History Creator / GenndyTartakovsky

** 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.

** He has done Hanna Barbara style comedies with ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'',

** A GenreBlending sci fi action show inspired by Japanese anime ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''.
** A GiantMecha series with ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''.
** A silent horror anthology set in prehistoric times ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}''.

* 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 [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers or]] {{Humongous Mecha}}s. [[NinjaZombiePirateRobot Sometimes all at once.]]

Genndy would attend the California Institute of the Arts a.k.a. "[=CalArts=]" [[ForWantOfANail (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.

* WidgetSeries: But as ''Sym-Bionic Titan'' proved, this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools has never looked so cool.]]

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 single season of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''.

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 a single season of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''.

Following his time as a supervising producer on [=McCracken=] ''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]].

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 classic Creator/CartoonNetwork.

Genndy would attend the California Institute of the Arts a.k.a. "[=CalArts=]" [[ForWantOfANail (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''), which often shows in their cooperation between series.

Following his work on [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls another]] dialogue-heavy show with ThickLineAnimation was one that had neither: ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack,'' a hugely ambitious series with a unique, cinematic style, equal parts Creator/AkiraKurosawa, SpaghettiWestern and anime, widely considered to be both his and Cartoon Network's greatest accomplishments. Plans to end the series with a theatrical feature were put on hold when ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped]] and he would spend the next decade pitching it to various studios in between other projects.

After creating the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' mini series, Tartakovsky left Cartoon Network to start his own independent studio, The Orphanage. The timing could not have been worse, as the studio's formation coinciding with both the economic crash in 2008 and the downfall of traditional animation in America. In the end, the studio produced a handful of commercials and a single season of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' for Cartoon Network which, while well-received, was dismissed by Cartoon Network when the creators refused to sign a toy deal and was CutShort when everyone involved became too involved in other projects to want to make more episodes.

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 mini-series, with him back in the director's chair, which would wrap up the story for good. The same year, he created ''Cage'', a 4-issue Creator/MarvelComics miniseries starring ComicBook/LukeCage, which throws-back to the character's blaxploitation roots.

2019 has seen Tartakovsky at his most prolific thus far, with 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}}''. He would also make his return to Cartoon Network with the announcement of ''WesternAnimation/UnicornWarriorsEternal'', at least until it was decided to later move the show's premiere to Adult Swim, with reruns airing on Cartoon Network at a later date.

!! His notable works include:

* Animator on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
* Storyboarding on ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs''. Also animated the intro.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' (provided a guest voice for the Samurai Jack parody called "Samurai Quack")
* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cartoonstitute}} Maruined]]''

* Storyboarding the action sequences on ''Film/IronMan2''
* ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' and its [[WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2 two]] [[WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania3SummerVacation sequels]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye|2014}}'' - Cancelled project. King Features Syndicate announced a new ''Popeye'' film in 2020 and Tartakovsky is currently working on it.
* Animation direction on the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' pilot.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fixed}}'' and ''Black Knight'', two films that are still in development.

** 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.]]

** 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.

2019 has seen Tartakovsky at his most prolific thus far, with 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}}''. He would also make his return to Cartoon Network with the announcement of ''Unicorn: Warriors Eternal'', at least until it was decided to later move the show's premiere to Adult Swim, with reruns airing on Cartoon Network at a later date.

2019 has seen Tartakovsky at his most prolific thus far, with 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}}''. He would also make his return to Cartoon Network with the announcement of ''Unicorn: Warriors Eternal''. [[note]] ''Primal'' and ''Samurai Jack'''s 5th season were produced at Cartoon Network Studios, but those were made for [adult swim]. This new series will target children and be on the main CN channel. [[/note]]

2019 has seen Tartakovsky at his most prolific thus far, with 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}}''. He would also make his return to Cartoon Network with the announcement of ''Unicorn: Warriors Eternal''. [[note]] Primal and Samurai Jack's 5th season were produced at Cartoon Network Studios, but those were made for [adult swim]. This new series will target children and be on the main CN channel. [[/note]]

* ''Unicorn: Warriors Eternal''

** He has done Hanna Barbara style comedies with ''WesternAnimation/Dexter'sLabratory'',

%% * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: His works are quite heavily on the idealistic end of the scale.

* GenreRoulette: In his career, Tartakovsky has handled a lot of different types of stories, both serious and comedic. He has done Hanna Barbara style comedies with ''WesternAnimation/DextersLabratory'', wacky CGI monster films with ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'', an animated ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' series, a GenreBlending sci fi action show inspired by Japanese anime ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', a GiantMecha series with ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'', a silent horror anthology set in prehistoric times ''WesternAnimation/Primal'', an upcoming R-Rated comedy called ''Fixed'' and an adventure film called ''The Black Knight''.

** ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian'' 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.

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 two sons.