When a polar bear herd drifts on a melting ice cap down to a beach party town along the California coast, environmental damage is afoot! Teddy, a noble and shy polar bear, must educate his ... See full summary
We're Trashed (2009) Online
When a polar bear herd drifts on a melting ice cap down to a beach party town along the California coast, environmental damage is afoot! Teddy, a noble and shy polar bear, must educate his herd on the dangers of impending environmental destruction... but will the distractions of this care-free party town take their toll on his message?
| Credited cast: | |||
 | Bonny Davis | - | (voice) |
| Charlie Faith | - | Snowy (voice) |
| Merlin Huff | - | Teddy (voice) |
| Denise Pickering | - | Jan Sanders (voice) |
| Alexei Ryan | - | (voice) |
The film was made through the University of California at Santa Barbara's "GreenScreen Environmental Media Program," funded in part by the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television and New Media. GreenScreen's purpose is to produce student films that deal with local Santa Barbara environmental issues.
The original script was supposed to be billed as "a polar bear porno." Writer/Producer Evan Koehne had the idea for the story after leaving GreenScreen's 1st annual student showcase, realizing that many genres had been utilized to showcase environmental issues, save one: pornography. The original concept was tweaked to convey a more accessible (and family-friendly) message.
The characters and sets were made almost entirely out of recycled, recyclable, or found objects. A few noticeable examples include the character Pelly, whose beak is made from a Marlboro cigarette package, the fence along the beach, which was made out of cigarette butts, and the polar bears' clothing, which was made out of painted newspaper.
The animators got very attached to the background characters. Though uncredited, they all have names and complicated back-stories, developed by the animators. The red bird with a mo hawk is Baby Magmar, and animators would often joke about the unplanned sequel "We're Trashed 2: Baby Magmar's Revenge."
There was a long running joke on-set that the entire cast was plotting to kill co-producer Dana Hill. They never did, and Hill remains safe and alive to this day.