John Alexander Davis (born October 26, 1961) is an American film director, writer, animator, voice actor and composer known for his work both in stop-motion animation as well as computer animation , live action and live-action/CGI hybrids . Davis is best known for creating Nickelodeon 's Jimmy Neutron franchise, which enjoyed popularity in the early to mid 2000s.
37-456: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (or just The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron and often shortened as Jimmy Neutron ) is an American animated television series created by John A. Davis for Nickelodeon . Based on the 2001 film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius , the series serves as a sequel to the film. It originally aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons from July 20, 2002, to November 25, 2006. The show follows an 11-year-old genius from
74-460: A crowd of protestors on an LA street in the E! True Hollywood Story episode about Reubens' arrest. Reubens was later offered (and declined) a supporting role on Banks' fledgling TV program. Showtime aired the pilot for Banks' show but never ran any other episodes. In 1994, PBS took an interest in his act. They filmed and aired The Steven Banks Show that summer – the first original sitcom ever produced and run by PBS. Brandon Tartikoff produced
111-562: A minor character in the fantasy-comedy Date with an Angel . Banks hit it big when he developed (and starred in) a one-man theatrical show titled Home Entertainment Center – a comedic play about an easily distracted procrastinator trying to meet a work deadline . He gave 440 performances of Home Entertainment Center at venues like the Canon Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Marines' Memorial Theater, and The One Act in San Francisco (where
148-461: A scientifically minded boy named Jimmy Neutron from Retroville, Texas who frequently goes on adventures with his two best friends, Carl and Sheen, usually involving his inventions going wrong. There have also been three tie-ins with special episode crossovers involving the Nickelodeon hand-drawn style series The Fairly OddParents under the title "The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour" (the first alone,
185-571: A story editor and then head writer for SpongeBob SquarePants for seasons 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. He was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 for the SpongeBob episode he wrote, "The Two Faces of Squidward." Banks and Penn Jillette also collaborated in writing Love Tapes – an unconventional love story for the stage which premiered in February 2005 at Sacred Fools Theater in Hollywood . Banks' novel, King of
222-576: A television series as well as the film. In 2006, he directed the film The Ant Bully after being approached by Tom Hanks to direct the film. Production on the film made Davis resign from production of Jimmy Neutron in January 2003. He gave his position away as executive in charge of production to Steve Oedekerk . He also directed the film's video game . Davis was set to direct an upcoming feature film based on Neopets with Warner Bros. , together with producer Dylan Sellers and writer Rob Lieber. It
259-467: Is waiting for the "right situation" to make it. When asked about a reboot in 2020, Rob Paulsen stated "Well, I've got to tell you, man. I go all over the world when we don't have the coronavirus , and people love Carl. They love Carl. I don't think it would be a bad thing at all to reboot Jimmy Neutron. I think that's one of those shows that a lot of people would love to see again. It was very good. Really smart. That wouldn't surprise me." The theme song
296-1564: The Sacred Fools Theater Company . In March 2012, he performed in San Paolo, Brazil at the Risadaria Comedy Festival and did 24 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. He founded Billy's Moving Art Gallery in 2014. Their slogan is "Bringing Affordable Art To The Masses Since 2014". His paintings have hung in The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Whitney Art Museum in New York, in The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty, The Broad and The Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The Hamburger Bahnhof Museum and The East Side Berlin Wall Gallery in Berlin. In 1998, Banks began writing for Nickelodeon 's animated series CatDog . He wrote several CatDog books as well. He continued working for Nickelodeon, penning several SpongeBob books (including The Big Halloween Scare , which actually charted on The New York Times bestseller list ). In 2001, Banks
333-405: The "Confusion Fusion" and "The Complete Series" DVDs. It was originally supposed to air as a short on KaBlam! , but the show got canceled before the episode aired. The pilot had a few differences from the main series. In it, Jimmy wore a red and white striped shirt and did not wear his signature red atom shirt, Judy's hair was darker, Hugh wore a blue suit (instead of a sweater vest and tie) and
370-425: The 1980s and wrote a script titled Runaway Rocketboy (later the name of the pilot), which was abandoned. He later stumbled upon the idea while moving into a new house in the early 1990s. Davis re-worked it as a short film titled Johnny Quasar and presented it at SIGGRAPH , where he met Steve Oedekerk and worked on a television series of the short as well as the movie. Jimmy was still called Johnny Quasar before it
407-561: The Astrophotography Special Interest Group, associated with the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas. Steven Banks Steven Craig Banks (born November 27, 1954) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and writer of television, plays, books and cartoons, including CatDog , Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi , and SpongeBob SquarePants . In 1987, Banks landed his first acting role, performing as
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#1733085794797444-545: The Creeps , was published by [Knopf] in 2006. In 2009, he collaborated with the dance company Pilobolus co-creating a full-evening piece, Shadowland , currently touring internationally. He developed the CGI series and wrote the pilot for Nickelodeon's Planet Sheen . His play, Looking at Christmas , opened in New York at The Flea Theater on November 20, 2010, and was filmed by a local television station WNET . That play aired on WNET
