The animation industry is mourning the sudden death of Chris Reccardi. The artist, who was 54 years old, suffered a heart attack while he was surfing.
He was a leading character designer, storyboard artist, writer, and visual development artist in the industry.
His creativity contributions can be seen on many of the most popular animated series and feature films of the last couple decades: SpongeBob SquarePants (storyboard director), The Ren & Stimpy Show (layout/writer, including "Hermit Ren"), The Mighty B! (storyboard), Tiny Toon Adventures (storyboard), Powerpuff Girls (writer), Dexter’s Laboratory (writer), Samurai Jack (writer), The Simpsons (layout), The Regular Show (supervising producer), Tron: Uprising (storyboard), Mickey Mouse Shorts (location design), Wander Over Yonder (character design), Hotel Transylvania 3 (visual development), The Lego Movie (concept artist/designer), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (visual development).
Throughout his career, Reccardi also created numerous pilots based on his own ideas, including The Modifyers for Nickelodeon (which was co-created with his wife, Lynne Naylor) and Meddlen Meddows for Cartoon Network.
Reccardi is survived by his wife, Lynne Naylor.
RIP Chris Reccardi, 24 November 1964 - 2 May 2019.
News of Reccardi’s death was first reported in a public Facebook post by a colleague, Bill Wray:
Since then, many tributes have appeared on social media from other industry colleagues:
'90s Nickelodeon star Marc Weiner has revealed that he'll be reprising his role as the voice of 'Map' on Paramount and Nickelodeon's upcoming live-action Dora movie, Dora and the Lost City of Gold!
The actor, who starred in his own Nickelodeon series Weinerville and featured regularly on Figure It Out, is no stranger to Dora the Explorer, having voiced characters such as Map, Swiper the Fox and the Fiesta Trio on Nickelodeon's beloved animated preschool series. He reprised his role as the Map on Dora spin-offs Go, Diego! Go! and Dora and Friends: Into the City!, in which he also voiced characters such as the Booby Birds in the former, and got an upgrade as the 'Map App' in the latter.
In an interview the Stamford Comedian told The Jewish Link “I am blessed to be in the upcoming Dora the Explorer action movie this summer. I am The Map!”
Dora and the Lost City of Gold, from Paramount Players and Nickelodeon Movies, swings into theatres on Wednesday, July 31, 2019!
Stamford community member Marc Weiner created and hosted the ’90s Nickelodeon television series Weinerville. It premiered in July 1993 and ended production a year later, but continued to be shown in reruns on the network until June 1997. The show was set around a giant puppet stage of a mythical city called Weinerville.
“As a kid, I always enjoyed making people laugh,” reminisced Weiner. “In 1973, while I was crewing on a Hudson River Sloop named Clearwater, I would juggle fruit from the lunches of kids who were visiting the boat and I enjoyed making them laugh. I then took a ‘clowning and mime’ course and started street performing in Boston and then NYC.”
As a street performer, he worked side-by-side with future star Robin Williams, an improv comic at the time. In 1981, Weiner was a writer for and an occasional actor on NBC’s Saturday Night Live series. From there, he also appeared on other networks, including Comedy Central, HBO and Showtime, as well as other TV series including Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast. In 1994, Weiner co-hosted the East Coast portion of that year’s Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. As he became more religiously observant, he developed his Jewish stand-up routines.
“I had created so many puppets and they needed a town to live in,” explains Weiner on what inspired him to create his eponymous fictional town, Weinerville. “I made a pilot for Comedy Channel, but it tested too young for their target audience. However, my manager, Lee Kernis, took it to Nickelodeon, they loved it and we created the Weinerville series. Weinerville is a fun town filled with my puppets and my many characters. People come to get ‘weinerized’ or turned into 1/2 human-1/2 puppet characters, to help solve a situation in each episode by playing a fun carnival game.”
Weiner said the message of the show was “to have fun, save the environment and be nice to each other.” Since the cancellation of the show, the Weinerville concept had some TV movie specials on Chanukah, New Year’s Eve and the 1996 elections. Weiner’s characters and episodes can still been seen on YouTube.
