Template:Episode updated V.2"A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the animated television series Lovely World and the 206th overall episode. The episode first aired in the United States on the children's programming network Children's Avast Television on February 28, 2015. It was directed by Stanley Smith and written by Scarlett Cook, based on a story by Charlie Fisher. The series centers on the main character, Edward, and his friends Michael, Leo and Kamila, who embark on new adventures in search of sources to extend their "worlds", discover new species, and strive to achieve their own objectives.
In the episode, Edward discovers a door leading to a secret underground base. After Edward enters and is given a tour by one of the villagers, his pals follow him but are stopped by guards, while Edward's sheep follows him and becomes lost. As the day progressed, they continued to seek for him, and a sequence of incidents occurred within the facility.
The episode's premise was initially developed by Charlie Fisher, who gave it to Scarlett Cook when he was working on one of the scheduled and work-in-progress episodes for the fifth and final season of the show's original series. The script went through multiple rewrites, with Michael originally playing a significant role in the story, before becoming the final version. The episode was well received by critics, who praised the humor and script. It was watched by an approximate total of 1,239,363 million households and over 2,478,726 million viewers.
Plot
Michael and Edward are out strolling with their Sheeps, who had showed an interest in kissing and even daydreamed about it. However, after sitting beside a tree, asking Leo and Kamila to join them, and having a nice lunch, Edward became interested in a hidden wooden door he had earlier noticed. Edward, interested, approaches the door and opens it, exposing an entrance to a hidden underground base. The Sheep noticed him and asked that Leo, Kamila, and Michael check on him. The picnic is called off after the group finishes their meal and follows Edward. Meanwhile, Edward is surprised at how wonderfully the entryway is planned. People greet him as he walks along a corridor following that. Edward then enters the main area through a second set of doors. As they look for him, the gang overwhelms the villagers. They grow upset and stop the group from entering.
The group assures him that someone broke in and that they are only looking for the person. Following that, a villager welcomes Edward and takes them on a tour of the region. On the other hand, the group is going through a difficult time, and one of the sheep used this as a route of admittance. The sheep enters, and a villager suspects she is lost and snatches it in an attempt to find its owner. Edward goes to the bedroom where the villagers all sleep and starts up a discussion with one of them. To Edward's amazement, the villager admits that he found the facility ten years ago. The villager then compels Edward to accompany him to the region of animals and creatures, where everything lives in what are known as "homes," which provide them with a place to rest and a view of the humans. The dangerous creatures are confined to one block. After growing terrified of animals, Edward is assigned to play with his favorite animal, the wolf. He starts sobbing because he recognizes the wolves as some of his old friends. After a long wait, the party was able to enter, but the other sheep were concerned when one of them went missing. The sheep separated to find the missing sheep. Hours passed, and the party still hadn't found Edward or the Sheep owing to the base’s immense size.
The other sheep began wailing, prompting the group to resume their hunt for Edward and the sheep. A zombie epidemic devastates the villagers as they prepare to sleep at night. When the group noticed that the villagers were being bitten, they rushed to help. After a brief struggle, the group destroys the zombies, and the locals are delighted to learn that the base will no longer have any monsters. When Edward awakens in the early hours of the morning and realizes he needs to see his friends again, he panics and bids the villager he met that day farewell, but not before leaving a note. When it is revealed that the sheep belongs to Kamila, the same villager who provided the sheep notices the gathering screaming "Sheep," and she is overjoyed. When Edward arrives, they share a great hug before falling down again. The gang then spends some time together within the facility before heading outside for the first time in several days, which concludes the episode.
Production
Conception and writing
"A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" was the first of only three episodes written by Scarlett Cook for the television series, having previously begun working as a writer in 2014, since the season she was working on planned to replace the production staff with a new production team. The episode was originally planned by writer Charlie Fisher, who was producing and writing the fourth season episode "The Double Size!" in 2014. He came up with the concept because he wanted an episode that was lighter in tone than the previous episodes but yet vital to the storyline and character development.
Originally intended to link the two episodes in between, he felt it would be preferable to make it a filler episode that would deepen Edward's character development. After the critically acclaimed episode "I Feel Like I Want To Dance!", Fisher decided to turn it a comedy and wrote the first script. He described his first draft as "funny and tragic," but his second was "one that would shatter your rids." The final draft was completed and written like a "normal episode". Due to his hectic schedule writing the previous episodes, he delegated production to Scarlett Cook, who first declined the offer but later agreed to take on the position of writer for the episode. She was working on her first episode, "Kamila's Love for Sheep!", which was the first episode she began writing.
