During the initial run of Arbitrary Stopframe, Doctor Murkum emerged as the most popular and most aired character, with starring roles in an unequalled three out of the overall thirteen episodes.  Around the time that Arbitrary Stopframe concluded, Tim suggested that Murkum should be given a show of his own - and after fifteen months of slow, false-start-littered development, The Murkum Show came into being in Spring 2013.

In the end, I decided that less would be more, and that each episode should comprise a single, short sketch culminating in some form of injury and/or embarrassment for Murkum.  The episodes are broadly similar to those of Arbitrary Stopframe in terms of their length and format, but there are some notable differences, mainly the custom-built all-Lego set, the recurrence of the same main character in all episodes, and the regular use of spoken dialogue throughout the series.

Behind the scenes, The Murkum Show has a lot in common with Papercuts, in that they are both divided into production blocks - groups of 2 or 3 episodes (3 in the case of The Murkum Show) which move through the production pipeline together - all of their voice work recorded in one go, then all of their stopmotion footage filmed in one go, etc.

Right from the start of the project, I planned that I would demolish the set after the conclusion of Series 1, and if/when Series 2 ever got made then it would take place in a different part of Murkum's fort; as it happened, multiple scripts for the second series had already been written before the first was finished; the second-season episodes take place in a new Staff Lounge, which is still being fitted out during the earlier episodes.  The second season went into production in February 2014, and was published between March and June.

Having gone to the trouble of adding a kitchen area at one end of the set, I was disappointed that it only ended up featuring significantly in one episode, so as the production of Series 2 was coming to an end I took the last-minute decision to make a short spin-off series in which Murkum's head cook Gonce Mulfidd attempts to host his own cookery show - Greasy Food with Gonce.

Series 3 moved the action out of Fort Murk and into the so-called 'Lord Murkum Nice Charity Station', Murkum's abysmal attempt at running a motorway service station about 30 miles west of the Fort.  The season aired at the same time of year as Series 1 (although I changed the broadcast date from Saturday to Thursday for practical reasons), and it follows the gradual disintegration of the NCS project, and Murkum's increasing frustration, leading up to his decision in Episode 45 that he will retire from the Murk Army.

Before fully demolishing the NCS set, I produced a second short spin-off series - The Lower Ranks - this time revolving around the Gamma-3 contingent, who have been banished to live at the Station a few months after Murkum's retirement.  The story took a while to fully develop, but ended up hinging around a string of blunders made by the Gammas in the wake of a communications breakdown with their boss.

Despite Murkum's apparent exit at the end of Series 3, the show did actually have a fourth season (albeit shorter in length at just 10 episodes instead of 15, and released in 2017 instead of 2016), which returned the action to Fort Murk and focussed on Murkum's efforts to regain control of his Army.  The new series featured some changes to the production workflow, with episodes now being shot and edited in the higher-resolution UHD (also known as 4K) format, and Fort Murk being represented by seven different small sets instead of using one large one as the previous seasons had done.

The fourth season finale was deliberately written to bring some ideas full-circle and to serve as a send-off for the entire show; there are no plans for a Series 5.

Characters

Doctor Murkum - Founder and Head of the Murk Army

Murkum is narcissistic, arrogant, violent, a kleptomaniac, a pathological liar, and not actually a doctor.  A spacewalk that went horribly wrong decades ago has left him with assorted bionic body parts including his voicebox and parts of all four limbs; he claims these give him superior abilities, but they really don't.  He terrified of mustaches (despite having one himself, somewhere under that visor), and of pebbles.

'Blue Gun' / 'Bluey' - Deputy Head of Division

Bluey first met Murkum in jail, and the pair co-founded the Murk Army thirteen years later.  Several defeats and disasters (and a few changes of planet) later, Bluey remains Murkum's right-hand man in the Murk Army's main division.  The name 'Bluey' might seem a little odd, since he usually dresses from head to toe in red, but the full version 'Agent Blue Gun' makes more sense when you see his trademark blue-lensed laser rifles.  He insists on going by 'Blue Gun' or 'Bluey' as his real name is so staggeringly embarrassing that he's never told his colleagues what it is.

'QSTG' / 'IRAM' - Pseudo-scientist

When the Murk Army arrived on planet Kadod after fleeing one of their worst defeats, Murkum hired a mercenary squad led by one G. Z. Fumster to refill his depleted ranks.  Since then, Fumster has changed his name several times, invariably to something long and ridiculous with an inaccurate title embedded in it; these names are usually contracted down to their initials by everyone else.  He is currently known as 'Intellectual Research Activist Mumbleforce' ('IRAM'), although Murkum accidentally calls him by the recently-discarded name 'QSTG'.

Mephnar Rosokiah Sr - Mercenary warlord

Mephnar is head of the House of Rosokiah, a nomadic bandit household who are the latest addition to Murkum's rabble, only taking the job because they were pushed out of their traditional desert territory.  The House are the most competent members of the Murk Army by a long way, and the only ones to pose any military threat to anyone other than themselves.

The Beta-2s - Fighting corps

Bluey's twenty or so Beta agents, who comprise most of the orange-clad crowds in The Murkum Show Series 1, are the largest fighting contingent of the Murk Army.  For many years they were mostly unremarkable, but Bluey came into some money a couple of years before the events of the show and spent most of it re-equipping and re-training his Betas (including the purchase of their current uniforms, weapons and aircraft), and since then they have effectively been the Army's crack troops.  Figures of note within the contingent include Atkun (Chief Engineer), Gonce and Uduir (the two cooks), and Solter (the Murk Army's crooked accountant).

