The Skeleton Pirates are minor characters in Smiling Friends. Their only appearance was in "A Allan Adventure," where they serves as an obstacle in Allan's quest to retrieve paper clips for the office.
Appearance[]
Captain[]
He is a skeleton with red eyes and sharp teeth. His outfit consists of typical pirate garb, including a dark blue coat and hat with yellow trim, black boots, and a red feather in his hat. He wields a sword with a gold handle and grey blade.
Crew members[]
Unlike their captain, the crew members are completely nude, with their only articles of clothing being assorted pieces of headwear. One wears a hat, another wears a bandana, and one has an eyepatch over his right eye.
Role in episode[]
When Allan is trying to retrieve the box of paper clips from the Sasquatch's cave, he accidentally drops it on top of the skeleton when the Sasquatch angrily roars at him. This causes the skeleton to come to life and declare the paper clips as his booty. He runs out of the cave, decapitating the Sasquatch in process, and reunites with his crew who proceed to sail into the open seas. Allan pursues the pirates, which causes them to fire at him.
The captain throws a grenade into Allan's boat, which seemingly dispatches him, until he comes out of the water riding a makeshift jet-ski. The pirates then turn their attention to a massive leviathan, which consumes their entire ship whole. The captain gets impaled with his own sword upon landing in the beast's stomach. Allan confronts the captain, who apologizes and says he "fucked up" before dying in Allan's arms.
Trivia[]
- The Skeleton Pirates were animated by RadioTV [2], a studio located in Los Angeles, California. The lead animator on the scene was Kevin Bissell [3].
- The studio also produced a stop-motion Smiling Friends bumper for Adult Swim, consisting of Charlie getting a dental exam.
- When the box of paper clips initially falls on the captain, he is animated using cel-shaded CGI.