The Swetky Agency - Marty the Martian Farmer

Submission Synopsis

Marty the Martian Farmer
by Neal Jamison

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May 2005 - Winner in the TV Pilot category
at the Moondance Film Festival

See Treatment and
Future Episodes

See Teaser

Length:

30 Minutes Weekly

Genre:

Animated Comedy Series

Marty and Family

Series:
Pilot and five additional episode outlines available

Comparisons:

Green Acres meets Futurama

One-Sentence Description:

Life on Mars? -- you better believe it -- just check out Marty's vegetable garden!

Logline:

Marty follows the trials and tribulations of a seemingly simple farmer, his family, and the rest of their little green world on the most popular planet in the solar system. In the pilot episode, "Cow Troubles," Marty is fed up to his ears with the rovers, probes, and other space junk that keep landing on his farm--not to mention one very hungry and destructive cow. As if that weren’t enough, his daughter Clarita has just joined a hardcore punk band. Could there be a single solution to all the chaos?

Concept and Target Audience:
Marty the Martian Farmer is a half-hour animated series in the tradition of Green Acres meets Futurama. Marty follows a seemingly simple farmer and his family and neighbors as they deal with the trials and tribulations of being little green men and women living on the most popular planet in the solar system. We watch Marty and his neighbor Jimmy as they fend off alien warlords and travel to other moons and planets. With each episode, we learn a bit about Marty’s secretive past, including his involvement with the now defunct Mars Space Agency. As it turns out, Marty is not your typical farmer.

This sci-fi sitcom will appeal to earthlings of all ages. Children will enjoy the imaginatively designed Martian setting, the humorous toy-like characters, and the hilarious gags. Tweens and teens will love the show for its mind-bending musical element, and many will identify with Clarita, Marty's cute yet rebellious teenage daughter. More mature earthlings will enjoy the humor and delight in the subtly recognizable plotlines and elements--often borrowed from the classic sci-fi movies of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

“Marty the Martian Farmer” is a show for everyone. In fact, it’s out of this world!

Lead Cast:

Marty
Marty is a middle aged farmer who happens to live on the planet Mars. Other than being a pronounced shade of green he has normal human features and dresses in typical farmer apparel. Marty is a hard worker and is known for his prize-winning vegetables. Unlike his neighbors and supporting cast, Marty is not your typical “little green man.” He doesn’t believe in stereotypes and has no intention of becoming one.

Jimmy
Jimmy is Marty’s friend and nearest neighbor. He is tall, thin, and clumsy. He collects space junk and attempts to build his own spaceship using knowledge gleaned from watching every sci-fi movie ever seen (most of which he thinks are true!). He is quite the conspiracy theorist, and he believes he has been abducted, among other things. Like most others in their small Martian farm community, Jimmy reveres Earth and yearns for anything earthling.

Savannah
Although Marty’s wife, Savannah, is perhaps the most beautiful Martian you’ll ever see, she epitomizes the traditional farm wife. She stays busy with chores: cleaning, milking cows, hanging clothes out to dry, cooking, and so on. She fully supports Marty’s strong beliefs, but is sometimes easily influenced by the others.

Clarita
Marty’s teenage daughter, like her mother, is a beautiful Martian. But that is where the similarities end. Clarita is a feisty and rebellious teenage girl who longs to live anywhere but Mars. She wishes she were an Earth girl so she would not have such ugly green skin. Plus, if she were an earthling, she would finally be able to date cute boys. While on the surface Clarita and Marty appear to be complete opposites, they actually have more in common than meets the eye.

Serinabell
Jimmy’s cow, Serinabell, is an obese dairy cow with a perceptible green tint and two short horns that resemble antennae. She is nonchalant, lacking any emotion, unless you consider her insatiable hunger an emotion.

Synopsis:
Mars. The angry red planet. At least that’s what many earthlings think, and that’s just fine with Marty the Martian Farmer. In fact, he considers it his duty to keep them thinking just that. Sure, Mars is a red, dry planet—most of it, that is. Remember those canals that astronomers discovered a hundred years ago? They are there for a reason. They carry tiny droplets of precious water from all over the planet to one remote area hidden deep within a large crater. All of the canals converge at a small patch of farmland that would make even an Idaho potato farmer stand in the employment line at the American Space Agency.

This is Marty’s home: present day Mars, where he and his family and friends struggle to work their farms while faced with the challenges posed by living on the most popular planet in our solar system.

This is also where a good part of each episode of Marty the Martian Farmer takes place. On the farm, in and around the fields of wheat, tomatoes, melons, corn, and Brussels sprouts. But there’s more. Marty and his neighbors are constantly bombarded by probes, landers, and other space junk from all over the solar system. It seems people everywhere are going to great lengths to invade Mars, and Marty must go to great lengths to keep them away.

Marty doesn’t agree with everyone else. Most Martians, all but Marty that is, welcome an invasion by earthlings. They just can’t seem to get enough of that place. The adults all occupy their evenings watching earthling TV. The kids listen to earthling pop music. They love Britney, Arnold, Frazier, and JLo just as much (or even more) than we do. Marty, however, feels differently. He has a little insight and knows that even Earth has a dark side. And he’ll do whatever he can to keep it from coming to Mars.

When Marty isn't working on his farm, there’s a good chance he’ll be found in one of these places:

Marty's Barn
Marty's Home (kitchen and bedroom)
Jimmy's Home (TV room)
Jimmy's Barn
Jimmy's Rocket
Marty's Spaceship

Budget:

Medium

Registration:
WGA# 971030