Spielberg to Produce...
Steven Spielberg will exec produce a live-action TV series based on the popular...
Archive
The Animal Appeal of Frank Welker
The unique voice artist Frank Welker has been called the most successful Hollywood actor that the public at large has never heard of. There is no question that he is one of the busiest and longest-lasting cartoon voices in the industry—Frank has to voice Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo for only [...]
Under the Table with J.B. and Friz
Most cartoon historians are aware that the fluid that fueled the medium during its Golden Age was not ink or paint, but alcohol. Among my favorite booze-related tales from the toon trenches involve enterprising studio reps trying to hire an established talent away from a competing studio by getting them [...]
The Most Shocking Cartoon Ever Made!
If the Annie Awards ever decided to create a category for Outstanding Achievement in Horrifyingly Bad Taste in Animation, 1989’s Quiet Please would be the hands-on winner. Nearly a quarter century after it was made by Vancouver-based indie animator Mike Grimshaw, this short cartoon (which is not to be confused [...]
Tom Kenny ‘Chucks’ It in School
To say that voice actor supreme Tom Kenny is perhaps best known as SpongeBob SquarePants is like saying Daniel Radcliffe is perhaps best known as Harry Potter. But like Radcliffe, Tom has done a lot more in his career than the little yellow fellow who lives in a pineapple under [...]
Al Feldstein Leads the Pack
It is quite possible that you are reading these words from somewhere in the San Diego area while attending the 2012 Comic Con International, along with 175,000 of your closest friends. In honor of this year’s Con, I’m stepping just outside of the Toon Trenches to present the memories of [...]
Miss Bliss’s Wild Ride
Many enduring Hollywood careers have begun inauspiciously, but legendary voice actress Lucille Bliss’s tenure in Toon Town began by being taken for a ride…literally. Lucille is, of course, renowned as the voices of Crusader Rabbit, the first cartoon character created specifically for television, and Smurfette. Back in 2003, I chatted [...]
John Coates and the American Invasion
Twenty-twelve is shaping up to be such a year of plenty for high-profile animated features—originals, adaptations and franchise sequels—that it is starting to remind one of the old days of the “Toon Boom.” [not to be confused with the popular 2D animation software] For those who don’t remember or weren’t [...]
Margaret Loesch Fights for Marvel
Stating that the animation biz has changed big-time over the last two decades could probably earn one the Nobel Prize in Obviousness. But animation is still a part of the overall show business industry, and within the toon trenches or without, there is one thing that has not changed: the [...]
The Tooning Up of ‘Car Talk’
Here’s a pop-quiz for pop culture geeks: what do Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, and Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, from NPR’s Car Talk, all have in common? Give up? They all started out as radio stars, and at one point or other they were transformed into cartoon form; [...]
Flashback to That First ‘Madagascar’ Journey
Once upon a time (as all good fairy tales start) animated features offered audiences original images, stories and characters that moviegoers could not see anywhere else. Similarly, there was also a time when big summer tentpole movies by their nature offered audiences the promise of something new and fresh. Well, [...]
Jon Vitti to Pen ‘Angry...
Emmy-winning writer Jon Vitti, who has worked on hit toons The Simpsons and...
Global TV News Bytes: Guru,...
+ Canadian indie Guru Studio and publishing partner Immedium have released a...
