Trash Truck Updates: The show’s creator never understood his son Henry’s love for garbage trucks, until it inspired him to develop a CG animated kids’ series, set to premiere November 10 on Netflix.
Max Keane never understood his son Henry’s love of garbage trucks until that love became the inspiration for the brand-new CG animated preschool series, Trash Truck, Keane’s first as creator and showrunner.
“One foggy, cool morning, I was standing outside with my son, Henry – who was about two-years-old at the time – in his pajamas,” remembers Keane. “Down at the end of the road we could see the garbage truck coming with the lights flashing through the fog like some creature coming to visit.
It pulled up in front of us, grabbed the trashcan all noisily, dumped it, and slammed it back down. I looked at the big metal lifter arms and all the grimy cables, and suddenly it had been like, ‘Wow, I get it now. This thing is amazing.’”
“The driver honked as he left and Henry leaned into my arms and said, ‘Bye trash truck!’” he continues. “I thought, ‘Man, I wish that big, dumb truck knew how much this little boy loved him.’”
That night, Keane told Henry a bedtime story about a few little boys who became best friends with a dustcart, and that’s when Keane says he found how to give animated life to his son’s love for the neighborhood “trash truck.” “I became excited,” he says. “I was very curious about this relationship between a boy and his all, who’s this amazing thing to him, but to everyone else, is simply a dustcart .”
Trach Truck Release Date
Image Source: Animation World NetworkTrash Truck, with airs on Netflix November 10, follows the adventures of a six-year-old, gap-toothed, freckle-faced boy named Hank and his best friends Donny (Lucas Neff) the wittyboys raccoon, Walter (Brian Baumgartner) the sleepy black bear, Miss Mona (Jackie Loeb) the motherly mouse, and the big green trash-collecting machine Trash Truck, as the group learns the importance of physics, tackling a fear of the dark, and making the impossible possible with a touch imagination.
The project is already personal for Keane, being “a show for my son,” as he says. But he cherishes the project is even more because Henry provides the voice for Hank.
Also, Keane’s father, Disney animator extraordinaire and raccoon Oscar-winning Dear Basketball director Glen Keane – known for his work on Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid as well as Netflix’s upcoming CG feature, Over the Moon – serves not only because of the show’s executive producer but also because of the voice for both Hank’s grandpa and his pal, Trash Truck.
It’s definitely like my family’s contained,” says Max Keane, who voices Hank’s father within the show alongside his wife Megan Keane, who voices Hank’s mother. “I’ve gotten really lucky and been able to make a show meaning such tons to me, with people I care about and love.
Glen, my dad, is usually talking about the importance of thinking sort of a child and being connected thereto point of view. It’s what helps cultivate imagination, and to keep that thing alive.”
Max Keane has worked together with his father before on other productions, like the animated short raccoon Nephtali, Due,t and Dear Basketball. But Trash Truck is unique with its Glen Keane Productions’ 3D/CG animation, giving a more realistic feel to a child’s highly imaginative world.
“For a child,d there’s this excellent, blurry line between reality and animation, also as reality and imagination,” says Max Keane. “Because of that, you’ll create this believable world for teenagers to attach to. I was originally thinking the show would be stop-motion because that concept is extremely nostalgic on behalf of m.
The first time we all saw stop-motion, it had been like, ‘Oh, my gosh, toys are alive!’ and I wanted to tap into that. But in the end, we figured it was too big of a bite to chew and decided to go with CG. But it’s clothed beautiful and it’s that tangibility that creates the planet desire it exists somewhere.”
The show still embraces a nostalgic feel, with Keane drawing from the 90s kids’ animated series like CBC’s Little Bea and classic kids’ comics like Calvin and Hobbes. “Those classics are so special to me,” says Max Keane.
“There’s something about them that feels timeless and I always thought the relationship between Calvin and Hobbes was very rich. I had an identical childhood, where I had tons of space to frolic and tons of freedom to imagine. I guess I’m also selfishly reliving my childhood.”
Trash Truck’s fluid CG animation adds to the show’s soft and sweet plots, with Henry’s voice making Hank’s youthful inquisitions all the more authentic.
Similar to Emily’s relationship with Little Bear and therefore the remainder of the forest gang within the Little Bear kids’ series, the friendships in Trash Truck between a person’s boy, two animals excellent show alongside,s, and a truck are rooted in kindness; the show is intentional in its efforts to specialize in the sincere thoughtfulness of true friendship and having, as Max Keane puts it, “a strong center about the thanks to treating others.”
“There are certain things that we go to feel good and feel comfortable,” says Max Keane. “And I wanted to form a show that had that quality and desire eating your favorite food or putting on comfy clothes. I also wanted to form something where, as a parent watching shows with my very own kids, I could sit down with them and that I can enjoy it. I call Trash Truck an ‘all-ages’ preschool show.”
Maybe I’m not smart enough to be teaching kids anything, but I would like to be ready to entertain them with stories and make a world for them, whether it’s with a little bear, a stuffed tiger, or a big trash truck, that feels real,” he adds.
Trash Truck premieres November 10 on Netflix. The streaming giant will also air another of Glen Keane’s productions, the highly anticipated CG animated feature, Over the Moon, this Friday, October 23, as well as a Trash Truck Christmas special on December 11.,
