Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • iTunes Nicks Nick Shows

    Nickelodoen will begin offering episodes of the hit preschool series The Wonder Pets for download in Apple’s iTunes Music Store this month. The arrangement is part of a deal between Apple and MTVN Kids and Family Group, which is also putting up programming from The N, TEENick and Nick at Nite.

    A total of six Nickelodeon shows will be available for download at $1.99 per episode. In addition to staples such as The N’s Degrassi: The Next Generation and TEENick’s Drake & Josh and Zoey 101, the package includes the new puppet series Mr. Meaty. The buddy comedy set in a mall food court will begin airing on Nickelodeon on Sept. 22 and will be available on iTunes in mid-September. The show actually got its start online as a series of shorts featured on Nickelodeon’s TurboNick broadband platform on Nick.com.

    As various shows premiere on-air, they will be added to the iTunes library at www.itunes.com. By the end of September, Nick hopes to have approximately 450 half-hour episodes available from the Nickelodeon, The N and Nick at Nite libraries. The first season of The Wonder Pets (10 episodes) will be available for download on Sept. 12.

  • Viacom CEO Freston Splits

    Nickelodeon and MTV Networks parent company Viacom Inc. has said goodbye to president and CEO Tom Freston. After more than 26 years with the media conglomerate, the 60-year-old MTV co-founder is stepping down as the company suffers disappointing stock performance. In seeking more aggressive management, Viacom’s board of directors has replaced him with 52-year-old board member Philippe P. Dauman, and has named Thomas E. Dooley to the newly created position of senior exec VP and chief administrative officer.

    Both Dauman and Dooley have served in a number of senior exec positions at Viacom, working closely with exec chairman and founder Sumner Redstone for more than 20 years. Since 2000, they have been co-chairmen and chief executive officers of DND Capital Partners L.L.C., a private equity firm specializing in media and telecommunication investments.

    “I have great respect for Tom Freston and want to personally thank him for his tremendous contributions to Viacom over the past 20 years,’ Redstone comments. Tom successfully built MTV Networks into an unmatched force in the entertainment industry and assembled a best-in-class operational team to build on that foundation. Tom has been a friend and a colleague for many years and we wish him well as he moves on to the next stage of his career.”

  • Flintstones, McBoing Boing on Disc

    Classic cartoon action meets new animation based on old favorites as the sixth season of The Flintstones and two volumes of Cartoon Networks’s Gerald McBoing Boing arrive on home video. Also on disc today is Jim Henson’s Fantasy Film Collection, which includes the recently released, CG-laden MirrorMask and two other fan favorites. Meanwhile, Godzilla fans will be rushing out to pick up Gojira, the original Japanese classic available on DVD for the first time in North America.

    The Flintstones: The Complete Sixth Season is a four-disc set containing 26 episodes of Hanna-Barbera’s prehistoric comedy from the 1960s. Among the extras is a featurette titled The Flintstones Meets Pop Culture, hosted by Stephen Baldwin (Barney in The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas). There’s also a look at the creation of one of the show’s most famous guest stars titled The Great Gazoo’From A to Zetox. The Warner Home Video release carries a suggested retail price of $44.98.

    Classic Media today released two discs featuring episodes of Gerald McBoing Boing, Cookie Jar’s new cartoon series based on the Dr. Seuss book and the 1951 Oscar-winning film that introduced audiences to the little boy who communicates with sound effects. Gerald McBoing Boing Adventures and Gerald McBoing Boing Fairytales each offers six installments and comes with a mini-reprint of the Dr. Seuss book. They can be had for around $12.98 apiece.

    Sony has packaged together the Jim Henson Co. productions The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Mirrormask, and is selling the set for $49.95. The two earlier films bring strange and wonderful characters to life through the kind of puppetry Henson became famous for, while MirrorMask creates a fantasy world with CG. Directed by Dave McKean, the film was completed on a shoestring budget with a crew of 15 British animators right out of art school. Famed fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman was commissioned to write the tale by Jim Henson Co. co-CEOs Lisa and Brian Henson, who wanted something that was equal parts The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In addition to the three films, the set offers a 16-page Tokyopop Manga book.

    Two years after its 50th anniversary, the Japanese monster classic Gojira is finally set free to wreak havoc on DVD. The two-disc set contains both the uncut, original Japanese theatrical release and the Americanized version, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was re-cut to include footage of Raymond Burr. Both versions have been digitally re-mastered in HD. Fans can pick it up for the list price of $21.98.

