Here in LA, it was 95 degrees this weekend, so it feels odd to be writing this… but a new Christmas movie will soon debut on TV. The Side Show Christmas, a 44-minute Flash-animated special, will air on the French TELETOON network at 5pm EST on December 7th, and then in English on TELETOON on December 12th. Tim Tyler’s Saskatchewan-based Cheshire Smile Animation partnered up with Studio B Productions to create this film about “a side show owner who kidnaps Santa in a wild scheme to save the family business.” Here’s a promotional clip from the project…
Warner Premiere Motion Comics has officially launched a series of new Flash-animated Peanuts shorts on iTunes. This first batch is based on comics from Charles Shultz’ 1964 strips.
For a limited time, two of the 3 to 4 minute shorts are available for free. After this promotion, you can buy two of the shorts for 99 cents, or a whole season for $7.99. Studio B Productions animated the project, which was overseen by the Schulz family and estate.
Aimed at the 4-8 crowd, Martha Speaks is a new Flash-animated series that debuted on PBS KIDS last week. This new half-hour series is produced by WGBH Boston and Studio B Productions, and I also noticed that Top Draw joined in for layout work. The show is based on the premise of “what if your dog could talk,” and it follows a successful book series by Susan Meddaugh. The animation directors on the show are Nicola Humphrey, Jos Humphrey and Ishi Rudell.
This Friday, January 18th at 7:30pm (ET/PT), Cartoon Network (US) is premiering the first episode of the new Flash-animated series George of the Jungle. The show was co-produced by Classic Media, Teletoon Canada and Studio B Productions, who also physically produced the project. According to a recent New York Times article, Cartoon Network picked up 52 11-minute episodes, which will air in half-hour blocks in the above-mentioned time slot. For those who remember the original series that Jay Ward produced back in 1967, you’ll recall this was also a primetime show.
Below is the title sequence followed by a short episodic clip.
Jayson Thiessen, the talented animator behind Chubby Dee (MOV), spent much of 2006 co-directing Pucca at Studio B for Jetix Europe. The title sequence for the Flash-animated series was storyboarded by Thiessen and Tim Packford and then brought to life by Jos Humphrey. Over on Thiessen’s blog, he posted an animatic-to-animation comparison, which we’ll recreate below:
Jerry Beck, one half of Cartoonbrew.com, posted an 8-minute clip from G4’s show The Lab with Leo Laporte which features an interview with Kevin Gamble and Jayson Thiessen, two of the creative minds behind the new George of the Jungle series. The series is animated in Flash by Studio B Productions in Canada, where Gamble is producing and Thiessen is directing.
Beck went easy on the show this time around, whereas back in the summer of ‘06 the concept got drilled. But today, Beck need not sharpen his quill - the comments are shrill and filled with disdain over this retread of this classic Jay Ward series from 1967 - and particularly over the show’s use of Flash animation.
I find this all rather amusing. When Jay Ward first debuted Crusader Rabbit, a defining ‘limited animation’ series, I can only imagine the hubbub about how he was ruining animation. Almost two decades later, Ward had perfected his signature style, and he was onto George of the Jungle. The layouts, poses, color palette and overall humor of the original George of the Jungle series are all things I can appreciate, but I wouldn’t call this a beautifully animated show. It’s closer to an animatic - jumping pose to pose.
Don’t we all see the irony here? Flash is helping usher in a new era of limited animation, something Jay Ward helped instigate. Beyond that, the animation in these new series is far better than what Ward and his team could manage on those smaller budgets. Technology has advanced, but it appears that our standards have as well.
Had a chance to catch an episode of Pucca yet? We here at CHF have been sorrowfully quiet about this new Flash-animated series so far, but we’ll catch up today.
Pucca currently airs in the Jetix block on Toon Disney, but it originated as an online series. The Korean studios VOOZ created the super-short shorts, and they were tight right from the start. They must’ve jacked-up the frame rate to 60fps, because those shorts just zipped along, but the blur effects and tight timing surely helped. I’ve gotta give credit to Eric Pringle and Matt Danner (The Go! Go! Moba Boy! duo) for turning me onto this great series.
Now the TV series is produced by Studio B Productions, and the show looks excellent. Here’s a few clips to get you started:
Warner Premiere Motion Comics has officially launched a series of new Flash-animated Peanuts shorts on 
This Friday, January 18th at 7:30pm (ET/PT), 
Jerry Beck, one half of 
But today, Beck need not sharpen his quill - the comments are shrill and filled with disdain over this retread of this classic Jay Ward series from 1967 - and particularly over the show’s use of Flash animation.
Had a chance to catch an episode of 
