Good Time Gals
| Good Time Gals | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Voices of |
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| Composer(s) | Elena Tessari |
| Country of origin | Gylias |
| Original language(s) | |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production company(s) |
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| Release | |
| Original network | GTV4 |
| Original release | 1 December 1997 – 29 December 2000 |
Good Time Gals is a Gylian animated series which aired on GTV4 in 1997–2000. Produced by Studio Fantasia and Gylian National Film Institute, it is a sex comedy with science fiction elements, following the adventures of a group of close friends in a futuristic setting.
Plot
The series is set in a futuristic Zaul, and revolves around a group of friends who meet up regularly at the Magnetic Ballroom, a perpetually struggling yet enduring nightclub, where they hang out and trade stories about their exploits.
Characters
- Angelia
- Voiced by: Sani Raşe
- The founder of the Magnetic Ballroom, Angelia is a nightclub hostess whose lack of business acumen is counterbalanced by her strongly charismatic and seductive personality. She has long black hair with a kiss curl in the front, and wears a black strapless dress with long matching evening gloves.
- She is calmly self-confident, proud of her attractiveness, and friendly towards others. She serves as the series' narrator, breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the viewer as if addressing an old friend. She has a very active sex life and enjoys flirting with others to practice her conversational skills and to make others feel good.
- While Angelia's lack of business sense causes the nightclub's financial struggles, she is an excellent and fun hostess, and has attracted a loyal group of regular attendees. She leads a bohemian lifestyle, and expresses compassion for those with "boring daytime work". Several episodes see her and her co-workers hatch various schemes to shore up the Magnetic Ballroom's finances, and she occasionally does sex work to bring in extra money.
- Sesari
- Voiced by: Taðe Ziriş
- Sesari is a taxi driver and one of Angelia's oldest friends. She has long black hair with a pompadour in the front — which Angelia teasingly compares to a rooster's beak —, and usually wears a simple pink sweater.
- She has a perky personality and is one of the most talkative of the group, sometimes even moreso than Angelia. She comes from a working-class family and expresses pride in her background and occupation, but sometimes shows an embarrassment towards liking "fancy" things, which Angelia gently tries to help her lose.
- Sesari is a rather weak storyteller. Most of her anecdotes tend to concern her "wacky" customers, and she has a very detail-focused way of telling a story, sometimes causing them to degenerate into extremely detailed recollections of her driving routes. She is in a relationship with Laren.
- Laren
- Voiced by: Riten Şar
- Laren is an exotic dancer at a local strip club. She has short white hair, and wears a black strapless dress similar to Angelia's, but with shorter gloves.
- She is a talented and graceful dancer, with a strongly tomboyish personality outside the stage. She is the most interested in sports, and is a dedicated fan of football. When the group occasionally play football together, she usually ends up being assigned goalkeeper.
- Laren is blunt and honest, usually saying exactly what she thinks without giving it further thought. She frequently apologises to her friends after realising her remarks may sound harsh, but her friends are used to her way of speaking and do not take it personally. She is in a relationship with Sesari.
- Vivian
- Voiced by: Teresa Ganzel
- Vivian is an actress and a sex worker at a local erotic fantasy club, specialising in cowgirls. She has long, curly red hair, and wears a brown cowgirl outfit without pants, and a brown cowboy hat.
- She is bouncy, energetic, and has a sweetly optimistic personality. The entire group is very fond of her and treat her as something like a collective younger sister, usually just calling her "Viv". She can be quite air-headed, at times demonstrating a Suzie-like cheerful naïveté. Conversely, she leads the most lively sex life besides Angelia. Angelia confides in the viewer that she admires Vivian's inner strength born of cuteness, and also envies her ability to gain one-night stands.
- Vivian is extremely candid, sometimes sharing embarrassing details in stories without realising until Angelia tactfully prods her to "keep it classy, honey". Most of her anecdotes seem to detail mishaps she causes at work or in bed. She is extremely generous towards her friends, and awful at managing her finances. Whenever Vivian and Angelia are together, Angelia confiscates Vivian's wallet and keeps it in "a safe place" (between her breasts) until they part, to prevent Vivian wasting her money.
- Nyki
- Voiced by: Sæis Iuaşa
- Nyki is a professional dancer. She has long brown hair, and wears a red strapless dress with matching evening gloves.
- She is an exuberant yet uncultivated dancer, lacking Laren's grace but making up in enthusiasm and sensuality. Off the stage, she has a friendly and dorky personality, and is admired by the rest of the group for her extensive knowledge on a variety of topics. She has quite "retro" tastes and a fondness for vintage fashion, particularly vêtements utilitaires. Conversely, she has such awful dress sense that her friends provide her with "fashion assistance".
- Nyki is passionate about dancing and can talk at length about other topics she is interested in. She is also self-conscious and usually fears she bores people, leading Angelia to reassure her that passions are nothing to be embarrassed of. For all her intelligence, she can be surprisingly clueless in social situations, and looks up to her friends for guidance.
Production
The series was created by the same Studio Fantasia team that had worked on The Magnificent Mademoiselles. With that series coming to an end in 1997, the team wanted to keep working together. They came up with several character designs in the same vein, and settled on Angelia as the main character.
Wishing to build on the foundation of The Magnificent Mademoiselles, the team decided their new project would be more adult-oriented. Tasa Vyrje was hired as a screenwriter, since her sensibilities were considered ideal for the project.
The initial working title was Small Hours, and a science fiction setting was chosen to further distinguish it from The Magnificent Mademoiselles' "contemporary and timeless" setting. The team had first discussed making it an anthology series, with Angelia serving as the main narrator and host. They ran into trouble with the format during pre-production, and turned into an ensemble cast instead, promoting several planned characters to regulars. Angelia retained her narrator role from this early conception.
