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| Moral Orel (TV series) | |
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 Orel happily waving. | |
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No. of seasons |
3 |
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No. of episodes |
43 (including 1 special) |
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Series premiere |
December 13, 2005 (USA) December 5, 2007 (Germany)
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Series finale |
December 18, 2008 (USA |
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Created by |
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First episode |
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Last episode |
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Original network |
Adult Swim |
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Running time |
11 - 12 minutes |
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Genre |
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Introduction[]
Moral Orel is an American stop-motion animated TV series created by Dino Stamatopoulos, that first premiered on Adult Swim on December 13, 2005 and ended on December 18, 2008. The series only has 3 seasons with a total of 43 episodes and a special (aired in 2012).
Plot[]
The show takes place in the fictional, temporally-displaced, and religious town of Moralton. It is the capital of the fictional U.S. State of Statesota, located in the United States' "Bible Belt." According to the globe shown in the opening credits, Moralton is in the exact center of the United States (in the Great Plains), with the town's church at the exact center of the town. According to Dino, episodes may be set in "the present" in relation to their airdates, excluding the original airing of "The Best Christmas Ever," but an exact timeline of the series was never revealed.
The main character is Orel Puppington, a naïve, cheerful, and good-natured 12-year-old devout Christian boy who tries to learn how to be good by living by the Protestant Christian values and moral codes. He lives with his abusive alcoholic father, Clay Puppington, his clean-obsessed and emotionally-distant/starving mother, Bloberta Puppington, and his neglected 7-year-old (half) brother, Shapey. He deals with the hypocrisy of the religious adults he encounters in town. The town church’s reverend is Rod Putty, who always gives sermons to the congregation and is one of the people who gives Orel the most advice. Orel naïvely follows the Christian moral codes wrongly to disastrous extremes, and it often leads him into trouble and being physically punished by his father every time. As the series progresses, Orel witnesses the hypocrisy, unrighteousness, and flaws among the most of the people in Moralton, including his family members.
Beforel Orel (a Moral Orel special)[]
Beforel Orel is a 25-minute Moral Orel special that aired on Adult Swim on November 19, 2012, four years after the series was cancelled. The special is about Orel when he was 4 years old, the beginnings of his religious nature, and the birth of his little brother, Shapey.
In the special, 4-year-old Orel knows little to nothing about the world or the people around him. He doesn't even know what God is. He is just a naïve, good-natured, and overly nice little boy who gets constantly manipulated by the townspeople around him. When his mother becomes pregnant with Shapey, he is sent to live with his grandfather on a farm for 8 months. Unlike his parents and everyone else he knew back home, his grandfather is not religious, doesn't believe in God, and is nicer, calmer, and more practical. He teaches 4-year-old Orel about “lies”, “trust”, “proof”, and how to care for animals on his farm. His grandfather is one of the only few people in his life who cares about his happiness, and wants him to grow up to be a good and well-functioning person, unlike his other family members. Even though his father has kept him from loving his grandfather over the years, Orel’s love for his grandfather never changed.
Lost Episodes[]
After the series cancelled with 3 seasons, Dino Stamatopoulos written the scripts of the lost episodes on his MySpace page. The series was supposed to continue with a 4th and 5th season, but it was cancelled due to being “too depressing“ and “too dark” for Adult Swim. The series was supposed to continue focusing on Orel’s grandfather moving in with the family, Orel becoming a goth after his grandfather dies, Bloberta escaping her depressing marriage and finding new love, and the lives of the other characters.
Trivia[]
- In Russia, Moral Orel is known as моральный орел or "Moral Eagle". In the Russian dubbed version of the series, Orel's name is “Eagle”.
- The reason why the series was cancelled after the 3rd season was because Adult Swim considered it “too dark/depressing".
- According to fans, Moral Orel is considered one of the darkest and “most messed up” TV series on Adult Swim.