Since working on Weinerville, Weiner’s career has continued to grow. “I am also a Nonviolent Communication trainer,” described Weiner. “I teach people of all ages empathy skills in order to learn how to get along better with themselves and others. I am part of a team of Jews who go into the Riker’s Island prison on the Jewish holidays to entertain and visit prisoners. I do some comedy and teach them nonviolent communication with my Empathy Labyrinth. Those interested can check my website, www.theempathylabyrinth.com.” Proud to be part of the Stamford Jewish community, Weiner enjoys teaching puppetry and empathy skills for preschool and elementary students of Stamford’s Jewish schools.
Many fans of children’s television do not realize how well they know Weiner. “I have been working for Nick Jr. on Dora the Explorer for over 19 years. I am the voice of ‘The Map,’ ‘Swiper the Fox’ and many other characters on the show.”
In Dora and the Lost City of Gold, having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey, voiced by Danny Trejo), Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria, Michael Peña) and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost city of gold.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold is directed by James Bobin, produced by Christopher Robin producer Kristin Burr, who is joined by longtime Bobin associate, executive producer John G. Scotti (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Alice Through the Looking Glass) as well as executive producers Julia Pistor (The Spiderwick Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Eugenio Derbez. Tom Wheeler wrote the story, and Nicholas Stoller and Matthew Robinson penned the screenplay. Walden Media is co-financing and co-producing the film with Paramount.
11-time Emmy and four-time BAFTA nominee director James Bobin (Alice Through the Looking Glass) has assembled a cast of diverse superstars to star in the movie, including: Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Transformers: The Last Knight) as Dora, Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives, Overboard) and Michael Peña, who play the parents of the titular character; Eugenio Derbez (Overboard, Instructions Not Included; How to Be A Latin Lover), who plays Alejandro, a mysterious jungle inhabitant who tries to protect the teenagers from the marauders; Jeffrey Wahlberg (Future World, Ballers, Counterpart, Reefa) in the role of cousin Diego; Nicholas Coombe (Spy Kids: Mission Control, Midnight Sun) as Randy, a fellow high schooler who develops an immediate crush on Dora; Madeleine Madden (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Tidelands) as the school’s snooty class president, Sammy; Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel, Amores Perros, Thor, The 33) as Dora’s grandma, Abuelita Valerie; Temuera Morrison (Green Lantern, Moana), who will play the role of Powell; Q’orianka Kilcher (The Alienist), who will play Inca Princess Kawillaka; Pia Miller (Home and Away) as Dora's aunt Mami; Madelyn Miranda, who portrays Young Dora; Benicio del Toro as the voice of Swiper the fox, and Danny Trejo as the voice of Boots the Monkey.
With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles's 35th celebration and the Dark Knight’s 80th anniversary both coinciding this year, there’s no better time to be Turtle or Bat fan. Not only do we get an epic final installment of the TMNT/Batman crossover from James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II (out this week!) but a Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated feature is on the way. Fans who attended WonderCon were lucky enough to see the entire film early.
Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrives on digital starting Tuesday, May 14, 2019, and on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.
To celebrate the release, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a teaser featuring the opening scene of Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! In the video clip, below, the Foot Clan descend upon Powers Industrial, where Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl (voiced by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's producer/star Rachel Bloom) is getting a first-hand look at an extremely powerful generator! We also see the Dark Knight issue a chilling warning to the Heroes in a Half-Shell, and find out the reason for the Turtles to visit Gotham City, and that’s to take on Shredder and the Hand!
Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon and DC have also released three new images from the movie!:
Backstreet Boys Play 'I Want It That Way' on All That! 🎤 | #TBT
Kenan Thompson & Kel Mitchell's Mavis & Clavis intro the Backstreet Boys as the iconic 90s boy band comes to the iconic 90s All That stage! Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, and A.J. McLean perform their signature song “I Want It That Way” off their album Millenium.
Which All That performance do you want to see next?! 🎶 Let Nickelodeon know in the comments on YouTube!
Did you know iCarly's living room set at Nickelodeon on Sunset was located right where All That's music stage used to be, and where Amanda Bynes used to introduce The Amanda Show?