  • Lucas to Marshal Rose Parade

    George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars franchise and founder of Lucas Animation, has been named grand marshal of the 2007 Tournament of Roses in Pasadena. The announcement was made Tuesday at the Tournament of Roses headquarters, where the fanfare included appearances by Chewbacca and an Ewok. Following in the footsteps of last year’s marshal, Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Lucas will hold court at the 118th annual event on New Year’s Day.

    Lucas is also making headlines with his $175 million donation to the University of Southern California, which served as a springboard to his own film career. The largest donation in USC’s history, the funds will be applied to its endowment and rebuilding its School of Cinematic Arts, the oldest film school in the U.S. Lucas began honing his filmmaking kills there as student in the 1960s.

    Having completed his six-part Star Wars film saga, Lucas is continuing the battle between the Jedi and the Sith on television with a live-action series and a CG-animated show focusing on the Clone Wars. Most of the animation and effects work will be produced at Lucas Animation’s facility in Singapore.

  • Madden NFL 07 Scores Big at Retail

    The highly anticipated latest installment in the Madden NFL line of video games put a lot of summer movies to shame by selling more than two million copies in its first week, according to estimates provided by publisher Electronic Arts. Madden NFL 07, which went next-gen on Xbox 360, is selling 12% higher than last year’s release, making it the best performing entry in the franchise’s 17-year history.

    “We put a ton of innovation into Madden NFL 07 from new game modes and controls to NFL Superstar Hall of Fame,” says Todd Sitrin, EA’s VP of marketing. “Consumers are the most meaningful judge of game quality and based on sales and the record-setting online activity, our toughest critics think Madden NFL has delivered another great game experience.”

    Microsoft reports that Madden players are breaking records for online play using the live function of the Xbox 360 console. Within five days of the launch, players logged more than two million hours of online game play and unlocked more than 600,000 achievements.

    Developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon, Madden NFL 07 has surpassed EA’s own NCAA Football 07 as 2006’s top-selling video game for Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PSP. To date, Madden NFL titles have collectively sold more than 53 million units. More information on the latest release is available at madden07.com.

  • Starz Gets ‘Wood

    Liberty Media’s Starz premium cable network is getting animated with The ‘Wood, a series of original animated shorts produced by 23D Films. The tongue-in-cheek vignettes employ hand-drawn animation and Adobe After Effects to spoof Hollywood with interviews of six bear characters living the celebrity life. The initial installments are currently rolling out on Starz and will be accompanied by new shorts later this month.

    The various characters in The ‘Wood are intended to satirize the most common types of Hollywood players. This version of Tinsel Town is populated by rapper turned actor Arctic Circle, insecure action hero Bruin McTeague, it-girl ing’nue Epiffany, aging film legend Maximillian Rugg, comic maniac Roman Fjords and oblivious female lead Ursula Majors.

    ‘Starz is the perfect outlet to celebrate and razz the entertainment industry, which provides me with a great deal of satisfaction,’ says ‘Wood designer and animator John Mathot. ‘It’s a ton of fun to bring these characters to life, and I hope people will get a kick out of them.’

    Founded in 1996, 23D Films is a full service design, motion graphics and animation production studio located in the heart of Hollywood. The studio is staffed with classically trained character animators and veterans of such hit shows as South Park, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama and Ren & Stimpy. More information on the companycan be found at www.23Dfilms.com.

  • Cyberchase Gets New Sugardaddies

    Cyberchase, an animated kids’ show that airs during the PBS KIDS GO! block, is getting a financial boost by investment firms Ernst & Young LLP and Northrop Grumman Corp. Making their first investments in children’s television, the entities have signed on as funders of the educational series, joining renewing supporters Intel, the National Science Foundation, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by The Volckhausen Family.

    Now entering its fifth season, Cyberchase has become one of the most successful offerings on PBS KIDS GO!, according to Tamara Robinson, VP and director of programming for Thirteen, the public television station that produces the series. “As that impact has grown, Cyberchase has attracted support from corporations and foundations that are committed to the future of math education.’

    Aimed at kids 8-11, Cyberchase features a team of curious kids who, along with their ‘cyberbird’ pal Digit (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried), use math and problem solving to outwit the ultimate bad guy, Hacker (Christopher Lloyd). Season five will have the Cybersquad focusing on math and inventions, a theme that will carry over to online games and outreach activities, which include the fall launch of inventions-based activity kits to be used in children’s programs and science museums nationwide.

    Produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana Ltd., Cyberchase airs on more than 340 PBS stations and digital channels across the U.S. and reaches more than five million viewers weekly. In addition, Cyberchase Online recently surpassed 1.3 billion page views. For more information, go to PBSKids.org.

  • Jackson, Weta Do WWII Pic

    Filmmaker Peter Jackson will produce and his Oscar-winning vfx shop, Weta, will create visuals for Dambusters, an inspirational true story from WWII that Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Jackson’s Wingnut Films will soon put into production. The film will be directed by first timer Christian Rivers, who earned an Oscar for his work as animation director on Jackson’s King Kong remake.

    Inspired by actual events, Dambusters is based on the book The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill and the 1955 movie from Associated British Picture Corp. The pic will chronicle the story of Operation Chastise, a top-secret Royal Air Force bombing mission designed to strike a decisive blow against the seemingly invincible Nazi war machine at the height of its aggression. This largely hand-picked group, known as 617 Squadron, included pilots from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. They only had seven weeks to train for the deadly mission, which involved flying dangerously low over enemy lines to destroy three dams that were essential to the Nazi steel industry.

    “This is one of the most remarkable true stories to come out of World War II,” says Jackson. “When Michael Anderson made his thrilling version of this story in 1955, many details of the dams raid were still a closely guarded secret. It has since been declassified by the British Government, making the dynamics of the story and the people involved even more intriguing. That, combined with our ability to harness state-of-the-art computer generated visual effects, will enable us to bring the events of these desperate days of 1943 to life in a very visceral way.’

    Joining Jackson as producers on the WingNut Films production are Jan Blenkin and Carolynne Cunningham, with Sir David Frost and Ken Kamins serving as exec producers.

    Director Rivers has worked with Jackson for more than 17 years, first as a storyboard artist while still in school and working his way up as an animator, a pre-vis supervisor and second unit director. He shared his 2005 Best Visual Effects Oscar with fellow Weta principals Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul and Richard Taylor. Both Weta Digital and Weta Workshop will be employed on Dambusters, which will require both CG animation and miniature work.

  • Elmendorff Ankles Director Post at EM.TV

    After seven years with Germany’s EM.TV group, Patrick Elmendorff is stepping down as managing director of subsidiaries EM.Entertainment GmbH and Junior.TV GmbH & Co. According to the company, Elmendorff is leaving at his own request on Dec. 31 in order to pursue other professional challenges. His duties will be taken over by Susanne Schosser, who joined EM.TV in 2005 and has been managing the two subsidiaries alongside Elmendorff.

    Elmendorff joined the EM.TV group in 1999 as VP of international TV sales and was later made president of distribution before taking his current post in 2004. With his departure, Schosser will take responsibility for global TV distribution and all aspects of the merchandising and home entertainment business, in addition to maintaining her current management duties.

    Schosser will lead a new management team focused on creating more synergy between EM.TV’s production and distribution activities, and taking fuller advantage of new distribution channels including video-on-demand, mobile and IPTV.

  • CG Facelift for Classic Trek

    CBS and Paramount are giving the original 1966 Star Trek series a CG brush-up for the HDTV age and the property’s 40th Anniversary. The show will be digitally remastered and repackaged for syndication with updated visual effects that will mostly affect the space scenes. While all 79 episodes will eventually be remastered, initial efforts are being focused on fans favorites.

    The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In addition giving all the spaceships and battle scenes a CG polish, CBS and Paramount will augment static paintings used in the series with new animation and other details. For example, CG people will be seen walking around on previously empty star bases and alien planets will be brought to life with slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. The view of space from the Enterprise’s bridge will also be redone, as will the opening title sequence, which will feature a re-recorded version of Emmy-winning composer Alexander Courage’s original score.

    George Lucas had to endure some backlash when he introduced digital technology to the original Star Wars Trilogy for the Special Edition theatrical releases of the late 1990s. However, the tampering did serve as an excuse to get the films back on the big screen. Likewise, some visual updating may prove beneficial in bringing younger viewers to the first voyages of the Starship Enterprise, which are dated by their low-budget ’60s effects.

    Created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek debuted on CBS on Sept. 8, 1966. Though it enjoyed only a short run before cancellation, the show has become one of science-fiction’s biggest icons and has spawned a number of spin-off series and ten feature films. An eleventh movie is currently in the works with Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams attached to direct. Rumor has it the Mission: Impossible 3 director will recast the roles made famous by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei.

