Line #1 Creator/GenndyTartakovsky


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genndytartakovskyinterview_1100x600.jpg]]
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3	Genndy Tartakovsky (born Gennady Borisovich Tartakovsky, Геннадий Борисович Тартаковский, January 17, 1970) is a Russian-American animation director, producer, and one of the greatest minds to ever come out of [[Creator/CartoonNetwork Cartoon Network Studios]].
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5	Born in the USSR to Ashkenazi Jewish parents, Tartakovsky moved abroad with his family, afraid of anti-Semitism, when he was seven years old. First they went to UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}, where he picked up art from their German neighbours' daughter. Upon his arrival in UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, he got his first exposure to American cartoons and developed a deep love of comic books, WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, and HumongousMecha anime.
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7	Genndy would attend the California Institute of the Arts a.k.a. "[=CalArts=]" (because he was too late to apply for a business school). There he embraced his future career as an animator and made his first two shorts. His senior thesis film, ''Changes'', was later remade as the pilot for Creator/CartoonNetwork's first original show, ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory.'' While schooling, he formed a strong friendship with Creator/CraigMcCracken (''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'') and Creator/RobRenzetti (''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot''), with the trio going on regularly collaborate on each others' projects during their time at Cartoon Network and beyond.
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9	Following his time as a supervising producer on [=McCracken=]'s ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', Genndy began work on his second series: ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack,'' a cinematic action/adventure series inspired in equal parts Creator/AkiraKurosawa, SpaghettiWestern, and Japanese anime. Widely considered one of the greatest productions to come out of Cartoon Network Studios, the series ended after 52 episodes in order to create the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''; plans to return to ''Samurai Jack'' and conclude it with a theatrical feature were scrapped when ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped]].
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11	After ''Clone Wars'', Tartakovsky left Cartoon Network to start his own independent studio, The Orphanage. The timing could not have been worse, as the studio's formation coincided with the 2008 economic crash; in the end, the studio only managed to produce a handful of commercials, as well as co-produce the only season of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''.
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13	Genndy made his feature directorial debut in 2012 at Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation with ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' (admittedly because [[MoneyDearBoy he needed work]]) which was a financial success. After directing [[WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2 its sequel]], he was pegged to do an All-CGI Cartoon ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' feature, returning to his roots, and an original project called ''Can You Imagine?'' until [[DevelopmentHell both got shelved]], instead being put on the [[WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania3SummerVacation third]] ''Transylvania'' movie.
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15	In 2017, Genndy ''[[SavedFromDevelopmentHell finally]]'' got the chance to give ''Samurai Jack'' a proper conclusion when Creator/AdultSwim's Creator/{{Toonami}} block agreed to produce a fifth season. The same year, he created ''Cage'', a 4-issue Creator/MarvelComics miniseries starring ComicBook/LukeCage, which throws-back to the character's blaxploitation roots.
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17	In 2019, it announced that Tartakovsky has two films in development at Sony, the adult comedy ''WesternAnimation/{{Fixed}}'' and the adventure film ''Black Knight'', and a new series for Adult Swim entitled ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal\|2019}}''. Following the success of ''Primal'', Genndy would enter an exclusive development deal with Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation, with the first show to emerge from this being ''WesternAnimation/UnicornWarriorsEternal''.
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19	He has been HappilyMarried to Dawn David since 2000, around the time his popularity as an animator really took off (he spent part of their honeymoon storyboarding the pilot for ''Samurai Jack''). They currently have three children.
