wait remember my dad the rock star my name's willie zilla my dad is a rock star oh yeah
you don't say i couldn't tell i hope you've been well today we are taking a look into a
weirder less talked about barely brought up in conversations an easily forgettable show
my dad the rock star not to be confused with the upcoming my dad the bounty hunter on netflix
i know nothing about that show other than their names are similar so as we go through
our november marathon of the fault in our nicktoons we stop kick back shred a nice
little riff on this guitar with my dad the rock star don't panic it's only a tv show
my dad the rockstar was a traditionally animated tv series created by kiss bassist
game simmons as a co-production between novana and carrera group da for the canadian channel
teletune before eventually being aired on kids wb nickelodeon and nicktoons so it's another
situation of nickelodeon and i guess even kids wb doing syndication deals and working closely
specifically with canadian broadcasters so it's kind of a nicktune but not one that would consider
itself one it just happened to play on the same channel as other nicktoons what constitutes as
a nicktune at this point my dad the rockstar ran from september 1st 2003 to july 5th 2004
for a total of two seasons equaling 26 episodes also september 1st that's my birthday who cares
yeah okay ouch the show focused on william willi zilla the ordinary mildly timid 14 year old son
of the flamboyant rich celebrity rock star rockzilla as he tries to live a normal high
schooler existence in his new town of silence springs despite his family's fame the creator
of the show gene simmons singer and songwriter best known by his kiss stage persona the demon
or for some generations for his appearance in the scooby-doo movie scooby-doo and kiss rock
and roll mystery like zoinks scooby you said it hi can you both shut up i'm in the middle of a video
the concept for my dad the rock star came about when simmons decided he wanted to make a cartoon
series about a loud rock star for his kids after his son nick for a school assignment about what
their parents do for work brought in a photo of simmons drooling blood and spitting fire into his
kindergarten class that's just a regular tuesday simmons took this original concept and turned it
into the 2001 children's book my dad the rock star rebel without a nose ring from there simmons a fan
of novana's other shows decided to pitch the book as an animated series to the company eventually
getting a green lit as a cartoon whether the show would be good or not would you say no to this guy
throughout the show's two seasons simmons worked as an executive producer on the series fun fact
he also produced an episode of drake and josh for some reason the infamous sheep thrills episode oh
and for something weirder wrote for action leak now that's a true statement and business is good
now we just need to pull them aside and have a little chat about that green hair that's so last
year nickelodeon presents my dad the rock star a brand new series in early development of my dad
the rock star the series was going to be about kiss itself before it was changed into members
of the family being based off of simmons real life family for example the character of roxilla
fully named rockford amadeus zilla is based on a fictionalized version of gene simmons with
the character even having simmons signature long tongue and having a somewhat similar face makeup
during pre-production simmons personally selected lawrence bane to voice his animated counterpart
and honestly it's the best voice in the show the biggest range of emotions i'll further go into
the voice acting in general shortly rock is the titular character of the series being the rock
star dad in question totally a main character is what you would think from how flashy and zany this
character is but the title is my dad the rock star and we follow his son who is a very uninteresting
character in comparison so the dad plays off as more of a secondary character but to be fair
no character can really hold a candle to rock in his personality the character is noted for having
a lifelong love of rock and roll and despite often being immature and behaving like a teenager
for caring deeply about his family and doing the best to be a good father rock's own father is a
classically trained cellist who fostered young rock's love of music while the father and son
do not quite see eye to eye about what the proper approach to music is both are shown of course to
deeply care about each other but if you disagree about his taste in music why would you name him
rock like the middle name's amadeus classical amadeus zilla doesn't sound better but i digress
the character of crystalzilla rock's wife was based on simmons wife shannon tweed an actress
model and film producer who used her pull within the canadian entertainment industry to initially
get the show made unlike her real-life counterpart crystal is a pink-haired spiritualist with a very
zen parenting style for her children often citing her third eye as the source for her information
the eldest of the zilla children is serenity hey yo you talking about my sister's serenity this is