    The updated Star Trek: The Original Series episodes will begin airing on more than 200 stations starting Sept. 16. Check your local listings for station and dates.

  • Icon Sells Five to Spain’s RTVE

    Spanish production and distribution company Icon Animation has announced a number of sales to Spain’s digital free TV broadcaster, RTVE. In addition to finding another terrestrial and digital outlet for its toon series Lola & Virginia, Icon has secured broadcast deals for its third-party distribution properties, Corneil & Bernie, Vampires Pirates and Extraterrestrials, Fire Quest and The Gnoufs.

    Lola & Virginia is a co-production between Icon Animation, Millimages, France 3, TV Catalunya and ETB, and is based on an original concept by Myriam Ballesteros, who founded Icon with Sergi Reitg. The show for kids 6-12 has also been sold to Disney Channel and airs on Basque broadcaster ETB in Spain. The show premiered in the U.S. last June and on Nickelodeon Latin America in July. Icon holds all distribution rights worldwide except for France, French speaking Switzerland, Benelux, the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand, which are held by Millimages.

    Produced by Amuse Films and France 3, Corneil & Bernie (52×13) follows the adventures of Corneil, a brainy, sophisticated pet dog whose dream of living the pampered life is compromised when his owners hire a dog sitter named Bernie.

    Vampires, Pirates and Extraterrestrials (26×26) is produced by Millimages, France Animation and Cosgrove Hall Films. The comedy series offers a variety of adventures with vampire family The Blods, Captain Blunder and the seafaring crew of the Mad Maggot and the homesick Extra Terrestrials who spend their time dodging the clutches of the evil Zoo Master.

    A Method films production, The Gnoufs (52×13) revolves around magical characters that can became a part of any object or living being. This power allows them access to the other magical creatures that secretly roam the Earth, including fairies, monsters and ghosts.

    Produced by Millimages, P.R.H. Creation Images and In Fine Films, Fire Quest (26×26) is a prehistoric adventure that centers on five children between the ages of 11 and 16, and their search for fire. Together with Mamoo, a young dwarf wooly mammoth, the children experience adventure as they encounter other tribes, shamanism and various natural disasters including eclipses, earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions.

    According to Christophe Goldberger, head of sales and marketing at Icon Animation, the company is looking to expand its third-party library and is actively seeking additional programming for representation.

  • ILM’s Model Shop Splits Off

    Now that Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has focused its efforts solely on digital work, its model and physical effects unit has set up shop as Kerner Optical LLC. Based in San Rafael, Calif., the new production company has officially opened for business having recently completed its purchase from George Lucas’ house of magic.

    Kerner Optical was founded by Mark Anderson, Kevin Duncan and Yuska Siuicki. An 18-year ILM veteran, Anderson will serve as CEO of the new entity, which houses a model and creature shop, a special effects/pyrotechnical effects facility and fully operational stages for interior and exterior filming. The company also offers stereoscopic 3D and blue/green screen capabilities, and fully customizable camera, motion control, lighting and grip packages.

    According to ILM president Chrissie England, the company had been struggling to keep the employees of its physical production departments employed on a regular basis. Now the unit will be able to work for other production companies while continuing to handle effects work that ILM. The non-exclusive agreement has already allowed Kerner Optical to work on the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: The Ends of the World, Transformers and Evan Almighty.

  • Fans Get Creative with Colbert

    In a recent installment of Comedy Central’s hit series The Colbert Reprot, host Stephen Colbert paid an imaginary visit to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and displayed his skills with a lightsaber in front of a green screen, asking ‘Lucas is going to add all the CGI later, right?’ Well, Lucas may have bigger fish to fry, but some Internet wonderkinds with too much time on their hands have done he job for him and posted their creations on popular viral video site YouTube.com.

    Using everything from crude 2D drawings and image clippings to fairly decent CG animation, artists have depicted Colbert fighting bears, Dick Cheney, the Rancor Monster from Star Wars: Episode VI’Return of the the Jedi and the lightsaber-twirling ‘Star Wars Kid’ from the famous viral video that inspired Colbert’s bit.

    After he learned of the videos hitting the web, Colbert issued an official call for entries on his show but wil not be giving out prizes. Check out the Stephen Colbert Green Screen Challenge entries at www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml and view some more at www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Mkm3QtwgE.