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22	!! Works created by Genndy Tartakovsky include:
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24	[[index]]
25	* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''
26	* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''
27	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''
28	* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''
29	* ''Franchise/HotelTransylvania'':
30	** ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania''
31	** ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2''
32	** ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania3SummerVacation''
33	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye\|2014}}''[[note]]Cancelled project[[/note]]
34	* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019''
35	* ''WesternAnimation/UnicornWarriorsEternal''
36	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fixed}}''
37	* ''Black Knight''
38	[[/index]]
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40	!! Other works he has contributed to include:
41	* ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' (storyboard artist, director)
42	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' (supervising producer)
43	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' (guest voice in the episode "Samurai Quack")
44	* ''How To Eat Fried Worms'' (opening titles)
45	* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cartoonstitute}} Maruined]]''
46	* ''Film/IronMan2'' (storyboard artist)
47	* ''[[Film/Priest2011 Priest]]'' (opening prologue animation)
48	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' (animation director on [[Recap/StevenUniversePilot pilot episode]])
49	** ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvaniaTransformania'' (story and co-writer)
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52	!! Tropes applicable his works include:
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54	* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Most of his cartoons are very light on dialogue. He experimented with this a little bit on ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' but became better known for it after ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', which could have between 3/4ths of an episode to [[NoDialogueEpisode an entire episode]] with absolutely no spoken dialogue (Creator/PhilLaMarr even joked that playing Jack was "the easiest job ever"). Eventually, he'd get to make an entire series without dialogue with ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019''.
55	* {{Animesque}}: Most of Tartakovsky's cartoons follow this, mainly because he was inspired by Japanese animation.
56	* ArtEvolution: He claims that he was "so bad, [he] couldn't draw a circle" when he first learned to draw and that he still had to push himself even when he got into [=CalArts=], falling back on his timing and technical abilities to make up for his draftsmanship. It obviously paid off.
57	* AsideGlance: Many of his characters' silent reactions to something odd or stupid taking place often involve this, either directly to the audience or another character.
58	* AssociatedComposer: Tyler Bates has done the music for all of his shows from 2010 onward.
59	* AuthorAppeal: [[HumongousMecha Giant robots]], [[SilenceIsGolden minimal dialogue]], [[{{Animesque}} anime influences]], ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' and [[HartmanHips curvy women]]. ''Samurai Jack'' also allowed him to indulge in his love of world music.
60	* BloodierAndGorier: Moving to Creator/AdultSwim and targeting a [[GrowingWithTheAudience more mature audience]] allowed the revival of ''Samurai Jack'' to actually show the title character (and others) killing humans for the first time, and spilling blood that's actually red. His latest project, ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'', is even more gruesome, with [[RatedMForManly musclebound cavemen, dinosaurs, and prehistoric animals ripping each other to shreds left and right.]]
61	* CreatorBacklash: Subverted. While he speaks fondly of working for Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation, he's also vocal about the [[StrictlyFormula homogeneity]] of CGI, as well as Creator/ColumbiaPictures' aversion to his pitches for low-budget projects simply because they [[MoneyDearBoy wouldn't profit as much as big-budget ones]].
62	* DevelopmentHell:
63	** He had plans to end ''Samurai Jack'' with a movie for a decade before eventually compromising with the ten-episode revival in 2017.
64	** Two features for Sony, a ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' movie and an original project called ''Can You Imagine?'' were both shelved in 2017, though the former would later be [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell saved]] in mid-2020, however in 2022 was shelved again.
65	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Went to Cal Arts at the same time as Creator/CraigMcCracken and Creator/RobRenzetti, and the three have collaborated with one or the other on several projects over the years.
66	* GenreRoulette: In his career, Tartakovsky has handled a lot of different kinds of projects, both serious and comedic.
67	** He has done Hanna-Barbara-style comedies with ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'',
68	** Wacky CGI monster family films with ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania''
69	** An animated ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' series.
70	** A GenreBlending sci-fi action show inspired by Japanese anime, ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''.
71	** A HumongousMecha series with ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''.
72	** A silent horror anthology set in prehistoric times, ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019''.
73	** An upcoming R-Rated comedy called ''Fixed''
74	** An adventure film called ''The Black Knight''.
75	** An upcoming supernatural folklore adventure with ''Unicorn: Warrior Eternals''.
76	* HappilyMarried: He's shown to be very close with his wife Dawn, to the point that he made an animated short about their relationship to play at their wedding.
