Happy Tree Friends (HTF) is an adult-oriented Flash-animated web series created by Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo, and Kenn Navarro, and developed by Montijo, Navarro, and Warren Graff for Mondo Media. A parody of the kids' show genre, the series follows the misadventures of cute anthropomorphic forest animals, who live initially peaceful lives until they are killed or injured in sudden, usually accidental, and extremely graphically violent incidents. Debuting in December 2000, Happy Tree Friends has achieved a cult following on Mondo's website and YouTube channel and expanded into a multimedia franchise, which includes the television series of the same name.
History While working with Mondo Media, Rhode Montijo drew a character on a piece of scrap paper, who would later become Shifty. He then drew a yellow rabbit that bore some resemblance to Cuddles, writing "Resistance is futile" underneath it on a spreadsheet poster. Montijo hung the drawing up in his workstation so other people could see his idea, and eventually, the idea was pitched to and accepted by the Mondo Media executives. In 1999, Mondo gave Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo, and Kenn Navarro a chance to do a short for them. They came up with a short named "Banjo Frenzy," which featured a dinosaur (an earlier version of Lumpy) murdering three woodland animals, a squirrel, a rabbit, and a beaver (earlier versions of Giggles, Cuddles, and Toothy) with a banjo. From there, Mondo gave them their own Internet series, which they named Happy Tree Friends.
Although the first episodes of Happy Tree Friends were produced in 1999, they weren't released online until sometime in 2000 and became an unexpected success, getting over 15 million hits each month, along with screenings at film festivals.
Mondo Media CEO John Evershed attributes the success of the series to animator Kenn Navarro:
In 2014, after the episode "Dream Job" was released, Mondo Media announced plans to produce a feature film based on the series. However, in 2016, Kenn Navarro tweeted that he was unaware of work being done on a film, with his team being "in talk to do more shorts." Later, when a fan asked Kenn Navarro about the film, he replied, "a treatment that [I] and the writers did was all the work (that [I] know of) for the movie."
On December 22, 2016, Mondo Media released five all-new episodes for purchase online. Bundled as a set named "Happy Tree Friends: Still Alive," the episodes came with some additional bonus material such as background designs, animated storyboards, the animation process, and a writer's session video. Upon purchase, buyers were able to download the DRM-free video files to their computer. In January 2017, Kenn Navarro tweeted, "As I understand, sales were OK but fell below what was expected."
On August 17, 2023, it was announced that a new Happy Tree Friends episode titled "Too Much Scream Time" would be released on September 27, 2023, to tie into the downloadable content for the shoot 'em up video game The Crackpet Show (titled The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition), which was released on the same day. On October 18, 2024, a new episode titled "Happy Train Friends" was released as a crossover with Dumb Ways to Die.
Premise Happy Tree Friends centers on the lives of anthropomorphic, multicolored woodland animals. It intentionally misleads first-time viewers into thinking it is kids' animated edutainment series, with the show's regular opening and closing sequences being in the form of the Little Golden Books,Kenn Navarro [@ChainKnuckle] (February 15, 2015). "@gagedude1 @Htf432 @devthedoodler @happytreefriend Good eye! All the openning [sic] and credits for the show are based on Golden Books designs." (Tweet) – via Twitter. and all main characters (except Lumpy and Sniffles) sharing a Care Bears-esque design (pie-eyes, heart-shaped noses, mitten hands, and boot-shaped feet). Each episode starts peacefully with the characters living their lives normally, with activities ranging from childish to grown-up, but a sudden event unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) caused by another animal leads to many of the characters being subjected to extreme and graphic violence. Each character suffers brutal pain, murder, or mutilation by the end of each episode but always returns alive and well by the next.
Episodes
A total of 134 segments were released across ninety-five web episodes and the thirteen episodes (39 segments) of the television series.
Television series
The television series was first shown at Comic-Con 2006, while some of the episodes were shown on the website a few weeks prior to the show's television premiere. The television series would premiere on October 3, 2006, at midnight on G4's late-night block, Barbed Wire Biscuit (later renamed Midnight Spank). The web series also aired on the network's animation anthology series; Happy Tree Friends and Friends and G4's Late Night Peepshow.
The Canadian channel Razer (now MTV2) aired the show in syndication with then-sibling television network Citytv, and then OLN. Internationally, the series was broadcast on MTV in Europe and Latin America, and Animax in South Africa.
