''Welcome to Eltingville'' is an American

adult animated An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

pilot created by

Evan Dorkin Evan Dorkin (born April 20, 1965) is an American comics artist and cartoonist. His best known works are the comic books ''Milk and Cheese'' and ''Dork''. His comics often poke fun at fandom, even while making it clear that Dorkin is a fan himsel ...

, as an adaptation of his comic book series '' Eltingville''. It premiered in the United States on March 3, 2002, on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

's late night programming block,

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

, but was not picked up for a full series. ''Welcome to Eltingville'' takes place in Eltingville,

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

, and focuses on the lives of four teenage boys: Bill Dickey, Josh Levy, Pete DiNunzio and Jerry Stokes, all members of "The Eltingville Club", who have shared interests in comic books and science fiction, among other things. In the pilot episode, Bill and Josh enter into a fight over a collectible

Boba Fett Boba Fett ( ) is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. First appearing in the ''Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), where he was voiced by Don Francks, he is an armored bounty hunter featured in both the original and prequel ...

action figure.

Plot

The Eltingville Club's members, Bill Dickey, Josh Levy, Pete DiNunzio and Jerry Stokes, all get into a fight while playing ''

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'', wake up Bill's mom and Bill kicks Josh out of the club. The next day, Bill awakes from a nightmare which he called a "freaky premonition," and decides to let Josh back into the club. They end their day at a comic book shop, where Bill and Josh compete in a trivia contest to win an

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mar ...

. While Bill technically wins, they continue their dispute, wreaking havoc in the process. They both race home to steal their parents' money, and race back to the store. Meanwhile, Pete and Jerry debate if Boba Fett is still alive after the events of '' Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi''. Bill and Josh bribe the clerk, Joe, with a check and credit cards, respectively. He denies both forms of currency. They continue arguing and end up breaking the action figure. They need to combine their funds to purchase the broken toy and all four of them are then kicked out of the store. Bill angrily walks away with Fett's head and leaves Josh with the body. While Josh weeps on the ground, Jerry tells Pete, "Well, if Boba Fett wasn't dead before, he sure as hell is now." Willoughby ends the episode by breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, asking if this is the "end of the Eltingville Club?!"

Production and broadcast

The pilot episode, "Bring Me the Head of Boba Fett", was written by

and directed by

Chuck Sheetz Chuck Sheetz is an American director, animator, animation director, educator, and producer. He is best known for his work on ''The Simpsons,'' ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?'', and ''Recess (TV series), Recess''. Early life Sheetz grew up outside ...

. It was rated as

TV-14 The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...

in the United States for comic violence, crude sexual references (including sexualized depictions of women), and moderate offensive language. Production on the episode was officially completed in October 2001 with animation handled by Tama Production in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The pilot was based on Dorkin's time as a comic book store employee at Jim Hanley's Universe in Eltingville, Staten Island. The pilot's story line was partially based upon the comic story of the same name and the pilot's theme opening and closing

themes Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

were written and performed by The Aquabats. Dorkin took a large role in the pilot's creation and has since stated that if he could have re-done the episode, he would have chosen to delegate more work and to choose an ''Eltingville'' story that would show off more of the series' potential and characters. If the series had been picked up for further episodes or a miniseries, potential plot lines for episodes would have included a "Klingon vs. Elf war" between a local Klingon camp and a Renaissance fair, as well as the club members digging through the Staten Island landfill for a collectible item that was mistakenly thrown out. The pilot episode was originally aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block

on March 3, 2002, and was originally promoted by "

special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

" by Adult Swim. It has since been re-aired periodically on Adult Swim since its original premiere, including twice on

Halloween night ''Halloween Night'' is a 2006 American slasher mockbuster film produced by The Asylum. Plot The film follows Chris Vale, who was admitted to an asylum at the age of 12 after witnessing his mother's rape and murder by two thugs hired by his fath ...

, October 31, 2008, as part of an advertised "Halloween Stunt" night.

Cast

* Jason Harris as Bill Dickey, President of the Eltingville Club * Troy Metcalf as Josh Levy, a member of the club who frequently fights with Bill * Larc Spies as Pete DiNunzio, a horror movie addict * Corey Brill as Jerry Stokes, a fantasy fan and the group's Dungeon Master *

Tara Sands Tara Jayne Sands is an American voice actress and co-host of Cartoon Network's ''Fridays'' from 2005 to 2007. Sands has voiced in anime dubs and cartoons, including Bulbasaur in the ''Pokémon'' anime series, Spyler in the US dub of ''I Spy'', ...

as Jane Dickey, Bill's sister *

Christopher Ward Christopher Ward may refer to: * Christopher Ward (British politician) (born 1942), British solicitor and Conservative Party politician * Christopher Ward (conductor) (born 1980), British conductor * Christopher Ward (entomologist) (1836–1900), E ...

as Ward Willoughby, an unlucky boy * Glenn Jones as Joe, the owner of a

comic book store The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar D ...

* Alicia Sedwick as Mrs. Dickey and Mrs. Levy, the unseen mothers of Bill and Jane Dickey and Josh Levy, respectively *

as Ironjaw, a red head with braces who annoys the Eltingville Club with his spit talking

Reception

Animation World Network Animation World Network (often just "AWN") is an online publishing group that specializes in resources for animators, with an extensive website offering news, articles and links for professional animators and animation fans. Specifically, AWN co ...

'' and ''

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...

'' both praised the pilot episode, and ''Ain't It Cool News'' complimented the show on its geek humor, which they considered to be fairly accurate and funny.

References

External links