‘Strange Planet’ Creator Nathan Pyle Drew From ‘BoJack Horseman’ and ‘Muppet Babies’ to Adapt Webcomic for TV

Existence is absurd.

At least, that’s what Nathan W. Pyle believes. Birthed out of his very cute and very literal comics, Pyle’s upcoming Apple TV + series “Strange Planet” dares to grapple with the oddity that is life and how we all manage to get through it.

Since the start of 2019, Pyle has been drawing the webcomic series under the same name. Little alien-like characters he called the Beings lived in shades of pink, blue and purple, trying — in a very matter-of-fact way — to process emotions and the difficult stages of life we all go through. Pyle traded words like alcohol or food for “mild poisoning” and “sustenance,” or hug for “limb enclosure.” In just four little squares, Pyle was able to poke fun at the strangeness of human life by rewiring the way people think about language. In a little over four years, he amassed 6.5 million followers on his “Strange Planet” Instagram page, and turned his comic IP into books, merchandise and, now, a 10-episode series set to premiere on August 9.

Together with Dan Harmon, Steve Levy and others at ShadowMachine (the animation studio behind “BoJack Horseman” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”) Pyle created a show that — like his comics — encourages people to think a bit deeper about communication. “It’s hard to map your emotions with words, because there’s a complexity to emotion that transcends language,” he said in a conversation with PvNew. “But what’s neat about ‘Strange Planet’ is they try. They continue to try to discuss their emotions, discuss the existential crisis they might have, and yet they know that there’s limitations to it.”

“Strange Planet” began as a way to engage with new experiences in Pyle’s life after marrying his wife Taylor (who is credited as a producer on the series) and continued following the birth of their two children.

“Strange Planet continues to have new material because I have actual new children in the house, who challenge, and at times, defy me and my wife, in ways that’s really challenging,” Pyle explained. “But it’s all part of life. It’s all part of the human experience, a child telling you it’s Tuesday, when it’s Wednesday. And you’re like, this is so strange. This is my life now. I’m arguing about what day it is.”

Pyle shares the process of turning his tiny Beings into an adult animated show, using the Muppets and “BoJack Horseman” as inspiration and finding the perfect voices for his creation.

This whole process up until this point, has it been different than you expected?

The number of talented people who have so much contribution to one animated show, one season of a show is — I think was surprising to me. I could go on and on just about the background artists themselves. Background artists are so important, and they create a depth and a richness to the atmosphere that it’s hard to overstate how much that adds to a show. So, it’s awesome because I have a newfound appreciation for watching the credits of any TV show. I know much more about what each person does. It’s intriguing me to learn more.

And what has been on the nose for what you anticipated?

I expected it to be a challenge to adapt this webcomic into a show. The Beings don’t have names and, visually, they’re remarkably similar. I knew there would be challenges making sure the audience tracks not just with the Beings, but also the kinds of the phrases they use for various activities or equipment or machines.

But it was fun working with Dan Harmon and Steve Levy. They were immediately the two that I had gone to that first year when I thought about making something. And also Alex Bulkley, ShadowMachine and the whole crew. They’re such smart people who knew how to make television. Obviously, they won an Oscar for “Pinocchio,” but before that, they made “BoJack Horseman” where they created characters that you can really believe. Like, “Oh, here’s a horse, or here’s a dog that walks around,” and it works perfectly. That’s what you want. You want that level of competence and talent that is beyond anything I can really imagine on my own. Working with people like that was really inspiring.

Aside from “BoJack Horseman,“ were there any other animated series or shows that you looked to for guidance or inspiration while creating “Strange Planet”?

Well, I think one of the interesting aspects of adaptation is that you don’t think in a linear way. You think about “Strange Planet” as a concept. “Muppet Babies” I think is always my favorite example of that, where if you watched “Muppet Babies” as a kid, as I did, you didn’t really think too hard about how Kermit and Fozzie and Gonzo were all babies in one place together. If you watched “The Muppet Movie,” you know that’s not how they met, but this is the baby version of Kermit, and you don’t really think too hard about like, “This has to align with the other adaptations of ‘Muppets’ that I know.”

And I think that’s where adaptation is fun. once you’ve created it, it all makes sense, but in the middle of creating it, you can get hung up on different thoughts about logistics like, “This isn’t the webcomic but it’s in the show.” So, this is just a different iteration of “Strange Planet.” It’s a free-for-all, really. You can do a lot of different things.

I read that to make these characters distinguishable, even though they don’t really look different from each other, you were really adamant about making sure that the voices were right. What was the voice casting like?

Immediately, Danny Pudi came to mind. He was a part of our earliest tests just to see how a Being might sound. And it was perfect, it was exactly what we thought. And then casting Lori Tan Chinn, Hannah Einbinder, Demi Adejuyigbe, Tunde Adebimpe, once we heard their voices and once we saw them with the Beings, it worked so beautifully and blended so well. It was really amazing to see how that actually works.