Catch more All That on Nick! Don’t miss all new All That coming this summer! See the following link for more info!: http://po.st/AllThatRevival
Watch all your ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s Nickelodeon favorites on NickRewind, your late-night destination for your favorite childhood Nickelodeon cartoons and live-action shows! NickSplat doesn't question football-shaped heads, but embrace them - along with Reptar bars, a Big Ear of Corn, orange soda, and even slime for Pete (and Pete's) sake. Make your slime-covered Nickelodeon childhood dreams come true every night at 11 PM ET/PT on TeenNick USA, and anytime you want on NickSplat on VRV AND NOW ON Nick Pluto TV!
Like NickRewind on Facebook, subscribe to the NickRewind YouTube channel and follow NickRewind on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive digital content from all of your throwback favorites like Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, iCarly, Victorious, Kenan & Kel, CatDog, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, The Amanda Show, Clarissa Explains It All, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and so much more!
Remember all of these AMAZING musical performances from All That?
Featuring:
1996: LL Cool J (Loungin')
1997: NAS (Street Dreams), Busta Rhymes (Dangerous), and 112 (Only You)
1998: Spice Girls (Spice Up Your Life), Backstreet Boys (I Want It That Way), 98 Degrees (Because of You), Destiny's Child (No, No, No Pt. 2), Missy Elliott (The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)), Backstreet & Mya (Take Me There), and Ice Cube (We Be Clubbin')
1999: Outkast (Rosa Parks)
Catch more All That on Nick! Don’t miss all new All That coming this summer! See the following link for more info!: http://po.st/AllThatRevival
Watch all your ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s Nickelodeon favorites on NickRewind, your late-night destination for your favorite childhood Nickelodeon cartoons and live-action shows! NickSplat doesn't question football-shaped heads, but embrace them - along with Reptar bars, a Big Ear of Corn, orange soda, and even slime for Pete (and Pete's) sake. Make your slime-covered Nickelodeon childhood dreams come true every night at 11 PM ET/PT on TeenNick USA, and anytime you want on NickSplat on VRV AND NOW ON Nick Pluto TV!
Like NickRewind on Facebook, subscribe to the NickRewind YouTube channel and follow NickRewind on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive digital content from all of your throwback favorites like Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, iCarly, Victorious, Kenan & Kel, CatDog, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, The Amanda Show, Clarissa Explains It All, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and so much more!
This Krusty Krab Pizza video is the video for you and me! Relive this iconic SpongeBob jingle PLUS watch all the way to the end for even MORE musical moments from SpongeBob! Which song featured in the video was your favorite? Comment below!
What is YOUR favorite pizza topping of all time? 🍕
Slime Time: Playing w/ Butter Slime & Cooking Tools 🥄 Butterbean's Café | Nick Jr.
Let’s play with some butter slime using Butterbean’s favorite kitchen tools! Butter slime is great for playing but not for cooking or eating. You can watch as the slime is stretched, rolled, and molded. You can find more of your favorite shows weekday mornings on Nickelodeon, and everywhere you find Nick Jr.
Kids can watch their favorite Nick Jr. shows weekdays on Nickelodeon and all week long on the Nick Jr. channel: http://nickjr.com/tvschedule/
Preschoolers can watch full episodes online, play games, and discover silly surprises in the free Nick Jr. App and at NickJr.com. Stream Nick Jr. for free in the Nick Jr. App on Roku and Apple TV or download full episodes for offline viewing on iTunes or Google Play.
You can also download premium apps featuring your child's favorite Nick Jr. shows on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon, including Nick Jr. Draw and Play and Nick Jr. Let’s Learn!
Watch all your favourite Nick Jr. friends everyday on Nick Jr. and Nick Jr. Too! For more magical Nick Jr. activities and games visit NickJr.co.uk and download the Nick Jr. Play app!
In the brand-new Game Shakers episode "Hungry Hungry Hypno", Kenzie (Madisyn Shipman) is hypnotized into being very, very hungry after the Game Shakers take her to see a hypnotist for her birthday! Tune into the all-new Game Shakers episode "Hungry Hungry Hypno", premiering Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT), followed by a brand-new Cousins for Life at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT), only on Nickelodeon USA! Check out the promo below!:
Originally published: Monday, April 29, 2019.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and Game Shakers News and Highlights!