481-958: The Mime" in the 2005 comedic documentary The Aristocrats which was created by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza. Other appearances include Jimmy Kimmel Live! , Penn & Teller's Bullshit! , Parks & Recreation (his scene was cut out), and The Green Room with Paul Provenza . Billy the Mime presented a six-week engagement at The Flea Theater in New York and has also appeared at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (LA and NYC), The New York International Fringe Festival, The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, The Aspen Comedy Festival, SketchFest (San Francisco), The Revolutions International Theater Festival (New Mexico), The Lakeshore Theater (Chicago), and in Los Angeles at The Actors Gang, Sit 'n Spin, Largo, The Comedy Central Stage, The Steve Allen Theater in Girly Magazine Party and The Rudy Casoni Show and
518-402: The animation company K&H Productions, working with 2-D animator Keith Alcorn. Soon, Davis made the transition from claymation to 2-D animation with Alcorn's help. K&H did production work for commercials, public-access television cable TV animation, and film festivals. K&H Productions declared bankruptcy in early 1987; that same year DNA Productions was founded. Davis came up with
555-408: The fictitious town of Retroville, Texas, the eponymous character , as he goes on adventures with his best friends Carl Wheezer and Sheen Estevez. Throughout the show, various mishaps and conflicts occur on these adventures, as Jimmy's various inventions go awry. The series features voices of Debi Derryberry (Jimmy), Rob Paulsen (Carl), and Jeffrey Garcia (Sheen) for the three main characters. It
592-583: The film to the TV series, to reuse assets for the episodes. Some of the programming team at the studio programmed a special code that allowed the animators to animate scenes in Maya , which can then be rendered in Lightwave . This helped the team keep up with the deadline and avoid going over budget. In 2016, director John A. Davis has stated that he has a story for a Jimmy Neutron reboot feature that he would like to make, but he
629-632: The following year in December 2011. Banks was profiled in the New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure Section on November 28, 2010. He wrote the pilot for the Arnold Schwarzenegger / Stan Lee animated series The Governator . In 2012, he wrote the pilot for a new updated version of the 1960s animated classic Underdog for Red Kite Animation, and co-developed Supernuts! with Niki Yang for Nickelodeon. In October 2012, he joined
666-598: The gadgets, the spacey parents. But it's clever enough and funny enough to have earned a devoted following. The script is generally well written and well executed – the adults behind this show approach the project with apparent zeal. [...] Kids will enjoy this program, while parents might get a kick out of some of the gags as well. And though the computer animation may seem a bit freaky for old-school animation fans, it does allow for quality special effects." A spin-off series, Planet Sheen , aired from 2010 to 2013. The show focuses on Sheen Estevez , who accidentally crash-lands on
703-470: The idea for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (originally named Johnny Quasar ) sometime during the 1980s and wrote a script titled Runaway Rocketboy (later the name of the second pilot) which was later abandoned. While moving to a new house in the early 1990s, he stumbled upon the script and re-worked it as a short film titled Johnny Quasar and presented it in SIGGRAPH where he met Steve Oedekerk and worked on
740-535: The keyboard, joining Steven Banks. The song was "I wear the clothes of the dead", the setup for which was Penn wearing suits bought at estate sales. Banks has appeared in movies and several TV shows such as Beverly Hills Cop III , Dharma & Greg , King of the Hill , Dream On , Caroline in the City , The Jimmy Kimmel Show , Parks and Recreation , Mom , and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend . Banks performed as "Billy
777-467: The planet Zeenu in the pilot episode. John A. Davis Davis began animating as a child using his parents' 8 mm camera to film action figures in stop motion . His interest in animation began when he watched a stop motion film called Icharus at a film festival. He worked on the stop motion film The Bermuda Triangle in 1981 while still attending Southern Methodist University , where he graduated in 1984. Soon after his graduation Davis joined
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#1733085794797814-430: The second and third with the subtitles "When Nerds Collide!" and "The Jerkinators!," respectively); the five main characters from Jimmy Neutron meet with the main characters from The Fairly OddParents, Timmy, his godparents, and his two best friends Chester, and AJ, and often cross between each of their worlds of 2D and 3D animation. Keith Alcorn and John A. Davis created Jimmy (then named Johnny Quasar) sometime during
851-537: The series featured a variety of freelance writers as well. Midway through the first season, Jed Spingarn was promoted to Co-Producer and started writing less episodes, while Gene Grillo took his place as story editor. In seasons 2 and 3 the show featured less freelance writers and most episodes were written by Banks and Grillo. In addition, season 1 was more episodic and had mostly 11-minute episodes, while seasons 2 and 3 had serial elements and mostly half-hour episodes. DNA Productions retooled their pipeline when moving from
888-580: The show ran for eleven months). For his performances, he was awarded the LA Weekly Theater Award , four Drama-Logue Awards , and three San Francisco Bay Area Critic's Awards. He also performed at the Aspen Comedy festival , the Cast Theater, Callboard Theater, and Las Palmas Theater. In 1989, Home Entertainment Center achieved national fame when it was filmed and aired on Showtime ; the filming
