Gravity Falls


Gravity Falls is an American animated mystery comedy television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series ran from June 15, 2012, to February 15, 2016.
The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines and his twin sister Mabel who are sent to spend the summer with their great-uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon, a mysterious town full of paranormal forces and supernatural creatures. The kids help Stan run "The Mystery Shack", the tourist trap which he owns, while also investigating the local mysteries.
In 2015, Hirsch announced that the series would finish with its second season, stating that he chose to do it for the show to end with "a real conclusion for the characters". He later stated that he remains open to continuing the series with additional episodes or specials. The show culminated with a one-hour finale, "", airing on February 15, 2016.
In February 2018, on the second anniversary of the final episode of the show, Hirsch used a cipher to announce Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, a continuation of the Gravity Falls story in a new graphic novel that was later released on July 24, 2018.

Plot summary

For their summer vacation, 12-year-old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines are dropped off from their home in Piedmont, California, to the fictitious town of Gravity Falls, Roadkill County, Oregon to spend the summer with their Great Uncle Stan Pines, who runs a tourist trap called the "Mystery Shack". Things are not what they seem in this small town, and with the help of a mysterious journal that Dipper finds in the forest, they begin unraveling the local mysteries. With appearances from Wendy Corduroy, Mystery Shack cashier; Soos Ramirez, a friend of Dipper and Mabel and handyman to Grunkle Stan; plus an assortment of other characters, Dipper and Mabel always have an intriguing day to look forward to.

Episodes

Characters

Concept

Prior to working on the series, series creator Alex Hirsch's primary inspiration growing up was the popular animated sitcom The Simpsons, where he observed that "animation could be funnier than live-action. That animation didn't have to just be for kids. That it could be satirical and observational and grounded in a sense of character interaction". Hirsch graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, and was hired to work as writer and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, where he was paired up with Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. Afterwards, he moved on to co-develop the Disney Channel animated series Fish Hooks; shortly before he pitched Gravity Falls.
Hirsch says he was at the California Institute of the Arts when he turned down DreamWorks Animation executive Jeffrey Katzenberg out of a desire to work for Disney. He first coined the concept for the show in an 11-minute low-budget student film which he made at the Institute. Hirsch was called in to do a pitch for Disney Channel for a show based on the short pilot. Disney Channel bought the idea and started airing the series in the summer of 2012. The series was inspired by Hirsch's own childhood experiences with his twin sister during their summer vacations, while Stan was based on his own grandfather of the same name.

Production

Hirsch explained in an interview with The A.V. Club during production of season 1, that a typical episode is conceived in a room reserved for writers, where a simple synopsis is presented, and from then on dramatic structure is defined, and the plot is modified to include a character-driven subplot, which Hirsch expresses as "the hardest thing... to find a character story that actually uncovers, explores, or pushes tension—on something our characters care about—that is properly explored via the magic or monster or impossibility of the week."
B- and A-stories are created, and are given to a writer to produce an outline, which is then subsequently checked-off by Hirsch for feedback. The writer produces a draft from these edits, where more notes may be given. Hirsch states that he and creative director Mike Rianda may personally create a draft for themselves before a final script is produced, in which the dialogue from the draft received from the writer is significantly revised; Hirsch states that the revising process "is not a discredit to our writers—it's just we have a very particular vision. In particular, I usually rewrite almost all of Dipper's dialogue and most of Mabel's dialogue, just because I have them in my head. Me and Mike will stay up for about 24 hours prior to the delivery of every script. We'll take the weekend, we'll work all night, we'll drink Red Bull, we'll sleep on the couch in shifts like maniacs, we'll slap each other in the face."
A script is delivered, which then gets translated into a storyboard, where feedback is received from Hirsch to the board artists if a certain element, such as a gag, doesn't work. Afterwards, a pitch for the episode is given to the network, where they do a read-through, and then the episode is either checked out by the network, or retooled in the small amount of time allocated before an animation studio must receive something to work with. The series is animated by Rough Draft Korea, Digital eMation and Yearim Productions.

