Koala Lumpur: Mystic Marsupial
When I worked at Colossal Pictures we showed animated series ideas to TV networks every year. One of my pitches was about a magician called KOALA LUMPUR, who I saw as a tiny, mystical problem solver; a cross between Yoda and Mandrake the magician. His action-hero side kick, named Dr DINGO, was a flea-bitten Indiana Jones in a Goodwill pith helmet.
I felt that a duo comprised of a magic detective koala bear and an adventurer/scientist canine could go anywhere and do anything. Between the two of them there would be so many possibilities for funny episodes. Sluething out whodunnits, exploring watchamacallits and fighting a nutty assortment of baddies with an array of dopey invention-thingamajigs. I drew up some pitch-art and wrote out a list of episode ideas and then took the whole lot down to LA and hopped about the room as I explained it all to some network executives. But, as is the case with many a “good meeting” in LA, it ultimately didn’t go anywhere…
Then, few years later, someone in the Colossal Pictures interactive unit found the old pitch materials and thought that this goofy investigative team would be a good basis for a computer game. I knew nothing about computer games back then, or computers either if it comes to that, but I got involved in making a Koala Lumpur game because I thought that it might help get a TV show for the idea (networks are sometimes more interested in ideas that have already been brought to market in some form or other). So we pitched a game called KOALA LUMPUR: MYSTIC MARSUPIAL to a big game company who, lo and behold, actually gave the project a green-light.
After years of working on, and even occasionally directing, all sorts of projects that were dreamed up by other people, it was exciting to finally be directing an idea of my own. I was very pleased that a couple of my best friends were doing the voices for the main characters; Phil Robinson as KOALA and John Stevenson as Dr. DINGO. I had them in mind from the start and their voices were used to pitch the idea in rough assemblies of the game, yet the powers that be intended to replace them with professional actors in the final product… but came around to my way of thinking when they couldn’t find any voices that were better. John and Phil did a fantastic job of bringing each character to life. Koala had a jumbly accent that was part Hindi and part Australian and Dingo sounded like a blustery British colonel.
The timing of the production was unfortunate for two reasons. Firstly, while our game was being made the industry shifted quickly to 3D games, like DOOM, and by the time our 2D game came out it was already yesterday’s news. The second bit of bad luck was that Colossal Pictures filed for bankruptcy in the midst of production. This caused financial and legal rifts between the companies involved and the completion of production was stressful beyond belief. The end-product suffered as a result. It certainly didn’t come out as I had intended it. Anyway, despite all the hardship, the game came out on schedule, retitled “KOALA LUMPUR: JOURNEY TO THE EDGE” by some marketing genius, to mixed reviews and moderate sales in the USA. It sold better in Europe, Germany in particular, for some reason.
Not long after the KOALA LUMPUR game was released, Colossal Pictures finally went bust completely, and after 20 years of business, that great studio closed its doors for good. Suffice it to say that I look back on the project with a mixture of feelings these days. I learned a lot but many of the lessons were cautionary rather than inspirational. I came to realise that I just don’t have the stomach (or the brains, balls or spinal chord) for directing big projects, and it just wasn’t as much fun as I thought it was going to be…
On the other hand, I still smile when I think about the KOALA LUMPUR SHOW I saw in my mind in the first place, directing THAT could be fun… so maybe I haven’t given up on the idea completely….
