We were inspired by a fascinating book called The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England which presents a day to day account of what life was like for an average person in medieval times. What do you see? How do you dress? How do you earn a living and how much are you paid? What sort of food will you eat and where will you stay? How much does a prostitute cost, how do you address a superior, where do you go to the bathroom? What do you use to wipe?

And naturally we started to wonder, not just what it would be like to live in those times, but whether we could live well in those times. Using what we know about science, chemistry, physics, our basic understanding of diseases and germs and genetics, could we make ourselves so indispensable that we'd not only survive the harsh reality of barbaric times, but thrive.

So that idea inspired the premise for a half-hour animated series, which features Evan, a nerdy theoretical physicist, building a time machine so his new wife Audrey, a self-assured anthropologist, can study cavemen, but instead they get stuck in medieval times with Audrey's teenage children Josh and Megan, the confident player and the homely wallflower. Cut to three months later and they're the Duke and Duchess of Pasadena, trading their knowledge of future technology for a life of relative safety and comfort.

England, 1546. King Henry VIII is fifty-four and at the height of his power. The split from the Catholic Church is complete, the Reformation well underway, and the king has settled down with his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. Wars with Scotland, France, and Spain are in abeyance. Yet these are still barbaric times: The Salem witch trials are still a century away and you'll have to wait 150 years for even the beginning of the Enlightenment. Romeo and Juliet hasn't been written yet. Neither has Isaac Newton's laws of motion. Life is nasty, brutish, and short. It's a real-world Game of Thrones where the challenge is just to survive, and the more power you amass, the bigger the target on your back.

Each week, this thoroughly modern family has to do whatever it takes, put their moral qualms behind them, and stick together at all costs.

And that defines the theme of our show: Medieval Times is no time to be a pussy. Medieval times forces each family member to confront their fears, flaws, and foibles to step up and do what it takes to survive. In the series, each character will have a new role that they are forced to play to maintain their security and protect the family, but these roles go against the characters' fundamental nature. Just as nerdy Evan has to become a ruthless power-broker, Audrey, the outspoken modern woman, now has to be a housewife and social secretary all while keeping her mouth shut (because in those days of course women had no rights, no vote, and no say, and the penalty for speaking your mind, disobeying your husband, or sowing dissent is, well, Henry VIII did go through six wives).

Josh, the clever slacker, will be expected to train as a knight and learn to fight, ride, hunt, and master the ways of knightly chivalry, so he, too, has a job that goes against his fundamental nature which is to party, hook up with girls, and Snapchat.

And Megan, the nerdy feminist, will be expected to learn courtly etiquette, embroidery, really complicated dances, how to play the harpsichord, and the art of seduction. Basically all the social skills she despises in shallow 21st Century bitches.

Evan

Audrey

Professor of anthropology at UCLA, Audrey was a busy, smart, liberal, cosmopolitan career woman, a respected expert in her field back home, but now finds herself without rights or a say in how the world is run. Still, Audrey is positive and is using this experience to write a book on the lives of the ordinary people of this era. As a self-avowed feminist, Audrey can't help but try to be a force of change for women's rights, unionizing workers, and literacy. She's stirring the pot, fighting the power, and working undercover to be a voice of change in barbaric times.

Josh

The consummate big man on campus, Josh is actually a smart kid, but uses his brains to manipulate the weak, whether it's using girls with low self-esteem in 2016 or suckering princes out of their gold in 1546. Josh is charming and socially adept and as a result, life has been pretty sweet for him up till now. The last thing he wants to do is get a job, but becoming a knight's squire might just teach Josh about duty and honor. Or it might get him killed.

Megan

Smart like her mother and the proverbial "good daughter," Megan is terribly plain in the looks department, so she has never gotten any attention from boys and as such doesn't have much experience dealing with relationships. As a result, she's always convinced herself that she doesn't need social approval. But now that she's suddenly getting that attention, Megan finds herself struggling to reconcile her improved social standing with a lifetime of professed indifference. And time and time again, Megan's deep insecurities will get the best of her when her newfound popularity and desirability go to her head.

