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Toon Zone News Archives |
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February 2000
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February
29, 2000
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Cartoon
Net Adds New Series
As part of its $350 million multiyear
commitment to original programming, Cartoon
Network will add four half-hour series to its
primetime lineup through 2001 and has ordered
nearly 120 new episodes of existing shows.
The Turner-owned cabler will unveil its
programming plans at its upfront presentation
for advertisers today in New York.
Among the primetime shows coming to the cartoon
channel in fall 2001 is "Sheep in the Big
City," an original half-hour animated
series created by Mo Willems and produced at New
York-based Curious Pictures. Cartoon Net has
ordered 13 episodes of the series, which tracks
a sheep who hides in a big city to escape a top
secret military organization that is after him.
Net gets leg up
Through a licensing deal with Hasbro, Cartoon
Net will air 26 half-hour episodes of
"Centipede," an original animated
action-adventure series, which will join the net’s
"Toonami" weekday afternoon
programming block. Two Japanese animated series
— the acquisitions "Gundam Wing" and
"Tenchi Muyo" — will also be added
to the block.
The network also has 25 animated shorts in
development to debut as series pilots over the
next two years. Viewers will have the chance to
vote on which of three series pilots will become
a half-hour original series during the
"Voice Your Choice" weekend, a 52-hour
original programming marathon in August.
"It’s the ultimate in kid empowerment —
they get to program the network," said
Betty Cohen, president Cartoon Network
Worldwide. The pilot the viewers pick will
premiere as a series in fall 2001.
Viewer requests
Along the same lines, Cartoon Net will debut
"JBVO," a half-hour viewer request
show hosted by the cartoon character Johnny
Bravo, on April 2.
Cartoon Net plans to double its production of
three current shows in 2001, ordering an
additional 26 episodes of "Ed, Edd ’n’
Eddy" and 13 episodes each of "Courage
the Cowardly Dog" and "Mike, Lu & Og."
Beginning this fall, Cartoon Network will become
the exclusive TV home of Warner Bros. classic
"Looney Tunes" titles.
Source; Variety.com
--Rembrant
February
25, 2000
--Dick
Grayson
February
24, 2000
-
New
Batman Beyond Eps for March
New Batman Beyond spoilers, for March
episodes, from the Comics Continuum, as always.
This time, the network didn't slip in spoilers,
so these are uncut.
Two new episodes of Batman Beyond are scheduled
to air the first two Saturdays in March on Kids'
WB!.
Scheduled for March 4 is "The Last
Resort." Here's how the network describes
the episode:
"A number of Terry's classmates are being
sent off to a new innovative 'tough love'
boarding school. When Chelsea becomes one of
them, Terry discovers the place is being run
more like a medieval prison than a school."
Scheduled for March 11 is "Armory."
Here's how the network describes the episode:
"When the father of one of Terry's friends
is laid off from his lucrative research and
development job, he develops a super-powered
suit in his backyard workshop and turns to a
life of crime."
--The
Mad Hatter
February
22, 2000
-
Looney
Tunes and JLA Team Up--Really!
I was flipping through the Comics
continuum's listing of DC comics coming out in
May, and I stumbled across this little gem,
which I swear I'm not making up:
SUPERMAN & BUGS BUNNY #1
Written by Mark Evanier; art and cover by Joe
Staton, Tom Palmer and
Mike DeCarlo.
The dimension-hopping Mr. Mxyzptlk meets Porky
Pig's old sparring
partner, the Do-Do, and comes up with a raucous
prank to revive the
Do-Do's faded career: Combining their powers,
the two imps switch
Looney Tunes characters and DC heroes between
the universes. As
characters from beloved cartoons start making
mayhem for the JLA, only
Superman has any hope of straightening things
out.
32 pages, $2.50, ships on May 31.
--The
Mad Hatter
-
Brak
and His Golden Throat on CD
For those of you around here who can't
get enough of that crazy half-lobotomozed former
space pirate cat thing (which, come to think of
it, probably consists of myself and Gookie...ah
well), here's some info on his new album, "Brak
Presents the Brak Album Starring Brak,"
from the Brak himself.
Hey, every buddy! Here's my new album! We're
gonna release it on March 14 and then we're
gonna chase it with a big net because it will be
escaped and we will have to call special CD
trappers to help corner it and then I will
probably have to feed it through a baby bottle!