  • Brown Leaves Taffy for Entara

    Having served as exec VP of rights management and distribution company Taffy Ent. since it was formed by Mike Young Prods. (MYP) in March of 2004, Regis Brown is moving on. Effective Sept. 1, he will act as exec VP of U.K. based Entara Ltd., MYP’s co-producer on the animated series Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. Lionel Marty is handling Brown’s former duties as exec VP of Taffy Ent.

    ‘The time has come for me to explore new business opportunities within our ever-changing entertainment media landscape,’ Brown comments. ‘In this new assignment, my task is to build and grow an all-family, multi-day-part film and television distribution company.’

    In addition to owning the IP rights to Jakers!, Entara has picked up rights to the CG series Those Scurvy Rascals, and serves as a third-party licensing agent for teen-centric web destinations Popworld and Habbo. Rascals will be screening at MIPCOM Jr. in Cannes in October.

  • Aardman Goes Mobile with Orange

    Aardman Animations has launched its own mobile TV channel on the Orange TV service. Each week, the company behind Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Creature Comforts and Angry Kid will update a video loop of its own content and additional animation acquired from producers in Britain and abroad.

    Mobile distribution is nothing new to Aardman, which is selling more than 10,000 video clips a day over various mobile networks. The company hopes the Orange deal, brokered through its mobile agent, Crucible Media, will entice even more people to download animation on their cell phones and other handheld devices.

    Last spring, Orange became the first U.K. operator to launch mobile TV and will be the first to launch a dedicated Aardman Animations channel. Aardman plans to launch initiatives with other operators in the U.K. over the coming months and discussions are underway for distribution in other territories. Aardman has developed its own mobile content production capability and is producing the entire service in house.

  • Dead Rising Anything But D.O.A.

    Gamers are enjoying an early Halloween treat with Capcom’s Dead Rising, a zombie survival game that has shipped more than half a million units for Xbox 360 in its first two weeks at retail. The Mature-rated title, Capcom’s first release for Microsoft’s next-gen console, debuted on Aug. 8 in North America and is scheduled to arrive in Europe on Sept. 8 and japan on Sept. 28.

    Dead Rising is an action-horror game that casts players in the role of Frank West, an overly zealous freelance photojournalist who winds up trapped in a small suburban town completely overrun by zombies. He seeks refuge in the local shopping mall and spends the next 72 hours trying to unravel the mystery behind the catastrophe and survive the dangerous swarm of undead foes. Golf clubs, baseball bats, cash registers, music CD and hundreds of other objects typically found in a mall can be used as weapons, while additional outfits are available as free downloads in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

    “Response to Dead Rising from the trade, press and consumers has been tremendous,” says Charles Bellfield, VP of marketing for Capcom Ent. “The success of the game is a result of Capcom’s recognition of Xbox 360 system’s possibilities and starting development early on in order to deliver such a high-quality game.”

    Dead Rising is the fastest-selling Xbox game for Capcom, whose past successes include such franchises as Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry and Onimusha. Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, the company maintains operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong. More information is abailable at www.capcom.com.

  • Aquaman Unlocked for Justice League Heroes

    Warner Bros. Interactive has announced that water-loving superhero Aquaman has been added as an unlockable character in its highly anticipated vide game, Justice League Heroes. Developed by Snowblind studios, the title will be distributed by Eidos Interactive this fall for PlayStation 2, Xbox, PSP, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS.

    Justice League Heroes is an action game with role playing customization that will also feature popular comic-book denizens Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna and the previously announced unlockable, Green Arrow. Each hero has an array of customizable powers authentic to their character. Other Key features of the game include air-to-ground combat, fully destructible environments and two-player collaborative

    Play.

    The original story featured in Justice League Heroes was scripted by award-winning comic and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie, whose credits include Static Shock, Justice League, Teen Titans, Damage Control and Deathlok. Aquaman will join the fight to stop Brainiac and his evil forces, including Killer Frost and The Key, and restore peace to the world.

    A hero from the mythical kingdom of Atlantis, Aquaman is armed with the sword of Atlantis and a water shield, and has the power to generate a whirlpool to trap enemies. Though he has long been a staple of the DC universe, the character has been overshadowed by more popular caped crusaders including Dark Knight and The Man of Steel. Recently, however, the property got some major publicity from HBO’s hit series, Entourage, in which an actor played Aquaman in a fictional movie directed by James Cameron. Now there is talk of a real Aquaman movie spurred by the talent agent who served as the inspiration for Jeremy Piven’s Emmy-winning role on Entourage.