77	* HartmanHips: As [[Creator/ButchHartman the trope namer]] used to work for him, it's no surprise that his cartoons are [[http://forgottenanimation.tumblr.com/post/159426013747/atomictikisnaughtybits-ck-blogs-stuff full of some very shapely women]].
78	* HeAlsoDid:
79	** Animated on the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Night Of The Ninja" at the show's studio in UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}. He completed one scene before returning to America to care for his dying mother.
80	** One of his first animation jobs was animating ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' for Creator/StarToons, but only completed two sequences before leaving.
81	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: The deliberately cinematic pacing of Tartakovsky's action cartoons (''Samurai Jack'', ''Star Wars: Clone Wars'') is one of their most strikingly distinct qualities. In contrast to the [[RapidFireComedy gag-a-minute]] style of most Western cartoons, Tartakovsky's work contains many scenes of the characters just...''waiting'' for things to happen, whether it's a dramatic staredown between two foes or a character traveling through an otherwise empty landscape. As a result, he's ''really'' good at [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools keeping viewers in suspense while]] they wait for the tension to finally snap.
82	* LockAndLoadMontage: Apparently a big fan of these; they can be found quite frequently in all of his cartoons.
83	* MsFanservice: Even when they aren't overtly sexual characters, Tartakovsky's cartoons are full of some ''very'' attractive women with HartmanHips.
84	* NoNameGiven: He openly admits that he's not great with names and indeed has many characters who are either never named (Dexter's parents, including the family's surnames, and Jack's father), OnlyKnownByTheirNickname (Jack himself) or are only named outside of the work itself (Spear and Fang).
85	* PlayingAgainstType: Tartakovsky returned ''Samurai Jack'' to television with a 10-episode fifth season, which is more adult-oriented than the last four, although there isn't that much subject matter. He cranks it up with ''Fixed'', which will be his first R-rated film.
86	* PromotedFanboy:
87	** A lifelong ''Franchise/StarWars'' fan, he was eventually invited by Creator/GeorgeLucas to create the first ''Clone Wars'' mini series.
88	** ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' is one of his favorite movies, and was later given the privilege to work with [[Creator/{{Mako}} Mako Iwamatsu]] on his first [[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory two]] [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack shows]]. And if that weren't enough, Mako later ''narrated Genndy's life story'' in the documentary featurette "Gendy's Scrapbook." You don't get a much higher promotion than that.
89	** Subverted with his tenure at Creator/HannaBarbera. While he was a fan of theirs in his youth and continues to borrow from their aesthetic in his later work, he finds their shows too corny for him to enjoy as an adult the same way he did as a child.
90	* RatedMForManly: His action scenes almost invariably involve [[RuleOfCool a bulletpoint list of everything that's cool]], like [[HumongousMecha giant robots]] and titans brawling with one another or lone, frequently musclebound warriors [[OneManArmy slaughtering entire armies of foes or giant monsters all by themselves.]] As far as character design goes, his action heroes tend to either be [[TopHeavyGuy enormous]] [[TestosteronePoisoning musclebound brawlers]] or deceptively small combatants capable of [[TheWorfEffect beating the tar out of]] the aforementioned musclebound brawlers.
91	* RenaissanceMan: Within the context of animation, anyway. He's worked in pretty much every genre of animation imaginable, from [[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory comedy]] and [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack action cartoons]] aimed at kids, to [[WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania CGI feature films]], to [[WesternAnimation/Primal2019 dark adult drama]].
92	* RuleOfCool: Even in his non-serious related works such as ''Dexter's Laboratory,'' he'll often have some form of action scenes in some episodes that either involve or invoke ancient Japanese customs or warriors such as Ninjas or Samurais or {{Humongous Mecha}}s. [[NinjaZombiePirateRobot Sometimes all at once.]]
93	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell:
94	** While the ''Samurai Jack'' movie may never come to be, the Creator/AdultSwim mini-series serves as the proper conclusion that the original series' run never got.
