Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island Premiere
Some of you know that when I’m not digging around the 
web for Flash-animation related news, I’m hard at work producing animation. And for the last year or so, I’ve been producing ‘Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island,’ which begins airing in the US tomorrow morning on Kids’WB! at 9:30am (EST). Along with my co-producer Marge Dean, Supervising Director Matt Danner, and Story Editor Ray DeLaurentis, we’ve pulled together a series we’re all very proud of.
The show is produced almost entirely in Flash, and Matt Danner (character designer and director on ‘Xiaolin Showdown’), who designed the majority of the main characters, created a unique look that we couldn’t have achieved if we produced it traditionally. To compliment Matt’s character designs, we designed intricate vector textures for all of the characters, giving a full, almost photographic, look to the show. And the world of Fruit Salad Island was also realized with a fresh look. Working with Photoshop, we used a library of photos to create a collage aesthetic that almost looks and feels 3D. We think it really jumps off the screen and the bright, tropical color palette is perfect for Coconut Fred’s world.
Throughout much of our pre-production, Matt was busy with 
his role as a Supervising Director, so he relied on the amazing skills of his design team – namely Chris Battle (‘Powerpuff Girls,’ ‘Samurai Jack’ and ‘Dexter’s Lab’) and Mindy Allen (or as she’s known to some Miss Mindy). They built out the rest of characters in Coconut Fred’s world, and created all of the unique variations of the characters that you’ll see throughout the first 13 episodes. Pay particular attention to the eyes and mouths of the characters. As many of you know, animating in Flash allows the production team to ‘re-use’ many drawings, and this means the design team can spend a great deal of time crafting elaborate, intricate mouths and eyes that can be used repeatedly throughout the production. You can also see this on display in shows like ‘Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends’ on Cartoon Network.
As the premiere nears, I would like to pass on a few more acknowledgements and thanks. ‘Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island’ was created by Don Oriolo and Sammy Oriti. The show was overseen at Warner Bros. Animation by Kim Christianson, Christopher Keenan and Stan Ruiz, who have been with the project from the beginning. From the start, they had a vision of what the show would become, and on top of creatively guiding the development of the show, they also helped build a tremendous team that would carry out that vision. I would also like to thank our Associate Producer Kathy Page and our Production Manager Eric Waldman, who have run an unbelievably smooth production, and have granted the artists great latitude without disrupting the schedule. And the voice actors – such amazing talent, and in particular, Rob Paulson, who plays Coconut Fred, and Michael Donovan, who not only plays Mr. Greenrind, but is also one of our two voice directors.
And lastly, I would like to thank both our Executive Producer, Sander Schwartz and the Kids’WB! team, Michael Diaz, Dana Cluverius and Betsy McGowan, who have all been a pleasure to work with throughout the production.
So, starting tomorrow, tune in to Kids’WB! Saturday mornings at 9:30am (EST) to watch ‘Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island.’ I hope you enjoy it!
September 16th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
Hi Aaron! Congrats on you’re premiere. When can we watch Coconut Fred in Canada?
September 16th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
I’ll be watching..
Congrats.. I didnt realize such heavy hitting talent..(besides you, Aaron.. and Sammy) was involved.
September 17th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
I just watched it, and found your site after googling the show’s title. Good work! I absolutely loved the animation style and character designs.
I hope this show is a hit!
September 17th, 2005 at 10:39 pm
Hey Aaron,
I’m ticked that I missed the premiere this morning, but I sure hope to see the shows that I got to storyboard on. It was definitely the most fun show I’ve worked on in a LOOOONG time!
September 18th, 2005 at 2:53 am
Hey Aaron…I’d really like to thank you and the whole production team for doing such an outstanding job on Fred…….you’re right Christopher Keenan and everyone at WB animation had an immediate vision as to how the show should go…Ray D did an amazing job as writer and script editor….I’m really proud to be associated with all of you….Don Oriolo
September 20th, 2005 at 2:35 am
for a flash show and a flash blog, you didn’t credit any flash people on your crew. SHAME!!!
September 20th, 2005 at 2:58 am
p.s. Big Ups coconut fred flash crew
September 20th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
Hey, the Coconut Fred Flash animators rock and they know it! Regardless, I’ll surely offer up a big congratulations to the entire Flash team. You really rose to the occasion and the show looks amazing.
As far as the Canadian premiere, I’m not sure.
Sandy – thanks for the props! We had a blast working with you too. Your shows will be up before you know it, so get the VCR ready.
