Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Another discovery from MIPCOM, thanks to Animation World Network. Created by BRB Internacional, Minchi’s Adventures combines puppetry, live action footage, and animation in each 3-minute episode. “The series follows a pet lizard belonging to a 7-year-old boy that, connected to the outside world via Internet, explains nature in a simple and very fun-filled way while encouraging ecological values.” You can learn more about it at BRB’s official Minchi page.
image c. 2015 BRB Internacional
DHX Media (the production home of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Littlest Pet Shop, and many many more) have recently signed an international distribution deal for a new CGI TV series called Endangered Species. Unfortunately, so far none of those distribution deals include the USA! “The series follows Pickle, Merl and Gull, a bunny, a squirrel and a seagull who might not seem high on the protected species list, but who are constantly on the verge of catastrophic extinction through comical misadventure.” Check out the article over at Animation World Network to find out more.
image c. 2015 DHX Media
Animation World Network has a recent article about two more new animated shows that were presented at MIPCON this year — both of them produced by m4e in Germany. Wissper is “… a CGI animated TV-series aimed at young girls ages 4 to 7. Wissper is a perfectly normal little girl, but she has a very special talent: She is the only girl in the world who can talk to animals! Creatures of all shapes and sizes seem to instinctively know that when they have a problem, Wissper will find the solution. This makes Wissper’s house the first port of call for animals in distress.” The first set of episodes are supposed to premier world-wide before the end of December. And then, there’s Atchoo! Another animated series, this time targeted at slightly older boys and girls. You see, there’s this young boy named Teo, with an unusual attribute: When he gets excited or upset, he sneezes… and instantly turns into an animal. Different each time. “The series offers loads of comedy, gags and funny dialogues, but all the fun is aimed at communicating an important message, that difficulties, fears and diversity are not necessarily all bad, but can engender endurance and originality.” That’s what they said folks! Atchoo! is scheduled to hit the world in 2017.
image c. 2015 m4e
Recently (October) it was once again time for MIPCOM in France, where dozens of TV production companies seek out international distribution for their new shows. Including lots of animated TV series — including several of furry interest. Among them is Deer Little Forest, which is actually part of a large international marketing campaign aimed at very young kids. (Check out their web site to see what we mean.) Among the many places you’ll find Deer Little Forest is an animated TV series created by King Rollo Films. “Deer Little Forest is a preschool brand created by Henries’ Award-nominated illustrator Jo Rose, currently being developed for licensing, publishing and television. The world of Deer Little Forest stars the irrepressibly enthusiastic Flo and her band of charming, silly, helpful and wise woodland buddies: Bodhi Bear (never shy to lend a helping paw), Rowan the Philosophical Fox (yogi and Japanese gardener), Barley-Crumb Badger (usually unearthing an interesting factoid under a rock), Lockhart Deer (relentlessly toot-tooting his horn and crashing about in glee), and local boy best friend Toby (the city slicker charmer).” You can see a preview of the TV series over on Vimeo. Turns out there’s also a Deer Little Forest app available.
image c. 2015 King Rollo Films
According to an article over at i09, the BBC have given the green-light to another go at adapting Philip Pullman’s well-known and controversial fantasy series His Dark Materials. As you may recall, New Line Cinema attempted to adapt the first book in the series, The Golden Compass (known as The Northern Lights in Europe) into a movie back in 2007. It did poorly at the North American box office — but better in Europe, where Mr. Pullman’s work is more of a known commodity. This time around though the BBC intends to adapt the work as an 8-part TV miniseries, which is probably a good move given the novels’ complexity of plot. What we don’t know yet (besides a targeted release date) is if that 8-part miniseries is meant to cover the entire trilogy or just the first book. We’ll find out! If you didn’t know, His Dark Materials describes a parallel world where humans have their souls as animal companions that talk to them — and they share the world with talking bears who make armor and fight.
image c. 2015 New Line Cinema
There’s a new animation production partnership starting up in Canada between Corus Entertainment (home of Nelvana Animation) and Bento Box Entertainment (home of Bob’s Burgers and more). From the press release, thanks to Animation World Network: “Canadian-based media and entertainment company Corus Entertainment and Los Angeles animation studio Bento Box Entertainment have announced the creation of Bento Box Canada, an animation production company based in Toronto. The venture follows last year’s announcement of the multi-year, co-development deal between the two companies. As part of the agreement, Bento Box Entertainment and Corus will work side-by-side to develop and produce a slate of original, primetime animated series for Corus networks, to be distributed internationally by Bento Box Entertainment. This fall, production will begin on the first Bento Box Canada series, The Pandas. From creators Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler, The Pandas is an irreverent, animated family comedy full of hard jokes, whimsical wonder, biting satire and just the right amount of heart.” We’ll certainly see when it premiers.
image c. 2015 Bento Box Canada
You might recall that last year Dreamworks Animation’s CGI take on Mr. Peabody & Sherman was rather a disappointment at the box office according to some analysts. Evidently though that didn’t dampen Dreamworks’ interest in the characters as now they bring us The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show. It’s coming to Netflix this Friday, this time in a more traditional 2D animated version. According to the article at Cartoon Brew, “In the new series, Mr. Peabody (voiced by Chris Parnell) and his boy Sherman (Max Charles) host a talk show from their New York City penthouse, in which they interview historical figures like George Washington and Edgar Allen Poe. They also embark on time travel adventures in their WABAC machine visiting the likes of Cleopatra, Mozart, and Marco Polo.” There are also musical numbers to be had, and Cartoon Brew has a preview of one of them — as well as the show’s opening.
image c. 2015 Dreamworks Animation
Once upon a time there was an on-line game in development called Fighting is Magic, attempting to create a “Ready! FIGHT!” style inter-player game based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Unfortunately, the Powers That Be at Hasbro decided that the game was a little bit too close to the TV show for comfort, and the project was shut down. Fast forward a couple of years: Now none other than Lauren Faust, the original show runner for Friendship is Magic, is on board to help with the development of a whole new game — in a whole new world. This is from the Indiegogo campaign: “Help a cast of cute animals beat each other up by making Them’s Fightin’ Herds become a reality! Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a 2D PC (Windows, with Linux/Mac as stretch goals) fighting game with adorable animals in an original universe designed by Lauren Faust (producer and developer for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; creator, director and developer for Super Best Friends Forever). It is the spiritual successor to Fighting is Magic, with improved gameplay mechanics and graphics, an entirely new (and awesome!) dynamic music system, a graphic lobby, and a whole bunch of new features.” The Indiegogo page features several preview videos as well as numerous preliminary sketches by Ms. Faust herself.
image c. 2015 by Lauren Faust
One of the mostly instantly-viral furry phenomena this summer has been the “opening credits” for an anthropomorphic “80’s cartoon TV series” called Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit. The “leaked video footage” certainly looked the part of an 80’s cartoon show, and speculation ran wild — especially with posts popping up all over the Internet on various forums, asking pointedly “Does anyone remember this series?” Well, more recently, the truth has come out: STAMR is the creation of a UK team of animators and animation fans. The “opening credits” were directed by Wesley Louis and his team. Now, having come out of hiding on the Internet, the STAMR crew are actually trying to create a real episode of the imaginary show they’ve made so popular. To that end they are selling copies of a book called Groundworks, featuring production art and character designs from the creation of the STAMR short. Furry.Today has a link to the site, as well as the short (which now features proper credits!).
image c. 2015 WTL Productions
