One for the Gals (The Star Malaysia)

FOR this year’s World Cup, something unique – or rather, someone unique – is coming along for the ride. Her name is Mustang Mama and she’s an energetic elderly with a passion for all things
especially football. Starting from tomorrow at 10am, check out the first episode of two-minute
animated short titled Mustang Mama Football Fever on Ntv7 at 10am.

Andrew Ooi, the managing director of Inspidea Animation Studios, described this character as, “... one cool chick that rocks.”

There are a total of 26 short episodes which are showcased on Ntv7 from Monday to Friday (4pm, 5pm, 9.30pm) from Wednesday to Friday (10.45pm); and on the weekends at 10am, 11am and 5pm. Mustang Mama will make her final appearance on the final day of World Cup, July 9.

The character Mustang Mama first came into being back in 2004 when Inspidea needed a mascot to represent the company at the international conventions the company was attending
including MipTV and Asia Animation Super Pitch. Ooi and his animators wanted a mascot that broke all norms and they came up with an old lady doing exciting stuff like kungfu (think The Matrix).

At the event, a lot of the attendees got interested in her because she was so different. When Ooi came back from the conference, he and his team brainstormed to find a way to use Mustang Mama into their work.

“It had to be a non-dialogue series. And since the biggest thing in 2006 is the World Cup, we just thought it would be timely to put the two together,” said Ooi at his office in Kelana Jaya, Selangor.

In the 26 episodes, we follow her – and sometimes her grandson, Toby Boy, and their pet cow, Silly Sally, which actually thinks it is a dog – on adventures on and off the football field.

“Each episode revolves around a different story but the theme is always football ... in the first season anyway. Sometimes she can also be anti-football.”

After completing three episodes, Inspidea started selling the show to networks all around the world. Impressively, Mustang Mama Football Fever has been picked up by TF1 (France), Nickelodeon (Italy), AXN (Central Eruope), Cartoon Network (Japan), YLE (Finland), Air Macau (Macau) and of course, Ntv7 (Malaysia).

“I remember when I was at the airport in France, I caught one of the shorts. I was pretty proud,” Ooi said.

According to Ooi, while the theme is football-oriented, Mustang Mama also features lots of absurdity and fun, which anyone can relate to.

“Football is a craze, all around the world. That is why we are not focusing on the game itself. If they want to watch football, they can just tune in to the game. The appeal of Mustang Mama is that it can be watched not only during the football season.”

Inspidea took six months to complete the series with 20 animators working on each episode. It has no dialogue since Ooi doesn’t want language to be a barrier and the animators had a lot of fun discovering creative ways to convey Mama’s thoughts.

“With Mustang Mama, we were able to give a different perspective to this well-loved game while incorporating plenty of visual gags.”

But why an old lady? Ooi said: “In every child’s life there is at least one old person and someone we admire. To Toby, his grandmother is someone he worships. In a way, Mustang Mama can show that elderly people are still cool. We are not laughing at her but with her.”