Did I say it would be released on March 14?
TRACK LISTING
1.REALLY COOL SONG
2.FRANZ SHOEBERT
3.Dentist
4.MAGIC TOENAIL
5.Babbling Brook
6.I'LL TELL ME MA
With The Chieftains
7.ROCK CANDY
8.BIG FAT SQUID
9.I LIKE HUBCAPS
10.Cowboy Buddy
11.HIGHWAY 40
With Freddie Prinze, Jr.
12.Bananachek
13.SMELL YOU LATER
14.STORE
15.Brak CounterBrak
16.EVIL IS ONLY SKIN DEEP
With Diamond Dallas Page
17.WE LIKE GIRLS
18.El Brakiachi
19.BEEFLOG
20.Another Cowboy Buddy
21.BARBEQUE
22.Count Brakula
23.I'M FORGETTABLE
24.News Bulletin
25.I'M A CUCUMBER
26.News Bulletin
27.Molly Cule
28.WE'RE BUDS
29.CHILI TODAY HOT
TAMALE
30.OHIO
SUPER SPECIAL BOOTLEG
BONUS BRAKTRAX
31.I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY
DRAWERS
32.YEAR OF THE MANTIS
33.SOUP ON A STICK
--The
Mad Hatter
February
18, 2000
- X-Men
Series Title
The new X-Men series, that is reportedly
headed to Kids' WB!, will be titled X-Men:
Children of the Atom, according to today's Comics
Continuum article. Bob Skir told The
Continuum that he and partner Marty Isenberg
will be story editors of the series. The pair
have teamed as story editors on several animated
shows, including Beast Machines, Godzilla: The
Series, Ultraforce and the upcoming Action Man.
--Rembrant
--Rembrant
February
17, 2000
-
Batman
Beyond NOT Cancelled
According to Another Universe's Daily
Buzz, Kids WB Senior Vice President said
that the series is "absolutely one of our
top priorities for the network. The show is
still totally in production and we will have 13
episodes for next season. We'll make that
determination [on the series future] at the end
of next season."
--Rembrant
February
16, 2000
"The
series is set in the fictitious Del Oro Bay, one
of the fastest-growing cities in the nation and
the espionage capital of the free world. As the
story begins, 19-year-old Josh McGrath is a
typical university student with a passion for
extreme sports. He's an adrenaline junkie who has
already mastered snowboarding, skysurfing and
nearly every other fringe sport a guy can do on
land, sea or air.
"Josh's adoptive father heads up N-TEK, a
covert organization that operates under the guise
of an international tech-development conglomerate.
During a visit at N-TEK, Josh was accidentally
infused with experimental Nano-tech probes. The
accident initiated an evolution within his body,
increasing his physical strength and agility to 10
times that of human strength. Josh also gained the
unique ability to camouflage his appearance so
that he could blend in with any surroundings. With
his newfound powers, he became Max Steel -
super-agent destined to protect the world from
evil.
"Unfortunately, Max has very little
experience in the world of espionage. In order to
survive in his new role at N-TEK, he is assigned a
teacher, Rachel Leeds. Rachel is one of the best
agent/operatives at N-TEK and partners with Max's
youthful bravado. Also assisting from N-TEK's
headquarters is child prodigy 'Berto Martinez, who
sees what Max sees and is able to strategize his
every move via the BIO-LINK. With 'Berto's genius,
Rachel's skill and experience, and Max's power and
drive, 'Team Steel' is hard to beat.
"Team Steel does not deal with routine,
run-of-the-mill criminals; they travel the world
working against the big stuff - which almost
always means DREAD. Created in N-TEK'S image,
DREAD is a covert operation run by the mysterious
John Dread, who knows more about N-TEK than he
should and is using the information to beat N-TEK
at its own game. DREAD and N-TEK are in direct
competition overall all sorts of technological
advancements, of which Max Steel is a living
example.
"As Max Steel, Josh protects the world from
the likes of DREAD and other evil criminals. But
as Josh, he is a typical college student with his
own problems and issues, such as completing his
schoolwork on time and dealing with a girlfriend
who is not aware of his double-identity. Josh
struggles to preserve some semblance of a normal
life, to conceal his secret identity from anyone
outside N-TEK's inner circle. But, fed by his
teen-age enthusiasm and newfound powers, he's
having the time of his life ... most of the time.