But when we’re presenting and showing the trailer, there are times when fans will say, “I didn’t expect them to sound so emotional.” And I say, “You as a viewer are a visitor to ‘Strange Planet.’ The Beings are on their own planet. They have conversations just like we do. Emotions just like we do. And they truly are meant to evolve in the same way as us, maybe in an aspirational way.” The fact that they don’t have names allows them to evolve more. So Lori Tan Chinn has a character, but that character not having a name allows Lori’s voice to inhabit a Being who can change. And that’s a really neat and interesting thing to me.

What do you think was one of the most difficult parts of translating these comics on to the screen?

Well, on a basic level, there’s an average of 35 words in a little comic that I post. And as you know, there’s more like 25 pages of writing for a half-hour episode, or 30 pages, even. So that exponential increase in the number of words is a good place to start when you’re creating an entire character arc. Dan Harmon is famous for the story circle, and that was what we talked about constantly with characters. Like, “Alright, where is this character trying to go? And where are they experiencing their trials? And where are they trying to go back to?”

These are the little things that would come up in conversation constantly. Where, in a four-panel comic, you’re really doing something pretty simple. You’re just getting a glimpse of “Strange Planet” in the four-panel comic, but now, we’re building out a universe. You’ve got locations, you have actual cities or islands. It’s just the kind of thing I could do all day.

Can you share a little about the design and animation process of the show?

Our director April Apodaca’s first drawings of the buildings brought to mind, “Oh, wait, this is a question I’ve never even considered. You might need to think about architecture, you might need to think about how a tree looks, specifically how the leaves of the tree fall.” All these things that started to pop up made me realize that animation and world-building is so much more complex than what I had done in the four panels. I was kind of overwhelmed with questions. But walking through that with really talented people, step by step, deciding how a machine might look, or a toaster or a car or a bus, that was really fun.

April also taught me a lot about color, like, you’re not going to use yellows here because you’re using these colors instead. I didn’t go to school for art, as many of these animators and background artists did. I learned a lot just watching the artists make the show.

What actually inspired you to start drawing these up? And what made you realize that this was something that people really enjoyed reading?

My wife and I had just gotten married and moved into an apartment in New York City. Since it was right at the beginning of my marriage, I think there were many aspects of domestic life and building a life together, that seemed natural for me to say, “I’m experiencing life from a whole new point of view now.” Immediately I thought, “This is where I should focus a lot of my energy because I think there’s a lot of material here.” Experiencing life from the point of view of someone who’s more analytical, more detail-oriented than I am, thinks more than five days ahead. It’s really cool to be with someone like that.

We don’t live in that small apartment anymore, but we do continue to think about life in a different way. We live in a different place, and we are learning life as parents. We have two kids together, so “Strange Planet” continues to have new material because I have actual new children in the house, who challenge, and at times, defy me and my wife, in ways that’s really challenging. But it’s all part of life. It’s all part of the human experience, a child telling you it’s Tuesday, when it’s Wednesday. And you’re like, this is so strange. This is my life now. I’m arguing about what day it is.

What do you hope other people take away from the comics as they now see it on the screen as a TV show?

It’s a planet full of Beings who go to therapy, who want to recreate that therapy for each other through emotional honesty. I hope that when people see that, they think about how language helps free us as we use it more creatively. When we create new words, new phrases — it’s the elasticity of language that helps free us and transform us. I think that’s a really interesting concept. It’s hard to map your emotions with words, because there’s a complexity to emotion that transcends language. But what’s neat about “Strange Planet” is they try. They continue to try to discuss their emotions, discuss the existential crisis they might have, and yet they know that there’s limitations to it. So you just have to continue to try talking about your life with each other.

Are there any favorite recurring words or phrases that you enjoy the most or were excited to bring into the show?

Oh, boy, I mean, it’s interesting because the truth is that some phrases have a disparate effect. “Mild poison” is a phrase used for alcohol in the comic and the show, whether it’s wine or beer or anything. And I’ve gotten an email from someone that said, “I stopped drinking because you called alcohol ‘mild poison.’” And I thought, like, “That’s probably good.” It ultimately reflects how once you start to name things, it starts to change the way you think about an object. I also have so many ideas about coffee — I drink coffee a lot. Though it does create anxiety in my life, it also increases my energy. I understand that back and forth, so I call it “jitter liquid.” That’s a very common thing that many of us are ingesting every morning.

Is there anything else in the works for you?

Absolutely. I’m drawing all 50 states right now. I’m learning a lot about the United States and I have so many notes from people all over America. And other countries are asking me to draw their countries, but I don’t know as much about them. Part of what I enjoy most is interacting with fans in a transactional way, where they can teach me something. I learned that a lot of dinosaur skeletons are found in Montana. I didn’t know that until last week! But that’s a big part of their culture in Montana. There’s all kinds of T-Rex fossils found there, which is awesome. I would have put that on my license plate if I were in Montana.