Don – glad you enjoyed the premiere. I’ve had an amazing time working on the show. Congrats!
-Aaron
September 27th, 2005 at 5:51 am
Congrats!
I just caught an episode this weekend. Really nice stuff. It definitely looked like a lot of fun to work on.
October 3rd, 2005 at 8:55 pm
Stubled across Fred thsi weekend. I loved the look and feel of the show and the humor was enough for me and my 5 year old daughter. Kudos to you and your team. Well done.
November 13th, 2005 at 7:05 am
Flash huh, that makes sense – your show has a cool look. I love the voices on your show too. Especially the Ted Knight Mr. Greenrind and the Lil’ John reference Slip & Slide made recently. well done!
December 4th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
i want to download Fred episodes
DJAldrin@msn.com
December 6th, 2005 at 9:09 am
Coconut Fred Rocks! It is rare to find a show that is great for kids and entertaining for adults. I watch it with my nephews and have so much fun.
January 1st, 2006 at 4:34 am
Hi! My name is Julie and your show really rocks. My favorite character is Bingo the cherry. He is cute. I wish I can meet the person or write a letter to the person who acted him out. Any ideas on Bingo PLEASE e-mail me at Julie_Le_Love@yahoo.com Thanks.
January 2nd, 2006 at 11:18 pm
HOORAY FOR FRED!
January 23rd, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Hey there!!!
I LOVE it! My son and I cannot leave the house Saturdays until we’ve had our dose of coconutty goodness. Then I introduced taping the show and watching it later. My husband insists that I’ve been secretly writing eposodes for you, lol. Too Too fun! Now you’re talkin’ coconut!
Promise you’ll never leave me…. Don’t make me write it on the sqeeky board. Again, I love it, most wonderfull thing ever invented, besides the ice cream peeler. Keep up the good work!
January 25th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
This show SUCKS!
complete rip off of spongebob, the creators are the most un original patheitic people I have ever seen.
February 17th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
anonymous is a crazy man this is a great show and if he likes spongbob then he needs to go with all the britney fans and shut up
August 4th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Oh my gosh!!!! We love the show!!! we are SOOOOO mad it is being canceled!!! We have people we know pretend that they are some of the characters! I am of course Coconut Fred!!! LOL
September 8th, 2006 at 2:33 am
Dude, this show rocks. Its more better than Spongebob; plus it involes fruits while Spongebob deals with fish. Everytime I watch this, I bust out laughing.
September 8th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Dude, this show rocks. Its more better than Spongebob; plus it involes fruits while Spongebob deals with fish. Everytime I watch this, I bust out laughing.
April 1st, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I loved this show why did it get canceled?
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Someone here knows if exists Coconut Fred´s DVD or VHS?
July 20th, 2007 at 1:00 am
i like coconut fred how he looks and like him in the epsode of power nut 1 and 2 how he throws the table mr greenbaum the watermelon did like this ahhh its soooooooo hilaris
September 27th, 2007 at 4:16 am
i dont think i will ever forget the first time i saw fred and the rest of his crew … i nearly died laughing and i was watching it alone … i’ve since gotten a few buddies to check the show and they think its hillarious too (it is really funny after a sesh :>) … i would love to get my hands on some fred dvd’s please help … yeah imagine if there were dvd’s of the show … oh man swirrly eyes lol
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I loved Cocoanut fred’s Fruit salad Island I can’t believe they cancelled it, it was so good, & funny.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I love Coconut Fred…But I have never seen him on TV…Have we already missed the show?
October 25th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I miss this series… a lot.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:53 pm
hmmm that’s nice seeing cartoons on http://www.kidzcartoons.com. I also love coconut fred. Very soon you will see coconut fred on http://www.kidzcartoons.com
February 12th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Coconut Fred…… Honestly it has a ALOT of things ripped off spongebob.. You say spongebog sucks? Wrong Do you know how many kids AROUND THE WHOLE FRIGGIN WORLD WATCH SPONGEBOB? I bet you in about 5 years Spongebob could catch up with Pokemons Popularity >.> I although admit it was quite funny but Fred has like a friggin rapiest smile im happy its cancled i hope it dosent come back so you can all suffer stuck up *****es
April 19th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
[...] series about a band of feudal superheroes that are vegetables. Kinda reminds us of Slayers meets Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island. His famed weapon is his onion juice, he has a sidekick who has a garlic head, and another who is a [...]