Ride the Short Line
In 1995, Cartoon Network gave us the What A Cartoon! Show. This gave us many animated shorts. Three years later, Nickelodeon would grant viewers Oh Yeah! Cartoons. This gave us even more animated shorts. However, it would take take until the mid-2000s for the third major player in United States children's television to deliver their own version of the cartoon showcase. But while this would also gift us with animated shorts, Disney's stint at it was a little short as well.
Shorty McShorts' Shorts was a short-lived Animated Anthology series that aired on Disney Channel from 2006-2007. The show was "hosted" (i.e., he appeared in the opening sequence
and nothing more) by the titular Shorty McShorts, a short, blue man who serves as a train conductor on a subway known as the "Short Line." In contrast to the previously mentioned What A Cartoon! and Oh Yeah! Cartoons, which were half-hour Three Shorts programs, each episode of Shorty McShorts' Shorts was a three-to-five minute long animated short that would air between other Disney Channel programming. Only thirteen shorts were produced over show's two short seasons. These include:
Season 1
- Dudley and Nestor Do Nothing by Stephen Holman and Josephine T. Huang: Two lazy students accidentally save the world from an asteroid during a field trip to a space center.
- My Mom Married A Yeti by Dennis Messner: A yeti who married a human woman ends up embarrassing his kids at a school dance.
- Bozzlebag's Zip by David Smith: A teenage boy unhappily moves to the titular town after his father gets a job working for Admiral Bozzlebags, a somewhat creepy children's show host.
- The Fabulizers by Van Partible: A group of lifestyle coaches forcibly try to make a dorky kid fabulous.
- Boyz On Da Run by Rob Reger and Brian Brooks: A three-part episode where the world's most popular Boy Band must go into hiding after being caught lip-syncing.
Season 2
- Too Many Robots by Daniel "Attaboy" Seifert: A country girl living with her Mad Scientist uncle finds herself annoyed by his inventions, especially when robot shoes he made threaten her school dance.
- Troy Ride by Brumby Boylston, Chris Dooley, Bucky Fukumoto, and Brian Won: Aliens that have crash landed on Earth create a robotic boy to blend into society, and try to get moon shoes to get back home.
- SheZow by Obie Scott Wade: A boy finds a magic ring that can enable him to transform into a female superhero. The only short to be picked up for a full series... albeit years later for a completely different channel.
- Mascot Prep by Chip Wass: A boy at a school for advertising mascots must come up with an appealing jingle for his brand, despite not having one.
- The Imperfect Duplicates of Dodger Dare by Andy Suriano: A teenager uses a magic photocopier to create a better version of himself to impress his crush, but runs into trouble when his handsome and defective clones wish to steal his date for themselves.
- Flip-Flopped by Jill Mazursky: In a world where adults are children and children are adults, a child couple leaves their adult offspring home alone for a night, only for chaos to ensue when the father returns home early.
Did we say "short" enough yet?
Provides examples of:
- Accidental Astronaut: The segment "Dudley and Nestor Do Nothing" sees the titular characters on a field trip to a space center. Accidentally boarding a spacecraft in search of a restroom, the two are sent into space and inadvertently save the planet from an asteroid.
- Alpha Bitch: The two skunk girls in Mascot Prep.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The children of "My Mom Married A Yeti" are scared that their Yeti dad will embarrass them in the school dance.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The titular character of "My Mom Married a Yeti" is one who moved to the suburbs to marry a human woman.
- The Cameo: A few background and one-shot characters from Phantom Investigators cameo as background students in "Dudley & Nestor Do Nothing". Daemona makes a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo as a scientist at the space station, albeit as an adult with a different hairstyle (colored a different shade of red).
- Clone Degeneration: The clones in "The Imperfect Duplicates of Dodger Dare" all look much different from Dodger, save for one.
- Country Mouse: Digit from "Too Many Robots", a simple country girl sent to a Mad Scientist's house.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When it's revealed Da Boyz lip synch instead of sing their songs, everyone in the U.S. starts screaming for their blood.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The short "SheZow" has quite different animation/character designs from the actual series, with some plot elements (like Guy's friend having a crush on his superhero form) also being changed in the final show.
- Fish out of Water: The premise of "Boyz On Da Run", where a spoiled boy band has to live like fugitives. Also, "Too Many Robots", where the country girl has trouble adjusting to a life with a Mad Scientist's family.
- Gender Equals Breed: The daughter in "My Mom Married a Yeti" looks human, while the son in the same short is furry like a yeti.
- Hartman Hips: For some reason, Dodger Dare, a male character, has wide hips and a thin waist.
- Interspecies Romance: "My Mom Married a Yeti" has one between a human woman and yeti.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Guy's friend Jose develops a crush on his female form SheZow.
- Mad Scientist: Uncle Toupe from "Too Many Robots", while well meaning, enjoys creating bizarre robots and laughing evilly.
- Merlin Sickness: The entire world in "Flip-Flopped".
- Mobile-Suit Human: The concept of "Troy Ride".
- Never Trust a Title: The titular yeti in "My Mom Married A Yeti" is technically a sasquatch, since yetis live in the snowy mountains, and this one's specifically stated to have left the woodlands for his wife.
- Steam Never Dies: The leading 2000s boy band in Boyz On Da Run escape from an angry crowd by stowing away on a train pulled by a steam locomotive.
- Super Gender-Bender: The premise of "SheZow", where the male protagonist can transform into an female superhero.
- That Syncing Feeling: The catalyst of Boyz On Da Run.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Apparently, nobody even questions how and why one of the Fabulizers is a talking beaver.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: The premise of "Dudley and Nestor Do Nothing", where two slackers save the world from an asteroid by mistake.