925-440: The show was much the same as his one-act play: Banks portrayed Steven Brooks – an underachieving, chronic procrastinator fascinated by trivia and cursed with a penchant for comedic songs. In the summer of 1991, after Paul Reubens was arrested for allegedly masturbating in an adult movie theater, Banks was among a number of entertainers who protested the decision of CBS to drop Reubens' show from their lineup. Banks can be seen in
962-526: The show, filmed at WYES in New Orleans . A CD album for the show was also released, consisting of original songs written and performed by Banks. Thirteen episodes were shot and the program garnered critical acclaim, but one episode, "Miss Janie Regrets", was not aired due to controversy over a PBS-like children's show parody. Banks' show has attained a kind of cult status despite its short run on PBS. In one episode, Penn Jillette sang and played guitar, Teller on
999-492: The staff of Two and a Half Men as Co-Producer. In 2013, he wrote a one-hour dramedy pilot called A Beautiful Mess for Chuck Lorre Productions . He co-created and directed, with Pilobolus, Shadowland , which has been performed in 31 countries and sold over 500,000 tickets. It is currently touring the US. A new full-evening piece, Shadowland II: The Adventure Continues , premiered in Berlin in 2016. His play Looking at Christmas
1036-536: Was a bit smarter, the Yolkians all wore grey suits and King Goobot's crown was a different color, the theme song was longer with a few lines that were cut later, Goddard was voiced by Kim Saxon instead of Frank Welker , Carl Wheezer had a very different design, main characters Sheen Estevez , Cindy Vortex , and Libby Folfax were absent and the title card had a picture in the scene. The show began with Jed Spingarn as story editor and Steven Banks as head writer, though
1073-540: Was a freelance writer for season 2 of The Fairly OddParents . In 2002, Banks was named head writer for The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius , and in 2004, he was nominated for one of the 56th Annual Writers Guild Awards for the episode Rescue Jet Fusion . In 2004, he wrote for Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi , an animated series from the Cartoon Network about the adventures of real-life J-pop music stars Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura. In late 2004, he became
1110-621: Was a writer for Harvey Beaks . In 2019, Banks was a writer for Lego City Adventures . His original book series, Middle School Bites , published by Holiday House, distributed by Penguin Random House came out in 2020. There are four books in the series. In April 2021, Banks served as a head writer on the animated streaming series Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten writing all 26 episodes. In 2005, Banks joined SpongeBob in season 4 as head writer and story editor for six years. SpongeBob producer Eric Coleman, called Banks to tell him he
1147-417: Was decided to name him Jimmy Neutron because the name sounded eerily similar to Jonny Quest . The pilot involves Jimmy Neutron testing a rocket ship that he has invented, and later uses it when he inadvertently stumbles upon a Yolkian plot to conquer Earth. The pilot was aired in short mini-episodes on Nickelodeon before the film's release, and its plot was used for the film. It was later included as an extra on
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-548: Was done at the Marines' Memorial Theater. The show featured original songs written and performed by Banks. On May 14, 1989, he appeared (with Penn Jillette ) on the Dr. Demento radio program (that year's Mother's Day Special) and performed a number of his songs live on-air. The ensuing fame landed him a TV pilot on Showtime in January 1991 – The Steven Banks Show (sometimes inaccurately referenced as The Steven Brooks Show ). The plot of
1221-505: Was nominated for an Academy Award along with Steve Oedekerk in the category of Best Animated Feature for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius . Since about 2007, Davis has become a recognized astrophotographer , publishing high-resolution , generally wide-field images in astronomy magazines, and in NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day . In 2009, Davis largely founded and continues to lead APSIG,
1258-487: Was originally set to release on April 20, 2009, but was changed to 2011 and later changed to winter of 2012, before finally being cancelled with no other projects announced. In 2000, Davis was up for an Emmy along with 8 others in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour) for Olive, the Other Reindeer , but lost to Discovery Channel 's Walking with Dinosaurs . In 2002, Davis
1295-414: Was originally written by Brian Causey for the pilot episode. Pop-punk band Bowling for Soup later revamped and extended Causey's theme for the film version theme. Ultimately, the original theme was kept for the TV series intro and outro. Joly Herman of Common Sense Media gave the series 3 out of 5 stars; saying that, "Jimmy Neutron has all the trappings of a Nickelodeon show: the preteen peer pressure,
1332-417: Was published by Broadway Play Publishing in 2016. In 2016, he was also the head writer for Genius Brands ' SpacePOP series. In 2016, he was a writer for a few episodes from " Mixels ". As of 2017, Banks is developing an adult animated action/comedy project for Sony Animation and Netflix about a very famous rock and roll star who faked his own death in 1977 and became a secret agent. In 2017, Banks
1369-612: Was the first Nicktoon series to be animated in CGI. Receiving mostly favorable reviews upon and since its release, the series has been the recipient of various nominations such as the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Cartoon in 2006 and 2007, and has also won an Annie Award for " Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production Produced for Children " in 2004 as well as a Motion Picture Sound Editors "Golden Reel Award". A spin-off, Planet Sheen , aired from 2010 to 2013. The show follows
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