Tom Kenny, voice of beloved Spongebob Squarepants helped produce an unaired pilot for Cartoon Network. Even better, the celebrated voice talent lent his tenor to the pliable plastic hero. While quality shows like “Johnny Test” and “Dude! What would happen!?” got the green light, sadly, this didn’t make the cut.
So, for your enjoyment (and don’t tell Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, or Jim Lee) here now the unaired pilot for “Plastic Man”. We here at ComicMix think it’s a bouncing good larf.
For one of the most popular book series of the last few years, the movie adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid seems to be getting very little marketing push (as compared to, say, Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and it’s coming out in less than a month. But that may be changing.
Cartoon Network and 20th Century Fox are teaming up for a multi-week online and on-air promotion, including a behind the scenes look and exclusive clips from the movie which opens March 19th. Beginning this week, viewers can go to CartoonNetwork.com where they can view digital diaries from cast and crew members from the movie and interviews as well as footage from the set and movie clips. The promotion caps off with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid on-air event when the movie’s star, Zachary Gordon, hosts “HarHar Tharsdays” on Thursday night March 11.
Check out our interview with Jeff Kinney here. And if you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the trailer:
And if you look very hard, you can see Hit Girl in the trailer.
Cartoon Network is growing up… or trying to. And in the process, they’re getting away from the things that make them, well, a cartoon network.
That’s the theme that seems to be running through their upfront presentation for the 2009-2010 season. Highlights include entering into the reality TV genre, creating a new sports-centric programming block, and introducing 19 new programs, pilots, and movies, including six that are live-action (umm…) as well as 164 episodes of returning series. In doing so, Cartoon Network stepped out on its evolutionary path to become what it described as a "dominant youth culture brand," that not only understands boys, including boys 6-11, but girls and older kids too, while creating "un-sanitized" "TV for kids, not kids TV".
Luckily, no one seems to talking about renaming it "CyFy". Yet.
Highlights:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return with new episodes in fall 2009; also returning are Batman: The Brave and the Bold; Chowder; The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack; and The Secret Saturdays.
Ben 10 adventures will be continuing in Ben 10: Alien Swarm, a previously announced live-action movie, directed by Alex Winter, which premieres fall 2009; and Ben 10: Evolutions (working title) – where the adventures of Ben (16-years-old) continue. From Cartoon Network Studios.
The network’s first original all-CG animation movie will be Firebreather, which is based on the Image comic book of the same name created by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn, who serve as co-executive producers. Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) will direct.
Cartoon Network is creating a new Saturday afternoon sports focused programming block titled CN AMPT, underscoring its new deal with the NBA and relationship with Turner Sports. NBA commissioner David Stern, who discussed Cartoon Network’s new partnership with the NBA announced earlier in the week, revealed that Boston Celtic Eddie House and his 7-year-old son Jaelen will be the stars of the first project together, the short-form series My Dad’s a Pro. So pleased with the NBA’s new relationship with the network, Stern quipped to those assembled, "If I were a buyer, I would buy."
Other new series from favorite creators include:
Total Drama Action, a follow-up to Total Drama Island;
Sym-Bionic Titan, from creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack);
Generator Rex, from Man of Action (comic vets Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle; they created Ben 10), and…
Prepped (working title) which is executive-produced and written by Paul Dini (Lost, Batman Beyond, Detective Comics, and Madame Mirage).
Sad news: Natasha Richardson, scion of the famous Redgrave acting family and star of the film adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian The Handmaid’s Tale, has died from injuries suffered in a skiing accident. Our condolences go out to her husband Liam Neeson, their two boys, and the rest of their family.
Family Guy has won its lawsuit against a music publisher that claimed that the allegedly anti-Semitic lyrics of “I Need a Jew” damaged the reputation of their song, “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the Disney film Pinocchio. The song and the episode in which it appears, “Once Upon a Weinstein,” have faced accusations of anti-Semitism before. Fox refused to show the episode when it was originally produced; audiences didn’t get to see it until 2003, when Cartoon Network broadcast it.
In other legal news, German book publishers are suing file sharing readers. Not ISPs… readers. German book publishers’ association leader Alexander Skipis said "his group intends to keep German courts busy with thousands of lawsuits. He also called P2P file sharing "organized crime" and lamented that politicians were ignoring the impact illegal downloads were having on book publishers."
