Alejo & Valentina

Alejo & Valentina ("Alejo y Valentina" in Spanish) is an Argentine flash cartoon by Alejandro Szykula, created in 2002, aimed at teens and "adults with a childish mind". The animation style is very simplistic (like that of South Park) and the storylines filled with surreal humour, running gags and a random comedy tone, which seem to be the main factors behind its success. The main protagonists are the eponymous Alejo and Valentina, characters based on the creator himself and his ex-girlfriend. Other characters include Carlitox (a short guy who greatly resembles the Lemmings creatures) and El Viejo (The Old Man).

It is currently being aired in MTV Latin America, with new episodes being broadcast weekly.

Episodes

There are currently 16 online episodes, divided into two seasons, plus the episodes that are being aired on TV, making a total of 22 episodes.

Season 1

* 1-01 - "La vida misma" ("Life as it is", or "Life Itself")
* 1-02 - "Mc King" (a pun on McDonald's and Burger King, the well-known fast food franchises)
* 1-03 - "Invasión extraterrestre" ("Alien Invasion", a parody of classic science fiction films depicting alien invasions)
* 1-04 - "Especial de terror" ("Horror Special", a parody of a number of horror films including The Exorcist among others)
* 1-05 - "La fiesta" ("The Party")
* 1-06 - The Matris (a parody of "The Matrix")
* 1-07 - "Sucursal 77" ("Office 77", a parody of government bureaucracy in Argentina)
* 1-08 - "Volver al futurox" ("Back to the Futurex", a parody of "Back to the Future")
* 1-09 - "Locura extraordinaria" ("Extraordinary Madness")
* 1-10 - "Almorzando con Carlitox" ("Having lunch with Carlitox", mocking the Argentine show "Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand")

Season 2

* 2-11 - "La vieja y la piedra" ("The Crone and the Stone")
* 2-12 - "Kill Rick" (a parody of "Kill Bill")
* 2-13 - "La Pesadilla de Carlitox" ("Carlitox' Nightmare" mocking "Nightmare on Elm Street")
* 2-14 - "La Isla de lo' mono"' ("The Island o' Munkey", mocking the "Monkey Island series". "Mono" is Spanish for "Monkey".
* 2-15 - "Behind The True Celebrities Stories Uncensored Flash" (a pun on "E! True Hollywood Story" and "Celebrities Uncensored")
* 2-16 - "Episodio 16" ("Episode 16", mocking Episodes IV, V and VI of the "Star Wars" saga)
* School Project - "Fundación Guillermo Franchella" ("Guillermo Franchella Foundation", a special episode about AIDS)
* "La Isla de lo' mono 2"' ("The Island o' Munkey 2", the second part of La Isla de lo' mono (stills in development)).

TV Episodes

First season
* 1 - "Alejo y Valentina contra los muertos vivos" ("Alejo and Valentina Vs. the Undead")
* 2 - "Volver al futurox EXTENDED" ("Back to the Futurex EXTENDED")
* 3 - "Kill Rick EXTENDED"
* 4 - "Expreso a Pilar" ("Pilar Express"- mocking The Polar Express)
* 5 - "The Matris EXTENDED"
* 6 - "Termineitor D.O.S" (a parody of the popular film Terminator, and the famous operating system)
* 7 - "Salgamos afuera" ("Let's go outside out")
* 8 - "Recatate soldado Brian" (a parody of the film Saving Private Ryan)
* 9 - "El día de Colorín" ("Colorin's Day")
* 10 - "Liberen a Carlitox" ("Free Carlitox")
* 11 - "Darth Baston" ("Darth Cane" -a parody of Darth Vader from the film Star Wars)
* 12 - "El día que Alejo conoció a Maradona" ("The Day Alejo Met Maradona")
* 13 - "El Cumple del Viejo" ("The Old Man's Birthday")

