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Spark Plug Entertainment is a New York-based computer animation company founded by Michael Schelp in 2006. The American equivalent of Video Brinquedo, it specializes in low-quality Direct to Video Mockbuster films, with just as much hate directed toward it. Its first film was Bug Bites: An Ant's Life, first released in 1998 and later re-released in 2006 as the company was founded.
Films by Spark Plug Entertainment include:
- Bug Bites: An Ant's Life (later known as simply An Ant's Life)
- A Car's Life: Sparky's Big Adventure
- Plan Bee
- Piper Penguin and His Fantastic Flying Machines (formerly Penguins: Waddle On)
- Spider's Web: A Pig's Tale
- A Cars Life 2 (no byline)
- And will be upcoming, Frankie Stein
Tropes in these movies include:
- Alliteration: The names of the penguins in Piper Penguin which all begin with P.
- An Aesop: Often delivered in an Anvilicious manner.
- Bad Liar: Walter the pig in Spider's Web, whose lying drives the plot.
- Big Eater: Joey in Plan Bee.
- Bland-Name Product: Krill Cola (Coca-Cola) and PNN (CNN) in Piper Penguin.
- Captain Ersatz
- Cloudcuckoolander: Pepperoni in Piper Penguin, who is also The Speechless.
- Covers Always Lie: The DVD front covers (at least the Italian ones) always have a line talking about some of the characters being special guest stars. Because you know, Sal Caterpillar is a very famous cartoon character and his appearance in An Ant's Life was very shocking for everyone.
- Cross-Dressing Voices
- Disproportionate Retribution: Near the end of A Car's Life, Diesel the Jeep has her psychopathic tow truck crony Igor smash Sparky's sister Speedy (though Speedy, unfortunately, gets better), yet gets arrested for not driving without a license?
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The Krill Cola krill sargent who somehow sounds like Daffy Duck.
- Dumb Muscle: Winthrop the walrus in Piper Penguin.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: In Spider's Web, don't you dare change the channel on a motel TV, or it will go mad!
- Everything's Better with Penguins: For Piper Penguin.
- Everythings Messier With Pigs: For Spider's Web, and of the Type 2 variety.
- Everything's Worse with Bees: For Plan Bee.
- Filler / Padding: An Ant's Life is only 25 minutes long, so to fill time, four classic cartoons from MGM, Famous Studios, and Warner Bros. were added to the DVD.
- Follow the Leader
- Gasshole: Once again, Winthrop in Piper Penguin, whose burping comes in handy later in the film.
- Gonk: So many of Spark Plug's characters are, but the best example is the lantern-jawed bee Pistol in Plan Bee.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Diesel in A Car's Life, who is always seen holding a cigarette with her antenna, and is always pointed out as being bad.
- Happily Adopted: Winthrop in Piper Penguin, who is the titular character's step-brother.
- Hey, It's That Voice! / What the Hell, Casting Agency?: Corinne Orr stars in most of these. Peter Fernandez also voices the evil snake Noiman Ja Rahr in Spider's Web and Piper's dad in Piper Penguin.
- In Name Only: These cartoons only loosely follow the plot of what they're trying to rip off.
- "I Want" Song: Sparky in A Car's Life attempts to sing one, but is stopped by his dad as he exclaims "This isn't a musical!".
- Jerk Jock: Punch in Piper Penguin.
- Just in Time / Big Damn Heroes: Sparky's dad and a police officer (with a rocket launcher) save Sparky and Speedy just as they're done for, unfortunately.
- Karma Houdini: Why doesn't that bitchy teacher in Piper Penguin stop Punch the jock?
- Kent Brockman News: Piper Penguin has the PNN reporter Peraldo Penguin, who has the audacity to insult Piper as his flying machine fails the first time around.
- Large Ham: The teacher in Piper Penguin.
- Likable Villain: Many of the villains are like this to most Internet users.
- Mickey Mousing: Piper slamming his head against his locker while opening it up in Piper Penguin.
- Mockbuster
- No Export for You: Piper Penguin never saw a region 1 release until 2011, and thankfully so.
- Overprotective Dad: Sparky's dad in A Car's Life, but considering Sparky's reckless behavior, this is justified.
- Real Life Relative: Sparky's little sister Gracie is voiced by Michael Schelp's real-life daughter (niece?) Grace, and the Gas Leech's son is voiced by his real-life son (nephew?) Mark.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The two geckos in An Ant's Life, as well as the snakes in Spider's Web.
- Sadist Teacher: Miss Prim in Piper Penguin.
- Shown Their Work: An Ant's Life has a lot of bug facts clumsily woven into the script.
- Spoken Word in Music: The entirety of Walter's "song" in Spider's Web as he tries to explain how his mother's pie went missing.
- This Is a Drill: At one point, the bees in Plan Bee drill into the flowers to collect nectar, complete with the sound of a dentist's drill.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: An Ant's Life has this.
- The Website: Spark Plug's website is even more boring that Video Brinquedo's.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Tiffany the spider in Spider's Web. Is she supposed to be Jamaican or Scottish or what?
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Noiman Ja Rahr in Spider's Web, among others.