Stevie and Zoya
Stevie and Zoya is an animated series of roughly 60-second shorts that first appeared on MTV in 1987, randomly, during commercial breaks. They were produced by Joe Horne, who later worked for the Disney Channel and on the Cartoon Network show Class of 3000. Horne later produced two new series in flash animation for the Internet in 2004, and again in 2010, and produced a traditionally animated series for the Internet in 2019, the 2010 and 2019 series appear on Horne's YouTube channel.
Overview
The setting is New York City in the near future. The title characters work for a well-meaning shadow agency called "DADDIO" (which seems to be a play on the similar organization in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). Stevie Washington is a young, white male in his early twenties with black hair, sunglasses, black tee shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He is rarely seen without his red, white, and blue skateboard. (In the later 2004 flash episodes, Stevie wears goggles and a hoodie that obscures his features.) Zoya (no last name given) wears a red jumpsuit with a black belt, collar, gloves, stilletto-heeled boots, and a large hair bow that rather resembles a Playboy bunny's rabbit ears. She is armed with the unlikeliest of weapons: a yo-yo. She uses it to swing from lamp posts or buildings a la Spider-Man, and to disarm enemies—on one occasion to defuse a bomb (by knocking off the fuse).
Stevie and Zoya attempt to stop the nefarious plots of various supervillains, including The Outlaws from Planet X, The Minutewomen, the voodoo priestess Mamuwaldi, The Disco Zombies, and—most of all—the disfigured, evil industrialist and publisher of The Trash Times John Warlok.
The early series was crudely scored (mostly with a pastiche of old movie and television music) and more crudely animated. Zoya spoke in only two episodes, and Stevie in only one, with a single word: "Framed!" The series was quickly paced, contributing to its cult status. Narration was supplied by actor Russell Johnson.[1] Occasionally, mistakes by Johnson or the other voice actors were left in, giving the cartoon an improvisational feel.
Opening narration
Each episode begins with the following narration (punctuation as in original):
Stevie Washington, the angry youth.
Born to Die!
New York's, New York.
The turn of the century.
All crime!!