Initial broadcast

The first twelve episodes of Gravity Falls aired in a regular weekly slot on Disney Channel starting in mid-2012, but subsequent episodes were broadcast without similar regularity; it took until August 2013 to broadcast the remaining eight episodes of the first season. The second season began airing a year later in August 2014, transitioning over to Disney XD, but again without any regularity to when new episodes would be first broadcast. The first nine episodes aired from August to November 2014, the following two in February and March 2015, the next eight from July to November 2015, and the finale aired in February 2016. According to Disney XD, as each episode took about six months of work to complete, they opted against stockpiling episodes to show weekly but instead take advantage of the serial nature of the show, broadcasting each episode as it was completed and making an event out of it. On April 2, 2018, reruns of the show started airing on Disney Channel, although reruns of the show still air on Disney XD.

Broadcast

Disney Channel

The series began airing on Disney Channel Canada on September 1, 2015, following Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Disney Channel rights in Canada. In Canada the show began airing on Disney XD starting on December 1, 2015, following the launch of Disney XD. The show started broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 20, 2012, as a preview and officially premiered on September 7, 2012. In Australia and New Zealand it previewed on August 17, 2012, and premiered on September 24, 2012. It also premiered in Southeast Asia on October 27, 2012. In India it premiered on September 16, 2013. In the Middle East region, the series was previewed on October 19, 2012, and premiered on November 10, 2012.

Other

The series preview debuted in Canada on June 15, 2012, and premiered on July 6, 2012, on Family Channel, until January 2016 when it moved to the local Disney XD channel following Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Disney Channel rights in Canada from Family's owner DHX Media. In Australia, the show airs on Disney XD and 7mate while in Chile, the show was broadcast on Canal 13 on November 24, 2013, under its programming block CuBox. In the Philippines, the show was shown on TV5 beginning on May 4, 2014, while in Brazil, the show also began airing on Rede Globo on May 10, 2014. In Indonesia, the show premiered on RCTI on August 17, 2014.

Broadcast edits

The symbol on Grunkle Stan's fez was changed from a crescent shape resembling the Islamic crescent to a fish-like symbol mid-way through the first season's broadcast. The symbol represents his membership in the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel. When the series was put on Disney+, the crescent-shaped symbol was edited out entirely, leaving a symbol-less fez in the early episodes—later episodes featuring the fish-like symbol were unaffected. However, the crescent symbol remains in the thumbnails, and on the zodiac wheel in the title sequence. Hirsch drew attention to the change on Twitter. Disney has not commented on why it was removed. Sometime later, the symbol on the fez was restored.

Merchandise

Home media

On March 27, 2018, Shout! Factory announced that they would release the complete series as a box set on July 24, 2018, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The box set is available in a "Collector's Edition" which includes an exclusive bonus features disc. The complete series has only been released in the United States and Canada.

Books

Video game

A video game was created from the series, namely .
The game was released exclusively on Nintendo 3DS on October 20, 2015.
It was developed and published by Ubisoft and produced by Disney Interactive Studios.
The game is a platformer and uses the same graphics as the series.

