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Television

Return of the Roar

Aug 12th, 2015
by rodney.
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More news regarding Disney TV Animation’s upcoming new Lion King spin-off series The Lion Guard, thanks to a recent article in Variety: “Disney will launch The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, a short prime-time movie focused on the son of Simba, the hero of the original film, in November on Disney Channel. The program will follow Kion, Simba’s second-born cub, as he and a team of animals known as ‘The Lion Guard’ try to keep the peace in the surrounding terrain. Disney intends to launch a Lion Guard TV series on Disney Channel and Disney Junior outlets around the world in early 2016.” In this new series, “Kion breaks tradition by forming ‘The Lion Guard’ out of a varied group of animal friends he thinks are heroic. Typically, only the bravest, strongest lions in the African savanna can be members.  In the movie and the TV episodes that follow, the crew will learn how to use unique abilities to solve problems while introducing young viewers to new kinds of fauna.” The article includes a short video clip from Return of the Roar as well. See you in November!

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

Fuzzy Things from the UK

Aug 2nd, 2015
by rodney.
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Clangers was a much-loved children’s TV series from the United Kingdom that originally ran from 1969 to 1974. It starred a set of little pink fuzzy creatures who most resemble elephants crossed with mice. They live on an alien world and speak only in swooping whistles — which were usually translated for the young audience by the narrator. Well now the BBC have brought back The Clangers for a much newer generation as part of Sprout, their programming line-up for children. Just like the old version, the new Clangers is created through stop-motion animation of actual fuzzy figures, and now the new episodes are narrated by Michael Palin (of Monty Python) in the UK and none other than William Shatner (!) for release in North America. Sprout has a special web site just for The Clangers so take a look to find out more.

image c. 2015 Sprout

image c. 2015 Sprout

Animals Along for the Ride

Jul 3rd, 2015
by rodney.
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When anthropomorphic characters aren’t the star of the show, the most common place to find them is as a human character’s sidekick. Such is the case with two more pre-school animated TV series on their way to Netflix in the near future. First up there’s Kazoops (from Cheeky Little studio) in 2016, which “…follows the inquisitive young boy Monty and his best friend, a pig named Jimmy Jones, as they seek answers to the questions children routinely ask about everyday life.” There’s a teaser trailer over at Cartoon Brew. Then in 2017 look for True & the Rainbow Kingdom from Guru Studio: It stars a young girl who “…with the help of her best friend Bartleby the cat navigates the magical Rainbow Kingdom using her creativity and ingenuity in search of harmony and love for all.”

image c. Cheeky Little

image c. Cheeky Little

When Young Animals Learn to Talk

Jul 1st, 2015
by rodney.
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According to our friends at CartoonBrew, in addition to the four new animated TV series announced recently by Netflix (and discussed here as well), the network has added an additional three new animated shows that are squarely aimed at the preschool set. One of them, at very least, is especially anthropomorphic: “Arriving worldwide in 2016 exclusively on Netflix is the Jim Henson Company’s Word Party. Produced through Henson’s digital puppetry studio, Word Party’s 11-minute episodes follow the adventures of four baby animals, whose singing and dancing aims to help build the vocabulary skills of its preschool viewers. Jim Henson Creature Shop’s digital puppetry innovation ‘allows puppeteers to perform digitally animated characters in real-time, enabling the animation to be more lifelike and spontaneous.'” Watch for it next year.

image c. 2015 The Jim Henson Company

image c. 2015 The Jim Henson Company

New Furry Toons for Netflix

Jun 3rd, 2015
by rodney.
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Ears up! A recent article in Variety talks about a new set of animated TV programs that Netflix has picked up — the majority of which just happen to be very furry. Or anthropomorphic if you want to get technical! Two of the original series created just for Netflix include: Kulipari — An Army of Frogs, coming in 2016. It’s based on the original novel series by NFL star Trevor Pryce (which we have noted at In-Fur-Nation before) about an army of amphibian swamp warriors. Meanwhile Puffin Rock (coming this September) is about an adventurous young puffin (and her less-adventurous little brother) living off the coast of Ireland. The other two original series, Luna Petunia from the folks at Cirque du Soleil and a re-imagining of Tarzan & Jane, may or may not have anthropomorphic elements in them — we’ll see! On top of all that, Netflix has picked up two already-existing animated series for US premier, and they are both plenty furry: Masha and the Bear from Russia, and Elias from Norway — the latter featuring anthropomorphic boats. Check the article to find out more.