Second season
* 1 - "Raíces" ("Roots")
* 2 - "El bar de Gregory" ("Gregory's café")
* 3 - "La carrera loca" ("The crazy race"- mocking Los autos locos)
* 4 - "Volver al Futurox contra los indios" ("Back to the Futurex vs. the Indians")
* 5 - "Parquepark"
* 6 - "El día que las vacas no vuelan más" ("The day the cows don't fly anymore")
* 7 - "Pinocho" ("Pinocchio")
* 8 - "El X-Orxixta viteh" ("The X-Orxist y' see")
* 9 - "El regreso del cometa Halley" ("The return of the Halley comet")
* 10 - "Las redes nueivas" ("The new fishnets" a parody of the film Nine Queens)
* 11 - "Un día re-torcido" ("A Crazy Day")
* 12 - "Alejo vs. Mario Baracus" ("Alejo vs. B. A. Baracus")
* 13 - "Viaje al fondo de las casas" ("Trip to the bottom of the houses")

Main Characters

The main characters of the series are Alejo, Valentina, Carlitox and El Viejo (The Old Man).

Alejo

Alejo is a self-parody of Alejandro Szykula, the creator of the show. He is 22 years old and 1.78 meters (5'10) tall. His favorite football team is River Plate.

Alejo always wears a purple shirt and black pants. He has white skin and black, short hair. He is patient and inexpressive, always speaking with the same tone and facial expressions. He thinks that that he and Valentina have to have sex with their clothes on, unless they are in the bath. When he grows up he wants to be a Playmobil.

Sometimes, he becomes aggressive and violent. This happens in the episodes "Volver al futurox" ("Back to the Futurex"), "Locura extraordinaria" ("Extraordinary Madness") - where he transforms into a beast resembling The Incredible Hulk- and "Volver al futurox EXTENDED" ("Back to the Futurex EXTENDED"). He also is capable of vast reality warping powers, being able to alter or reverse past events to create bizarre and surreal situations. He is very skilled with a lightsaber swordfighting, during his trip to a Parallel Universe he met his alter-ego. This version possessed high-level telekinesis.

According to the story of El Viejo, "La vida misma" ("Life as it is", or "Life Itself"), a stork which was going to deliver the baby Alejo was struck by lightning, causing him to fall into a river and over a waterfall. He ended up on a beach where he met Valentina, also a baby at that time. In episode 16, "Episodio 16" ("Episode 16"), El Viejo claims he is Alejo's true father.

Catch Phrases:
* ¿Y si vamos a comer comida? (How about we get something to eat?)
* La quiero con mayonesa, sin ketchup y con mostaza. (I want it with mayonnaise, no ketchup and with mustard)
* ¿Y cómo hay que hacer? (And how should you do it?)
* ¡Que vengan todos los putos, loco! (Literally: Let all 'em fags come at me, man! Although a more accurate translation would be: "bring it on, motherfuckers!")
* ¿Vos Sos Dios? (Are you God?)
* ¡Recatate, boludo de mierda! (Chill out, you fucking asshole!)
* ¡Che Valentinaaaa! (Yo, Valentina!)
* Me parece una propuesta diferente y buenisima. (Literally: I think it's a different and awesome proposal)
*me pica el culo (my pant is dirty)

Valentina

Valentina is a 22-year-old woman married to Alejo. She is 1.75 meters tall (5'9). Her favorite football team is Boca Juniors. Valentina, is based on Alejandro Szykula's ex-girlfriend.

Valentina always wears a pink dress. She has white skin, long, dark hair and is inexpressive, speaking with the same tone no matter what the situation. She is skilled at martial artist and proficient in the use of the katana. She's also incredibly strong.

She would like to be a dancer when she is older.

According to the story El Viejo told in Episode 1, "La vida misma" ("Life as it is", or "Life Itself"), a stork which was meant to deliver the baby Valentina, was abducted by aliens, leaving Valentina to fall out of the sky and into a rubbish lorry in Papapipa. As the lorry crosses a bridge, a helicopter crashes, destroying both the lorry and the bridge. Valentina falls into a sewer and is carried to the beach where she meets the baby Alejo. It is never revealed if this story is true or not as in Episode 16, "Episodio 16" ("Episode 16"), El Viejo claims that he is Alejo's father.

Catch Phrases:
* Yo quiero un sánguche. (I'll have a sandwich)
* Hay que tener sexo. (We gotta have Sex)
* Me tocaron el culo. (Somebody touched my ass)
* ¡Alejo!

