On June 7th, the Disney XD channel will premiere a new, 10-part miniseries:
Tron Uprising. The series, which will feature the voices of Elijah Wood, Lance Henriksen, Bruce Boxleitner (reprising his role as 'Tron',) Mandy Moore and Paul Reubens, will combine 2D and CGI animation styles, and is set between the events of the first and second Tron movies. Trailers:
1,
2. 2011 ComicCon
Preview. Disney released a full-length "prelude episode" yesterday evening (US Only):
Beck's Beginning. (
Via)
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 13, 2012 -
38 comments
Young
Edd Gould always enjoyed drawing comics of himself and his friends. Growing up in the internet age, his
doodles evolved into Flash animations of increasing complexity, and in time Edd and pals
Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves teamed up to produce an
"Eddsworld" series of online webtoons and
comics.
At first crude and halting, the group's
"eddisodes" progressed from
surreal shorts and
one-shots into full-fledged productions that pushed the boundaries of amateur web animation, with
expressive characters,
full soundtracks, complex effects, and a fast-paced, off-kilter sense of humor:
MovieMakers -
Spares -
WTFuture -
Rock Bottom -
Hammer & Fail (
2).
At its height, the college co-op was producing shorts for
Mitchell & Webb and the
UN Climate Change Conference,
fielding offers from Paramount and Cartoon Network, and racking up
millions of hits on YouTube.
Work slowed, however, when Gould was
diagnosed with leukemia -- a relatively survivable form, though, and Gould carried on
working gamely through his hospital stays. So it came as a shock last week when Matt and Tom
announced that Edd had passed away, prompting an
outpouring of
grief and
gratitude from
all the
fans he'd
entertained and
inspired in his short 23 years.
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 2, 2012 -
5 comments
What do you give a spoiled brat who has everything? His own monster, of course.
"My Bloody Lad" is two manic minutes of imaginatively morbid mayhem* from a team of four French student animators who call themselves Dead Walter. SLVimeo for now, but we'll be seeing more from these warped toonsmiths for sure.
* probably enough cartoon gore and ghoulish content to earn an NSFW on the weekend
posted by oneswellfoop
on Nov 19, 2011 -
10 comments
3 part series (some subtitles): rad mashup between stop motion and drawn animation in an awesome wrap of cute fun.
Ep 1,
Ep 2,
Ep 3 .
posted by armisme
on Nov 3, 2011 -
2 comments
The best word to describe it is probably “relentless,” in that it’s relentlessly cute, relentlessly happy, and relentlessly entertaining. In its own way, it reminds me of a movie like Singin’ In The Rain, in that both properties aim to overwhelm any cynicism directed at them via sheer and utter joyfulness. It seems like it should be easy to watch either property with an ironic sneer of detachment, but both utterly wear down all defenses. -
The A.V. Club. My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (
previously) is the curiously addictive cartoon accompaniment to the famous girl's toy line. It just finished it's first season, and all of the episodes can be seen on YouTube (
start here) and
this all encompassing torrent. While
intended for girls 6 through 8, the show has spawned a surprising additional fan base of young-adult men. Calling themselves bronies, they have created a staggering amount of fan material (check the blog
Equestra Daily, chan
Ponychan, and image dump
Ponibooru) and turned the ponies into a widely pervasive
meme, all with the
apparent blessing of Hasbro.
[more inside]
posted by The Devil Tesla
on May 28, 2011 -
131 comments
Ten years ago today, Cartoon Network aired a very special episode of
The Powerpuff Girls. Though nominally a harmless kids series about three adorable kindergarten superheroes,
creator Craig McCracken attracted an unexpectedly diverse audience (50% male, 25% adult) by sneaking in a surprising amount of
violence and
adult in-jokes -- and on that last point, this particular episode was king. Broadcast on the 37th anniversary of their debut on the
Ed Sullivan Show,
"Meet the Beat-Alls" was an extended and sophisticated metaphor for the rise and fall of The Beatles, cramming
more than forty song references and dozens of visual jokes into only ten minutes of animated allegory. Catch the original episode
here or read
the transcript, but for the
full effect,
watch this remarkable YouTube mash-up that splices the referenced song clips directly into the audio track and plasters the screen with helpful annotations. Want more PPG goodness? You can start with the special
"Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!" (
part 2), a sly, hyperkinetic celebration of the show's tenth anniversary directed by McCracken himself that features every character (and totally subverts an important one). But as far as weirdness goes, it's hard to top
Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, a long-running fan-made webcomic which stars the trio alongside Dexter, Samurai Jack, Invader Zim, and
tons of other network icons in an unusually dark manga adventure. Oh, and don't forget
your plate of beans.
posted by Rhaomi
on Feb 9, 2011 -
82 comments
Based on
a quirky animated short that
charmed MeFi four years ago, Pendleton Ward's
Adventure Time is arguably the most delightful thing in animation right now. Following the surreal adventures of 12-year-old Finn and his magical dog Jake in the fantastical post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, the series has breezed through two seasons and
secured a third -- while generating a devoted fandom along the way (partially through savvy callbacks to things like 4chan's
Courage Wolf meme and
Kate Beaton's pudgy Shetland pony).
There's
an exhaustive wiki,
an active discussion board,
oodles of fan-art, and
AdventureTi.me, a fan-made repository of previous episodes (complete with
a mobile version) that makes catching up a cinch. Want more? Then check out the show's
bountiful production diaries, its
equally in-depth blog at Frederator Studios,
catch some official clips, follow Pen Ward
on Twitter, or
buy or
make your own awesome Finn hat (though not necessarily
what lies beneath). Oh, and a new episode is airing... oh, right now. Totally math!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jan 24, 2011 -
54 comments
Right Wing Radio Duck "Donald's life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck. "
posted by Arthur Phillips Jones Jr
on Oct 2, 2010 -
52 comments
Apollo Gauntlet is an independent cartoon created by Winnipeg animator Myles Langlois, with contributions from Drue Langlois and Hollie Dzama. All 10 episodes are available on YouTube:
[more inside]
posted by oulipian
on May 2, 2010 -
5 comments
One time, OK, see, one time
Randy Beaman's [
aunt,
uncle,
sister,
little brother,
best friend who's name is Linda,
cat] [
had like this bean dip for the chips,
had a dream she ate a big marshmallow,
ate some cornflakes,
had to take baths with his brother] and [
Jason made this gross noise,
this was in Kansas,
he thought it wasn't Dracula] and [
they were in there so long they became skeleton people]. [
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH]
(clips from Animaniacs, big youtube playlist of them all here.)
posted by The Devil Tesla
on Nov 14, 2009 -
26 comments
Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000
they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet
never forgets. Case in point:
Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like
Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and
The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give
Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like
Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original
Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action),
PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about
Sesame Street,
The Electric Company,
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,
The Magic Schoolbus and
Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...
posted by Rhaomi
on Sep 22, 2009 -
160 comments
“He’s courageous, he’s optimistic, he’s representing everything that Mickey Mouse should have represented but never did. There’s even something
Jesus-like about him—a 9-year-old Jesus after 15 packets of Junior Mints.”
SpongeBob SquarePants at ten years old.
posted by ColdChef
on May 13, 2009 -
61 comments
