Peacock announced the pickup of a flurry of animated series picked up today to bolster its animation slate for youngsters. Inspired by the hit DreamWorks Animation movies, Megamind’s Guide to Defending Your City and Abominable and the Invisible City will bring fans deeper into these animated worlds, while original preschool series Press Start!, Team Mekbots Animal Rescue and Dino Pops approach all-new toon horizons. Plus, Babble Bop! returns for a second season.
The new series orders join previously greenlit make-and-do series The Makery, Peacock Original event Curious George: Cape Ahoy and DWA toons Archibald’s Next Big Thing Is Here!, Cleopatra in Space, Where’s Waldo? and Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky.
More on the upcoming slate:
Abominable and the Invisible City (DreamWorks Animation) is a CG comedy-adventure series that continues the wild and wooly fun of DreamWorks Animation’s Abominable. Through Everest the yeti, Yi, Jin, and Peng know that there’s a whole magical world out there, and now it’s even closer than they think! When they discover that their surroundings are teeming with magical creatures in need of their help, the kids will set out on extraordinary and heartfelt adventures throughout their city and beyond.
Executive producer is Jim Schuman, co-exec producer is Katherine Nolfi. Story editors are Tiffany Lo and Ethel Lung.
Dino Pops (Mobius Lab Kids, production unit for Cisneros Media) is set in a vivid, hyper-realistic land inhabited by ferocious – and often silly – dinosaurs. While the landscape and dinosaurs may be prehistoric, modern elements familiar to kids, from ice cream cones to race cars, will burst onto the scene and delight viewers. Dino Pops will deliver engaging and easy-to-digest bursts of dinosaur-related information aimed at preschool-aged children.
Every episode will showcase different dinosaurs and delve into their traits and attributes. From T-rex to Triceratops, Raptors to Titanosaurs, the secrets of the inhabitants of a very different world will be revealed in hyper realist animation with a twist that makes it a perfect bite sized morsel of funtainment.
Dino Pops consulted with the renowned Argentinian paleontologist Dr. Diego Pol for all dinosaur information and facts. Pol and his team have discovered fossils of over 20 new species of dinosaurs, including the discovery of Bagualia alba. This 10-ton, 40-foot-long with a 10-foot neck dinosaur roamed the wilds of Patagonia 179 million years ago and will be making its TV debut on Dino Pops.
The 13 x 30’/52 x 5′ series is created by Ailing Zubizarret, who executive produces with Maria Benel and Nico Ferrero. Matt Doyle serves as head writer.
Megamind’s Guide to Defending Your City (DreamWorks Animation) is the CG series follow-up to the hit movie, where Megamind goes from being a supervillain and the scourge of Metro City to a superhero who’s learning on the job. He’ll be bringing the audience along for the ride, as Megamind’s trusty brainbots will be recording everything, making him the world’s first superhero influencer.
Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, who wrote the 2010 feature, are executive producing the series alongside Eric Fogel. JD Ryznar is co-exec producer and story editor.
Press Start! (Cyber Group Studios) is a CG comedy-adventure mash-up about Sunny and his sister Rue, who are all about the exciting, fast-paced world of the 24 Karat Quest video game. Athletic, brave and funny, Super Rabbit Boy is the hero of this fantastical game world. When the siblings end up able to play IN the game, their life is flipped upside down. Across the series, every episode takes place in Sunny and Rue’s “real” world home and in Super Rabbit Boy’s “game” world.
Once Sunny or Rue zap themselves into the SRB game world, they become part of the quirkiest, coolest, craziest super-hero partnership any kid ever imagined as they team up with the Game-World’s unparalleled guardian, Super Rabbit Boy, to save the SRB game world from total destruction by Villain Bosses. In the process, Sunny and Rue become Super Rabbit Boy’s powerful pixelated partners.
Based on the best-selling, award-winning Scholastic book series by author-illustrator Thomas Flintham, Press Start! (52 x 11′) highlights the lead characters’ East Indian heritage in both the storytelling, a diverse writers room and the inclusion of other talent participating in the series. Executive producers are Pierre Sissmann, Dominique Bourse, Karen K. Miller and story editor Scott Kraft.
Team Mekbots Animal Rescue (More Minds Studio, M2 Animation) is an animated preschool series that inspired kids to see the outsized good they can do in the world, and how they can be a HUGE help to all living things! Climb in, power up and save the day with Team Mekbots (a.k.a. Mateo, Kawhi, Mei-Lin and Frost): four animal-loving kids from around the world use their tech skills to create giant Mekbots – each inspired by a different animal. In every adventure, the kids save animals all over the globe and show that teamwork, environmental smarts and compassion make you a hero. Oh, and robotic animal powers help, too!
The 39 x 7′ series is executive produced by Rob Hudnut and Mads Munk. Shane Amsterdam is story editor, and Steed Sun is art director.
Babble Bop! (Dark Slope), renewed for season two, is a musical dance jamboree series for preschoolers; a foot-tapping, hand-clapping, baby-bottom wiggling, sing-along world of music, dance and preschool play. With a mix of new takes on classic nursery rhymes and original songs, this inclusive short-form series is intended for social and emotional learning for the pre-k set.
Heroes Lily, Hugo, Miguel, Izzie and Sam will play the day away movin’ and boppin’ and havin’ a ball to awesome, catchy, repeatable — and sometimes very familiar — songs. With new characters animals and brand-new song styles the second season continues to hold up a magnifying glass to the little things in their life: having a snack, dressing up, drawing with crayons, watching the clouds, or playfully helping their parents (who are always around if not on camera) as best they can.
Babble Bop! (84 x 2.5′ and 7 x 30′) is executive produced by Dan Fill and Raja Khanna, produced by Christine Thompson. Luke Jurevicius and Tim D.P. Thompson are series directors. Katherine Stanford is the show’s writer.