Posted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: smiling friends

Smiling Friends & Dragon Ball Z Make for a Perfect Mash-Up & More

Adult Swim shared Shane Dering's perfect Smiling Friends/Dragon Ball Z mash-up; Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel on fans' comments/theories.

Though Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel's Smiling Friends will be taking a break this weekend, the hit animated series will be back next week with the Halloween-themed S03E04: "Curse of the Green Halloween Witch." To help ease the pain, Adult Swim released a look at a very cool animated mash-up from Shane Dering (Ambient Swim, Scavengers Reign; Love, Death & Robots) that brings the worlds of "Smiling Friends" and "Dragon Ball Z" together in ways you never knew you needed in your lives until this very moment.

Here's a look at "Smiling Ball Z," followed by a rundown of the third season's episode titles, Cusack and Hadel sharing how they handle fan comments and theories, and more:

Cusack and Hadel raised the bar with a Season 3 teaser that also offered a rundown of the episode titles and overviews, as well as some looks at the animatics from each. If you thought the trailer was great, just check out the details below…

Adult Swim's Smiling Friends Offers Up Some "Smiling Shorts"

In the first "Smiling Shorts" from earlier this summer, Charlie tries his best not to hurt Pim's feelings over Pim's irreversible surgery. Does it go well? No. No, it does not. In the second short, it's another job well done for Charlie and Pim, and Roy Dismey (Hmmm…) really appreciates them helping him get his smile back. But as you're about to see, there might be another reason why Roy's smiling.

Hadel and Cusack on Fans' Comments & Theories

Speaking with Variety, Hadel and Cusack were asked if they read fans' comments and, if they do, what impact (if any) they might have. "I'd be a fucking liar [if I said I didn't listen to fans]. Both Michael and I come from YouTube, so I grew up putting my stuff out there raw. It's not like I was making a Netflix show. I would put a cartoon out, and I'd see a guy go, "You suck! Fuck you!" That helps you build up a skin. I have a method where I read as much as I possibly can for 48 hours about an episode until I've seen basically every take someone can have," Hadel shared. But that doesn't mean that fans' reactions are going to be brought into the writers' room.

"We've never, ever, ever gone into a writers' room and gone like, 'Well, the fans said this, so we should do this.' I saw some people saying, 'Oh, in Season 2, they just kept doing Mr. Frog because he was popular.' It was the opposite," he continued. "Mr. Frog was our favorite character. When that episode [Season 1, Episode 2] aired, it aired right after the first episode, which people loved. It had been out for like two years. Some people, not a lot, but right when it dropped, were like, 'That wasn't as good as the first.' But now everyone's a fan of Mr. Frog. That was something people thought we brought back because of fan service. I don't think there's a single character or moment or joke we've purposely brought back for fan service. If anything, sometimes we try to piss the fans off in a fun way that's funny to us."

As the duo has expressed in previous interviews, at the end of the day, it comes down to Hadel and Cusack knowing what's funny and what works for the show. "We're kind of stubborn in a way where we're like, 'No, we know what's good with our show.' But if you read a comment now and again and it cuts deep, it's usually something that you subconsciously agree with. So it is good to read for feedback," Cusack explained. "But oftentimes we'll read something and be like, 'No.' Like Zach said, we like Mr. Frog, and then it was proved right. But we really try not to read comments and then be like, 'All right, everyone wants to see this.' We just do what we think is funny."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!