Thumbs!
Thumbs! is a collective term for the O Entertainment short films created by Steve Oedekerk using "Thumbation" technology, a process which combines live-action thumbs and superimposition of the voice actors' faces. The first short, Thumb Wars, was created as a television special and spawned the rest of the series.
Each filmette is available on DVD, with exclusive extra footage on the Thumb Wars/Thumbtanic Thumb Double Feature. The entire series is available in a box set called "All Thumbs", which does not include the Double Feature or "The Thumbersons" short.
An ongoing joke in the series is the appearance of a one-eyed thumb, who appears in each filmette to give his signature line of "eh-hoo."
Most of the shorts have aired on Cartoon Network, before the show or film being parodied air, such as Thumb Wars (for Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Bat Thumb (for airings of Batman and Robin). "Franken thumb" aired around Halloween 2008 and was released on DVD on October 24, 2009. "Blair Thumb" aired in Halloween 2009. It is currently unknown when "Thumbtanic" and "The Godthumb" will air.
Filmettes
- Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle was a 29 minute 1999 parody of the Star Wars movie series.
- The Godthumb was a 2001 parody of The Godfather. The short film followed the Godthumb, a leader of a Mafia family and his four sons.
- Bat Thumb was a 2001 adaptation of the Batman movie series. This 30 minute film combines elements of the classic Batman TV series with Adam West with more recent Batman movie elements.
- Frankenthumb was a 32 minute animated film. The story changed the characters of Frankenstein slightly to Dr. Frankenthumb, Humpy (Igor) and "Pepper" (aka Frankenstein's Monster). Frankenthumb was released in the US in 2002.
- The Blair Thumb (2002) was a short film parody of the movie The Blair Witch Project.
- Thumbtanic was 26 minutes in length, and featured a parody of the theme song from the 1997 movie Titanic, called My Heart is a Thumb. Thumbtanic was released in the US in 2002.
Filmettes Awaiting Release
- "Thumbatrix," a parody of "The Matrix", was set to be released in 2003, but never was. A trailer is available on the official Thumbs! website.
- "WTW: World Thumb Wrestling", a parody of WWE, was set to be released in 2003, but never was. It is unknown whether it was completed. A trailer is available on the official Thumbs! website. The trailer shows a wrestler telling a story of how he beat a guy up. Then, another man says the wrestling they do is fake. Then, the wrestler punches him and says "Did that feel fake, pansy boy?!"
Due to renewed popularity of the Thumbs! on Cartoon Network, O Entertainment may eventually release these filmettes.
Shorts
- "The Thumbersons", a small short, came with the "Thumb Wars/ Thumbtanic Thumb Double Feature".
Collections
- "Thumb Wars/ Thumbtanic Thumb Double Feature" is the only double feature of Thumbs! available. It includes "Thumb Wars" and "Thumbtanic". It also comes with the exclusive short "The Thumbersons". In 2005, it was released for the PlayStation Portable's UMD Video.
- "All Thumbs!" is a boxed set containing "Thumb Wars", "Thumbtanic", "The Godthumb", "Bat Thumb", "Franken thumb", and "Blair Thumb". The short "The Thumbersons" was omitted. This is because the "Thumb Wars/ Thumbtanic Thumb Double Feature" wasn't included, rather two separate DVDs for the two filmettes.
Possible Future Filmettes
In a 2004 interview with Dale Whitehouse, spokesman of O Entertainment, he said that Oedekerk showed interest in making "Superthumb" (a parody of Superman), "Spiderthumb" (a parody of Spider-Man), "Jaws Thumb" (a parody of Jaws), "Viva Thumb Vegas" (a parody of Viva Las Vegas), "Thumbbusters" (a parody of Ghostbusters), "Catthumb" (a parody of Catwoman), "Thumb America" (a parody of Captain America).[1]
The One-Eyed Thumb
A running gag in the filmettes is an appearance of a one-eyed thumb who says 'woo-hoo'. Here are his appearances:
- "Thumb Wars" - The bartender at the cantina
- "Thumbtanic" - appears while everyone is talking about the ship, during the middle as the Titanic tips, and at the end of the short and sells the diamond in the picture of Geranium.
- "Frankenthumb" - A member of the angry mob
- "Blair Thumb" - One of the people interviewed
- "The Godthumb" - Appears at the party at the end of the movie
- "Bat Thumb" - One of the people affected by No-Face's vapor (and is remarked about by Batthumb ("Yikes!"))
- "The Thumbersons" - One of the members of the Thumberson family.