Dr. Tran

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Doctor Tran in Here Comes Dr. Tran

Here Comes Dr. Tran is a 7-minute 45 second long animated short film that has become an internet meme. It is the first in the Dr. Tran series. It and the accompanying shorts featuring the titular character detail a young boy being shanghaied by American mass media into becoming a James Bond-esque character in a 30,000-strong film series with a cornucopia of product tie-ins.

The cartoon was created in 2003 by Breehn Burns and Jason Johnson under Lone Sausage Productions, and it premiered at Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation. Over 70,000 pairs of 3-D glasses were produced solely for the short 3-D sequence in the film (less than three seconds long), which critics called "far and away the best addition to the festival".^[1]^[2] Episodes of Dr. Tran are regularly featured in the festival which tours the U.S. and Canada.

After it became available on G4tv, the video was uploaded to YouTube and hundreds of blogs began linking to it, greatly increasing its popularity.

1 Dr. Tran Products
2 Synopsis
3 Episode List
4 Showings
5 Voice Talents
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Dr. Tran Products

A new DVD entitled "Dr. Tran: #1 American Icon; The Lone Sausage Collection Vol. 1" was released in August 2006, featuring Dr. Tran shorts, Dr. Tran G4tv I.D. Spots, two new documentaries and Lone Sausage's early films, Beyond Grandpa I and II.

A limited run DVD called "Here Comes Dr. Tran" was produced for the first film which featured the 13 minute documentary, "The Making of Dr. Tran." The DVD sold out at the official website.

Dr. Tran T-shirts, mugs, buttons etc. are sold at the Lone Sausage website.

Dr. Tran Bobble Heads are available for Pre-Order at Symbiote Studios.

[edit] Synopsis

Here Comes Dr. Tran opens upon a small 5-year old boy, presumably with the last name Tran, eating an apple in what appears to be a hut in an Eastern tropical locale, possibly Vietnam. Suddenly, a voice, who is unseen, begins to deliver a bombastic movie trailer-style monologue praising the boy as the greatest action hero the world has ever known-- an action hero whom the narrator calls "Dr. Tran." The small boy, initially confused, grows increasingly aggravated with the intruding voice and repeatedly expresses that he is neither a doctor nor an action hero and asks the voice to leave. After this, the trailer becomes increasingly surreal and strange, revealing some odd proclivities belonging to the character of Dr. Tran, and disclosing that a massive library of previous films (at least thirty thousand) already exists in the Dr. Tran series. Shortly after, the voice descends into deliberately thin biological humor, and eventually even the young boy's world begins to alter. Much of this deliberate agitation of the child is continued until the movie draws to a close with the production credits.

During the clip, the voiceover mentions several fictitious Motion Pictures starring Dr. Tran, including:

"Operation: Dr. Tran"
"3, 2, 1... Dr. Tran"
"Oh Shit, it's Dr. Tran"
"Dr. Tran Meets His Match"
"Dr. Tran Has a Chat with a Mormon Child"
"Dr. Tran Visits Satan"
"Dr. Tran Doles Out the Harshness"
"'Q' is for Dr. Tran"
"Dr. Tran: 3-D"

All titles are apparently available in the "Dr. Tran" 30,000 DVD Box Set.

[edit] Episode List

Dr. Tran is the star of several short animated films from Lone Sausage Productions.

Here Comes Dr. Tran (2003)
Roybertito's :60 Second Spot (2005)
Dr. Tran's Quiet Log Time (2005)
DR. TRAN SUMMER SPLASH (2006)
Dr. Tran's Peanut Butter Square Hula Quest (2006)
Mr. Tran & The Toy Cack (2006) (Released as "Dr. Tran & The Toy Cack" on the internet)
Dickable Afternoons (2006)

There are three more short films in production: "100% ICE," "Fruit Hat" and "Movie Night".^[3]

Dr. Tran makes brief appearances in other films produced by Lone Sausage:

The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun (2007)

Interstitials and vignettes featuring the Dr. Tran character include:

G4tv I.D. Spot: BomberTran (2005)
G4tv I.D. Spot: Kung Fu Tran (2006)
Warning: Adult Content (2006)

[edit] Showings

"DR. TRAN SUMMER SPLASH," and "The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun" are touring with the 2007-2008 Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation.

Episodes of Dr. Tran aired on "G4's Late Night Peep Show" on the G4tv Channel. The show was originally titled, "Happy Tree Friends and Friends."

Dr. Tran shows up annually at the San Diego Comic-Con, and at film festivals such as Sundance and Annecy. Many Anime conventions around the U.S. often have underground screenings of the shorts as well.