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TV Series

He was the Ace, he was Fantastic

Nov 19th, 2011
by rodney.
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News out of the UK: Mark Hall, one half of the production team Cosgrove/Hall, passed away from cancer this week at the age of 75. From 1971 until their retirement in 2000, Mark Hall (the quiet business-oriented one) and his partner Brian Cosgrove (the crazy artistic one) created numerous award-winning, world-famous, and financially successful animated programs and productions. Chief among them: Danger Mouse, the super-hero/super-spy spoof that’s still in repeats around the world. The pair were also well-known for The Wind in the Willows, a stop-motion animated series based on the books and stories of Kenneth Grahame. Furry fans might also want to seek out the company’s adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s fantasy novel The Talking Parcel from 1978. The Guardian UK has an obituary for Mr. Hall up on line, which discusses many of the shows that Cosgrove/Hall produced.

Mark Hall (left), Brian Cosgrove (right), and Mr. Toad

Hear the Roar from the Past

Nov 7th, 2011
by rodney.
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With the new ThunderCats series on Cartoon Network doing very well and picking up lots of fans, it seems a good time to take another look at the original series from the 1980’s. That’s the purpose of Hear the Roar: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Thundercats, available now in softcover from Telos Publishing. Even though it’s “Unofficial and Unauthorized”, editor and lead writer David Chrichton managed to interview numerous people associated with the production of the original series, which began airing in 1985. From the publisher’s release notes: “Featuring over 80 exclusive interviews with cast and crew members, this definitive reference guide charts ThunderCats’ creation and development, drawing on a wealth of never-before-seen production paperwork and leaving no stone unturned.  Dedicated chapters highlight the writing, animating, scoring and recording of ThunderCats, while a comprehensive story guide reviews all 130 episodes, including notes from the scriptwriters themselves! The legendary ThunderCats toy line from LJN Toys is documented too, and even the associated series SilverHawks is explored. ” You can find out more about the book on Amazon.

image c. 2011 Telos Publishing

Training Dragons on TV

Nov 3rd, 2011
by rodney.
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Here’s a scoop that we stumbled across recently: Dreamworks Animation is not only hard at work on a sequel to 2010’s Ursa Major Award-winning film How to Train Your Dragon, but they are also working on a TV series to be aired on Cartoon Network beginning in late 2012. ScreenRant.com have been following the story closely, and they recently featured an article that includes an interview with executive producer Tim Johnson from BadTaste.it. According to Mr. Johnson, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (the working title) will be released in the latter part of 2013. Dean Deblois, co-director of the original film, will this time serve as sole writer and director for the sequel. Original co-director Chris Sanders will be on as an executive producer, along with original producer Bonnie Arnold. Most of the original voice cast will return for the sequel, including Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, TJ Miller, and Kristen Wiig. It’s unclear right now if any of them will also be involved in the TV series. Also unclear at this point is what the plot of either the TV series or the sequel film will be like, although Tim Johnson has said that the TV series will likely be a bit more mature, perhaps even darker, than the current Dreamworks TV spin-off series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation

 

Awesome Pandas on TV

Oct 25th, 2011
by rodney.
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Word is out that Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, the long-awaited TV spinoff from Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda movies, will finally be coming to television on Monday, November 7th. It will premier on Nickelodeon at 5:30 pm, Eastern and Pacific time. First up will be a full week of brand new episodes every week day, followed by weekly new episodes on Friday nights starting December 2nd. The series takes place in between the two Kung Fu Panda movies, following adventures of Po the Panda — also known as the Dragon Warrior — and the Furious Five, along with their mentor, the red panda Master Shifu. Several new characters and villains will be introduced as well. From the feature films, only Lucy Liu (Viper) and James Hong (Mr. Ping, Po’s adoptive father) reprise their roles; other voices are handled by the likes of Mick Wingert, Kari Wahlgren, Amir Talai, Max Koch, Fred Tatasciore, and James Sie. Cartoon Brew has a write-up directly from Dreamworks that has even more information. By the way: Kung Fu Panda 2 comes to DVD and Blu-Ray on December 13th. Though its performance was perhaps disappointing in the USA, around the world it is the #1 animated feature of the year, having taken in $664 million total. Which virtually assures that there will in fact be a Kung Fu Panda 3, as KFP2 surpassed Dreamworks’ self-imposed $500 million worldwide “magic number” for making a film into a franchise.

image c. 2011 Dreamworlds/Nickelodeon

That’s One Old Elephant

Oct 14th, 2011
by rodney.
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It seems amazing, but the fact is that this year Babar the Elephant is celebrating his 80th birthday. Yes, the paternal pachyderm first appeared in Histoire de Babar (The Story of Babar) by writer and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff in 1931. Since then there have been numerous books and more than one TV series — perhaps the most famous having been animated by Nelvana back in the 1980’s and 90’s. Now, to celebrate this new milestone, Nelvana has hooked up with The Clifford Ross Company to create numerous celebrations of the royal elephant in the famous green suit. Frankly, there’s too many to even describe here, so we’ll simply direct  you over to Cartoon Brew’s handy News Feed, where you’ll find a detailed listing of it all.