Henry

Henry VIII is a batshit crazy dictator, the Stalin of his day. Henry is concerned about his legacy and whether he's lived up to his father's glory. And taking over the world and killing everyone who opposes him would certainly do the trick. He's a clever man and a skilled politician, but prone to irrational outbursts. Each week his demands grow bigger and more irrational, forcing Evan to try to satisfy the ever-growing beast.

Cromwell

Henry's obsequious personal secretary and advisor, he wants nothing more than to get rid of Evan who is not only a threat to Cromwell's authority but potentially to his very life. Like Wile E. Coyote, Cromwell frequently attempts to murder Evan or have him murdered (via poison, jousting match, or death warrant for example), but Evan's 21st Century knowledge of movie conventions consistently frustrates Cromwell's evil plans.

Elizabeth

At 15, Elizabeth is the smart and flirty future queen who attracts Josh's attention. Unfortunately, she's also known as the Virgin Queen.

Already an old maid at 33, Mary is the needy, desperate, not-hot sister who uses her father's wealth and power to get what she wants.

The King's most powerful rival, he feels threatened by advanced weapons that upsets the king's reliance on the aristocracy. The Duke of Norfolk tries to woo Evan away from the King's side to bolster his own power. If only he weren't such a super douche.

Head religious dude, he has the most to fear from a move toward scientific reasoning. He wants Evan dead. In the meantime, he sleeps with prostitutes and young boys.

Henry's wife, Catherine just wants a girlfriend she can dish to but she's trying way too hard to become Audrey's BFF, throwing dinner parties, organizing sewing circles, and gossiping about the other ladies. Unfortunately, Audrey can't stand her.

Other characters of course will come and go as they arrive at court and/or get burned at the stake, but like The Simpsons' Springfield, medieval London will be populated with scores of memorable and bizarre characters from Street Urchins to the Second-String Executioner, from the Pasadenas' self-aware butler and maid to the local tavern's House Harlot.

Evan has just married Audrey who has these two precocious kids from a previous marriage. So he's the new guy. The outsider. And more than anything, he wants to be part of this family. So what better way to impress his new wife and these less-than-enthusiastic kids than to take them on a trip through time. Now stuck in medieval times, the kids naturally blame Evan who now has even further to go to win them back and become a father to them. So while all family shows are about family bonding, our show is about creating a family.

This dynamic drives the character conflict for the series. First, as a newlywed, Audrey is trying to make a new marriage work when it's at its most vulnerable stage. So Audrey is bummed when, for example, she has to tell Evan, "Not tonight, honey. I still have the smell of bodies burning at the stake in my nose and it's kind of killing the mood." As newlyweds they're still hot for each other. And oddly enough, sometimes danger can be intoxicating. So when, for example, they get some would-be assassin executed, we'll cut to Evan and Audrey totally making out in the throne room.

Josh more than anyone resents Evan. He blames Evan for trapping them in medieval times and taking away that former life of ease that Josh spent so much time and effort to perfect. Josh also suspects Evan isn't doing everything he can to fix the time machine and get them home. He's like, "Admit it. You like it here. All the sudden, you're an important man, people actually care what you say, you're chilling with the king. Meanwhile, I've gotta take a dump in the river." So this attitude makes things even more difficult for Evan who's trying to act like a father figure to a kid who doesn't want or need one.

And finally, whereas Josh is like Audrey-a socially adept, bold personality with natural confidence-Megan is more like Evan, and with Evan, Megan has finally found a kindred spirit. They're both nerds, socially awkward, intellectually curious, with no experience being popular, and for the first time, Megan finds herself actually liking her situation. So Megan, while she still complains about the food and the lack of tampons, is actually doing better in medieval times. The big difference between her and Evan is that Megan isn't being appreciated for being clever. She's being courted for being a babe. After all, if you have all your teeth and no pock marks or lice, you're the hottest girl at court.

