009, it was announced the book would be adapted into a film starring and produced by

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

, but no update has been given since then. TenNapel produced an episodic spoof of Japanese ''

Super Sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...

''-style shows called ''Go Sukashi!'' based on a character by

Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese media personality, actress, voice actress, illustrator, and singer. Also known by her nickname , she is best known as the presenter of ''Pokémon Sunday'', and as the performer of the opening theme from the anime ''Gurren Lagann'' ...

(who appears in the films), and starring

John Soares John Soares is an American film director, actor, editor, and fight choreographer. He is best known for his martial arts fight choreography in ''Sockbaby'', ''Go Sukashi!'', and ''The Danger Element''. Early life Soares was born in Turlock, Cali ...

and

Brooke Brodack Brooke Allison Brodack (born April 7, 1986), known online as Brookers, is one of the earliest YouTubers. Brodack, a receptionist from Holden, Massachusetts, first began uploading short comedy skits to YouTube in September 2005. She was offered a c ...

. He has also published an online superhero-genre-spoofing webcomic titled ''Ratfist.'' In September 2012,

Fox Animation Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

optioned TenNapel's published Graphix novel ''Cardboard'', with plans for actor

Tobey Maguire Tobias Vincent Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the title character from Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), a role he later reprised in '' Spider-Man: No Way Hom ...

's Material Pictures, graphic novelist Doug TenNapel, and the Gotham Group to be executive producers. Fox planned to have the picture developed under its WedgeWorks subsidiary. WedgeWorks director

Chris Wedge John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American animator, designer, film director, voice actor, film producer, screenwriter, and cartoonist. He is known for directing the films '' Ice Age'' (2002), ''Robots'' (2005), '' Epic'' (2013), ...

(''

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

'') was producing, and considered directing the film as well. As of 2020, no update has been given on the film, especially given the acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets by The Walt Disney Company. TenNapel has used

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to produce a bound collection of his sketches, named ''Sketchbook Archives''. TenNapel and other former members of the ''Earthworm Jim'' team at Pencil Test Studios launched a

campaign in May 2013 to fund a PC game project called ''

Armikrog ''Armikrog'' (stylized as ''Armikrog.'') is a stop-motion point-and-click adventure comedy game by Doug TenNapel in partnership with Pencil Test Studios and Versus Evil for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Wii U and Xbox One. It i ...

'', described a spiritual successor to ''The Neverhood'' and also being animated using

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

techniques. It was successful, and reached its stretch goal for a

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

version. In 2018, TenNapel self-published the graphic novel ''Bigfoot Bill'', launched as an Indiegogo, successfully funded and reaching various stretch goals. In May 2019, TenNapel and other members of the original ''Earthworm Jim'' team announced a new ''Earthworm Jim'' game, to be released as an exclusive for the upcoming

Intellivision Amico The Intellivision Amico is an upcoming home video game console that is being developed and marketed by Intellivision Entertainment. It was originally slated to be released in October 2020, but repeated delays followed, leaving the console with ...

. He also self-published the graphic novel ''Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow'', again on Indiegogo. As of August 2019, ''Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow'' is the second highest-grossing crowdfunded comic book of all time (US$816,000), trailing only '' The Order of the Stick Reprint'' on Kickstarter ($1.2 million) and overtaking the comic book

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

'' Ctrl+Alt+Del'' (US$665,000).

Personal life

He has been married to Angie since 1990. The couple have four children. TenNapel was personal friends with

Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...

prior to the latter's death.

Criticism and controversy

TenNapel has attracted criticism for his remarks on the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

community and its issues, including vocal opposition to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and intentionally

misgender Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

ing a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

journalist who criticized the ''Earthworm Jim'' video game. He has dismissed this criticism, and has written that "transphobe (like homophobe) is a made-up word used to slander conservative people of faith with a mental condition, and is only used by SJWs". TenNapel was involved with Comicsgate, a campaign against diversity and

progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...

in the superhero comics industry. Sean Gordon Murphy had drawn a cover for one of TenNapel's works, Bigfoot Bill 2, which he withdrew and issued an apology after being made aware of TenNapel's history of anti-LGBTQ comments. In response, TenNapel tweeted that it is "more important than ever that pro-family comic lovers support my work", stating his belief that LGBTQ people are waging a "culture war" against him.

Political views and beliefs

TenNapel supported

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's presidency and regularly posts his political opinions on various social media platforms.

Bibliography

Graphic novels

Web comics

Children's books

Filmography

Television

Video games

Discography

Cover art

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*
Doug TenNapel
at Myspace
www.TenNapel.com
*
Doug TenNapel Sketchbook Archives at Kickstarter

Scholastic Doug TenNapel author page

Doug TenNapel's official Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennapel, Douglas Living people American animated film directors American animated film producers American cartoonists American Christian writers American comics artists American people of Dutch descent American male screenwriters American male video game actors American male voice actors American storyboard artists American television directors American television producers American television writers American video game designers Album-cover and concert-poster artists DreamWorks Animation people American male television writers Stop motion animators Point Loma Nazarene University alumni American voice directors American male non-fiction writers Video game artists Showrunners 1966 births