image c. 2011 Nelvana Enterprises

A Boy and his Dog: They are the Law

Oct 2nd, 2011
by rodney.
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“In the wild future, where weird science and natural wonders walk hand in hand, a boy and his dog decide to take a stand as the last, self-appointed supercops…” That’s the tag-line of Patrick & Theo, a new animated TV series in development, created by Ervin B. Nagy, Marci Nagy, and Marton Kovacs (all from Budapest, Hungary). It tells the story of Patrick, a 10-year-old boy with a crime TV show obsession, and Theo, Patrick’s mutant anthropomorphic dog and guardian. The creators have an extensive web site, which includes links to various YouTube videos (like this one and this one) that introduce you to the characters and their wild world.

image c. 2011 Nagy, Nagy, Kovacs

Hong Kong Phooey: The Movie

Aug 10th, 2011
by rodney.
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Forgive yourself if you don’t recall Hong Kong Phooey… The 1970’s Hanna Barbera cartoon seems to have developed a cultural fame that transcends its ratings or its running time (16 episodes total). The show regained some fame back in the mid-1990s when the band Sublime (just prior to singer Bradley Nowell’s untimely death) re-recorded the Hong Kong Phooey opening theme song, which had originally been recorded by Scatman Crothers. (Crothers was also the voice of the character). In the original series, the rather slow-witted funny animal dog named Penry worked as a janitor at a police station… but then in secret he would change to become Hong Kong Phooey, a rather slow-witted kung fu crimefighter. So why bring this all up now? Well it seems that Hollywood is at it again: A brand new Hong Kong Phooey live-action/animation movie is in the works. And taking over for the late Scatman Crothers? None other than the Donkey himself, Eddie Murphy. Cinemablend has a write-up that includes this: “The comedian will voice Hong Kong Phooey for Alcon Entertainment’s upcoming production, a live-action/animation hybrid (much like The Smurfs or Garfield) that will take its cues from the Saturday morning cartoon of our childhoods. Variety reports Murphy will lend his voice to Penry, a mild-mannered dog who stumbles into a secret ceremony and is accidentally granted mystical powers, including the ability to walk, talk and do kung fu.” Actually, it sounds more like the recent Underdog movies to us. Stay tooned for more.

image c. 2011 Hanna Barbera Productions

Wilfred is a Dog

Jul 30th, 2011
by rodney.
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How did we miss this department: Wilfred is an award-winning Australian TV comedy series, based on an also-award-winning 2002 short film. Created by Tony Rogers, Jason Gann, and Adam Zwar, it tells the story of an ordinary guy named Adam (played by Zwar)… ordinary that is, except for the fact that he sees his pretty neighbor Sarah’s dog Wilfred (played by Gann) as a man in a rather dumpy fur-suit… while everyone else sees him as an ordinary dog. Wilfred also talks to Adam, becoming something of a mentor… in so much as a foul-smelling, sexually un-repressed man/dog can be. In June of this year, a brand new American version of the series premiered on the FX network, with Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) starring as Adam, and Jason Gann reprising his role as Wilfred. Here’s the write-up of the original series on Wikipedia, with a link to the American series as well.

 

image c. 2010 SBS

The Pitch Party 2011

Jul 27th, 2011
by rodney.
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Once again Animation Magazine released a special issue at Comic Con, and once again the issue (July/August) included the results of the annual Animation Magazine Pitch Party. Here new and upcoming animators are given a chance to “pitch” their ideas for a new animated TV series to a select group of industry executives from places like Adult Swim, The Hub, Cartoon Network, The Disney Channel, and so forth. They do so by creating a single panel comic that explains the concept of the show. Now some folks (like Cartoon Brew) have been questioning the value of the Pitch Party — as in, do folks actually get a real chance to have their shows produced in exchange for their entry fee?  Well, it must be popular to try, because people keep on submitting their entries every year. This time around, entries that furry fans might find interesting included Marco and Polo by Samantha Wheeldon (her web site is here), VA Team by Melissa Delamar (her web site), Duck & Monster by Base 14 (their blog), Kiko the Brave Little Bat (who has his own web site), Fireflyz by Don and Julie Farmer, A Cock Tale by Greg Bro (no, seriously — check out the web site), Yugo & Lala, Hydro Bull, Plunger Pup by Michael Grassia (yes, he has a web site too), Iron Bugs, and Spiny Life by Days View Animation.

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