Carlitox

Carlitox is a short 25-year-old with messy green hair. His favorite football team is Rosario Central. He's about 1.55 meters (5'2) tall. He has the ability to float magically anywhere. This is later explained in a parody with the Clown from the movie "It" (based on the book by Stephen King) who tells him "Everybody will float..."). During the trip to the Parallel Universe, he discovers his alter-ego, a tall, serious, muscular man with red hair, who is capable of high-level pyrokinesis and producing energy blasts.

He stores several things in his garage, including a UFO, martial arts weapons, costumes, a time-travelling De Lorean, a machine that allows his to revisit previous episodes, as well as numerous objects he has never used (see his catchphrases, below). Due to the lack of space he parks his car outside a TV studio garage).

He always wears a blue T-shirt and black trousers. Usually, he enters people's houses without permission and introduces himself by saying "Hola, vengo a (flotar)" (Hello, I've come to (float)). Carlitox is impatient and hyperactive, and most of the time he is up to something. Whenever he has something new and interesting, he likes to show it off to the rest of the characters.

Carlitox's father supposedly fought in the Malvinas/Falkland War with El Viejo, and died when he saved El Viejo's life.

Catch Phrases:
* Hola, vengo a flotar. (Hello, I've come to float)
* Hola, vengo a (...). (Hello, I've come to (...) )
* Hola, vengo a revolear las patas. (Hello, I've come to swing my legs around)
* Hola, vengo a romper las bolas (Hello, I've come to break your balls; "Romper las bolas" is Argentine slang for "to annoy")
* Bueno, chau. (Well, bye)
* Mirá, mirá, tengo (...), mirá. (Look, look, I've got (...), look)
* ¡Jo-joo-jo! (Carlitox' ultimate trademark laughter)
* Ehm, me parece una muy buena idea, pero... (Ehm, I think it's an awesome idea, but...)
* ¿Qué Hacemos? (What are we going to do?)
* Tengo un (...) en el garaje, nunca lo use. (I have a (...) in my garage, never used it)

El Viejo

The charismatic Viejo, often called El Viejo del Bastón (The Old Man With the Cane), is an old man who spends a lot of time with Alejo, Valentina and Carlitox. His favorite football team is Chacarita Juniors.

El Viejo wears a grey robe. He often appears spontaneously, and acts wise even though he is not smart and his advice is useless. He is known for his Paraguayan accent, ending almost every sentence with 'viteh' (y'see), a word derived from 'viste' (you see). He seems to have a crush on an older lady -the character named La Vieja-, and often impersonates Hattori Hanzo or Pai Mei from Kill Bill. He also claims to know Victor Sueiro personally.

He is able to teleport. He is skilled in magic. He's in great physical condition, and is as muscular as a bodybuilder

Catch Phrases:
* Hola, viteh. (Hi, y'see)
* Tengo chaleco, viteh. (I've got (bulletproof) vest, y'see)
* Pero, ¡¿vos sos loco, viteh?! (But, are you crazy, y'see?!)
* Lo que hagas puede tener repercusiones en eventos futuros, viteh. (Anything you do may affect future events, y'see)
* Vamo' a matar a los bichos, viteh. (We're gonna kill all them bugs, y'see)

Gregory

He is 20 years old and wears a blue shirt and darker pants. He is a friend of most of the characters in the series, and is the fall-guy of many pranks from the other characters. He speaks with the Argentinian "Cheto" accent (posh or snobby accent). His power is superhuman speed. He owns a bar and is very shy around women. He likes Pop music and often sings in the episodes. He's a fan of River Plate. His role has increased as the series has progressed as he and Matias Waterland became more important in the show; he appeared in every episode of the second season as a main character.

Catch Phrases:
* Uuuy, que divertido. (Ohhh, how fun)
* Me tocaron el culo. (Someone touched my ass)
* Uuuy, bueno ya, dale. (Ohhh, OK, let's do it)
* Che, pónganle algo de onda. (Hey, be a little more cool)
* ¡Paren las rotativas! ¡Paren las rotativas! (Stop the press! Stop the press!)

