Here's Nudnik (Nudnik)

Here's Nudnik is the pilot for the Nudnik series of shorts created by Gene Deitch. It was nominated for an Academy Award, alongside How to Avoid Friendship. This short is a test to see if Nudnik would make it into either the theatrical or the television market. Unfortunately, Paramount chose to distribute the series in theaters and ran for only 14 cartoon shorts. That was when patrons stopped going to movie theaters and preferred to watch cartoons on television.

Summary
Nudnik tries to cook bread and caused a sink to flood in the Withered Arms Apartment.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) To start up, Nudnik is the easiest to root for and is likeable. Most of the time, people feel bad for him.
 * 2) This short is a remake and an improvement   over "The Leaky Faucet", starring Terrytoons' Dimwit.
 * 3) * Instead of watering plants, Nudnik is involved in trying to cook bread in the morning.
 * 4) Good somber blues music. It would later be replaced with upbeat music by demand from the Paramount executives.
 * 5) Throughout the whole short, the beginning  showcased Nudnik's start of the day through a series of gags.
 * 6) * For example, the short starts with him waking up from inside a chair and wears his bandana.
 * 7) As mentioned above, the short was nominated for an Academy Award (alongside How to Avoid Friendship).
 * 8) The executives at Paramount liked the short so much, they greenlit Nudnik for a series of cartoons. They convinced Deitch to make the music more upbeat.
 * 9) Excellent abstract animation from the crew at Czech Republic.
 * 10) * The xerography art style and timing are an improvement over Gene Deitch's attempt at rebooting the Tom and Jerry franchise.
 * 11) Best known for its use of pantomime over dialogue-driven humor.
 * 12) * Other cartoons that had pantomime at the time were the Tom and Jerry shorts directed by Hanna-Barbera at MGM and the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner shorts directed by Chuck Jones at Warner Bros.
 * 13) Hilarious ending, where Nudnik's clothes shrunk and he walks away from the apartment.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The somber blues music can be depressing to hear. Thankfully, the executives told Deitch to make the music more upbeat in future shorts.
 * 2) Like the Foofle shorts that preceded it, the short feels generic without any supporting characters to balance out the humor.
 * 3) * In future shorts, they were later added to balance out the mayhem of the series.
 * 4) Nudnik is entirely silent, with no vocal effects to speak of. The later shorts would give him vocal effects.

Trivia

 * As mentioned above, Gene Deitch originally wanted his Nudnik character to have somber blues music as his main theme. But Paramount wanted something more cartoonish and convinced Deitch to use more upbeat music. The song, "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" became the standard theme for Nudnik in later entries of the series.