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TV Series

“Up” takes it, but…

Feb 6th, 2010
by rodney.
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The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) presented the 37th annual Annie Awards  on Saturday, February 6th. The presentation was held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, and none other than William Shatner was the host.

As many had been expecting, Disney/Pixar’s Up took the honors for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as a Best Director win for co-director Pete Docter. But what was notable about the evening was that, unlike last year’s Kung Fu Panda sweep, no one film or TV show ran away with a multitude of awards. By sheer numbers, three items emerged victorious for winning three awards each: Coraline (Best Feature Character Design, Best Feature Production Design, Best Feature Music), Prep & Landing (Best TV Character Design, Best TV Production Design, Best TV Production), and The Princess and the Frog (Best Effects Animation, Best Feature Character Animation (Eric Goldberg for Lou the Alligator), and Best Feature Voice Acting (Jen Cody for Charlotte). The Penguins of Madagscar won two awards, Best TV Directing and Best TV Production for Children. Another 10 items won a single award each, including one for Fantastic Mr. Fox (for Best Writing in a Feature). In other words, the awards were spread around quite a bit!

Besides the regular awards, the evening also included several special awards and honors. Bruce Timm, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Tim Burton each received the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement in Animation. The June Foray Award for “Benevolent Impact” on Animation went to long-time animator and union activist Tom Sito. William T. Reeves of Pixar won the Ub Iwerks Award for Technical Achievement (he practically invented particle systems animation), while Martin Meunier and Brian McLean were given Special Achievement Awards for creating a new fabrication process used in making the film Coraline. Also, moving tributes were held for the late Roy E. Disney and Wayne Allwine (the voice of Mickey Mouse). A complete listing of the Awards and pictures from the ceremony will be up soon at the Annie Awards web site.

More News From Boom! Studios

Oct 19th, 2009
by rodney.
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First up: It seems that the fans’ reaction to the various Farscape mini-series (plural!) put out by Boom! has been so positive that now it’s going to be an on-going full-color series.  What’s more, it’s a series written by the original creator of Farscape, Rockne S. O’Bannon. With art by Keith DeCandido and Will Sliney.

For something completely different, Boom! lets us return to Radiator Springs. The World of Cars: Radiator Springs is a new full-color trade paperback written by Alan J. Porter and illustrated by Magic Eye Studios. It takes place after the events of the Pixar movie. When he returns to Radiator Springs for good, racer Lightning McQueen realizes that everyone knows his story, but he doesn’t know anyone else’s! Tune in while he learns why his fellow anthropomorphic cars came to this little town — and why they stayed.

Zipper Heads?

Oct 18th, 2009
by rodney.
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And now for something completely different… from China no less. The Zip-A-Gang is a new puppet TV series (and merchandizing line), produced in Hong Kong, that is looking for markets in Europe and North America. From their publicity material:  “Meet the Zip-A-Gang, a zany bunch of mischievous rascals who live beyond the Milky Way, on the planet of Zip, in the bustling Zip-A-Ville hamlet of Zip-A-Town. The Zip-A-Gang live, eat, and breathe in a fantasy world of zippers! Doors, roads, and even their teeth zip and un-zip!” Hmm, for a group from a planet “beyond the Milky Way”, an awful lot of the characters sure do resemble Earth animals. And yes, all of them have zippers for teeth — even though several of them are birds! If you want to make sense out of any of this, try heading over to the Zip-A-Gang web site. Or else, just keep  your eyes on the TV… and your local department store shelves.

Total Television Productions

Oct 17th, 2009
by rodney.
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Fans of classic TV cartoons and funny animals will probably be familiar with characters like Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, and the GoGo Gophers. Well, they’re all from one place: The creative minds behind Total Television Productions.  Now comics and animation historian Mark Arnold (The Best of the Harveyville Fun Times!) has written Created and Produced by Total Television Productions, a new softcover book available from BearManor Media. In this book you’ll find rare production artwork and storyboards, as well as reminiscences from TTV’s founders.

The Secret Saturdays Graphic Novel

Sep 7th, 2009
by rodney.
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Del Ray Manga has released a new full color “film comic” based on the hit animated TV series The Secret Saturdays from Cartoon Network. Join the Saturdays: A family of explorers and cryptozoologists as they protect the secret artifacts and mysterious monsters of the world from exploitation. On the way making friends with sasquatch, dinosaurs, and many other strange creatures.

We Are Mongrels

Aug 9th, 2009
by rodney.
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It’s a new puppet TV show coming to British television called We Are Mongrels, and it’s being marketed by the BBC as “Avenue Q meets Family Guy“. This is from Furtean Times (www.furteantimes.com): “British digital TV channel BBC Three has commissioned an adult puppet series featuring anthropomorphic animals. We Are Mongrels follows the exploits of a country fox who decides to discover ‘the real wild life’ in the city. He therefore travels to the Isle of Dogs and meets up with a range of different characters including a ‘sexy’ Afghan hound whom he falls in love with, a street cat, and a sarcastic pigeon from Blackburn. The series is the creation of Adam Miller, who is one of the directors on Taking the Flak, the currently broadcast BBC Two comedy drama set in an African war zone, and the ITV2 sketch series Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show. Miller will also act as the director of We Are Mongrels. Stephen McCrumb will be executive producer. McCrumb told Broadcast magazine that he and Miller had ‘a shared love of puppets and the desire to do something ambitious in British comedy, outside of live action’. The series will be broadcast next year [2010] and will be written by Jon Brown. In a unbroadcast pilot for the show, the voice of the fox was played by Rufus Hound, Lucy Montgomery played the Afghan, and Katy Brand played the pigeon. While it is hoped that the actors will return to play their roles, it has not yet been confirmed if they will.”

New on DVD

Apr 16th, 2009
by rodney.
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Back where it all started: “Hey SHAG-gyyyyy!” Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Season One, Volume 1 is available now on DVD from Warner Home Video.  Four of the very first episodes ever broadcast with Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy — and the dog himself, Scooby Doo, out in the world and solving mysteries. On the Disney side of things, Disney DVD has released the 20th Anniversary DVD edition of 1988’s Oliver and Company. If you didn’t know, it’s Oliver Twist set in modern day New York City — with a cast of dogs and cats!  Not to mention a voice cast with the likes of Billy Joel, Cheech Marin, Joey Lawrence, and Bette Midler!

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