History WesternAnimation / Funpak

** the first and last animated shorts shown on ''Funpak'' are both from ''Gruesomestein's Monsters''.

* ChristmasEpisode: The ''Martini & Meatballs'' short "X Mad Salmon" sees the eponymous duo celebrate Christmas while ice fishing, only for things to start getting weird after they get eaten by a gigantic salmon.

* SpinningNewspaper: ''Harold Rosenbaum'' shorts feature these, with the third or fourth newspaper shown usually being something silly or irrelevant (like the day's crossword puzzle or the weather report).

* LongTitle: One ''Coolman'' short is called "Tennis [=Any10101111011010101110100010100101010111111101010000101011000101111100011=]?"

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Subverted with Nero on ''Miracle Koala''. Far from being an adorable little mascot, he's the greedy, scheming, foul-tempered criminal partner of Joe who is disgruntled with the fact that it's almost always up to him to save his friend's butt from the mobs pursuing them.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The final episode's last segment is instead a look behind the scenes of how some of the shorts were created.

''Funpak'' was an AnimatedAnthology series that aired on the Canadian kids' channel Creator/{{YTV}} in 2004. Produced entirely in-house by the staff of the Canadian animation studio Creator/{{Nelvana}}, it was made with the purpose of showcasing various animated shorts that could potentially become the pilots for brand-new animated series on YTV, with viewers being encouraged to go to YTV.com to vote on their favorites. It can essentially be thought of as the Canadian answer to Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow'' and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons''.

Despite positive reception to the show and its idea, ''Funpak'' only lasted 13 episodes, as the series was intended to be little more than an experiment by Nelvana in what ideas its animators could bring to TV. Each episode contained 4 five-minute segments (with quick transitional segments interspersed between them), for a total of 10 series of shorts being featured on the show and each series having exactly 5 shorts.

''Funpak'' was an AnimatedAnthology series that aired on the Canadian kids' channel Creator/{{YTV}} in 2004. Produced entirely in-house by the animation studio staff of the Canadian entertainment company Creator/{{Nelvana}}, it was made with the purpose of showcasing various animated shorts that could potentially become the pilots for brand-new animated series on YTV, with viewers being encouraged to go to YTV.com to vote on their favorites. It can essentially be thought of as the Canadian answer to Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow'' and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons''.

All of these shorts were animated in UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash, with the exceptions of ''The Manly Bee'', which was done in traditional 2D, and ''The Wild Wild Circus Company'', which was done entirely in 3D animation[[note]]''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme'' did use a bit of hand-drawn animation, while ''Martini & Meatballs'' used some cutout animation. Additionally, ''The 9th Life of Sherman Phelps'' used live-action miniature sets for its 2D characters[[/note]]. The overwhelming majority of these series were created by Canadian veterans of the animation industry, with many later moving onto larger and more successful projects[[note]]''The Wild Wild Circus Company'' is the exception, as its creators don't work in the animation industry but are instead high artists, meaning you're more likely to see their work at a fine art gallery or an art collectors' auction than on a cartoon TV show[[/note]]. Several of the shorts were also showcased outside of Canada as part of the UsefulNotes/NicktoonsFilmFestival.

Despite positive reception to the show and its idea, ''Funpak'' only lasted 13 episodes, as the series was intended to be little more than an experiment by Nelvana in what its animators could come up with. Each episode contained 4 five-minute segments (with quick transitional segments interspersed between them), for a total of 10 series of shorts being featured on the show and each series having exactly 5 shorts.

Despite positive reception to the show and its idea, ''Funpak'' only lasted 13 episodes. Each episode contained 4 five-minute segments (with quick transitional segments interspersed between them), for a total of 10 series of shorts being featured on the show and each series having exactly 5 shorts.

* ActionGirl: Jenny, Harold Rosenbaum's female companion in ''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme''. In the first short, she helps Harold defeat some thugs who arrive to stop him from investigating the mystery driving the show's StoryArc.

* KidSidekick: Ledger Lad is this to Harold Rosenbaum in the ''Harold Rosenbaum'' shorts. According to Harold, he's an orphan that his secretary Jenny lets stay around in the office. Harold generally finds him irritating, but he's helped him out on several occasions.
* LeftHanging: The final ''Harold Rosenbaum'' short ends this way. Harold Rosenbaum, Jenny, and Ledger Lad discover the true identity of the X of Evil, but the short ends on one of the usual cliffhangers as the X of Evil prepares to fire his sonic ray cannon at the city while Harold and his allies are still imprisoned.

* BookEnds: Every ''Miracle Koala'' short begins with Joe and Nero fleeing from a mob of pursuers and ends with them having to go on the run again.

* WickedWitch: The first of the ''Gruesomestein's Monsters'' shorts stars one, who moves from Fairytaleland to the suburbs after deciding to give up on eating kids, only to find her gingerbread house under assault from the hungry neighborhood children. She also appears in the final short, where she goes on a date with a WizardClassic.

* BigBad: The X of Evil is this in the ''Harold Rosenbaum'' shorts. His evil conspiracy is what drives the show's story.

* ImagineSpot: ''Coolman'' made frequent use of these due to Lester usually imagining himself as Coolman.

* JustDesserts: One ''The Manly Bee'' short ends with the octopus villain of the short being caught on a passing sushi barge to be cooked offscreen. The octopus isn’t too happy about this, to say the least.

* RedHerring: Parodied in ''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme'' with the government agent known as the Red Mackerel, who helps Harold solve the mystery.

* SpinningNewspaper: The second ''Harold Rosenbaum'' short features two reporting on the attack on Harold by mysterious thugs and the evil plot behind it. A third then appears with the weather report on the front page, and a fourth instead features the day's crossword puzzle.

