APAC: Welcome to Doomlands, the future of the Aussie animated sitcom

This post-apocalyptic comedy looks far from doomed.

For Doomlands writer and director Josh O’Keefe, creating cartoons has been a lifelong ambition. In fact, even before graduating high school O’Keefe’s work had been showcased in the Top Screen short film festival, which curates entries from high-achieving media students across the state of Victoria. While his passion for animation was temporarily side-lined in university, a decision that allowed Josh to hone his screenwriting and directing skills beyond the genre, a return to it seemed inevitable.

Sure enough, alongside co-writers Sunny Munn and Max Favetti, O’Keefe launched a Kickstarter campaign for Doomlands in September 2015. The project was funded by more than 150% of its goal, and after two years of work, the pilot episode is finally set to premiere in Melbourne on November 2^nd.

In the original project pitch, the trio gave this overview of the series:

Radioactive kangaroos, a tourist limb collecting wench and hippie banditos run amok in the post-apocalyptic landscape of DOOMLANDS. This Australian animated sitcom will follow the exploits of outlaw Danny Doom and his gang of misfits: a bumbling drunkard cop, a lizard chef, an abrupt transgender warrior, and a publican that’s seen it all. They call their Oasis Bar home, a place full of violent misfits, soaked in beer and blood. 

The premise is intriguing; anyone who’s been to rural Australia will almost certainly have chuckled in recognition at the last sentence alone. However, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Doomlands is how clearly the original ideas are conveyed in what’s been seen of the final product: The grizzled outback cop, no-nonsense publican (non-Aussie readers: that means bartender), pompous rock star, stoic lizard warrior, and Mad Max surrogate that comprise the makeshift Oasis family seem like realized characters even in the brief trailer (see below).

DOOMLANDS Trailer from WWZARD6 on Vimeo.

Although the team have been working tirelessly in the 2 years since their Kickstarter, the passion O’Keefe reveals in conversation make it clear that Doomlands is a true labor of love; regardless of how soon a distributor is found for the show, he fully intends to continue working on it. Especially for a self-professed “massive” Mad Max fan, the Aussie outback provides a perfect blank canvas for storytelling; an entire first season outline with “plenty of episode ideas” is already prepared. The vivid universe (or ‘Doomiverse’) the show has crafted allows for virtually any idea he has to be included, and, he feels, improved. Josh is even pulling triple duty as a member of the show’s voice cast, joining Ben Hewett, Natalia Nespeca, and his two co-creators.

Doomlands can also be thought of as a Fox or Adult Swim style show in an Australian setting, and Josh doesn’t shy away from this comparison. In his words, our home country having “its own Simpsons” is a crucial step towards “sharing our national identity with the rest of the world” (this also might be a promising idea since actual Simpsons is currently difficult to watch here). As a result, the show seems to lean more heavily on references to Australian film and television than foreign counterparts (there’s a wickedly funny cameo from children’s cartoon icon Blinky Bill in the trailer). By proudly acknowledging the past of Ozploitation while forging its own identity, O’Keefe aims for the show to reignite interest in Australian stories amongst a generation who “know more Presidents than Prime Ministers”. Given that more than 80% of its Kickstarter backers were Aussie residents, it seems like this aim has struck a chord with Doomlands‘ target audience.

This ambition influenced the team’s decision to aim as high as possible for distributors, forgoing programs such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Fresh Blood in favour of larger sources of funding like Netflix (let’s be honest, they could use more Aussie content).

The Doomlands pilot is premiering exclusively at Melbourne’s The Tote on November 2^nd. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out, but I’ll be providing any updates regarding production or distribution here on Bubbleblabber.