"When Max's adventures cross paths with
Josh's world, the real fun begins. He has as much
attitude as ability, and whether he's jumping off
a train, flying an experimental jet, engaged in
hand-to-hand combat with a deadly opponent or
simply trying to finish his schoolwork, Max rarely
loses the spark in his eye that makes him more
unique that the Nano-Tek probes ever would."
Christian Campbell, the brother of Neve Campbell,
provides the voices of Josh and Max Steel. His
credits include Trick, TekWar, Malibu Shores, I've
Been Waiting for You and Seduced by
Madness.
Other regular voices in the series include Jacob
Vargas as 'Berto, Shannon Kenny as Rachel and
Lauren Tom as Laura, Josh's girlfriend.
Richard Rayner is executive producer of Max Steel,
Jeff Kline co-executive producer, Greg Weisman
producer and Bob Richardson producer.
Thirteen episodes are planned for the first season
of the show.
--The Mad Hatter
http://www.staytooned.com/news/?task=
show&mode=view&range=0&id=9
--The Mad Hatter
- Batman
Beyond Joker, First Peek!
Thanx to my very own (oh come on! I gotta
plug my own page! Plug! Plug! Plug!) World's
Finest News Page, and thanx to RobinIII,
comes the first pic we have of the BB Joker.
Look at it...and shudder in fear!
--Dick Grayson
February
15, 2000
-
Video
Release Dates--Batman Beyond Movie Comes Early!
Well, kinda early. Here's the poop from
the comics continuum:
Warner Home Video has announced an Oct. 31
release date for the direct-to-video Batman
Beyond: The Return of the Joker movie. The movie
had been previously been announced for a Nov. 7
release.
Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker is one of
three new animated movies planned for release
this fall. The others are Tweety's High-Flying
Adventures on Sept. 12 and Scooby-Doo and the
Alien Invaders on Oct. 3.
"Warner Home Video will continue bringing
fans new and exciting movies based on their
favorite characters on video," said Dan
Capone, vice-president, marketing and
development, family entertainment, of Warner
Home Video.
Here's how the company describes the Batman
Beyond movie:
"In this thrilling, action-packed
adventure, the sleeker, more dangeous and
seemingly immortal Clown Prince of Crime is back
to terrorize Gotham, Batman and the aging Bruce
Wayne.
"While trying to uncover the Joker's
secrets, Terry McGinnis, the new Batman,
discovers the greatest mystery in the career of
the original Batman - the true story of the
night Batman fought the Joker for the last time.
"When Bruce Wayne is almost killed in one
of the Joker's new attacks, it's up to Batman
Beyond to avenge his mentor and put the Joker to
rest forever."
--The Mad Hatter
--The Mad Hatter
-
Batman
Beyond...Beyond the Third Season?
This just in from ZENtertainment:
'BATMAN
BEYOND' NOT ENDING?
The NEW
YORK POST's STARR REPORT says that despite recent
reports at the COMICS CONTINUUM about production
stopping on the BATMAN BEYOND animated series are
false, and that there will be 13 new episodes next
fall. The questionable reason insiders gave
columnist Michael Starr is that the rumors may
have been put out there by the show's writers, who
are leaving for other WB projects.
http://www.nypost.com
--Gookie
-
For
Any Pokephiles
COMING SOON FROM HASBRO AND CO.
Among
the products HASBRO Inc. unveiled at TOY FAIR ....
a POKEMON THINK CHIP BATTLE STADIUM ....
The POKEMON stadium uses new POKEMON THINK CHIP
FIGURES, allowing players to engage in 3D,
electronic battles, and keep track of their
progress.
http://www.hasbro.com
http://www.tigertoys.com
--Gookie
-
Dini's
Tribute to Sparky
And finally, just because... in tribute
to the beloved Charles Schultz, four noted comic
artists and personalities offered
Schultz-inspired sketches in his honor which wizardworld.com
has posted on their site.
Paul Dini did this one:
The others can be seen here.
--Gookie
February
14, 2000
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000214/ca_warner__1.html
--Jon
- Batman
Beyond Spinoff, Static Series on Kids' WB!
Comics
Continuum reported this Monday:
"Sources outside of Warner Bros. Animation
have told The Continuum that possible upcoming
shows on Kids' WB! include Static, based on the
Milestone Comics character, and Zeta, a series
which will spin out of Batman Beyond.
