| Genre: | Superhero Science fiction[1] |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Creator: | Stan Lee |
| Starring: | |
| Composer: | Amotz Plessner |
| Theme Music Composer: | Kid Rock |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Executive Producer: |
|
| Producer: | Gerry Anderson |
| Company: |
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| Network: | Spike TV |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
Stripperella (also referred to as Stan Lee's Stripperella) is an American adult animated superhero comedy television series created by Stan Lee for Spike TV.[3] The lead character is a stripper named Erotica Jones who is secretly the superhero/secret agent Stripperella.[4] The series was produced by The Firm and Spike Animation, with CGI animation provided by Nickelodeon Digital.[2] It is rated TV-MA in the United States.
Stripperella debuted on Spike TV in summer 2003 and lasted one season with 13 episodes. Anderson described it as not being a raunchy show, despite obvious double entendres and topless nudity (which was blurred out when shown on Spike TV).
In Australia, Stripperella began airing uncensored on SBS TV, starting Monday March 13, 2006, at 21:00 local time (9:00PM), after having previously been restricted to early-morning airings on the Nine Network. In the United Kingdom, Stripperella is aired uncensored as part of the UK incarnation of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. In Germany, the show aired uncensored on Comedy Central Germany available for all audiences. In Italy, it is aired on Fox Italia, uncensored and unrated; in Latin America is transmitted by MTV Latin America; and in Brazil was transmitted by Multishow. In Singapore, it was broadcast on Arts Central in 2005 at 11:00 pm with a parental guidance rating.[5]
The project was one of the first projects created by Stan Lee's new production company POW! Entertainment, and was originally announced to be running on TNN (later renamed Spike) in January 2003, with Pamela Anderson voicing the lead. Lee, who would only provide the pitch and character outlines before handing the show to other writers, noted it would be a prime-time cartoon and stated "It won't be dirty, but it will be funny." The series planned to use motion capture technology to faithfully show Anderson's anatomy.[6]
It was later delayed to become part of TNN's new adult animation block, alongside The Ren & Stimpy Show and Gary the Rat. Anderson claimed that she and Lee were fans of each other's work, and that she would give notes on the series' scripts.[7]
Erotica Jones AKA Stripperella is an extremely attractive dancer. Many people are jealous of Erotica's bust size, especially her coworkers, and she enjoys her extremely revealing outfits because she enjoys showing off her irresistible "assets". She has a brother named Chipperella (Jon Cryer), who also happened to be a stripper living a double life as a superhero and secret agent.
Note: what follows is the chronology according to the DVD release. Spike TV aired the episodes out of order. The air dates have not been changed.
Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the show a positive review, saying that it was "unexpectedly clever, albeit sometimes crude", and that its "tongue in cheek" humor was reminiscent of the 1960s Batman series.[8]
The Complete DVD boxed set released on February 22, 2005, contains uncensored versions with a new opening theme replacing the original Kid Rock song.[9] Recently, Paramount and Viacom have allowed Mill Creek Entertainment to acquire the distribution rights to any future DVD reissues.
Originally there was to have been a promotional Stripperella comic written by Lee[7] and published by Humanoids Publishing (publishers of Métal Hurlant magazine) alongside the animated series,[10] but it was not published.
In 2003, ex-stripper Janet Clover, a.k.a. "Jazz", a.k.a. "Stripperella", filed a lawsuit in the Daytona Beach, Florida circuit court against Viacom, Stan Lee, and Pamela Anderson, claiming she is Stripperella's true creator and Stan Lee stole her idea when she discussed it during a "private dance session".[11]