Spatula Madness

Spatula Madness (also known as Spatula Madness: The Original Short) is a flash-animated online short film, originally released in 2004. It was directed, produced, written, and animated by Jason Steele, and stars Steele in the role of all characters. The short film is centered on Edward, who is an average everyman spatula that lives a rather dull and meaningless life and works as an accountant at FULP Industries. In the middle of one normal day, he is inadvertly fired, causing him to question the moral value of life. In order to discover his true purpose, Edward decides to dig deeper, and it soon becomes apparent that his fate is to join the military. During the course of his services, Edward is killed, and he ends up in the afterlife of New France, which leads into several bizarre and unrelated events and sends Edward on a journey of destiny.

Originally conceived as a feature-length film, Spatula Madness was converted into a smaller format as a FilmCow video by Jason Steele. However, due to the video’s success, Steele partially revived the concept by planning a Spatula Madness movie. Production began in July 2006, and was intended to be released in November, but constant delays and pitches for a potential Charlie the Unicorn television series continuously delayed his progress. Since then, Jason Steele has rebooted production as of April 6, 2009, the release date of Charlie the Unicorn 3.

Plot
In the universe of Spatula Madness, spatulas are involved in a war with their counterparts the spoons, the Spatula Madness incarnation of ruthless monsters, over major differences and beliefs. The central protagonist, Edward, is an average everyman spatula who lives a rather dull and meaningless life and works as an accountant at FULP Industries. In the middle of one normal day, he is inadvertently fired, causing him to question the moral value of life. As Edward searches to discover his true purpose, it soon becomes apparent that his fate is to join the military through two pieces of evidence. The first piece of fate is discovered when Edward meets a crazy homeless man, who owns a dolphin carcass that he covered in clocks and stuck an FM radio in its head in an attempt to channel the future and discover the secrets of time. Edward reluctantly tests it out, and, much to his surprise, it works, informing him that his true destiny is to fight in the United Secret Spatula Resistance against the Spoon Army. The second piece of fate is found the next morning, when Edward receives a call from the military inside his house, which tells him that he must join them to prevent any further damage by the spoons.

Edward finally realizes that he must join the military, so he packs his bags and leaves. However, his first battle, which involves scouting a field outside of town for any spoon soldiers, ends and results in virtually all the soliders, including himself. Once Edward descends into the afterlife, it turns out to be New France, a country Edward despises. A Frenchman appears and welcomes Edward by signing a song about the country’s customs, telling him that he can’t escape no matter what. Edward does not heed his words of wisdom, and comically attempts to repeatedly escape through a manhole cover, which results in him crushing and breaking vital body parts.

Once Edward eventually succeeds, he inadvertly meets a spatula named Max, who lived a very depressing childhood, and is notable for his abnormally shaped head (which was caused by his forgetful mother’s addiction to methamphetamines during her pregnancy), and a light-and-stereo system installed in his head that makes his tragic life sound less depressing whenever he discusses it. After a short conversation with Max, Edward decides to part ways with him, but is lured back after hearing a topic brought up in the conversation of a local scientist named Drake, who has invented a brilliant device that will end the Spatula-Spoon War. Edward asks Max if he can take him to Drakes laboratory, who responds by inexplicably firing a dart into his neck.

Once Edwards awakens, he finds himself a prisoner of Drake and Max, who are charging the device. Drake explains to Edward that he has been imprisoned to assure he doesn’t spoil his plans. He kills Max, and destroys the machine, mutating Drake into an infinite amount of dedicated scientologists. The end of the video shows Edward telling his companion back home of his adventures, and how even if the road in life is bumpy, and he is no exception, he can always be grateful, and at least he isn’t French.

Release
Being a short film, Spatula Madness did not receive a rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. However, Jason Steele has stated that if the film were released on DVD, it would “most likely” be rated PG. The Internet Movie Database considers the film “family friendly”, stating that it features nothing more then “a few harmless gay jokes”, “mild violence”, and a French spatula who smokes and drinks wine “not for crude value, but to build character”.

Reviews
Reviews for Spatula Madness were generally favorable. The film currently holds a rating of 7.4/10 on the Internet Movie Database. However, while gaining some praise for its humor style and jokes, it was also criticized for its “directionless plot”. Jason Steele has responded to these criticisms by stating that the directionless plot is his usual humor style, and was entirely intentional.

Criticism and controversy
On his official Spatula Madness Production Blog for the Spatula Madness film, in response to questioning by fans if any French people took offense at the film’s portrayal of France, Jason Steele has stated that although “never had a French person slap me after watching Spatula Madness”, he has also stated that he received a few letters from various French Canadians following the film’s release.

Feature film
Originally conceived as a feature-length film, Spatula Madness was converted into a smaller format as a FilmCow video by Jason Steele. However, due to the video’s success, Steele partially revived the concept by planning a Spatula Madness movie. Production began in July 2006, and was intended to be released in November, but constant delays and pitches for a potential Charlie the Unicorn television series continuously delayed his progress. Since then, Jason Steele has rebooted production as of April 6, 2009, the release date of Charlie the Unicorn 3. It has been confirmed that Jason Steele will reprise his role as the major characters, but it is also confirmed that Melanie Steele, Robert Benfer, Matt Books, Stephanie Steele, Chris Alex, and Joshqua Steele will make voice cameos.