Kaput and Zosky (Kaput et Zosky) is a French comic book series created by the prominent French cartoonist Lewis Trondheim. The series follows the misadventures of the two eponymous aliens, the short, rotund, and trigger-happy Kaput and the tall, thin, and methodical Zosky. This bumbling duo are an aspiring pair of Galactic Conquerors who travel across the universe in search of planets to enslave. And while they come across many strange planets and peoples in their conquests, Kaput and Zosky consistently find that they are never able to successfully take over any world they come across. If anything, most stories end with these two Villain Protagonists being sent packing for the next planet in their dumpy, little rocket ship. Two albums were published compiling the adventures of these bungling wannabe tyrants.
In 2003, the series received an Animated Adaptation called Kaput and Zosky: The Ultimate Obliterators. Created for the French France 3 and the Canadian Teletoon, the cartoon was produced by France's Futurikon and the Montreal-based ToonCan Productions. It pretty much followed the premise of the comics, with the title duo's voices being provided by Montreal voice acting legends Rick Jones and Mark Camacho respectively. Asides from its two abovementioned native networks, the show also appeared on Nicktoons Network in the United States, Network Ten in Australia, and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, among other regions of the world. It ran for 26 episodes featuring 78 segments in total over a single season.
For another comic by Lewis Trondheim that got turn into a French-Canadian Teletoon/France 3 production (incidentally also a co-production with Futurikon), see Fly Tales.
Tropes:
- The Ace: If the tour guide in Alpha-Pictoris is anything to go by, Ghandizen is a benevolent leader who has made massive contributions to developing Alpha-Pictoris. And he can easily crush an invader with just a push of a button, as Kaput and Zosky found out.
- BFG: Many alien races tend to carry enormous weapons. Our comedic villains, on the other hand, are armed with relatively small handguns.
- Blood Knight: As opposed to Zosky, who tends to be more about pragmatic domination and enslavement, Kaput usually just wants to crisperize people.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Kaput's gun and hair are coloured red, which fits since he's a Blood Knight. Zosky's gun and antennae are yellow, the colour of caution (since he's the strategist of the duo).
- Cool Ship: Averted with the duo's ship, which is tiny and barely fits the two of them (though it seems to have some degree of Hammerspace built into it).
- Does Not Like Spam: Neither of them can stand carrots, which proved to be a problem when they went to a planet where carrots were everyone's Trademark Favorite Food... and most prized possessions
- Dressing as the Enemy: To infiltrate a heavily guarded palace so they can steal a lamp said to house a genie, Kaput and Zosky decide to steal the clothes of bodyguards to infiltrate the palace.
- Eldritch Location: Apparently, aside from the one galaxy the duo knows, the universe consists of black voids, white voids, and places that are fairly terrifying.
- Elective Unintelligible: There is a planet in which its inhabitants speak a babbling language to confuse and frustrate any potential invaders.
- Escape from the Crazy Place: Kaput and Zosky nearly inevitably discover that the planet they have chosen to invade happens to be either batshit crazy or deceptively competent enough to warrant a retreat.
- Evil Brit: Zosky in the TV show, going by his accent.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Needless to say, the two of them have had about as much success in conquering worlds as Pinky and the Brain. They have actually succeeded on some occasions, but it never seems to stick, and by the end of an episode, they're always back to roaming the galaxy.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: Apparently not a good idea in this universe (that, or Kaput and Zosky's signature bad luck made it seem so).
- Fat and Skinny: Kaput (fat) and Zosky (skinny).
- Flat World: One planet the duo visits is coin-shaped. And its gravity is relative to the side of the planet.
- Harmless Villain: As the protagonists! This show could pretty much have been called Harmless Villains: The Show.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Without this trope, there would be no series.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: The duo's ship can carry them, their guns, their personal belongings, ample food supplies, and various guides and manuals despite barely being able to accommodate them alone.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: Not really, but the places Kaput and Zosky end up after coming OUT of hyperspace... they ARE scary.
- Lampshaded on occasion.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains: Despite seemingly effective weaponry and often supremely evil intentions, the duo appear to have never actually conquered anything.
- While their weaponry is effective, it doesn't help that most people they run into, if armed at all, have guns bigger than theirs. Not to mention bigger ships. And usually bigger brains.
- While very rare, they did conquer some planets. Though they were always forced to leave them due to diverse factors, occasionally even complete boredom.
- Language Barrier: Kaput and Zosky once visited a planet whose inhabitants speak a babbling language completely different from Standard Galactic (the name given to the English language in the Kaput and Zosky universe). Frustrated by the language barrier, Kaput and Zosky leave the planet. It turns out that the inhabitants CAN speak Standard Galactic; they use the babbling language to confuse and frustrate any invaders.
- Mythology Gag: An episode of the TV series had the duo meet a comic book artist (with a French accent) who wrote stories about them. The original comic was published in French.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Planet Jobi-Joba is a world of Obstructive Bureaucrats. The planet's denizens tell all visitors to fill out a series of many pointless forms... especially if their purpose is to take over Jobi-Joba. In fact, any invader who refuses to fill out those forms gets easily defeated.
- One-Winged Angel: Inhabitants of the planet Pax turn into gigantic monstrosities when angered.
- Paper People: They had an entire planet of these in one episode. It turns out they were that way because every evening, night literally falls.
- Planetville Of Hats: Every. Single. Planet.
- Potty Emergency: Kaput had one during an episode where they went to a planet that seemed to be a barren wasteland. It's only after he starts relieving himself that he and Zosky realize that they've landed on Isn't That Precious, a planet full of invisible aliens. At the end of the episode, as they're flying away in their ship, Kaput says he needs to go pee again.
- Ray Gun: The duo's Crisperizers.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: After witnessing Ghandizen crush one of his many would-be assassins, a panicky Zosky says that he and Kaput have lost their luggage in the astroport and are looking for the lost and found, and Kaput asks for some orange juice. Without any hesitation, Ghandizen asks his assistant to help the duo out (and give Kaput some orange juice).
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Color-Coded for Your Convenience, except in this case, Zosky is Yellow as opposed to blue.
- Single-Gender Race: A planet of magicians that made all known women (and rabbits) on said planet disappear in their magic acts.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The inhabitants of the planet Syracusa love carrots so much that it's illegal to eat anything else there.
- Villain Protagonists: Our stars of the show are an extraterrestrial pair of wannabe planet conquerors that usually fail miserably (and hilariously).