Reception

Critical reception

Both seasons of Gravity Falls hold a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The website's critical consensus for season one reads: "Gravity Falls' warm humor and bright performances elevate this children's cartoon to a show for all ages", while the website's critical consensus for season two reads: "Gravity Falls continues to blend old fashioned storytelling with a modern sense of humor to create a uniquely enjoyable viewing experience."
Brian Lowry of Variety stated: "The show has a breezy quality that should play to kids, and tickle some twinges of nostalgia among their parents." Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd referred to the program as "...gently twisted, with some Disneyfied action and heart-warming folded in". In his review, David Hinckley of New York Daily News called Gravity Falls "quirky and endearing", and offered praise for the character of Mabel Pines. Matt Blum, writing for Wired, favorably compared the show to Cartoon Network's Regular Show and Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb, hailing Gravity Falls as "clever, strange, and somewhat poignant". Erik Kain of Forbes called Gravity Falls "the best thing on TV at the moment," saying "I don't care how old you are, if you're not watching Gravity Falls you're missing out on some of the cleverest, most enjoyable television you can find". Kayla Cobb of Decider called Gravity Falls "one of the most structurally smart shows ever created". Matt Fowler from IGN called Gravity Falls "a quirky and gently twisted heart-warmer for all ages. Smart, satirical, and sweet. Gravity Falls was a one-of-a-kind gem."
Michelle Jaworski writing for The Daily Dot described Gravity Falls as " classic summer story woven into a smart and addictive show tackling the paranormal, the supernatural, and the pains of growing up." IndieWire’s Michael Schneider said "Gravity Falls is a kids’ show so dense with mythology, pop culture jokes, Easter eggs, and mystery that grown-ups were often more invested." Joey Keogh from Den of Geek wrote "Gravity Falls, is a spooky-cute must-watch for adults who never grew out of Halloween." Donna Dickens from Uproxx said "Not only does Gravity Falls deal with the inexplicable supernatural occurrences in the town, the whole thing is just one big puzzle of secrets waiting for fans to uncover and solve." Myles McNutt from The A.V. Club said "With a complex mythology and a deep lexicon of cultural references, there’s sophistication to the show’s epic storytelling that immediately drew the attention of a wider audience." Liz Baessler writing for Film School Rejects said "Gravity Falls is an exceptional kids’ show — brilliant, hilarious, and carefully crafted."
In 2015, Uproxx ranked Gravity Falls as the 3rd Current Kids Cartoon That Adults Need to be Watching. In 2018, IndieWire ranked Gravity Falls at number 12 on their list of The 50 Best Animated Series Of All Time. In 2019, Yardbarker ranked Gravity Falls at number 21 on their list of The 25 Greatest Animated Shows of All Time. Also in 2019, IGN placed Gravity Falls at Number 19 on their list titled The 25 Best Adult Cartoon TV Series and The A.V. Club placed Gravity Falls at number 48 on their list of The 100 Best TV Shows of the 2010s.

Ratings

A special preview of the series following the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine was watched by 3.4 million viewers. The series garnered high viewership on its fifth episode, which aired on July 13, 2012, and attracted 3.6 million viewers. On March 15, 2013, the episode "The Deep End" was watched by 4.5 million viewers after the premiere of Wizards of Waverly Place , becoming the highest-rated episode of the series.
Later moving on to Disney XD, the episode "A Tale of Two Stans" became the highest-rated telecast ever on Disney XD, with 1.91 million viewers. In addition to total viewers, "A Tale of Two Stans" also set a network record in kids ages 2–11, boys ages 2–11, boys ages 6–11, kids ages 6–14 and boys ages 6–14. In 2015, Gravity Falls accounted for Disney XD's top seven regular animated series telecasts of all time among kids ages 6–11. During the week of July 12–18, 2015, Gravity Falls was the top-rated program in its 8:30 p.m. timeslot across kids and boys ages 2–11, 6–11 and 6–14. That same week, it was also cable TV’s number 1 scripted telecast in total viewers, according to estimates from Nielsen Ratings.
Gravity Falls ranked as Disney XD's number 1 series of 2015 across all target demographics with an average of 1.8 million viewers per episode. Additionally, Gravity Falls ranked as 2015's third animated cable TV series in boys ages 9–14. In kids ages 6–11, the series averaged 654,000 viewers and 790,000 in kids ages 2–11. Among boys ages 6–14 it pulled in 680,000 views. That is strong viewership in Disney XD's core demographics, but it also makes it clear that older teens and young adults make up more than half of the show's audience according to Variety.
In February 2016, Gravity Falls was the number 1 regular series telecast on record across kids ages 6–11, boys ages 6–11, kids ages 2–11 and boys ages 2–11. The series finale "" beat the ratings record previously held by "A Tale of Two Stans" becoming Disney XD's most-watched telecast ever, with 2.47 million viewers in the United States. "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" also established new all-time network highs in kids ages 6–14 and boys ages 6–14. The all day Gravity Falls marathon that preceded the premiere of "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" generated 10.7 million unique total viewers, of which 5.4 million were kids ages 2–14.

Awards and nominations