Those two shows, which might be done at Warner
Bros. Animation, could join X-Men in Kids' WB!'s
line-up next fall.
Representatives of both Warner Bros. Animation
and Kids' WB! have not commented about any of
the upcoming shows on the network. The network
is expected to announce its 2000-2001 slate by
April.
When asked about the possibility of a Static
series, Milestone Media editor-in-chief Dwayne
McDuffie said he had no comment. Earlier this
month, McDuffie announced that there would be a
new Milestone comics series featuring a
character previously published by the company.
Zeta is a character featured in an upcoming
episode of Batman Beyond. Here is how Kids' WB!
describes the episode:
'Batman joins forces with the military to
recover a robotic assassin, until he discovers
that the robot has escaped the government's
clutches because it no longer wants to be a
killing machine. Batman jumps sides and helps
the robot escape.'"
--Rembrant
February
11, 2000
-
Hope
for Batman Beyond?
Some info from the Dini deity (through
IGN.com):
Though fans everywhere (ourselves included) have
pitched a fit over the end of The WB's
phenomenally successful Batman Beyond,
co-producer Paul Dini recently pointed out that
the series was always meant to finish off its
run with 52 episodes.
"We were only going to go to 52 episodes to
start with," Dini told WizardWorld.
"We're taking a wait-and-see attitude right
now." And there's still the possibility
that the series could continue. "In
September, we're back for a full 13 new
episodes. And the series is kept completely
open-ended. If the show performs well, there's
always the possibility it'll come back. And if
it performs well, WB would be silly not to order
more episodes to freshen up the rotation,"
he said. In other words: save your tears, for
now.
--The Mad Hatter
February
10, 2000
-
More
X-Men Silliness
Marvel's Avi Arad said that both a new
X-Men animated series and a second season of The
Avengers seem likely for the 2000-2001
television season.
Although neither Kids' WB! nor Fox will
officially announce their lineups for a few
weeks, Arad said that X-Men is headed for Kids'
WB! and Fox Kids is poised to renew The
Avengers.
Arad said that Film Roman will be the production
house for the new X-Men show.
"Film Roman is going to co-produce
it," Arad said in a telephone interview
with The Continuum on Wednesday. "They are
the production company, but it is a Marvel
production.
"It's going to be very different than all
the X-Men shows until now. It's going to deal
with X-Men, the younger generation, coming of
age and becoming the X-Men. That's basically the
story here, more like Children of the
Atom."
Arad said chances for a second season of The
Avengers for Fox Kids are "looking very
good."
"We already have scripts for next season,
so it's in development for the second
season," Arad said. "It's doing well
for Fox and it's doing very well for Marvel/Toy
Biz. We have no reason to believe the show will
not continue. The second season starts next
October, so we have plenty of time obviously for
that.
"I don't want to speak officially for them
(Fox Kids). The official (announcement) is the
up-fronts, and until then, they won't tell
anybody anything. They want to make the
announcement."
As far as Marvel's other Fox Kids show,
Spider-Man Unlimited, is concerned, Arad said:
"I think Fox will get it on for 2001."
Look for more news on The Avengers animated
series in Friday's Continuum report.
--The
Mad Hatter
February
8, 2000
BATMAN
BEYOND ENDS PRODUCTION
Shane Glines, a character designer at Warner
Bros. Animation, has confirmed that production
of the Batman Beyond animated series is ending.
"Batman Beyond is indeed ending, a decision
which has most of the crew baffled," Glines
told
The Continuum.
It appears production on Batman Beyond will
end after 52 episodes. A straight-to-video Batman
Beyond movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the
Joker, is scheduled for a Nov. 7 release.
Asked what his next project is, Glines said:
"I
do have an animation project lined up, but I can't
give out information quite yet. In the meantime,
I'll be trying to finish up my work on the Harley
& Ivy mini-series that Bruce Timm
penciled."
--The
Mad Hatter
February
1, 2000
-
Home
Movies on Cartoon Network
The Cartoon Network is said to be
negotiating the acquisition of Home Movies, an
animated series that debuted on UPN last spring.
The series stars comedian Brendon Small as a
third grader who makes movies about his daily
misadventures.
If the deal goes through, the Cartoon Network
would likely purchase the five episodes that
have already aired and order eight new episodes.
Source: (
Mania's Daily Buzz, via Variety)
--Rembrant
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