But Megan simply has no experience or maturity to prevent her emotions from controlling her. So one minute she's bonding with Evan, saying, "We need to recalibrate the focusing crystal," the next she's screaming at him, "Why can't I go to the May Fair dance with the stable boy?! You're ruining my life!"

Though there's no limit to what we can do story-wise in animation, our A stories are usually going to be everyday problems at home set against B stories at work, like Audrey and Evan go on a couples date with the King and Queen but now the Queen keeps showing up all the time wanting to be Audrey's new BFF and Audrey can't stand her. Or Audrey tries to convince the kids to celebrate Father's Day but Josh is like, "He's not my father," until Josh realizes he can use the holiday as an excuse to organize a casino night "for Dad." Unfortunately, one of Josh's victims challenges him to a duel to the death and Josh only wins when he uses John McClane's taping-the-gun-to-your-back move from Die Hard. Josh is like, "Yippie ki yay, motherfucker."

Another example, Megan complains about not fitting in at court so Audrey negotiates for Megan to be a lady in waiting to Princess Elizabeth who gives her a medieval makeover, complete with chastity belt. But despite the uncomfortable hardware, Megan's new popularity goes to her head and she finds herself becoming a mean girl. (For example, when one lady in waiting trips and drops a tray of food, Megan gives her a sarcastic slow clap. The other ladies think it's the coolest thing they've ever seen, "Why is she applauding so slowly?") But Megan's new attitude becomes unbearable at home and Audrey and Evan conspire to get her fired.

But the point is, like most great family sitcoms, the stories are everyday universal problems driven by the inherent conflicts of the characters. Here, we're doing relatable stories like asking the boss for a vacation, or not liking your spouse's friend's spouse, or getting into a fight at school, or joining the cool girls clique. It's the wants and desires of our characters that drive our stories-we're just doing it with a medieval twist. So think of this as a really fucked up version of Married with Children.

Another example, Audrey finds out that Josh is a regular at the brothel (they're like "Josh!" a la "Norm!") and tells Evan to have "the talk" with him. It goes horribly, Evan cuts off Josh's allowance, so Josh decides to make his own money by introducing the lottery to England, (He's like, "All you have to do is pick six numbers. It's easy."). Unfortunately, when nobody wins, they come after Josh with pitchforks and Evan has to once again save his neck.

We're going to see sex and violence and more than that, a family making the kinds of questionable moral decisions that you definitely won't find in live action tv. So in episode two, for example, we might see Evan and Audrey argue that Josh should marry Princess Mary. Josh is like, "Are you fucking kidding me?! She's hideous." But Evan is like, "Marrying into the king's family would be huge. Come on, take one for the team." And now Josh has to find way out of it on his own. (Spoiler alert, this is when Josh becomes a Knight's squire.)

Similarly, Megan is constantly going to be auctioned off, like when Evan uncovers a plot to assassinate the King and he's handsomely rewarded by the King who arranges a marriage between Megan and a 70-year-old Earl. Henry is like, "He'll be dead in a year or two and she'll inherit all his lands. No need to thank me." And unlike live action, on this show, Megan winds up marrying the dude. (Don't worry, he does die by the end of the episode.)

And that's another distinct tone in animation. Sometimes people die. And sometimes, to protect the family, Evan and Audrey are the ones responsible. So we'll see story beats like the Archbishop of Canterbury who sees science as a threat to his power-base, trying to get Evan excommunicated, but getting bested by the Pasadenas when he's exposed for defrocking choir boys. Head's up, the penalty for buggery is not a quick death.

Animation allows us a wide canvass to tell our stories, with huge latitude in locations, characters, and tone. But at the core, this is a grounded show about how things might really go down if a smart, modern family got stuck in medieval times. Of course, we can go big when Audrey decides to investigate the living conditions in the dungeon, or Megan goes to Paris for St. Crispin's Day, or Josh wakes up in a harlot's bedchamber.

But the show is still about the family and the emotional dynamics. Because in the end, the four of them always manage to find a way to survive and still move closer and closer to becoming a real family. At the heart, we are rooting for the Pasadenas, whether they fix the time machine or not, to eventually make their way home.