  • Fantastic Four Makes Toon Return

    It’s been nearly 40 years since Marvel Comics and Hanna-Barbera teamed to bring Fantastic Four from page to screen for the first time. Now that the superhero quartet is hotter than ever thanks to a hit live-action feature, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are back with an all-new animated series that debuts on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8 p.m. on Cartoon Network.

    Based on characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the new Fantastic Four toon series is produced in France by Moonscoop (formerly Antefilms, creators of Code Lyoko). Cartoon Network has secured exclusive domestic rights to the 26-episode, half-hour show that continues the adventures of a group of astronauts who develop special abilities after being exposed to cosmic radiation.

    Leading the team is Reed Richards, who becomes Mr. Fantastic when he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body. His wife, Sue Richards, gains the power to make herself invisible, thus becoming Invisible Woman, while her younger brother, Johnny Storm, becomes known as the Human Torch for obvious reasons. Finally, pilot Ben Grimm is turned into a super-strong rock creature known simply as Thing. Together, the genetic misfits use their unique powers to help the world battle multiple threats, including their equally powerful enemy, Doctor Doom.

  • Nick Jr. Preps New Pets! Eps

    More animals in distress will be rescued with operatic flair when Nick Jr. kicks off a slate of new episodes of its hit preschool series, The Wonder Pets!, on Monday, Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. (ET/PT). Four new, half-hour installments will air Monday through Thursday, leading up to a Wonder Pets! marathon on Friday, Sept. 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

    Produced by Little Airplane Prods. (Piper O’Possum, Oobi), The Wonder Pets! is a mini-operetta chronicling the adventures of Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck, three young animal pals who travel the world in their flying boat and use teamwork to save other baby animals. The series is animated in a style dubbed photo-puppetry, which allows animators to manipulate photographs of real animals.

    The music in Wonder Pets! is written and developed by some of Broadway’s top Tony and Grammy Award-winning talent, including Jeffrey Lesser, a Grammy-winning producer and recording engineer for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Sting and Linda Ronstadt. Award-winning composers and orchestrators from Broadway’s Avenue Q, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Fiddler on the Roof have also worked on the series.

    In the new episodes, the Wonder Pets save a camel, some ants, a hedgehog, a crocodile, a bullfrog, a poodle, some sheep and a hermit crab. Each o the adventures will be given encore presentations during the Friday marathon, which will also include past episodes.

    Since debuting on Nick. Jr. in March, The Wonder Pets! has consistently ranked among the top three preschool shows on all of commercial TV, according to Nickelodeon. The show airs regularly on Nick Jr. weekdays at 11 a.m.

  • IDT Becomes Starz Media

    Having completed its acquisition of IDT Ent., Liberty Media Corp. has combined the former IDT Corp. subsidiary with its own Starz Entertainment Group to create a new integrated media company dubbed Starz, LLC. The freshly minted entity will produce animated and live-action programming, including feature films, series, specials and shorts, for distribution over multiple platforms.

    Under the Starz LLC umbrella, IDT Ent. has been renamed Starz Media, while Starz Entertainment Group has become Starz Ent. Former Starz Entertainment Group president and CEO Robert B. Clasen who has been appointed chairman and chief executive officer of both entities, as well as Starz LLC. Wile most units in the new company will be branded with the Starz name, well-known brands such as Anchor Bay, Encore, Film Roman, Manga and Vongo will keep their identities.

    In 2003, IDT purchased a 51% controlling interest in Film Roman, the toon shop behind the FOX primetime series The Simpsons and King of the Hill. The studio will now work in tandem with Starz Animation, which develops and produces animated feature-length movies with a staff of more than 600 artists and technicians working in the United States and Canada.

    Starz LLC’s slate of animated theatrical features includes Everyone’s Hero, which will be released by 20th Century Fox on Sept. 15, Rob Zombie’s The Haunted World of El Super Beasto (2007), Space Chimps (2008) and Sheepish (2008). For television, the group is producing the animated series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy for Nick Jr., Eloise for Starz Kids & Family and DVD release, Hellboy Animated and Stan Lee Presents. In addition, Starz on Demand is home to Angry Alien Prod.’s Bunnies Theater, a series of 30-second, animated versions of major motion pictures starring rabbits.