Craig Michael Bartlett (born October 18, 1956) is an American animator. He wrote, directed, created, and produced the Nickelodeon television series Hey Arnold! and the PBS Kids television series Ready Jet Go! and Dinosaur Train.
Craig Bartlett | |
|---|---|
 Bartlett performing with the Ready Jet Go! band in 2017 | |
| Born | Craig Michael Bartlett October 18, 1956 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Education | Evergreen State College |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, producer, voice actor |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Known for | Hey Arnold! (1994; 1996–2004, 2017) Dinosaur Train (with The Jim Henson Company; 2009–2020) Ready Jet Go! (2016–2019) |
| Spouse |
Lisa Groening
(m. 1987; sep. 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Matt Groening (brother-in-law) |
Career
editBartlett's first job, after graduating from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was at Will Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon, where he learned the art of stop-motion animation, working on movies such as The Adventures of Mark Twain. Bartlett moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to animate the "Penny" claymations for the second season of Pee-wee's Playhouse on CBS. He later made an animated ID for NBC with Klasky Csupo.[1]
He later worked at BRC Imagination Arts, directing projects such as Postcards and Mystery Lodge for Knott's Berry Farm. He also animated the music video for "Jurassic Park" by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the 1993 album Alapalooza.
Bartlett met the Nickelodeon execs while story editing Rugrats in its first three seasons. He pitched Hey Arnold! to them in the fall of 1993 and produced a pilot the next spring. The series was greenlit in January 1995. Hey Arnold! was in production continuously from 1995 to 2001, made by Bartlett's own production company, Snee-Oosh, Inc., which he founded in 1986. The series culminated in a TV movie originally titled Arnold Saves the Neighborhood, but Nickelodeon decided to release it theatrically as Hey Arnold!: The Movie, in June 2002.
A dispute over a second planned Arnold movie resulted in Bartlett leaving Nickelodeon to write, direct and produce an animated TV movie for Cartoon Network called Party Wagon, a story originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series. It ended up being the first Cartoon Network movie-length pilot to be broadcast, but not picked up until Underfist: Halloween Bash, which was created by Maxwell Atoms, who created The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne.
In 2002 he published the official novelization of the first Hey Arnold! movie (having written it with Maggie Groening; ISBN 978-0-6898-5136-0).
In 2005 Bartlett returned to BRC to make a multimedia simulator attraction for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, called the Shuttle Launch Experience. In the course of the three-year project, Bartlett interviewed 26 astronauts to gather their experiences from launch to orbit. One of these was four-time shuttle flier and commander and current NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr.
After developing various pilots and feature scripts, Bartlett moved to The Jim Henson Company, where he co-wrote the animated film Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby. He stayed at Henson to work as story editor on a PBS Kids preschool show called Sid the Science Kid with PBS executive Linda Simensky, whom he had worked with at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
In September 2008, a show for preschoolers called Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train was picked up by PBS Kids; produced by Brian Henson, this was the first show created by Bartlett to be picked up since Hey Arnold!.[2] The series debuted on PBS stations on September 7, 2009.[3]
In April 2015, Ready Jet Go! (formerly Jet Propulsion) was also picked up by PBS Kids. Produced by Wind Dancer Films and his company, Snee-Oosh, Inc., the series premiered on PBS stations on February 15, 2016.[4]
In November 2015, Viacom announced that Bartlett would return to Nickelodeon to write Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.[5] It premiered on November 24, 2017.
Personal life
editBartlett attended and graduated from Anacortes High School in Anacortes, Washington. In 1987, Bartlett married Lisa Groening, sister of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, Futurama and Disenchantment, after whom Lisa Simpson is named.[6] They have two children, Matt and Katie.[7] In August 2018, it was reported that Craig and Lisa were going through a divorce settlement and that they had been separated since 2015.[8]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | The Adventures of Mark Twain | Calaveras Miner (voice) | Claymation artist, voice actor |
| 1985 | Return to Oz | Claymation artist | |
| 1986–1990 | Pee-wee's Playhouse | Animator for Penny cartoons | |
| 1987 | A Claymation Christmas Celebration | Claymation artist | |
| 1988 | Meet the Raisins! | Writer | |
| 1988 | Arnold Escapes from Church | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
| 1990 | The Arnold Waltz | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
| 1991 | Arnold Rides His Chair | Director | |
| 1991–1994 | Rugrats | Story editor, writer, director, storyboard artist (segment "Stu-Makers' Elves") | |
| 1995 | The Ren & Stimpy Show | Oldman Farmer Höek, additional voices | Director, voice actor |
| 1994; 1996–2004 | Hey Arnold! | Brainy, Abner the Pig, Ned, Miles Shortman, others (voice) | Creator, developer, executive producer, story, writer, director, voice actor |
| 2002 | Hey Arnold!: The Movie | Brainy, Murray, Grubby, Monkeyman (voice) | Producer, writer, voice actor |
| 2004 | Johnny Bravo | Writer, story editor | |
| 2004 | Party Wagon | Romeo Jones, Ferryman #2, Cheyenne #1 (voice) | Creator, storyboard artist, producer, director, voice actor |
| 2008 | Unstable Fables | Co-writer | |
| 2008–2013 | Sid the Science Kid | Story editor, writer | |
| 2009–2020 | Dinosaur Train | Spider (voice) | Creator, writer, executive producer, director, voice actor |
| 2013 | Sky Rat[9] | Creator, executive producer, storyboard artist, writer, director | |
| 2016–2019 | Ready Jet Go! | Creator, executive producer, writer, director | |
| 2017 | Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie | Miles Shortman, Brainy, Abner the Pig, Monkeyman (voice) | Executive producer, series based on, writer, voice actor and voice director |
| 2021 | Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island | Executive producer, writer and co-director | |
| 2023 | Frog and Toad[10] | Screenwriter | |
| 2024 | Primos | Additional animation |
Internet
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Nickelodeon Animation Podcast | Episode 12: Craig Bartlett Episode 49: Making of an Iconic Theme Song Episode 50: Hey Arnold! Deep Dive |
Podcast |
References
edit- ^ "KLASKY CSUPO PRESS & PROMOS". www.klaskycsupo.com.
- ^ "Muppet News – Facts And Then Some". www.muppetnewsflash.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07.
- ^ Gopherwood Studios LLC; Flash Games by FableVision Inc. "Dinosaur Train - PBS KIDS". pbskids.org.
- ^ "PBS KIDS intros Ready Jet Go!".
- ^ "'Hey Arnold' TV movie in works at Nickelodeon". Chicago Tribune. November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ^ "My Simpsons Collection". Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- ^ Craig Bartlett, Maggie Groening, Richard Bartlett: Hey Arnold!, Simon & Schuster, 2002, p. 144 [1]
- ^ "'The Simpsons' Creator's Sister, Lisa, Splits from 'Hey Arnold' Creator After 30 Years of Marriage". 8 August 2018.
- ^ "Craig Bartlett Offers Inspiring Keynote at Ottawa". 20 September 2013.
- ^ Valerie Gallaher (June 14, 2012). "JIM HENSON COMPANY TO MAKE ANIMATED 'FROG AND TOAD' MOVIE". Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.