As one producer explained: "We had to carry it all on our shoulders this time — our Tegneforening colleagues weren't there with us. It was a bit nerve-racking to be out there by ourselves, without that safety net, but we felt it could be done. We did send a copy of our character sheet to Maria Bille and she gave us her blessing, so that was very encouraging."
The producers tried to keep together as many as possible of the staff that had worked on The Magnificent Mademoiselles. Tasa recalled that Vivian was "basically Miss Vavoom", and was mainly created to allow them to continue working with Teresa Ganzel. Susan Shelley and Combustible Edison were unavailable due to their involvement in Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, so the team hired Elena Tessari instead to compose the soundtrack.
Tasa cited Coffee, Tea or Me? as one of her inspirations when working on the project: "I loved its honesty, the way it admitted that, yes, being a flight attendant can sometimes be the worst job in the world, but the other times, it's the best job in the world. I wanted a similar approach to exploring what it means to be a cartoon bombshell." The influence is made explicit in one of Angelia's lines, musing about being a sex symbol: "Honey, I'd be lying if I said it's always perfect…but I'd be lying if I said it's terrible."
Setting
The series is set in a futuristic Zaul, but ironically, most of it takes place in the Magnetic Ballroom or in restrained flashback settings illustrating the group's anecdotes. Tasa drew inspiration from the social science fiction of Virginia Gerstenfeld, and thought it would be funnier if they showed as little of the broader setting as possible, with the added bonus that the vision of the future would be less likely to date badly.
Most of the futuristic trappings are shown through pervasive automation and mechanisation of repetitive work. All of the main characters have jobs that are impossible to automate, whether artistic (Angelia's hosting, Laren and Nyki's dancing, Vivian's acting) or utilitarian (Sesari's taxi driving).
A member of the writing team commented: "It's basically a nice future, but we only see it through the eyes of Angelia and friends. It's not a penthouse, top-floor view of the world. It's more ground-level. It's fair to say they're kind of low on the totem pole of society, but they're happy with what they have, and they lead good lives. All the flashy stuff of the future doesn't really figure into their worldview."
The subplot of the Magnetic Ballroom struggling financially but improbably managing to survive continuously is a parody of The Haçienda and its famously chaotic management.
Style
The series used digital ink and paint, and the same Delkoran-style character designs of The Magnificent Mademoiselles, contrasting with the typical anime influence of Gylian animation.
One of Good Time Gals' best-known and acclaimed elements was its routine breaking the fourth wall, by having Angelia talk directly to the "camera" and address the audience like an old friend hanging out. Tasa explained:
"It was a great way to quickly establish that beyond the appearance, Angelia was just someone you'd really enjoy being with. And we wanted viewers to feel good, so although the 'camera' is mute, we wrote lines where Angelia and friends are laughing and complementing the viewer, so you watching at home can imagine yourself in that situation and, guess what, you're quite witty and charming, darling."
Treating the audience as an unseen character enabled the series to come up with a parallel for The Magnificent Mademoiselles' consistent ending. Every episode of Good Time Gals ended with the group deciding to retire for the night. Angelia playfully tells the viewer "Sweet dreams, honey. Don't stay up too late.", and kisses the camera, with the image fading and only her lipstick mark remaining into the end credits.
The soundtrack, composed by Elena Tessari, drew influence from jazz, but leaned more towards smooth jazz and acid jazz, in keeping with the series' mainly nocturnal setting.
Comparisons with The Magnificent Mademoiselles
During pre-production, the creators were upfront that the show was meant to "build" on the foundation of The Magnificent Mademoiselles, and acknowledged that it would probably not match the heights of "Mademoiselles mania" in popularity. Tasa recalled that in screenwriting meetings, a regular question was "What haven't we done with The Magnificent Mademoiselles that we can do here?".
Several creative decisions were taken specifically to develop Good Time Gals as "the opposite side of the coin" from its predecessor. This included the futuristic setting, the greater focus on sexuality, the larger ensemble cast, and the tone. Tasa commented on the latter:
"The Magnificent Mademoiselles is an exclamation mark — a big, boisterous, ball of energy. Miss Mystery and Miss Vavoom take you for a ride and drop you off at home feeling exhausted in the best way possible. Angelia comes over to look after you and help you recharge. Good Time Gals is more like a full stop, or an ellipsis."
Good Time Gals also uses a variation of The Magnificent Mademoiselles' three-segment episodes, by having each episode consist of flashbacks illustrating the characters' anecdotes.
Broadcasting
The series aired on GTV4 from Monday to Friday. It was scheduled as the last show before GTV's closedown at 22:00, which made Angelia's episode-closing catchphrase even more appropriate for viewers.
The last episode, aired on 29 December 2000, had a variation of Angelia's closing line: "Sweet dreams, honey, and happy new millennium. Keep it classy for your friend Angelia, eh? [winks] Thanks, honey, you're a peach. [kiss and fade out]"
Reception
Good Time Gals was a critical and commercial success upon airing. Reviewers praised its strong characters and camaraderie, joyful treatment of sexuality, and animation. Animonthly likened the show to "a quietly enchanting girls' night out you've been invited to".
As predicted by its creators, it did not attain the same huge popularity as The Magnificent Mademoiselles. Studio Fantasia still considered it a success in that it constituted a "soft landing" after "Mademoiselles mania", and consolidated the studio's reputation in the Gylian animation industry for mastery of "Delkoran-style" cartoons.
The series began to be uploaded to Proton TV during its run, and was later released on DVD.
It proved to be a star-making role for Sani Raşe, whose low-pitched, genially sultry performance as Angelia was particularly acclaimed. Sani expressed great fondness for the role and the way it advanced her voice acting career by setting her career template: most of her future roles would be seductive and playful cartoon bombshells in the same vein.