Characters and cast
Main characters Cuddles – A yellow rabbit who has big ears, pink cheeks, and a tiny fluff of fur on his head that looks like his tail, along with a pair of pink bunny slippers. He is sometimes shown to be rebellious and often does extremely dangerous things, while he is cute and cuddly at other times. He is considered the series' unofficial mascot and has the highest death count in the series. His deaths usually involve his body being sliced apart, vehicles, and his intestines. He is voiced by Kenn Navarro. Giggles – A pink chipmunk with a small red bow on her head. She was the first female Tree Friend introduced. Her early design depicted her as a blue squirrel. Her deaths usually involve being crushed, her chest, and her head. She is generally considered a girly girl along with her best friend, Petunia. She is known for being featured as a romantically interested date of many of the show's male characters (except for Disco Bear, who she loathes) and has a moderate survival rate compared to many of the other main characters. If the pilot "Banjo Frenzy" is counted, she holds the distinction of being the first character in the series to die. She has been voiced by 3 actresses since her debut: Dana Belben (Season 1–2), Ellen Connell (TV Series–Season 4), and Lori Jee (for a few episodes of Season 3). Toothy – A purple beaver with freckles and huge buckteeth unlike the others (hence the name "Toothy"). He is friends with Cuddles. His deaths mostly pertain to his eyes and sharp objects. Many people consider him the most undeveloped character in the show or a "redshirt". Toothy also holds the distinction of being the first character to die in the series (if not counting the pilot, "Banjo Frenzy"). He is voiced by Warren Graff. Lumpy – A blue moose with mismatched antlers. He is extremely dim-witted, which often leads to the deaths of many other characters and sometimes his own, but ironically, he has had more jobs than any of the other Tree Friends. His early design in "Banjo Frenzy" portrayed him as a dinosaur instead of a moose, and also presented him as quick to anger and having murderous tendencies, both of which were removed with his first appearance in the series proper. He is the tallest of the main characters and is one of two main characters to not use the basic body shape. He is usually portrayed as an adult, or at least older than the other characters. He is usually considered as the show's main character, as he has appeared in the most episodes, had the most starring roles, has the most occupations of any character, survived more often than most of the other main characters, and has killed the most characters of the main characters. Most of his kills are unintentional and a result of his stupidity, although he has also been shown to either lack taking responsibility for those accidental deaths or even intentionally killed some. When he dies, his deaths often involve machinery, animals, and his own mistakes. He was first voiced by Rhode Montijo (Seasons 1–2) and was later voiced by David Winn (Seasons 2–4). Petunia – A blue skunk with a pink flower head accessory and a tree air freshener necklace. She is generally considered a girly girl along with her best friend, Giggles. In later seasons, she has a severe case of obsessive–compulsive disorder and has an unhealthy need to keep everything clean. Her deaths usually involve her head and household appliances. She has been voiced by 3 actresses since her debut: Dana Belben (Seasons 1–2), Ellen Connell (Season 3–4, TV Series), and Lori Jee (for a few episodes of Season 3). Handy – An orange beaver with amputated hands that are wrapped in bandages (which he is ironically named after), a tool belt, and a yellow hard hat. His amputated hands cause him trouble that often frustrates him, and his disabilities result in the death of either him or other Tree Friends. He is the Tree Friend who most often does construction work, which he somehow manages to do without trouble as long as it is off-screen. He also briefly had boots. His deaths usually involve glass, his organs, impalement, being cut in half, and his head. He is voiced by Warren Graff. Nutty – A jittery green squirrel with a crazy candy addiction, a constant act of giggling, and a candy outfit consisting of three lollipops on his head and a candy cane on his chest. He is shown to be quite obsessive about anything made of artificial sugar, especially candy, and goes to great heights to try to get them, often at the expense of himself or others. He also occasionally mistakes certain objects, such as Christmas lights, to be candy. Eating sugar makes him experience an exaggerated sugar rush. He has one small black pupil on his left eye, while his right, which is afflicted by a case of lazy eye, has a green iris (much like the eyes of Flippy's bad side). His deaths usually involve his mouth, getting impaled, crushed, split apart, or shredded, and breathing problems. Michael "Lippy" Lipman voices him. Sniffles – A brainy blue anteater with big glasses and a mouth on his snout. He is easily the most intelligent character in the series but sometimes lacks common sense. For example, when he spilled a cup of milk, he made a time traveling machine instead of just cleaning up and fill a new one (from the episode "Blast from the Past"). He makes many inventions, but these tend to backfire at inopportune times, sometimes resulting in his death or the death of other characters. He often attempts to eat a family of ants, who manage to save themselves while killing their natural predator in some of the most graphic and sadistic ways possible. His deaths usually involve his tongue, head, limbs, organs and his inventions. He is voiced by Liz Stuart. Pop and Cub – Two tan father-and-son bears. Pop wears a robe and is almost always seen smoking a tobacco pipe, while Cub wears a diaper and a beanie with a propeller. Cub has appeared without Pop in some episodes and vice versa. Although well-meaning to his son, Pop usually causes unintentional misfortune to his son casually or negligently, ending with Cub and others injured or dead – sometimes this negligence gets himself killed as well. When he witnesses his son's death and isn't being negligent, however, he does break down due to these events. Other times it is Cub that gets himself into danger. Pop has a high survival rate compared to many of the show's other characters. Pop is voiced by Aubrey Ankrum; Cub has been voiced by 3 actresses since his debut: Dana Belben (Seasons 1–2), Ellen Connell (Seasons 2–4), and Lori Jee (for 1 episode of Season 3), which are the same voice actresses for Giggles and Petunia.