Atkun Foundrum - Chief Engineer

Chief Engineer Atkun is one of the longest-serving and more competent Murk Army members, but lacking in people skills.  Besides maintaining both the vehicle fleet and Fort Murk itself, Atkun's duties include leading Beta-2 training exercises, and helping keep his Gamma-2 underlings under some sort of control.

Gonce Mulfidd - Chief Cook

Amiable and somewhat overweight, Gonce has served the Murk Army for almost as long as Bluey and Atkun, and his main role is to run the kitchens, where he churns out huge volumes of high-morale but low-nutrition muck, typically deep-fried because that's the way the Army like it.

Solter Gorritrant - Chief Accountant

Solter is the Murk Army's crooked accountant.  Murkum thinks Solter is really good at looking after everybody's money - which he is, if you count 'routinely embezzling half of' as a synonym for 'really good at looking after'.

The Beta-3s - General-purpose thugs

Once the Army's crack troops, the six Beta-3s (arguably six-and-a-half, if you count the mummified head of their former comrade Goven) have been IRAM's faithful followers ever since their days as a separate outfit on Kadod, and the group exist in a little clique of their own, regarding the rest of the universe with a little suspicion and a lot of disgust.  They have a bitter and often violent rivalry with 2-Group (exacerbated by the fact that the Beta-2s have become better fighters than the Beta-3s since their recent re-training), and - like everyone else - they particularly hate the Gamma-3s.

The Gamma-2s - Low-ranking dogsbodies

The Gamma-2s are the largest contingent of the Murk Army, at one point making up almost 50% of the main Division - but they're not much use in a fight, as they are without exception ignorant and stupid, and have little to no sense of self-preservation.  As a result, they are given most of the boring and/or moderately-dangerous jobs around Fort Murk.

Crad Suttrall - General-purpose goon

Crad's favourite occupation is attempting to suck up to Bluey, in the hope of getting promoted to Beta-2 - despite years of failure (often hindering far more than he assists), he remains convinced that he is just one more helpful deed away from securing his promotion.

'Left-Handed' Bob - Low-ranking dimwit

Perhaps the ultimate misnomer, Left-Handed Bob not only isn't left-handed, he doesn't have a left hand at all.  Oddly enough, this doesn't seem to stop him trying to do things with his left hand, and leads to him spreading even more chaos and debris than the average Gamma-3.

Mos 'Captain Eggs' Vondir - Low-ranking dimwit

'Captain Eggs' is one of the Murk Army's most useless members, and was among the first to get demoted to Gamma-3.  His two worst characteristics are a compulsion to gamble at every possible opportunity, and a losing streak which has gone unbroken for a decade and a half, racking up total debts on the order of billions of Dexu (although, fortunately for Eggs, nobody except Solter has managed to keep anything like an accurate record).

Derk Molgrick - Low-ranking dimwit

Derk is one of the Gamma-3s, who are probably the stupidest of all the characters in the Murk Army.&nbps; He has less obvious personal foibles or failings than many of the others (the worst is probably his insistence on not only wearing empty breathing tanks, but wearing them back-to-front), but he is still staggeringly unintelligent.

Grammum & Glogmun Fass - Useless

The Fass Twins are so identical, and so monumentally stupid, that even they can't remember which one of them is which.  The consequences are never pretty.

Randall Meswork / 'Oney' - Head of Tnarran Division

Oney is among the most senior members of the Murk Army, second only to Murkum, and not only heads up 1-Group (hence the nickname 'Oney', short for 'Alpha One'), but is in overall command of the entire Tnarran Division.  Despite this, he's of little help, as he is very nearly as dim as Murkum, and spends large amounts of time and effort trying to one-up Bluey, with whom he shares an intense and mutual dislike.

Forkley - Forklift truck

Started off as the baggage-handling forklift from a Lego airport set I was given around age 9.  Ended up being given a mischievous personality and becoming a perpetual thorn in the side of Doctor Murkum.

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

Series 2 (2014)

Series 3 (2015)

Series 4 (2016-2017)

Screening Room

Gallery

Elite Class

Drinkies

Headlong Dash

Hammer Action

I Want the Droids

Power is Everything

Props for Ignorance

Speed of Delivery

Riveted

Steady Hand

Shiny New Toy

Boss Machine

Live Wire

Cough Sweets

Breach of the Peace

My Tune to Call

Wet Rot

Ready Money

Use Nor Ornament

Champion

Waiter, Waiter

Gamma Trap

Cooks Only

Defective Goods

A Friend in Need

Rank and File

Harmony is For Fools

Mystery Gadget

After Hours

Brave and Heroic

Motive Juice

Creative Accounting

Simple Directions

Tidiness is Paramount

We Got You Covered

Man-Eater

A Bus to Catch

The Darkness

Dozy Head

The Poster Men

Colourings and Sweeteners

Supply and Demand

Take-Out Coffee

Lost Property

The Last Slouch

Ghost at the Water Cooler

Gatecrashed

Signals of Respect

Use Your Head

Murkum's Birthday (A)

Murkum's Birthday (B)

Murkum's Birthday (C)

Noble Intent

The Hero Who Wasn't

Present Danger

Jailhouse Block

The Boss is Back

Collaborators & Contributors

Timothy Johnston

Staff writer, character voices, co-producer & guest director

Sarah Johnston

Writer (Series 1-3), guest voices (Series 3)

Sam Arthur

Writer

Phil Oakley

Guest writer (Series 3)

Douglas Brown

Additional voice (Prologue to Series 4)

Jake Ayrton

Guest writer (Series 4)

Categories

Filmmaking

Animation

Web Series

Murk Army stories

© Matthew G. H. Colclough 1988-2024 - all rights reserved