Cartoon Drive-Thru, formerly known as Cartoon Death Zone, is a comedy animation YouTube channel from Matt Wilson, the creator of Bonus Stage.
Its main series is Deadly Space Action!, a show about a dysfunctional crew with its captain, Lemarion the Space Barbarian trying to conquer the galaxy. Joining him is Orton, a web designer and resident Only Sane Man; Saige, Orton's wife, who has various odd hobbies; Bestus, a green "jerk with a heart of fist" and brute; and Madison, an ex-Apathetic Teacher and the most optimistic of the bunch, acting as the ship's (terrible) mechanic.
Most other videos are from pilots that didn't grow any further. If a trope isn't from a specified work, assume it's from Deadly Space Action!
Cartoon Drive-Thru can be found here
. The original channel, which is as of writing the only place to watch older videos, can be found here.
Cartoon Drive-Thru provides examples of...
- Big Eater: Lemarion orders 30 shipments a tacos a day, which no one else on the ship seems to eat.
- Butt-Monkey:
Word of God is that every character in Deadly Space Action! has something pathetic about them. - Cool Starship:
- The rattlesnake-shaped Rattleship, Lemarion's vessel of choice.
- Which is replaced with the more practically shaped (but still quite cool) Antship at the end of season one.
- Characterization Marches On:
- Orton is an apathetic Straight Man for the first few episodes, but by Season Two he's just as odd as Saige.
- Likewise, Madison spends her first few appearances as a serious-minded Apathetic Teacher, but becomes an incompetent cutie the moment she joins the crew.
- Couch Gag:
- Early episodes of Deadly Space Action! consist of the same beginning, "In the future, space consists of eight hexagons...", with a witty ending.
- Season two's gag has a newspaper with differing amusing headlines.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Lemarion's reaction to a poorly-spelt insult on the internet is to have the crew duel to the death. Which turns out to just be a game of laser tag
- Expospeak Gag: In the second episode of Deadly Space Action!, as Lemarion is recruiting crew members:Lemarion: Have you activated the job application transference device?
Orton: "Yeah, I opened Gmail." - Failed a Spot Check: At one point Lemarion misses a sign the size of a moon. Said sign had an important warning restricting pasta-based imports.
- Happily Married: Orton and Saige.
- Identical Grandfather / Identical Stranger: Gregarion the Sea Barbarian is one of these to Lemarion.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The first season episodes are of the form Extreme ______. Dropped by the second season.
- I Will Show You X!: In "Now It's Mercenal", the 10th DSA mini:Ashley: Lemarion's my target! Get lost!
Katred: Sorry Flash, I have a contract to assassinate our mutual interest.
Ashley: I'll show you a contract!
[Ashley fires her gun... which indeed proceeds to holographically project a contract of rivalry signed by her and Lemarion]
Katred: What the gallbladder is this?
Ashley: Always get it in writing. That's Freelance 101. - Killer Game Master: Saige.Saige: Once again you've failed to make it out of my tutorial dungeon.
- Mythology Gag: Despite hating Bonus Stage and stating he'd never refer back to it again, it has nonetheless cropped up on the channel.
- When Orton is going through the e-mail applications Lemarion has received, there's an application from a "Stomach King".
- Saige is seen playing Elly in Balloonland.
- Rya (with a Skrillex-esque redesign) was the host of Ask the Cartoon Deathzone Stars.
- Phil co-hosted the E3 Gameshows (along with a redesign/Expy of Elly), one of the Puzzles of the Week, and was on the list of superheroes Vinyl went through in Puzzle Hunters (labelled as Superphil, and MIA).
- Craig showed up on Puzzle of the Week #4 to suggest a Fox-Chicken-Grain Puzzle.
- Madison is also implied to be a descendant of Craig, and has his given name as her surname.
- Not on the channel itself, but the SAVESTATES album "Play It!" has a song called Night Run, which is a remix of Evil's stage theme from Robo Rya. Additionally, the ending theme to Gameshow @ E3 2014, called "Game Over, Gameshow", is a remix of "Input Your Initials", one of the ending themes to Bonus Stage.
- On the Next: Parodied in season two; the episodes end with an "On the Next" with a horribly inaccurate description.
- Planet of Hats: The only planet Lemarion has managed to conquer so far is Tutorialis, a planet inhabited entirely by video game tutorial NPCs.
- Previously on…: Also parodied, with an episode that begins with a normal one, until a Wham Line is said that definitely never happened.Saige: There's a werewolf on the ship!
- Nightmare Fetishist: Saige's secret fetish is being partially digested before being eaten, apparently.
- Non-Indicative Name: Deadly Space Action features only minor character deaths, is a comedy series with not that much action, and a few episodes and a whole arc aren't even set in space.
- Ripped from the Headlines: According to Matt, "Planet of the Vapes" (the first of three mini-episodes with a plot revolving around Bestus's former co-worker at a gaming shop) was originally just a generic plot, but timing caused him to tie it in with Gamergate.
- Seen It All: Apparently Lemarion.Lemarion: It's just time travel, no offense.
- Shoot the Messenger: McKevin 27 has a messenger bringing good news killed. But isn't quite sure why.McKevin: I'm not... really sure why I did that.
- Theremin: Used in the season 1 title sequence, for the sci-fi feel.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Dice-Roy has died at least four times over the course of the series.
- This Is a Work of Fiction: Yet another parody, at the end-of-the-episode copyright disclaimer for season two:Any similarity to future historical events is entirely intentional, because we totally called it.
- Villain Protagonist: Considering they're trying to conquer the galaxy.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Monica and Spencer from "Sweet & Sour" are shown hanging out like old friends whenever they aren't competing in business.
- Yaoi Fangirl: Saige
