The following review is made with sincere condolences to the late great Chris Reccardi. In addition to producing wonderful sci-fi artwork and working on several beloved animated TV shows, he was an all around lovable and rocking individual with so much energy and creativity bursting out of him. May he rest in peace and his widow Lynne Naylor keep his legacy lasting forever.
In 2007, Reccardi and Naylor made their own pilot for a potential cartoon show on Nickelodeon entitled The Modifyers. The plot centers around the special agent spy named Agent Xero, who works for the organization called the Modifyers with her robotic sidekick Mole. The two penetrate the doings of the evil Baron Vain by using a holographic ring to disguise herself as his favorite minion Lucy Shadows, but after clashing with Vain's henchman Rat over the All-Seeing Eye artifact, they have to retrieve the item without getting caught. Despite this short never growing into something bigger, it is well regarded as somewhat of a cult classic amongst the online community. Even I would say that it was a noble effort for the married couple to produce a short with this much world building, characterization and passion displayed in just under 12 minutes.
In terms of a visual aesthetic, the animation looks grotesque yet intriguing given the overall environment. Given that Reccardi's influences are science-fiction, retro and modern art and the cartoons he worked on, the world in the short feels like it came straight out of a Neo sci-fi comic. In addition, the characters have distinctive differences in their designs, with a saturated tone for Xero & Mole, and a much more gritty and dirty palette for Rat and the Baron. Their designs are also reminiscent of classic and modern cartoons like Looney Tunes, Ren & Stimpy and even The Jetsons, complete with exaggerated facial expressions and a lively shape structure. It's also a nice added bonus how all the effects come off as purely two dimensional without looking like out of place CGI, helping to fit the environment much better.
As for the characters, Xero & Mole have perfectly contrasting personalities. Where Xero is a bubbly albeit overtly curious spy, Mole is much more strict about their duties. Given that they need to retract the all seeing eye which Xero wants to test out its infinite possibilities it makes for a potentially fascinating duo. Rat on the other hand is more of a butt monkey who tries to do his best for the Baron only to constantly fail, but his antics are quite humorous in their own regard. The Baron himself is a notable Drakken and Doofenshmirtz wannabe, where he acts threatening yet it still pretty scrawny and juvenile at heart. That being said, he is certainly more menacing than those two, only proving how much he means business towards the modifyers.
Not to mention, the music score was done by Reccardi himself, and it comes mix a good mix of jazzy spy scores reminiscent of the 60s and rock & roll tracks. Depending on the sequence, the music can go from calm and collective to fast paced and energetic throughout. If there's anything negative I do have to say regarding the cartoon, it's that the ending does not fit very well. When you're pitching a pilot to anybody, it's not always a good idea to end off on a cliffhanger because then you're setting yourself up for inevitable failure if your concept gets rejected. That being said though, what he did get is a very enjoyable and upbeat animated short with lots of potential to be its own unique work, and even though it never got greenlit for television, it will still please the internet for many years to come.