Growing Up is weird to do.
Out There is a coming-of-age Dramedy created by former South Park animator and animation director, Ryan Quincy. It follows the misadventures of the socially awkward Chad (Voiced by Ryan Quincy himself), his little brother Jay (voiced by Kate Micucci), and his best friend Chris (voiced by Justin Roiland). Living in the small town of Holford, the boys wander its surreal, bleak landscape waiting out their last few years of adolescence. Along the way, viewers meet Chad's conservative parents, Wayne and Rose (voiced by John DiMaggio and Megan Mullally, respectively), as well as Chris's single mother, Joanie (voiced by Pamela Adlon), and her disastrous boyfriend, Terry (voiced by Fred Armisen). They also meet the object of Chad's affection, Sharla (voiced by Linda Cardellini).
The show lasted 10 episodes on IFC from January to March 2013. In October of 2018, it became available for streaming on Hulu.
Not to be confused with the webcomic with the same name.
See also Future-Worm!, another animated series from the creator of Out There made for Disney XD.
Out There provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Chris thinks he did this to Terry during a "parent trap" style scheme that backfired, but he ran away before noticing that the tree Terry was hanging from broke before any real harm could be done.
- Affectionate Nickname: Destiny's fond of giving these out.
- Alpha Bitch: Henrietta Miller, Chris's crush.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted with Jay, who seems to be going this way first (Chad even charges him a dollar to even spend a minute in his room) but the show ended up portraying him as a fairly easy-going kid with a huge imagination.
- Blind Without 'Em: Chris, which becomes a problem in episode 2, where Terry for some bizarre reason decides to break his glasses to "free him from his dependency".
- Burger Fool: Chad gets a job at an ice cream shop, complete with goofy hat (a jester hat, the shop was royalty-themed) and abusive coworkers.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Chris and Chad wet themselves as a result of the Springoween prank pulled on them.
- Butt-Monkey: Chris ends up humiliated more than any other character in the show.
- Call-Back: The girl who says she should've made out with Chris before he died is Henrietta Miller, with whom Chris wanted to escape in the first episode.
- Cartoon Creature: It's pretty indeterminate what species the people in this world are or even why Chad and his family don't look like the others.
- Casanova Wannabe: Chris. It's clear that the girls in school mostly considers him to be an annoying weirdo.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Terry, Chris's stepfather, who embraces some bizarre sort of eastern mysticism he cobbled together himself and constantly remembers things that never actually happened. For one thing, a Mexican man he brought home was allegedly his best friend from back in "the jungle". Subtitles show us that the man has no idea who Terry is and has never met him before.
- Coming of Age Story: Granted a very fucked up one, but still a coming of age story none the less.
- Disappeared Dad: Chris's father, who's "not around anymore."
- Embarrassing Nickname: Chris ends up with the nickname "Mommy" after accidentally crying out for his mom while in pain at school. He spends the rest of the episode desperately trying to find a way to get a cooler nickname, but in the end just ends up making "Mommy" a badass nickname rather than an embarrassing one.
- Enemy Mine: After Joanie guilts them into taking part, Chris and Terry work together to weasel out of a father-son bonding activity.
- Epic Fail: Chris' escape plan in the first episode, especially if you compare the version he imagined with what actually happened. It is but the first of many times this trope occurs.
- Fake High: Those aren't aphrodisiacs, Chris. Those are multi-vitamins. Now get out of the shrubbery and put your clothes back on.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: Chad tends to do this a lot. He'll go into a spiel at the beginning, middle or end of almost every episode. Sometimes all three, usually in an attempt to sound more adult and profound.
- Former Teen Rebel: Wayne wasn't always the straight-laced, conservative citizen he is now; in his teens and early adulthood he was a drug-using hippie. The bad things he experienced is the reason why he's so insistent on keeping Chad "out of trouble", he's terrified that his son will go through all the low points he did.
- Flashback: Wayne had some... interesting experiences before he settled down. It sometimes leads to misunderstanding his son.
- Funny Foreigner: Terry. If he's a foreigner at all, very little of what he says about his past adds up.
- Girlfriend in Canada: Not a girlfriend, but Chris insists that he lost his virginity to a girl in Florida. Chad clearly doesn't buy it for a second, but still listens to Chris's "advice" about girls.
- Growing Up Sucks: Several episodes revolve around the horrible limbo you exist in as an unpopular teenager, especially "Springoween".
- Halloween Episode: "Springoween", which notably takes place in spring, as the previous years Halloween had to be cancelled due to an unseasonal blizzard.
- Happier Home Movie: Chris apparently has a video that's just his dad mowing the lawn.
- High School: The main cast are in the early years of high school and suffering tremendously.
- High-School Dance: The 'Give Peace a Dance Dance' (which Chris ends up ruining with his fake mouse eating stunt)
- I Want My Mommy!: Chris, while trying to make a speech, accidentally trips and mutters "Mommy..." into the microphone which ends up getting him picked on for the rest of the episode. Granted, he did break his leg, so it's understandable.
- Imagine Spot: Jay has these on a fairly regular basis.
- It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: Part of Henrietta and Troy's prank on Chad and Chris in "Springoween." Henrietta tells Chad and Chris that it's going to be a drag-themed party and the two show up dressed like southern belles.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After driving Terry off, Chris realizes how much his mother misses him, and sets aside his own hatred for the man to get them back together.
- Jerk Jock: Troy Royal.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Destiny is a parody of this trope. Chad is at first enchanted with her, but by the end of the episode realizes her bizarre behavior is just due to her weird homelife, and not a sign that she's somehow more spiritual than anyone else.
- Only Friend: Chris and Chad are this to each other in most episodes.
- Parent with New Paramour: Chris and Terry are in perpetual competition for Joanie's affection. Chris can occasionally put this aside like in "Joanie Loves Terry" and "Viking Days".
- Slice of Life: This series is a great example of a modern-day animated slice-of-life television show, dealing with the weirdness that is growing up.
- Scare 'Em Straight: In "The Great Escape" Wayne tries this on Chad by giving him a presentation on drugs. This really only ends up confusing him as Chad had never intended to do drugs and the whole thing was due to a misunderstanding.
- Skyward Scream: Chris does this in "Springoween".
- Tastes Like Purple: "Nobody ever talked about the taste of shame. It was metallic."
- Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Terry mistakes a random stranger on the street for his long-lost friend, Cheeto.
- Whole Episode Flashback: One episode is a flashback to how Chris and Chad first met during the first days of high school.
- World of Funny Animals: Though confusingly, the characters themselves refer to themselves as human and occasional background elements also contain humans.