a really weird yu-gi-oh reference at this point serenity is based on simmons and tweed's daughter
sophie she is a stereotypical teenage girl spoiled boy crazy egotistical ditzy and often picking on
her younger brother willie despite all this she is shown to have a kind side throughout the series
giving willy advice about love or helping him adjust to high school willie zilla the
main character of the show is rock and crystal's youngest child based on simmons and tweed's son
nick bully never had a normal life growing up spending most of his childhood constantly moving
around touring with his family before they finally settled down into silent springs during willy's
time in silent springs he slowly becomes more comfortable with his identity and the concept of
living a normal more stable life like his father and grandfather willie has a deep love and talent
for music with his genre of choice being jazz willy's musical abilities are showcased throughout
the series via his part as a trumpet player in the school band yo why he standing like that
a common reoccurring character who is not based on anyone in simmons family is nigel or
skunk the english ex-driver of the zilla tour bus and the current friend and manager of the family
skunk's nickname comes from his iconic two-tone ponytail he rocks in the show after the zillow
family settles into silent springs skunk begins to live in the defunct tour bus parked outside of the
family mansion he couldn't just give him a room in the mansion lily's best friends in the show
are alyssa a smart sarcastic environmental activist who later becomes willy's girlfriend
and quincy who prefers to be called q a smooth-talking self-proclaimed master
of love whose narrow-minded father does not like the zillas for their loud eccentric ways
joining willie q and alyssa at school is buzz salchuk the school bully buzz is brutal
violent and talks like a shakespearean actor often making overly long drawn-out monologues
serving as the main antagonist in the show half the reason he is so mean to willie is because
of his unreciprocated crush on alyssa my dad the rock star unexpectedly went on hiatus after the
episode blind date a short time after the hiatus started an announcement was made that the show
was being cancelled despite popular ratings or as some claim it to have had low ratings either way
not enough people tuned into the show premiering on nick monday hi i'm willy zilla
wait did i say normal and speaking of that final episode blind date season 2 episode 26 willie is
informed by his sister's serenity that his plans to hang out with alyssa one-on-one at a local
carnival the next day qualifies as a date excited and scared by the concept of going out with a girl
who was pretty smart and his best friend willie gets an insane amount of advice about dating from
serenity despite being overloaded with the advice willie and alyssa's date starts off pretty well
that is until they run into q q freaked out by the concept of being slowly left
by his two best friends as a third wheel lies and tells wooly that alyssa doesn't like him
like that wooly not wanting to make alyssa uncomfortable switches into friendship mode
accidentally upsetting alyssa leading to her taking off with buzz while all this is going
on rock tries to romance crystal for the 20th wedding anniversary not quite understanding what
she means when she says she wants a quiet private celebration for just the two of them eventually
father and son cross paths while lost in the tunnel of love both literally and metaphorically
where they realize what they have to do for their loved ones is to actually listen to what they're
saying rock finally makes the grand gesture crystal was waiting for and alyssa accepts
willy's apology with a kiss though it never got to air an episode that showcased alyssa's true
rapping skills called silent springs most wanted referencing the 2003 film malibu's most wanted was
produced take with that information what you want but overall this show is very mid like it's fine
it has some funny moments roxilla is a fun character but it's missing
something something that sells the show to me beyond this great concept of a famous musician's
son and family dealing with their dad's success it loses all momentum it was building by having the
main kid characters we follow at school all having very relaxed less expressive voice acting longer
spacing in their talking like i am doing now at least slow compared to when rock is on screen it
just becomes a bit of a slower less exciting show when we focus solely on the high school issues
i do like the art direction the design of the characters for the most part but it just lacks
a reason to at least for me stick in my brain like the melodies and lyrics of all the songs i do love
it's not an awful show by any means it's one that if you have nothing else to watch
it would be fine and passable for an easy going time waster check it out for yourself let me know
also let me know what you think about the show if you have already seen it thanks for jamming
out with me today make sure to hit the like button and subscribe for more content like this
follow me on twitter or else i'll be back with another video soon but until then later
you