95	** ''ComicBook/{{Cage 2016}}'' was on the back-burner for almost a decade due to Genndy being busy with other projects.
96	* SeriousBusiness: The writers for ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' learned the hard way that he does ''not'' tolerate story meetings being used for idle chit chat about anything non-story related, such as discussing video games.
97	* SignatureStyle: Tartakovsky's art style is extremely distinctive, with highly exaggerated anatomy and stylized characters composed of sharp, angular silhouettes and thick, blocky shapes. Compare and contrast his work with that of Mike Mignola.
98	* SilenceIsGolden: Most notably in ''Samurai Jack.'' Not as much, but still prominent in ''Star Wars: Clone Wars'' and ''Sym-Bionic Titan.'' He experiments with this a bit in ''Dexter's Laboratory.'' ''Primal'' became his first show told without ''any'' dialogue whatsoever (due to taking place in a prehistoric wilderness [[JustifiedTrope before the development of human language.]]
99	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: His works lean more on the idealistic end of the scale... [[DarkerAndEdgier most of the time anyway]].
100	* SlidingScaleOfSeriousnessVersusSilliness: Depending on the series, his work is either broadly comedic with some intense action scenes or dramatic action with a lot of comic relief. ''Dexter's Lab'' is the only one that's explicitly a comedy while ''Primal'' is the only one that's explicitly a drama, with ''Samurai Jack'' being the only one that falls squarely in the middle (''Sym Bionic Titan'' is closer to {{melodrama}} while the ''Hotel Transylvania'' films were not of his conception).
101	* SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue: Handles both but his work really likes to focus on visual language. This is best shown in his animated series ''WesternAnimation/Primal''.
102	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: The technician to Creator/CraigMcCracken's performer: Craig was a stronger draftsman while Genndy handled timing.
103	* ThickLineAnimation: Played straight with most of his work, but consciously subverted with ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': it has the look, just not the ''lines''.
104	* TomHanksSyndrome: Started with the broadly comedic ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and immediately followed it up with the darker, more atmospheric ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''. Then, after making a brief return to comedy with the DenserAndWackier ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' films, he went ''even darker'' with ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019''.
105	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Tartakovsky has been involved with multiple projects which either never came to fruition or were canceled just as production got started.
106	** He was offered two big directing jobs before ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania''. The first was a sequel to ''Film/TheDarkCrystal,'' which ended up in DevelopmentHell. Then there was the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Manga/AstroBoy'', which was eventually produced by Imagi and bombed so hard that it closed them down.
107	** The AllCGICartoon ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' made it all the way up to a [[WesternAnimation/Popeye2014 publicly-released animation demo]] before getting shelved when management shifted. This one is especially tragic, as Genndy's animation instructor was a former [[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer Fleischer Bros.]] animator, and the film was seen as his way of returning to his roots, although the serendipity was it let him do the ''Samurai Jack'' revival. On the bright side, [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell his Popeye project was picked up by King Features and has restarted production as of 2020.]] However was shelved in mid-2022.
108	** Before his studio fell apart, they were developing a movie about vikings (before ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' no less). They were even invited to create a silent film about dinosaurs, which eventually became ''WesternAnimation/WalkingWithDinosaurs,'' as Creator/IlluminationEntertainment's first feature.
109	** He pitched several ideas for low-budget features to Creator/ColumbiaPictures in the hopes that he'd have a better chance of [[AuteurLicense being entrusted]] with eight figures rather than nine for personal ideas. The studio, however, told him that even if a low-budget film made a profit, it wouldn't [[MoneyDearBoy make as much]] as a big-budget film.
110	* TheWorkaholic: Downplayed. While he eventually did have a family which he makes time for, he makes no secret that he's first and foremost married to his career. He admits that he never saw a completed episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' until it was on the air, simply because he was too busy making the next episodes, and had next to no social life when it was running. He had to set time aside during his honeymoon to storyboard the pilot for ''Jack'' and later spent his date night with his wife doing a Q&A livestream.

Context Creator / GenndyTartakovsky