THE Metro North may be cancelled but in the land of
SpongeBob SquarePants, there is a rail network to Ballymun.
Confusion, disbelief and mystery surrounded the bizarre
appearance of a train to the
‘mun’ in an episode of the hit children’s
television series called
‘Yours, Mine and Mine’.
After checking and double-checking the scene, sure
enough Patrick, one of the show’s main characters can be spotted boarding a
train bound for Ballymun.
An eagle-eyed viewer of the Nickelodeon produced
cartoon show recently contacted the Ray D’Arcy Show on Today FM to highlight
the nod to the Northside, and so the hunt for clues began.
The cartoon’s rolling credits turned up several
possible links with many names of the show’s creators and animators of Irish
origin.
American and Irish animation companies were contacted
but none were forthcoming with any useful information.
The scent went cold for a few days until Bob Dixon, a
photographer in Ballymun, discovered the missing link to solve the mystery – an
envelop he’d received four years ago.
The photographer contacted the Ray D’Arcy show
recalling how he’d sold a number of paintings of the demolition of the Towers
to a man called Derek L’Estrange in America who issued payment in a Nickelodeon
branded envelop and so the plot thickened.
With a quick Google check, it was discovered that Derek
L’Estrange was in fact a noted animator who had worked on the Prince of Egypt
and other world-famous animations such as Eight Crazy Nights.
The Ray D’Arcy show contacted him through Facebook and
found that he was indeed the one responsible for the Ballymun-bound bus on
SpongeBob SquarePants, the show he’s been a key animator on for the last four
years.
While L’Estrange isn’t the most Irish of names, Derek
revealed that he hails from Sandyhill Gardens in Ballymun and that he and other
animators often include personal details and subtle clues to their lives in
episodes.
The train to Ballymun was Derek’s way of
“giving a
little shout-out to the Northside
?.