Animation

No Picture
Animation

G.I. Joe resumes fight for freedom with “Renegades”

November 26, 2010 StayTuned Staff

The end of the Cold War might have been good for the world, but it didn’t do any favors for the spy/military genre. The United States and the Soviet Union made for such great and easily defined enemies that it was never a mystery who the heroes or villains would be in any particular story. G.I. Joe, while always posited as a “Real American Hero,” never explicitly fought the Russians. Instead, the enemy was Cobra, which the 1980s cartoon series labeled “a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.” That, and they loved them some snakes. But with the […]

No Picture
Animation

Review: “Transformers Prime”

November 23, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison Judging an updated version of a childhood favorite is always dicey. If you go in wanting from it that same feeling it gave you as a 9-year-old, when a somewhat crudely animated show about giant robots that transformed into automobiles could stoke the fires of your still-impressionable imagination, you’re setting up an impossible standard. If the new show is too similar, it’s likely to just make you want to go watch the original. Yet if it’s wildly divergent, that can be hard to get past, too. So it’s best to try to take a show like The […]

No Picture
Animation

Drew Van Acker Is Literally Stuck At School In Cartoon Network’s “Tower Prep”

October 30, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

In Cartoon Network’s latest live-action series, Tower Prep, rebellious teen Ian Archer (Drew Van Acker) awakens one morning to find himself suddenly transferred to the mysterious prep school of the title, from which there appears to be no escape. If that sounds like it’s The Prisoner for kids, it has some of that vibe, but one difference — at least in the pilot episode — is that while the school has some sinister-seeming elements, there are also hints that it might not have bad intentions at its core. “We don’t really know what Tower Prep is,” says star Van Acker. […]

No Picture
Animation

VOD Spotlight: Growing up means learning to train that dragon

October 29, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Elaine Bergstrom Growing up means becoming your own person, moving away from the expectations of parents who, though they love you, may not quite understand what will make you happy. It’s the theme of some of the greatest animated features, such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast and How to Train Your Dragon — a film about a teenage Viking short on brawn but long on empathy, with an independent spirit that changes the relationship between Vikings and dragons.

No Picture
Animation

Hub-ba Hub-ba: New kids’ network The Hub aims to bring families together

October 11, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison The Hub may be a kids’ network, but it’s certainly not taking any baby steps when it comes to launching itself into the TV landscape. Having premiered Oct. 10 — or as it’s known in catchy marketing lingo, 10/10/10 — the joint venture between Discovery Communications and toy- and game-maker Hasbro replaced Discovery Kids and is available 24/7 in 60 million homes. While it will fill some of that time with existing programs, including Fraggle Rock, Meerkat Manor and Doogie Howser, M.D., The Hub is also rolling out 11 original shows over its first few months — […]

No Picture
Animation

Funny as “Hell”: TBS introduces us to the demons next door

June 7, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison The Hellmans might be demons, but the real villains are you and I. That’s the joke behind Neighbors From Hell, which adds twisted, satiric animation to TBS‘s “Very Funny” lineup starting tonight. Writer/executive producer Pam Brady brings the biting humor she honed during her years on South Park to the adventures of a family of demons sent by the devil to pose as typical suburbanites (no mean feat, given their green skin, red eyes and pointy ears) in order to prevent a giant energy company from using a high-powered drill to reach the Earth’s core, thereby exposing […]

No Picture
Animation

Back to the “Futurama” — Billy West interview

May 26, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Never underestimate the ability of fans to influence the decisions of entertainment powers-that-be in this age of the Internet and DVD sales. They were effective enough to get new episodes of Family Guy made, and now they have scored another coup by being a major force behind the return of Matt Groening’s Futurama, which begins its sixth season June 24 on Comedy Central, after unceremoniously disappearing from FOX seven years ago (but continuing in an unofficial “season” via a series of successful direct-to-DVD movies over the years). “[The fans] never let up,” says star Billy West, who […]

No Picture
Animation

Bret Michaels kicks off Season 2 of Nick’s “Glenn Martin, DDS”

May 14, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

Nick at Nite’s stop-motion animated comedy series begins its second season June 11 at 10:30pm ET/PT. The upcoming season will feature an impressive cast of celebrity guest voices, including Mel Brooks, Fergie, Kristen Bell, Sean Hayes, the ubiquitous Betty White, Jimmy Kimmel, John Corbett, Fran Drescher, Bradley Whitford, Cheri Oteri, MC Hammer, Jason Alexander, George Takei, Howie Mandel, Don Johnson, Ty Burrell, Ashley Tisdale, Jim Parsons, Bryan Cranston, Gabourey Sibide and Ellen Page, among others.

No Picture
Animation

“Simpsons” desktop app available for April Fool’s Day

March 31, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

From FOX: Just in time for April Fool’s Day, Simpsons fans have the chance to pull the ultimate Bart-worthy pranks on their friends through The Simpsons Unleashed! desktop application available for download at www.thesimpsons.com. This free desktop app allows The Simpsons to invade your computer screen with irreverent humor and high jinks, as well as the latest news and updates on all things Simpsons. Powered by Adobe® AIR®, The Simpsons Unleashed! gives fans the chance to engage with The Simpsons like never before while interacting with their Facebook friends. After downloading the app, fans can compete against each other to […]