‘LACKADAISY’ Lacks Nothing

The pilot for a new animated series dropped a couple weeks ago, and it continues to amaze.

Set in Prohibition-era St. Louis, “LACKADAISY” uses a world of anthropomorphic cats to tell a gritty and dramatic story. It follows Mordecai Heller, a daring, crazy, and maybe even a little insane, member of a gang of alcohol smugglers. Part of his gangs are his two friends, Ivy Pepper and Calvin, who have more than a little chemistry with each other.

The episode is half an hour of craziness as a run-of-the-mill job turns into a high-stakes car chase and subsequent battle as a mysterious gang of bounty hunters tracks down Mordecai and his friends.

Available for free on YouTube, this pilot episode was made by a team of animators around the world. Based originally on a webcomic series created by Tracy Butler, this project came to life entirely through crowdfunding.

In March of 2020, the Kickstarter campaign asked for $85,000 to animate a 10-minute project. The goal was met then met again, four times over. In the end, “LACKADAISY” received over $330,000. Just over three years later, the 27-minute pilot dropped on YouTube.

This was done entirely independently from any big corporation. Ninety-nine percent of animated shows you see today are owned by Disney, Netflix, etc., but “LACKADAISY” doesn’t have that. This gives the animators total reign on what they want to do with their show, but it does come with a few downsides.

The most obvious one would be the funding. To do any more episodes, as seems to be implied with “pilot” in the title, they would need more funding. As is apparent, it’s extremely expensive and time-consuming to make just one episode, so it’ll be a long time if we see any more of the show.

You can’t help but feel a little inspired by the story behind the show’s creation. Though it went through a long, hard process, the existence of the show is a good sign for the future of animation. Maybe bigger studios will give creators a chance when they see what they can do on their own.

On their website they have links to their Patreon. If you watched “LACKADAISY” and loved it, why not throw them a (fish) bone? The brilliant dialogue, beautiful animation, and rich world more than deserves it. In the meantime check out the pilot below.