Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz Made a Cartoon That We'll Never Get to See

If Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz had their way, kids would be growing up singing along to the eco-friendly tunes of "Bronze Blue," but sadly the powers that be vetoed the blink-182 singer and Fall Out Boy bassist's idea for a children's TV cartoon about an underwater pop-punk group.

As Variety points out, the two, along with rapper Hot Karl (Jenson Karp), pitched the show to networks like Disney Channel and Nickelodeon in 2010, but to no avail. "Bronze Blue" would have starred Hoppus, Wentz, Ashlee Simpson, and possibly Pharrell Williams, who was approached about participating. The aquatic band played shows on beaches around the world; however, always had an eye out for their archnemesis: The Sushi Chef.

“The whole show is about the environment and saving the ocean, and they go around and play songs and try to raise awareness about cleaning up our water,” Hoppus explained.

Wentz was set to voice Shrimpy the striped big-mouth bass, Hoppus planned to play Tako, a guitar wielding octopus, and Karp was slated as the villainous Sushi Chef. Other characters included a lead singer seahorse named J. Dory, a female fish singer Coral, a drummer starfish called Barrel Bob, and a keyboard playing seal named Al-G.

“It was a great idea, great concept… I wrote an amazing rad theme song for it,” Hoppus said. “It’s so good, it’s like ‘The Muppet Show’ theme song. But we went in two weeks after the people who did ‘Bubble Guppies’ came in.”

That show was the ultimate barrier for the "Bronze Blue" crew, and inevitably why it was never made.

“Every time we’d go in [to pitch], we’d start by saying, ‘It’s about a group of fish,’ and you’d see their faces go, ‘ugh,'” Karp explained. “Some big deal had just gone through.”

"Bubble Guppies" ended up running 80 episodes on Nickelodeon between 2011 and 2016. Perhaps now is the time for "Bronze Blue" to come to life? In the meantime, listen to a few of the show's songs below.

Photo: Getty Images