Instead, "A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" was supposed to be her third writing episode role, but it was really her second since she was having trouble working on the scheduled episode "The Final Adventures — Part One." She revised elements of Fisher's initial text, including one in which Michael was meant to break in and have the villagers follow him while trying to find Edward. Cook originally produced a draft script in which Willis' Sheep went inside surreptitiously with Willis without his knowledge. The plan was eventually revised, and the Sheep was stated to have gotten aboard when the gang dispersed the guards.
Design, effects and music
A white and black bed. The two were inspired by these types of beds.
To build the concealed foundation, she commissioned artist designers Harvey Reid and Tom Taylor to create a basic yet unusual design; the final version had a hardwood basis blended with cobblestone and metal. Originally a modest base, the final version turned out to be vast in comparison to the earlier design, and Cook was concerned that the episode's timeframe would not be sufficient to exhibit the full structure. Reid and Tom drew inspiration from adult bedrooms, fantasy bedrooms, and palatial rooms while designing the bedrooms. Both of them took images and utilized them as references to develop and manufacture the beds, which were either white or black.
In an earlier version of the episode, the villager said, "Those beds." "Uncomfortable as hell". The phrases referred to an early design for the beds, which were intended to be placed near to one other with little space for individuals. Director Stanley Smith, who viewed an early version of the episode, remarked that "the design of the base was simply too tiny and all of the chambers were near to one other." Tom Marsh worked on making the stairs pitch black and the illumination outside white, removing the blue sky and displaying just Edward's torso. Tom intended to make the space seem "intense" and create the impression that the staircase was never or very seldom utilized. "Brightness" plays in the background as Willis and the villager enter a bedroom. The song was initially performed for an episode of the television series ACOUSTIC-FILES, along with an audio, but was never distributed to the general public. Avast Television approached Imagine Bloxons to obtain the music and utilize it in a one-minute scenario, which they approved.
Animation
"A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" before the final episode was one of the television series' greatest crowd effects, with approximately 700 villagers. Cook drew inspiration from the people of Lutnji, Saint Marten, and Holfar in Roengland while designing them. Over 50 computers were required to handle the 1,000+ models for the locals, with five for zombies and animals and two for the major people and owing to recurrent crashes, animation became increasingly difficult to work on, as animators lost hours of work before the originally planned December 2014 broadcast date deadline, and the production crew had intended to delay the episode. Several lengthy sections have to be shortened or removed owing to those issues.
Eventually, Avast decided to postpone the episode until February, giving for a considerably more relaxed setting for the episodes. An extra three computers were bought for the backdrop and effects. The animation was directed by Louie Ward, Josh Davidson, Noah Fox, Blake Cooke, Tom Marsh, Jake Gould, Zayne Pugh, Zaiden Baxter, Hugh Mcfadden, and Gianni Watson, who collaborated to give the animation a realistic feel. In contrast to previous episodes' production, "A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" used a production technique in which every shot or scene was in the same folder to make it simpler to discover the scenes. Eventually, it was determined that all episodes would follow the same production procedure as this episode.
Broadcast and reception
Ratings
"A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" originally first premiered in the United States on the children's programming network Children's Avast Television on February 28, 2015. On the day of its first airing, the episode was watched by an approximate total of 1,239,363 million households and over 2,478,726 million viewers, a decrease from the previous episode "Michael and Edward's Disaster".
Reviews
"A New Base, A New Sign of Fun!" was met with positive reviews from critics. Most of the compliments were centered at the storyline and comedy. Charlie Murphy, who gave the episode a 7 out of 10, stated that "although the episode wasn't near the same accolades as the prior episodes," he loved the comedy and the show in general. Furthermore, Charlie stated that the episode was one of the few filler episodes that he suggested to "new fans" or "those who wanted to experience the entire arc." Tegan Barnes appreciated the script, stating that "although certain portions may be a little weird, most of them are minor flaws" and that the episode was "excellent on its own," awarding it an 8 out of 10 rating.
Alexander Harris remarked that while some of the narrative was perplexing to him and criticized the "one to two" sequence, it did not prevent him from enjoying the episode overall, complimenting the animation style, plot, and comedy. Christopher Chapman stated that his favorite moment was "either the Sheep coming in or Edward crying over a wolf," calling both fantastic scenes, with the latter "being a touch emotional" for those who had seen the series. New Bloxia Magazine gave the episode an A-, stating that it was one of the much better filler episodes for people who wanted to watch it for the arc, and praising it for its comedy and plot. However, New Bloxia said that the episode might have been extended by "five minutes further" to provide additional growth for Edward and the villager. Charlie Hudson placed the episode second in his filler episode list for the television series, describing it as one of the finest episodes he has seen outside of the fanbase.