Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
At WonderCon we met Ralph Lee Miranda, one of the minds behind Oh, Bubba — a series of animated shorts. Here’s what the makers say: “Oh, Bubba is an animated series on YouTube. It stars our titular character Bubba Lu [the gorilla], Grumpy, and their hooman friends as they navigate this modern world together, often with hilarious results and commentary… Think of it as The Muppets meets Friends.” You can also find out more about the series at IMDB.
image c. 2022 Drawn of Time
Thanks to Animation World Network we’re learning more about the upcoming Ted TV series: “Peacock has announced the cast of Ted, Seth MacFarlane’s live-action comedy series based on his hit 2012 film of the same name and its 2015 sequel. In addition to serving as director, writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer, MacFarlane will reprise his role as the voice of the titular character — a foul-mouthed teddy bear who was first brought to life by a wish from his owner and best friend, John Bennett. In the films, John is played by Mark Wahlberg. In the new series, which serves as a prequel to the events of the first film, John appears a 16-year-old boy.” Here’s the official synopsis: “It’s 1993 and Ted the bear’s moment of fame has passed, leaving him living with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett, who lives in a working-class Boston home with his parents and cousin. Ted may not be the best influence on John, but when it comes right down to it, Ted’s willing to go out on a limb to help his friend and his family.” No word yet on a target release date for the show.
image c. 2022 Universal Pictures
Well here’s something we should have been covering for… quite a while now! In 2005, no less, Nick Bruel created the first Bad Kitty book — featuring the adventures of “…a housecat who wreaks havoc around her owner’s home when she is in a bad mood, hence the name,” according to Wikipedia. Turns out there have been Bad Kitty books and graphic novels ever since — the most recent including Bad Kitty Gets A Phone and Bad Kitty For President. All coming your way from Roaring Brook Press. So you’d better look out!
image c. 2022 Roaring Brook Press
If you’ve been following In-Fur-Nation for a while, you must have heard of Blazing Samurai… We’ve been following the animated film in development for nearly a decade now! At one point production ceased because the animation house that was making it actually went out of business! In fact, the convoluted history of this film’s creation would make for an interesting movie all its own. But now, it seems like things have changed: We have a trailer, we have a release date… and we have a complete change of title. Say hello to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. Still directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King), but now being released this July through Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation.
image c. 2022 Nickelodeon Animation
Animation World Network let us know: Dreamworks Animation have announced a new upcoming CGI animated TV series, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight. And wouldn’t you know it, this new series features the return of none other than Jack Black as the voice of Po the panda. He’s been chatting about it on his socials. Here’s what Dreamworks says: “In the new series, when a mysterious pair of weasels set their sights on a collection of four powerful weapons, Po must leave his home to embark on a globe-trotting quest for redemption and justice that finds him partnered up with a no-nonsense English knight named Wandering Blade. Together, these two mismatched warriors set out on an epic adventure to find the magical weapons first and save the world from destruction — and they may even learn a thing or two from each other along the way.” No word yet from Dreamworks on a release date, but stay tooned.
image cl 2022 Dreamworks Animation
Warner Brothers can often be relied upon for strange combination ideas with the properties. So check this out: “From Suicide Squad to Looney Tune Land, John Cena continues to expand his working relationship with Warner Bros., inking a deal to star in Coyote vs. Acme — a new live-action / CG animation hybrid feature that follows the misadventures of classic cartoon character Wile E. Coyote. Based on Ian Frazier’s 1990 humor article “Coyote v. Acme,” the movie is scripted by Samy Burch, and will be directed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows helmer Dave Green. Mixing courtroom procedural and zany comedic elements, the story is centered on a down-and-out billboard lawyer who decides to represent Wile. E. Coyote in his lawsuit against ACME Corporation over its defective products. Cena will play the lawyer’s former boss, who defends ACME in the case. The film is set to go before cameras in New Mexico in late March.” What’s more, the film is set to be produced by the ever-busy James Gunn. No word on a release date yet, but we’ll be watching.
image c. 2022 Warner Brothers
The last time we saw Berke Breathed’s iconic comic strip series animated was the 1991 TV holiday special, A Wish For Wings That Work. And then, just this week, we get a new press release: “FOX Entertainment has announced the adaptation and development of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, screenwriter, producer, and children’s book author Berkeley Breathed’s acclaimed comic strip Bloom County into an animated series… Bento Box will serve as the animation studio on the project.” The article at Animation World Network has a lot more details. No word on a planned release date yet, or whether this will be for broadcast TV or streaming, but we do know that an animated film adaptation of Mr. Breathed’s book HitPig is supposed to be out in theaters later this year.
image c. 2022 FOX Entertainment
Furry things out of nowhere, the first part. We came across a trailer for The House, a new “dark comedy” that’s premiering early next year on Netflix. There’s a review at SlashFilm: “The House is an eccentric dark comedy about a house and the three surreal tales of the individuals who made it their home. An anthology directed by the leading voices in independent stop motion animation: Emma de Swaef and Marc Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza, and produced by Nexus Studios.” What that description doesn’t let on is that two of the tales are decidedly furry, featuring rodents and cats as the stars. Watch the trailer over at YouTube. And maybe watch The House with the lights on.
image c. 2021 Netflix
More cool stuff we found on Animation World Network: Magic Light Pictures (who gave us The Gruffalo and Zog) have returned with Superworm, a new animated TV special coming to BBC streaming services this Christmas. “The studio’s latest holiday special is about Superworm. He’s a long, strong worm with amazing skills and a big heart who keeps on saving the day. Along with best friend Butterfly, he sets out to help other garden animals. The duo saves the baby toad from a major road, they entertain bored bees, and rescue a beetle. It seems there’s no end to Superworm’s skills, until he begins to get a bit too full of himself and he starts to ignore his friend. But, when the evil Wizard Lizard sends his servant, Crow, to kidnap him, Butterfly hatches a plan with the other garden creatures to save Superworm.” The AWN article includes a lot more info, and the trailer as well.
image c. 2021 Magic Light Pictures
