Moral Orel

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Adult Swim (ended 2008)
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Show Summary

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Moral Orel is a TV-MA clay-mation series on Cartoon Network's [adult swim] segment, which centres around the life of Orel Puppington, a young boy who consistently fails in his attempts to understand and abide by Protestant Christian values.

Orel takes his cues from the authority figures around him; his parents Clay and Bloberta, school coach Stopframe, Reverend Putty, and others. Unfortunately for Orel, he always misunderstands the actions of his mentors, who are mostly shown as bitter, jaded, and merely paying lip service to their religious beliefs.

These misunderstandings often lead to circumstances where Orel believes that he's following the Lord's wishes by doing things such as smoking crack, re-animating the bodies of dead townsfolk, practising euthanasia, or even impregnating sleeping women with a sperm-filled pastry bag. At the end of each episode, Orel's misbehaviour is discovered and he is taken to his father's study for a beating and a twisted explaination one might not expect from a responsible adult.


Season 2
The second season episodes of Moral Orel somewhat eradicated the repeated narrative structure seen in Season 1 episodes, which dramatically changed the way the stories unfold; creating a fresh new approach. The majority of episodes 11-30 focus primarily on other townsfolk and their relationship with Orel, whilst still creating twisted situations. The stop-motion animation improves enormously with the Season 2 episodes; creating a richer quality in picture, with more detail. New locations and townsfolk are also introduced and expanded upon.

Season 3
The third and final season took the show to the next level. These episodes revolve around events leading to and following the Season 2 finale, which proved to be the series' turning point. These episodes also incorporate elements of other episodes from the past two seasons, mainly from the viewpoints of other characters, ultimately tying the entire series together and wrapping it up nicely.


Overview & History
Although the show slightly resembles the visual animation of the 1960s series Davey and Goliath, Dino Stamatopoulos, creator of Moral Orel, has said that it is not a parody, stating that "there's no getting around that it's religious, but the word parody to a comedian is a dirty word, because one has to know what the show is parodying to like it."

The show originally stemmed from the concept for a send-up of a Leave It to Beaver-like 1950s family comedy, that would star Iggy Pop. The idea eventually grew and evolved into a cartoon.

"It's an incredibly tightly written show, with probably the strongest narrative structure of anything we have on the network."
- Nick Weidenfeld (Head of Development at Adult Swim)



Production Companies:
Fragical Productions
Williams Street
ShadowMachine Films


The name of Dino Stamatopoulos' production company "Fragical Productions" came from a song his daughter wrote about him being "fragical." The animation sequence for the company was animated by Dino himself and uses a fairy (magical) in a wheel-chair (fragile); making up the company's name. The "hello-goodbye" heard is said by his daughter, Tigger, and is a saying that she created.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 3 :  Ep 13 Aired 12/18/08
S 3 :  Ep 13 Aired 12/18/08
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S 3 :  Ep 12 Aired 11/19/08
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S 3 :  Ep 11 Aired 11/17/08
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S 3 :  Ep 10 Aired 11/13/08
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Fan Reviews (28)

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  • Love it

    10
    "Perfect"
    By HuibonhoakidW, Feb 25, 2012
    I love this show :)

  • A wonderfully crafted coming of age masterpiece that is more intellectual than a single episode may lead you to think. Both touching, and hilarious. I promise you, it isn't the "Christian-bashing trash" that you have been led to believe itmoreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Kanotynes, Dec 10, 2011
    On the surface, Moral Orel is a stop-motion tragic comedy that uses dark humor and a fair amount of shock value to narrate the misadventures of a nave and religiously-driven child growing up under the guidance of some very disturbed role models in a hypocritical Christian town. Go deeper, however, and you find something much, much more. Moral Orel is a touching and wonderfully crafted coming of age masterpiece that is more high-browed than what a single episode may lead you to believe. You will come for the laughs, and stay for the genius. Any fan of dark comedy who wants something laugh-out-loud hilarious that still manages to be intellectually provocative, I urge you to watch all three seasons of Moral Orel. I promise you, the show isn't the Christian-bashing trash that you may have been led to believe it is. As long as you can handle an MA rating- After all, as they say, viewer discretion is advised. In light of this, I begin the review. The first season is agreeably formulaic. Orel hears a sermon at church, misinterprets it, and hilarity ensues as he inevitably screws up while innocently trying to follow the path of God taught to him by the hypocritical citizens of Moralton. Clay, Orel's dad, then takes him into his study to "correct" his mistake, but often corrects it with another unintentionally perverse moral himself. The episodes are shocking and sometimes disturbing, but amusingly so, and get the viewers comfortable with the characters and setting. So far the show is a parody of old sitcoms, notably Davey and Goliath, but also a satire of religious hypocrisy in a town of people who really don't know what they're talking about. But then what the creators did with the second and third seasons was absolutely incredible, and made the show something all the more valuable. In season two, episodes begin tackling important subjects. Characters begin fleshing out, and are amazingly well written for. The citizens of Moralton all have an extremely tragic nature, and I have admittedly felt more for these characters than I have for so many shows with even live actors. The show begins branching from comedy into tragedy as the characters are better revealed and it becomes more obvious of the town's repressive nature unto Orel. The episodes are tragic, moving, and very often thought provoking. But still, the show manages to not come off as preachy. Any fan of dark humor will find themselves laughing the entire way.

