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.
TV Series
One More Time with the Armored Bears
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.
Pandas from Can(a)da
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.
This Will Take You Back. Way-Back.
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.
Love and Tolerate the Snot Out of Each Other
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.
Imagination Becomes Reality… Maybe
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!).
Bygones are Bygones
And once again Disney Junior keeps marching forward with Goldie & Bear, a new CGI series that is coming as a downloadable app in September and then a TV series later in the year. According to the article in Variety: “Each episode of the new program, which will debut on Disney Junior in November, includes two 11-minute stories that show Goldie and Bear — reunited after an infamous ‘porridge incident’ — in the midst of escapades with their neighbors in Fairy Tale Forest, all of whom have roots in familiar storybook figures. The protagonists might help Jack and Jill get up a hill or ask the Big Bad Wolf to consider others’ feelings before blowing down the houses of those who reside within.” The article also features interviews with Disney Junior folks and a preview video.
A Palace of Princess Pets. Perfect.
The Walt Disney Company found great success with their Palace Pets app — a down-loadable spin-off of the endlessly-profitable Disney Princess line, this time for younger kids. The idea is that each of the famous Disney Princesses has a cute funny animal pet, and they (the pets that is) often meet up and go on adventures together. Well the success of that app lead Disney to now create Whisker Haven Tales, a series of cartoon shorts airing on Disney Junior. Check out the Disney Wiki article to learn more about it, or take a look on YouTube for one of several official uploads from Disney Junior.
A New Dawn for the SWAT Kats?
If you haven’t caught the word, creators Yvon and Christian Tremblay have been running a Kickstarter campaign with the intent of creating the first new SWAT Kats animated TV episodes to be seen in 20 years. Also if you didn’t know: SWAT Kats — The Radical Squadron was one of the most iconic and popular anthropomorphic animated TV series from the early days of organized Furry Fandom. “The series takes place in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City, which is populated entirely by anthropomorphic felines, known as ‘kats’. The titular SWAT Kats are two vigilante pilots who possess a state-of-the-art fighter jet with an array of weaponry. Throughout the series, they face various villains as well as Megakat City’s militarized police force, the Enforcers.” The good news is that with only a few days left for the campaign, the brothers Tremblay have more than surpassed their original goal. They’ve reached enough to animate a 2-minute animation teaser for the new series (SWAT Kats — Revolution), and they’re hoping to make enough to animate a full 22-minute episode. The campaign web site has a video interview with the brothers.