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Television

Another Brick at the Mall

Mar 26th, 2025
by rodney.
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If you’re not big on collecting exclusive toys, you might not be familiar with the Be@rbrick series of collectible anthro-bear figurines, created by the MediCom Toy Company of Japan. Well now, they’ve stepped things up even further by teaming with Dreamworks Animation to bring us the new Be@rbrick CGI series, which premiered on Apple TV+ this month. According to Animation World Network, “Be@rbrick follows Jasmine Finch and her bandmates as they pursue their dreams and inspire others to do the same. But it won’t be easy to do when living in a world where everyone’s role is chosen for them and where the painted-on look you receive when you graduate from high school determines who you’ll be for the rest of your life. Jasmine realizes that in order for her world to change, she and her friends will have to make it happen themselves.” More interesting stuff: “Meghan McCarthy (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Centaurworld) serves as developer, showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Alex Almaguer (TrollsTopia) is the supervising producer, with Taylor Orci (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts) serving as story editor, and Athena Hofmann (Amateur) serving as line producer. Timbaland serves as executive music producer.” That’s a serious line-up of experienced talent for a new show. Check out the article over at Billboard, which includes an interview with Ms. McCarthy and an exclusive trailer.

image c. 2025 Dreamworks Animation

Little Girl, Big World, Lots of Animals

Mar 18th, 2025
by rodney.
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We’ve been missing out on the TV series Jane over on Apple TV+, but now thanks to Animation World Network we’ve found out Season 3 is coming soon — April 18th. “The mission-driven series for kids and families is inspired by the work of ethologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Ava Louise Murchison (Reacher) stars as Jane Garcia, a nine-year-old budding environmentalist on a quest to save endangered animals. Using her powerful imagination, Jane takes her best friends David, played by Mason Blomberg (Shameless), and Greybeard the chimpanzee on epic adventures to help protect wild animals all around the world.” Take a look at the trailer over on YouTube also.

image c. 2025 Apple TV+

Changing The Guard

Feb 23rd, 2025
by rodney.
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Quite a while ago we learned about the Wereworld series of young adult dark fantasy novels by Curtis Jobling. Well, now Netflix has just dropped a trailer for Wolf King, the brand new animated series based on those very same books. “In a land once subjugated by werelords, sixteen-year-old Drew Ferran realizes he is the last member in a long ancestral line of werewolves. Drew must confront and overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Lionlords and take back the throne as the statutory wolf king.” The series is set to premier on March 20th.

image c. 2025 Netflix

The Annie Awards for 2024 are Totally Wild

Feb 16th, 2025
by rodney.
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This year the Annie Awards (the annual “Oscars for animation”, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood) were utterly dominated by two works: Arcane from Netflix in TV/streaming, and Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot in Feature Films. Both of them won the award for 2024 in each and every category they were nominated for. Obviously the more “furry” of the two, Wild Robot won for Best Character Animation, Best Character Design, Best Production Design, Best Voice Acting (Lupita Nyong’o as Roz the robot), Best FX Animation, Best Music, Best Editing, Best Direction (for Chris Sanders), and Best Feature Film. Meanwhile, Gintz Zilbalodis’ blender-animated film Flow took home Annie Awards for Best Writing (Feature) and Best Independent Feature. (More than one person commented that it’s interesting the film that won Best Writing has not one word of spoken dialogue in the entire movie…) Now the big question is whether the Oscars will follow the Annies and award The Wild Robot, or follow the Golden Globes and award Flow. In other news of interest to furry fans, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur won Best TV for Children, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes won Best Character Animation in a Live Action Feature. Among the Special Awards categories, ASIFA gave the Windsor McCay Award (a lifetime achievement honor) to Aaron Blaise, one-half of the directing team of Disney’s Brother Bear (among many other films that he’s worked on). You can see the complete list of Annie Awards for 2024 over at Animation Magazine. (And don’t forget: Nominations are open now through the end of this month  for the 2024 Ursa Major Awards too!)

image c. 2025 Dreamworks Animation

It’ll Be A Hit!