Apparently, the classic romantic comedy of manners is just not considered to be of sufficient interest anymore. First, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy were battling zombies; now, they’re facing an alien invasion. Where’s the reverse of this trend? When do they put “Mars Attacks—and Hosts an Afternoon Garden Party” on the schedule?
Dragonball purists will no doubt be disappointed to learn that Goku will be played by a 26-year-old in the live-action film Dragonball Evolution. However, fans of James Marsters—who’s portraying Goku’s foe, Lord Piccolo—are probably salivating at the slashy opportunities that this choice offers. Let’s face it, slash is a fine manga/anime tradition; plus, that episode of Buffy Season 6, in conjunction with that episode of Torchwood Season 2, suggest that Marsters is making a career of playing characters who confuse fighting with foreplay (and that’s definitely not a bad thing…).
Cardiologist needed at the Satellite of Love (or its current equivalent), stat! Mike Nelson, formerly of MST:3K, now of RiffTrax, is spending the month of February on an all-bacon diet. He’s not allowed to add any sauces or condiments to the bacon, either, which seems an unwarranted restriction, because how can you go on an all-bacon diet without trying Bacon Explosion?
This will make Linda happy… we’ve obtained preview footage of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “The Eyes of Despero” airing this Friday, February 6 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM. The episode is written by comics veteran J.M. DeMatteis.
This week: In the middle of thwarting a robbery by the Cavalier, Batman is whisked away into outer space. When he arrives on their home world, he discovers The Green Lantern Corps is MIA after a battle with Despero – leaving the entire universe defenseless! To save us all, Batman joins the surviving Green Lanterns, G’Nort, Guy Gardner and Sinestro, to defeat the rampaging tyrant Despero before he turns OA, the living Green Lantern planet into his personal weapon of mass destruction! Take a look…
And in the teaser, Batman teams up with Dr. Fate to battle Wotan.
We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat!” airing this Friday, January 30 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.
This week Batman’s life hangs in the balance when he is poisoned by Chemo, who is under the control of the evil Brain. The Atom races to the rescue with Aquaman by shrinking down and entering Batman’s bloodstream. While Aquaman and the Atom battle the infection deep inside Batman’s body, Batman struggles to end Chemo’s rampage and defeat the Brain! This week’s teaser features Elongated Man and Plastic Man teaming up to derail a bank heist and capture the criminal Baby Face. Take a look…
We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, "Dawn of the Dead Man!" airing this Friday, January 16 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM, guest starring Smallville‘s Michael Rosenbaum as Deadman. What is it with him and smooth headed characters?
In this week’s episode Batman and Deadman team up as spirits to stop Gentleman Ghost from raising an army of undead criminals. Green Arrow and Speedy join in the battle to save London. And Batman and Kamandi… Kamandi?!?… outrace a horde of monsters from the future. Take a look…
We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, "Enter the Outsiders" airing this Friday, January 9 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM, guest starring R. Lee Ermey as Wildcat. And yes, that really is Black Lightning appearing in a DC Comics animated series after thirty years. Congratulations to BL creators Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden.
In this week’s episode Batman and his mentor Wildcat face off against a group of teens– the Outsiders– whose violent pranks turn to criminal activity under the control of the evil Slug. Take a look…
The Eureka Seven anime series will spawn a feature, Symphonic Poem Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows, which will be broadcast in Japan during their Golden Week, holidays that occur between April and May.
The 50 episodes, known as Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven, initially ran from April 17, 2005 through April 2, 2006 and spawned a manga series in addition to three video games. Interestingly, two of the games served as prequel stories to the mecha series. The story has also been serialized over four prose novels.
Produced by Studio Bones, the story is about sky-surfing robot/mechas with a poignant romance and aired in America on Cartoon Network. Home video editions were released by Bandai Entertainment.
For one of the most popular book series of the last few years, the movie adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s 
Cartoon Network is growing up… or trying to. And in the process, they’re getting away from the things that make them, well, a cartoon network.
Some items from the past few days:
Today’s list of quick items that don’t fill a full post on their own:
We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat!” airing this Friday, January 30 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.
The Eureka Seven anime series will spawn a feature, Symphonic Poem Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows, which will be broadcast in Japan during their Golden Week, holidays that occur between April and May.