Matias Walterland

He is the main prankster of the series and often accompanies Gregory. He also dated Gregory's sister, much to his companion's annoyance. He has an anger management problem and often starts shooting indiscriminately with his Uzi submachinegun when angry and uses very rude language towards everyone, often ending up his phrases with "boludo" (dumbass). He wears a red shirt and blue trousers.

Catch Phrases:
* Me chupa la pija vo' y tu vieja boludo'! (You and your mum can suck my dick you dumbass!)
* Boludo! (dumbass!)
* ¿Entendé' como e', boludo? (You got that, dumbass?)

El Negro

A stereotypical tramp, representing Argentina's low classes. He often joins the main group. He has eight brothers, all from different fathers. He is always begging for pennies for the bus, despite the fact that he owns a Ferrari Testarossa.

Catch Phrases:
* ¿Una monedita para el bondi? (Can you gimme a penny for da bus?)
* Puede ser...! (It might be...!)

Secondary characters

* The Wilkinson Twins (Charles & Mike): Two American twins, both porn actors. They both speak a very bad Spanish, resembling a cheap Mexican dub used for the TV Shop.

* Cara de Cocou: a metafictional character that often appears in the "Cara de Cocou & Pirín Show", a show-within-a-show.
* Pirín: Cara de Cocou's friend in the "Cara de Cocou & Pirín Show".
* Urna: Cara de Cocou's girlfriend in the "Cara de Cocou & Pirín Show".
* Cacho: A friend of Alejo and Valentina. He is an impatient salesman. He never seems to lose his coolness ("How many zombies can there be...one, two, three zombies...we kill them all")
* Carlos el pibe del noticiero: A reporter who appears in most episodes, reporting tragedies or strange occurrences in a calm and uncaring way.
* Satan:He is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd, but when angry he will generate a huge cloud of smoke around him and turn into a huge red demon. Gregory kills him in the Halloween episode when he and Matias are sent to hell.
* El Paraguayo Alternatonto: Appears in the episode "Expreso a Pilar" and in the episode "Behind the Flash" saying "¡Qué drogadicto que sos!" (You're such a junkie!)" .
* El Chino del restaurante: a man with a Chinese accent who works in a Chinese food restaurant.
* Kabronero: a parody of one of Alejandro Szykula's friends.
* Dumloco: another parody of one of the creator's friends.
* Colorín: an alien that speaks through his stomach. His pronunciation is impossible to understand. He's able to warp reality to some extent.
* Doctor Socolinski: Alejo and Valentina's doctor, based on the TV celebrity by the same name.
* Ricardo: A man who plays the role of the villain in the episodes where he appears. He is Ricardo Montaner, a well-known musician. He works as a barman in Gregory's bar.
* Ratón Pérez: A mouse, able to walk on two legs, who tricks Ricardo. He is similar to the Tooth Fairy, exchanging milk-teeth for money.
* Peronemlins (also Menemlins and Alfonsinemlins): They are Gremlins with famous Argentinian politicians heads: Juan Domingo Peron, Carlos Menem and Raúl Alfonsin.
* Panchita: A girl with blue hair.
* El Pato Bonavides The owner of the "Super TV channel". He appears offering the main characters parts in his TV shows, often giving them contracts to sing.
* El pajarito: Is a blue talking bird who appears in the opening of all the episodes. He lives with his wife in the tree in front of Alejo's house.
* Rafutín: Creature that appears in several episodes as an extra but never has had a major role.
* Sebastián: Appears in the episode "Recatate Soldado Brian".
* Andrés: Appears in the episode "Recatate Soldado Brian" as Sebastián's lost brother.
* Rogelio: A friend of el Negro, his catchphrase is saying the word "re-cajetilla" ("extra cool") for example: "re-cajetilla este (...) loco!"
* El Pelado: Or El Pelado Del Samba and El Pelado De La Calesita, varies according to his job. He is a bald man with bad luck, whenever he operates a ride at Parque Park, something knocks him out or injures him, causing the ride he operates to go out of control and kills the people riding it and people nearby.

External links

* [http://www.locoarts.com.ar/ Official website]