More animation info I scraped up from awn.com. Here's a more detailed description of Disney's direct-to-video list:

Buena Vista Home Video is releasing new videos featuring Goofy, Winnie the Pooh, Belle, and Inspector Gadget early next year.

WINNIE THE POOH, A VALENTINE FOR YOU! is due January 11, 2000 on VHS for US$14.99. In the video, which premiered last year as a television special, Pooh and his friends are afraid that Christopher Robin has been bitten by a Smitten when he becomes interested in a girl. They search the Hundred Acre Wood for the love bug, hoping it will bite him again and cure his lovesickness. BELLE'S MAGICAL WORLD, also due out January 11, 2000 on VHS for US$14.99, features Belle and other characters from Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in three storybook fantasies. GADGET'S GREATEST GADGETS, due January 11, 2000 on VHS for US19.99 is a brand-new,full-length animated adventure featuring Inspector Gadget's greatest gadgets. Gadget fans can follow the continuing adventures of characters from the original DIC series including Inspector Gadget, his niece Penny, Brain and the evil Dr. Claw. Comedian Don Adams, who voiced Inspector Gadget in the original TV series, returns in this all-new adventure. AN EXTREMELY GOOFY MOVIE is due on February 29, 2000. The VHS retails for US$24.99, and the DVD retails for US$29.99. In the video, Goofy's son, Max, can't wait to go off to college and experience life on his own, but Goofy misses Max so much that he loses his job and decides to go to college, too.

A grown-up Max? Actually, it sounds like the new Goofy movie has promise. And I'm really happy to see a new "classic" Gadget video... Brain, Penny, Dr. Claw, and all the cheesiness of the original series. True, the series was a bit of a one-trick pony, but I'll admit that I'm fond of it.

On to the WB front:

The Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America, a group of animation writers represented by The Writers Guild, presented its Second Annual Animation Writing Award to Paul Dini at its annual meeting on Wednesday, October 20. Dini is currently writing and producing BATMAN BEY0ND for the Kids WB Network. "He's a very talented writer who has always turned out interesting, exciting material," said Craig Miller, the Caucus chair. "His work on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and BATMAN BEYOND has helped push the boundaries of television animation, opening it up to more adult and thoughtful storytelling." Dini's other credits include HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, TINY TOON ADVENTURES and SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. In 1994, the Writers Guild of America, West formed the Animation Writers Caucus to address the issues of working conditions in the field of animation, as well as to provide a forum in which animation writers can gather to exchange information and assist with animation organizing. Craig Miller discusses the goals of the Animation Writers Caucus in "Better For All Concerned: The Writers Guild of America's Animation Writers Caucus".

Congrats, Mr. Dini. And I know we're all well-versed in this already, but here's awn's announcement of Wakko's Wish:

On December 21, 1999 Warner Home Video will debut the first feature-length, fully animated Animaniacs movie, STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS: WAKKO'S WISH. WAKKO'S WISH will be the flagship offering in the first wave of the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment "Century 2000 Collection," which will bring audiences 11 Family Movie Favorites. WAKKO'S WISH will feature 10 original songs created specifically for the movie. The film begins in the little village of Acme Falls -- where the once-cheerful and prosperous villagers, including those wacky siblings Yakko, Wakko and Dot, are being taxed to the max by the greedy Baron von Plotz. Things start looking brighter when Wakko miraculously picks the one star in the sky that can make his wish for happiness come true. The catch is, in order for Wakko's wish to be granted, he must travel very, very far to where the star has fallen to Earth and touch it before anyone else does. When Pinky and the Brain, Slappy and Skippy Squirrel, Mindy and Buttons, and a menagerie of other well-known ANIMANIACS co-stars learn about the "wishing star," they too set out on a journey to reach the star.

More than 1 million kids watch ANIMANIACS every week on Kids' WB, the WB television network's children's programming block, and the series has won eight Daytime Emmy Awards, including two awards for "Outstanding Animated Children's Program." The series is now in its seventh year on the air. Each copy of "Wakko's Wish" will include a free, exclusive on-pack spinning toy featuring the movie's stars -- Yakko, Wakko and Dot. With the premiere of the "Century 2000 Collection," Warner Home Video will debut the "Century Club," an online savings program that will allow video buyers who enroll in the club to receive special rewards via e-mail, including retail coupons for future "Century 2000" purchases, and rebate offers from Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Publishing, Warner Bros. On-Line, Warner Bros. Music, Kid Rhino and WB Interactive. Animaniacs fans can visit the WAKKO'S WISH Web site at www.warnerbros.com and will be able to win exciting prizes including free copies of WAKKO'S WISH. WAKKO'S WISH will retail for US$19.96.

Wanna bet what Brain's wish will be? Hee hee. Personally, I'm curious as to what Slappy will wish for... probably an end to all the Olsen twins movies, I'd imagine.

Anyway, that's what I know (or rather, copied and pasted).

---Hatter

Batman Beyond Episodes for November
Mon Nov 1 11:38:56 1999

Because this is one of the few non-Pokemon-related bits of Kid's WB news, I thought I'd post scheduling news from www.comicscontinuum.com...

In "Once Burned," Batman/Terry's emotional resolve is put to the test when an old girlfriend, who also happens to be the notorious Ten of the Royal Flush Gang, reverts back to a life of crime. The situation becomes further complicated when he learns that she's being forced to steal to save her family from kidnappers.

In "Hooked Up," Batman has to come to Max's rescue when she becomes addicted to a virtual reality world that is controlled by Spellbinder.

In "Rats!," Batman must protect Dana from a dangerous secret admirer... a lonely teenage outcast who lives underground with giant mutant rats as his only companions.

Hmmm... I'm really looking forward to seeing Ten again, and I'm glad that Max is getting a little more involved in the series. I'm not sure about "Rats!" though... seems a little teeny-boppy. Then again, the last teen-oriented ep we've seen, "Hidden Agenda," was one of the best of the series.

---Hatter