Jan 17th, 2024
by rodney.
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It’s always dangerous in this business to say “now I’ve seen everything”, but hooey, this comes close. From Animation World Network: “Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has teamed up with London-based entertainment company Toikido to greenlight a new 2D animated children’s series, Piñata Smashlings. Inspired by the popular Roblox game, the series follows the previously released shorts currently streaming on Nelvana’s ‘Keep It Weird’ YouTube channel… The series follows four friends, characters from the game, thrown together by fate to form a team of unlikely heroes. Whether questing across the land, unlocking maps, or collecting ‘fruities’ and ‘power ups’, these Smashlings are out to save the Piñataverse from the evil Bashlings and level up on fun along the way.” Already set to show in Canada (naturally), the series is looking for international markets.

image c. 2024 Nelvana

Time for a Tiger’s Tale?

Dec 12th, 2023
by rodney.
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For a while now we’ve been following the news that Lawrence Yep’s popular fantasy novel The Tiger’s Apprentice was being made into a feature film. Not certain what happened to that project over the course of a pandemic and several Hollywood strikes, but now we’re getting word that a different animated movie based on the novel is making its way to Paramount+ next February. And this time we even get a teaser trailer! “Based on the popular children’s book series of the same name by Laurence Yep, the film follows Chinese American teenager Tom Lee, whose life changes forever when he discovers he is part of a long lineage of magical protectors known as the Guardians… In the film, with guidance from a mythical tiger named Hu, Tom trains to take on Loo, a force that is as powerful as a Guardian but has evil intentions of using magic to destroy humanity. To fight against Loo, Tom must reunite all twelve Zodiac animal warriors and master his own newly discovered powers.” There’s more details and an interesting cast list over at Animation World Network.

image c. 2023 Paramount+

Four Stars for Four Legs

Nov 21st, 2023
by rodney.
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And yet more MIPCOM stuff, this time out of China by way of Canada. Got that? Here, this is from Animation Magazine: “Canadian kids’ & family entertainment company WildBrain has partnered with Tencent Video and animation studio Miaow’s House as the exclusive worldwide distributor outside of mainland China of the new animated series, Pet Hotel. The series follows the comedic antics of Lili the dog, Bubu the guinea pig and cats Nai Nai and Vicky as they welcome new animal friends to their home at the Pet Hotel. Unlike other hotels, the Pet Hotel — which has been converted from an old grocery store — is filled with high-tech inventions created by the pets’ caregiver and hotel owner, Robin; from massage tables to automatic feeders! The animal buddies and their young owner face various quirky customers and their wacky pets every day, giving rise to numerous entertaining stories. It’s no question that every guest at the Pet Hotel will leave happy, having made a new set of friends.”  Have a look at the article.

image c. 2023 Wildbrain

Talent, Kid, Talent!

Nov 19th, 2023
by rodney.
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Here’s something else we recently found at Animation Magazine: “Two Ireland-based animation houses, Lighthouse Studios (The Bob’s Burgers Movie, The Cuphead Show!) and Dog Ears (Puffin Rock and the New Friends) are partnering to co-produce an all-new animated adventure series for kids ages 5-7, dubbed Stage Struck!” The description goes like this: “Creatures large and small — including Coco the crocodile and her friends — are welcomed to Showtime School, founded by the much-loved Miss Feathers. At Showtime School, everyday classes present extraordinary performance challenges! In classrooms full of pianos and crash-mats, even the ‘normal’ subjects have a theatrical spin — from the history of puppetry to the science of sound waves! Showtime’s students get a taste of music, movement and razzle-dazzle from all over the world — drumming circles, beat-boxing, fox-trotting, monologues, card tricks, Beatniks, and up-tempo Bhangra. Every day is a creative adventure!” Currently it’s seeking world markets at MIPCOM. (Are we the only ones getting a severe Richard Scarry vibe out of that illustration? We can’t be.)

image c. 2023 Lighthouse Studio

Ted Talks

Nov 18th, 2023
by rodney.
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Here’s what we got from Animation World Network: “Seth MacFarlane’s hugely popular – and funny – Ted film franchise gets its own Peacock series to ring in the new year. The prequel kicks off in a special streaming debut with all seven episodes on January 11, 2024, giving ‘Ted Talks’ a whole new meaning. In the show, it’s 1993, and Ted the bear’s (MacFarlane) moment of fame has passed. He’s now living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts, with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder), along with John’s parents, Matty and Susan (Scott Grimes [The Orville] and Alanna Ubach) and Cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham). Ted may be a lousy influence on John, but at the end of the day, he’s a loyal pal who’s always willing to go out on a limb for friendship.” The article has a link to the official teaser trailer too.

image c. 2023 Peacock

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