* {{Beatnik}}: The eponymous Coolman is one of these. He wears the classic beret and a peace symbol necklace, plays Jazz music, talks in a suave hippie-like style, enjoys fine art, and is all about taking things easy and keeping things cool.

* BrownBagMask: The Ugly Duckling from ''The Manly Bee'' shorts wears one with a duck bill attached to emphasize his title.

* WickedWitch: The first of the ''Gruesomestein's Monsters'' shorts stars one, who moves from Fairytaleland to the suburbs after deciding to give up on eating kids, only to find her gingerbread house under assault from the hungry neighborhood children.

All of these shorts were animated in UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash, with the exceptions of ''The Manly Bee'' which was done in traditional 2D and ''The Wild Wild Circus Company'', which was done entirely in 3D animation[[note]]''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme'' did use a bit of hand-drawn animation, while ''Martini & Meatballs'' used some cutout animation. Additionally, ''The 9th Life of Sherman Phelps'' used live-action miniature sets for its 2D characters[[/note]]. The overwhelming majority of these series were created by Canadian veterans of the animation industry, with many later moving onto larger and more successful projects[[note]]''The Wild Wild Circus Company'' is the exception, as its creators don't work in the animation industry but are instead high artists, meaning you're more likely to see their work at a fine art gallery or an art collectors' auction than on a cartoon TV show[[/note]]. Several of the shorts were also showcased outside of Canada as part of the UsefulNotes/NicktoonsFilmFestival.

* MediumBlending: The ''Martini & Meatballs'' shorts combine the show's standard Flash animation with heavy usage of stock photos (primarily yin objects the characters interact with) to add to the surreal tone of the series.

''Funpak'' was an AnimatedAnthology series that aired on the Canadian kids' channel Creator/{{YTV}} in 2004. Produced entirely in-house by the animation studio staff of the Canadian entertainment company Creator/{{Nelvana}}, it was made with the purpose of showcasing various animated shorts that could potentially become the pilots for brand-new animated series on YTV, with viewers being encouraged to go to YTV.com to vote on their favorites. It can essentially be thought of as the Canadian answer to Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow'' or Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNinthLifeOfShermanPhelps'' - A cat named Sherman goes through his ordinary life with his buddy Ronald, oblivious to the fact that his previous eight lives constantly take over Ronald's body and get him to try and kill his friend so that they can get into Cat Heaven. Created by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton.

* ''Coolman'' - The black-and-white life of Lester, a silent, diminutive, and bespectacled average joe who constantly daydreams about a much more vivid and exciting life as his suave beatnik alter ego "Coolman". Created by the husband and wife duo of John Van Bruggen and Arna Selznick.

* ''Gruesomestein's Monsters'' - The only series not to have a main character in every short; it instead tells different stories about people and their encounters with some of the world's most famous monsters. Created by Mark Ackland and Riccardo Durante.

* ''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme'' - A parody of old newspaper comic and movie serials starring Harold Rosenbaum, a chartered accountant whose pencil-pushing skills are employed to thwart an evil plot to destroy the city. Created by Matt Ferguson.

* ''The Manly Bee'' - The crimefighting exploits of an elderly bee-themed superhero who has been pressed out of retirement to once again protect his city from villainy.... even if his advanced age tends to get in the way of his ability to save the day. Created by Steve Daye.

* ''Martini & Meatballs'' - The zany and frequently surreal no-dialogue adventures of two dogs, one big and one small, both of whom speak entirely in expressive gibberish. Created by Mike Csunyoscka.

* ''Miracle Koala'' - A mute koala named Joe and his partner-in-crime, a penguin with an attitude problem named Nero, escape from an animal testing facility and find themselves on the run as they try to find a way to Australia. Created by Mark Cappello.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Sidekick}} The Not-So-Superheroic Adventures of Sidekick]]'' - The misadventures of Eric Needles, the kid sidekick of now-vanished superhero Maxum Man, and his buddy Trevor Troublemeyer, two students at a school for superhero sidekicks. Created by Todd Kauffman and Joey So. Became its own show in 2010, making it essentially the winner of the contest held behind these shorts.

* ''WesternAnimation/RottingHills'' - Cowardly 10-year-old Clark [=McWeeble=] and his family move to Rotting Hills, a town populated entirely by zombies where he befriends a snarky British zombie girl named Zoe (and her zombie dog Buddy) and has adventures with her around his strange new home. Created by Glen Wyand.

* ''The Wild Wild Circus Company'' - An extremely trippy series about a group of circus performers and the bizarre situations they find themselves in. Created by the husband and wife duo Jean-Christian Knaff and Claude Micéli.

* ''The Not-So-Superheroic Adventures of WesternAnimation/{{Sidekick}}'' - The misadventures of Eric Needles, the kid sidekick of now-vanished superhero Maxum Man, and his buddy Trevor Troublemeyer, two students at a school for superhero sidekicks. Created by Todd Kauffman and Joey So. Became its own show in 2010, making it essentially the winner of the contest held behind these shorts.

* TheNarrator: Several of the shorts have these, notably ''The Manly Be'' and ''Harold Rosenbaum: Chartered Accountant Extreme'' (the latter as a parody of the kind you hear in old film serials).

* OldSuperhero: The eponymous hero of ''The Manly Bee'' is this, having been brought out of retirement to fight crime again. His sidekick, The ugly Duckling, has similarly aged, although unlike The Manly Bee, his age hasn't hindered his competence as badly.

* The Manly Bee's sidekick, the Ugly Duckling, never speaks, although he does occasionally make a quacking sound.