September 21st, 2020 
Jackson Murphy 
SYFY’s TZGZ animation block will debut a brand new series this Saturday night September 26th at Midnight. Magical Girl Friendship Squad comes from creator Kelsey Stephanides, who’s excited for her action and comedy packed show to finally be unveiled.
Jackson Murphy: Take me through the timeline of your Origins short-form series happening to SYFY wanting to take your creation to the next level with this new, longer series.
Kelsey Stephanides: Five years ago, this project came-up as an idea. At that time, there really weren’t a lot of women in adult animation. [The live-action] Broad City came-out, and it was a big adult show for women. But there was nothing really happening in this one specific niche. And it got me thinking, ‘What would that show look like if it was a show that was able not only to be led by women but really majority women cast and even feminine in themes, nature and design?’
I’ve always been a fan of Sailor Moon Magical Girl shows. I got this idea of genre parody – how Rick and Morty parodies Back to the Future, but it’s still its own show. And Archer and Futurama – a lot of adult animation does this. What if we applied that same concept to a show like Sailor Moon? What would it look like? It was an idea that I developed… I was still in school at this point… for a school pitch. My professor was James Belfer of Cartuna and after the class, he was like, ‘You should pitch this [to Cartuna].’ I did, and they loved it. And they decided to go through with making Origins, which was meant to be a Pilot series that would serve as a short-form pitch to networks.
We made that in 2016. And from there, they were pitching that around. But it wasn’t until 2019 that it landed at SYFY. They wanted to reboot the show for TZGZ and give it a polish and longer episodes. And starting from the end of 2019 through [the end of August], we’ve been making the show.
JM: That’s amazing that you were still in school when this started. And now here we are! How fun was it being part of the recent San Diego Comic-Con @Home virtual panel for the show and the TZGZ block?
KS: It was fun. It was a little weird because San Diego Comic-Con is known as this huge event. I’m gonna be on a panel… but I’m also gonna be on my couch. We had that call with the cast members, and since it was pre-recorded, I’m sure it was a lot less pressure than if we had a live panel. But it was cool – but kind of how this whole production has been. Everyone’s at home. This panel was my first time talking to the cast face-to-face because even in records, a lot of them are LA-based and we record over Skype. So this was kind of the first cast reunion.
JM: I enjoyed watching the Pilot episode of this series. First of all, how much of you is in our main characters, Alex and Daisy?
KS: Neither one of them is directly based on me, but even in the earliest stage, Daisy was definitely someone based on my friends at the time (who I’m still friends with now). And Alex was developed to live in that world as a partner to Daisy. But looking back now, I do see a lot of myself in Alex just because if you created the contrast to a personality type that most of your friends have, of course it’s gonna be the natural pairing. And there’s a lot of myself in the general vibe of the show.
Kelsey Stephanides
JM: And why a red panda as this very special magical guide?
KS: This is something that came-up in Origins. We wanted to emulate that Magical Girl partner/animal companion. A lot of times it’s a cat or a cute, fictional/fantasy monster. A red panda is very unique but also very cute. You’re gonna love it, but it’s not necessarily something you’ve seen a lot of before. And it’s not also a normal pet. It’s not quite the typical blending-in kind of thing. Everyone can still like it. This would be weird in real-life, but it’s a cute red panda, so she’s a very likable character.
JM: Yes, Nut is very likable. And she’s voiced by Ana Gasteyer. What advice did you give her on her voice performance? We have a cute animal who’s also an authoritative figure – a guide.
KS: We kind of went with that: you are the creator of the universe, this all-powerful goddess. But you’re in the form of a red panda. We really emphasized the comedy of it: the contrasting great powers and a tiny cute, little animal. And [she] created these girls that you’re asking to protect you. There is that motherly goddess vibe. She’s looking out for them, even though she’s asking for their help. But it’s coming out of a tiny red panda. So we kind of said play up the goddess… and then when we see it coming out of a panda, it’s gonna be hilarious and adorable.
JM: I admire the look of the show. And I admire many anime films, especially in the last few years. What can anime fans expect from the visuals you’re bringing in?
KS: We aren’t trying to make an anime, but we definitely reference a lot of anime. We pull a lot of different references from a lot of different places, and some of it was anime. We put a lot of Easter Eggs in the backgrounds, because a lot of our artists are big fans. You’ll recognize [certain] styles of shots. The anime sensibilities is something we looked at for storyboards. What kind of shots feel very used in anime that we don’t specifically use in western animation that tends to be based more off of three-camera sitcoms. So we’re blending a lot of those styles: what kind of effects do they use? How are backgrounds rendered? We’re studying those and figuring out how to develop it into our own, unique style with what we already have.
JM: I like how Alex and Daisy almost immediately put coats on over their new heroic outfits. I think if anybody suddenly got transformed into a superhero, they might not want to be walking around with that kind of outfit on right away. Do you think that they’ll warm up to these new powers over the course of this season?
KS: They are gonna go through a journey and an arc. The first episode is the shock of ‘Okay: suddenly our lives have changed. We have to do all this stuff and everything’s different.’ A lot of the series is adjusting to that: how is my life different now? How do I still merge my normal, everyday life with these newfound powers and responsibilities that I have, which is sort of the theme of the genre of the Magical Girl. It’s never a full life change. They still have to be people in the world and then sometimes also save it.
JM: (laughs) Yeah. Have your friends (who I’m sure you consider magical) seen this yet?
KS: They haven’t. But they’ve definitely seen all the promos and are excited to watch it when it comes out. My friends have Google Alerts for the show and find out news before I do. (laughs)
JM: Maybe they’ll get a Google Alert when this story comes out! You’re part of this TZGZ block of adult animated programming. Over the past few months, a lot of news has come out about new adult animated shows being produced by a bunch of different studios. This seems to be a big trend right now. What do you think about this TZGZ block and what it says about where we are in animation?
KS: I think it’s really cool. A lot of adult animation has been restricted to sitcoms or really indie experimental stuff online or super late night. Having a channel like SYFY bringing-in their own new block… and having other networks and studios do the same… is really opening up what adult animation is and can be. Now that there’s gonna be so much more content out there like this… we’re starting to see it already… it’ll start trending this way. We’re gonna see a lot more different ways to do this kind of show. It’s gonna be cool to see more people tell more kinds of stories. TZGZ is a big step towards expanding what we can do and what new networks are going to be looking for – and probably more diversity, styles and genres. We’re going to maybe start pulling away from the typical adult animated comedy and get more dramas or other genres and explore the medium more in a way we’ve done for children but not adult audiences. This is a great step, and I’m glad to be part of it!
JM: Can we honestly expect you staying up ’til Midnight every Saturday night watching this show live?
KS: Probably! I do have Cable. I’m one of the few millennials who has Cable. I’m definitely excited to watch this on TV and see all the other shows it’s gonna be paired with. I’ll be up! This is the party now!
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