    Then we come to the season finale of season two. All I can say is wow. In the episode "Nature", we really begin to see Orel awaken to the disturbing reality of people and world around him. He keeps his faith and remains a good Christian, but begins to learn more about himself and when he should, and shouldn't, believe what he is told.

    Then finally the last season. First I've got to say, this show wrapped everything up in its final season better than any show I've known. It really did a bang-up job, and the creators truly deserve a round of applause. To continue, almost every character is accounted for. You learn about their pasts. Why they are the way they are. Some of them finally begin to find peace with themselves and each other. A real happiness and a real love that, throughout the rest of the series, was unknown to the citizens of Moralton. The theme of family is very prominent in this last season, but unfortunately, Orel's family only seems to get worse with his drunken father and distant mother. But finally, we see a snippet of Orel after he's grown up and raised a family of his own. We see the contrast between Orel's old family, which was numb and uncaring, to his new one which is loving and successful. It is revealed that despite his tough childhood, he always kept his moral values and faith in God. He ended up marrying his childhood sweetheart. He still respected his parents, despite their flaws. A very sweet and overall satisfying end to a terrific show, which many fans will argue, was canceled all too soon. Moral Orel is unfortunately too often misinterpreted as garbage, but really is an incredible show. If you are a fan of dark comedy, I urge you again to check it out. I can see how the humor could very well be hit-or-miss, but if you end up enjoying it, it will be well worth your time.moreless

  • A show that's so satirical and hits so close to home that it got cancelled. I am a Christian and I approve this show.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By hiphops_savior, May 08, 2011
    Moral Orel is a show based on a pious 11 year old Orel Puppington, who has a tendency to take advice a little too literally and funny stuff happens. Well, at least that's what the first season of this show is about. The second season, however, starts to truly look into the characters of the town of Moralton, turning the series into one of the most biting satires of religious fundamentalism of all times. This is not an attack of Christianity as a whole, but rather an attack of how people practices it as a social norm rather than a genuine sense of religious belief.

    One of the main characters that really reflects the change of the show's direction would be Orel's father, Clay Puppington, whose image as a disciplinary figure gradually degrades into an alcoholic monster who is selfish, pathetic and is a shell of a person who cannot climb out of his hellhole of a life. It is because of Clay that Orel begins to gradually loses his naive viewpoint of the town which cumulates into the infamous hunting incident.

    While season 2 can be seen as Orel gradually opening his eyes into the hypocrisy of the town, Season 3 made Moralton into a truly dysfunctional town where one of the few decent people is a lesbian and owns a sex shop. The local pastor could have easily been a punching bag, but in reality, his portrayal is more along the lines of a man who genuinely wants to make Moralton a better place, as seen with his relationship with his daughter, but is well aware of his own flaws.

    Moral Orel, for a 10 minute show, packed an awful lot of character development and drama in a sharp satire that eventually became so dark that not even Adult Swim could handle it. That said, this is a show that definitely is a must watch, and with the rise of the Tea Party, all of a sudden becomes even more relevant.moreless

  • Eh...

    7.5
    "Good"
    By nachosxd15, Jan 10, 2011
    I don't really approve of the religous acts in this show, but I like Orel's persistence. I also like his dad because he always punishes Orel which is very funny. I don't really watch the episodes that consists religous stuff in it. It seems like they're making fun of the Lord and I don't think that's right. I like the show though. It's animations are really different compared to everything else on Adult Swim.It is also more thought out than most of they're shows. It seems the writers took time to make this show perfect unlike some other crappy shows.
    -Nachosxd15moreless

  • Moral Orel is far from holy and should be forever damned in hell!

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    By ApeOverlord, Sep 07, 2010
    Of all the shows out there, why this one? For starters, it is about this gay boy named Orel and he wishes to do good for God, but always does the exact opposite. I remembered this one episode when during Halloween, he wanted to fear God by disobeying the 10 commandments. WTF? You call that doing good? He would\'ve gone directly to hell when he took someone elses life away and he should. This completely contradicts what Morel Orel is trying to accoplish.

    Besides the loathesome plots, there is Orel\'s gay voice that I just can\'t stand. Also, he is a missled child that will do anything from letting his friends drink his urine.

    If you are a true catholic, avoid this show at all costs! If you watch it accidentally, go to confession. This shows main objective is to make fun of everything that is holy and I don\'t like it. Not even Family Guy makes fun of God that bad. The creator should be forever damned for putting this show on the air. It even makes 12 Oz. Mouse look good. Just say no to this and watch Family Guy or Futurama.

    I would\'ve gave it a 0, but it wouldn\'t let me.

    moreless
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Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy

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child stars, cult brainwashing, for cynics, moral dilemmas, offensive comedy

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