image c. 2015 Splash Entertainment

image c. 2015 Splash Entertainment

Big News from Dreamworks

Apr 15th, 2015
by rodney.
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Dreamworks Animation have released the first preview of their new How To Train Your Dragon tie-in TV series, Dragons: Race to the Edge. It’s coming to Netflix on June 26th. Interestingly, it’s all coming on that date: All 13 episodes will be available at once. In this latest iteration, “Hiccup and Toothless lead the Dragon Riders as they soar beyond the borders of Berk and discover the mysterious Dragon Eye — an ancient artifact filled with secrets that will lead them to new lands filled with undiscovered dragons. But the heroes find themselves pursued by marauding dragon hunters, who will stop at nothing to seize the power of the Dragon Eye.” Check it out over at Comingsoon.net. Meanwhile, just today came another Dreamworks announcement: Kung Fu Panda 3’s release date has been moved. Again. This time they’ve moved it up from March 18th to January 29th. We still gotta wait until 2016, but at least it’s coming sooner!

image c. 2015 Dreamworks Animation

image c. 2015 Dreamworks Animation

Once Again, Life is Like a Hurricane

Feb 26th, 2015
by rodney.
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If you haven’t caught it yet, word is spreading fast that Disney TV Animation plans to bring back 90’s cartoon favorite Duck Tales in a whole new series on Disney XD, starting in 2017. We first heard about it over at Oh My Disney: “When Marc Buhaj—Senior Vice President, Programming and General Manager, Disney XD—made the announcement, he said, ‘DuckTales has a special place in Disney’s TV animation history, it drew its inspiration from Disney Legend Carl Barks’ comic books and through its storytelling and artistic showmanship, set an enduring standard for animated entertainment that connects with both kids and adults. Our new series will bring that same energy and adventurous spirit to a new generation.’  The new series will star the same beloved characters as the old: Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Launchpad McQuack, Donald Duck, Duckworth, Gyro Gearloose, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica DeSpell, Poe, Ma Beagle, the Beagle Boys, Mrs. Beakley, and Webbigail Vanderquack.” Nothing more precise from Disney regarding a premier date yet, but Disney XD is starting to sound more and more interesting for animation.

image c. 2015 Disney TV Animation

image c. 2015 Disney TV Animation

Creatures of New York City

Feb 17th, 2015
by rodney.
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Making quite a buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was a series of animated shorts made for television and the web, of all things. Animals is a black & white, minimally-animated series which “follows various New York City creatures as they get into awkward (and sometimes deadly) encounters with one another.” The series was created by Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano, two employees at a commercial production house who took some time off to make little animals talk to each other. Check out the Animals web site to see what the fuss is about. (Here’s a hint: Click on the clouds!)

image c. 2015 by Phil Matarese/Mike Luciano

image c. 2015 by Phil Matarese / Mike Luciano

Watch Him, If You Dare

Jan 9th, 2015
by rodney.
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Quick on the bouncing furry heels of All Hail King Julien, Dreamworks Animation presents the premier of The Adventures of Puss in Boots — coming to Netflix later this month. “The Adventures of Puss in Boots finds the world’s most famous feline fortune-hunter in the hidden city of San Lorenzo, a mythical land that is invisible to the outside world thanks to a magical spell that protects its quirky inhabitants — not to mention its wondrous treasure. When Puss in Boots accidentally breaks the spell, he must do more than fight off an endless legion of invaders and marauders — he must become a legend.” According to an article over at Animation World Network, five episodes will premier on the 16th with more to follow. Soon, the tide of original Dreamworks programming for Netflix will include new episodes of Dreamworks Dragons and the new series Dinotrux.

image c. 2015 Dreamworks Animation

image c. 2015 Dreamworks Animation

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