ITV

Tag: Samurai Jack

  • Cartoon Network US commences production of ‘Squirrel Boy’

    Cartoon Network US commences production of ‘Squirrel Boy’

    MUMBAI: Cartoon Network US has announced that production has begun on its latest animated series, Squirrel Boy.

    Created and executive-produced by Everett Peck, 13 half-hour episodes are being produced at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California. The series goes on air next year.

    Squirrel Boy is about ten year-old Andy’s and his best friend and pet, Rodney, a know-it-all squirrel with a lot of big ideas. These two “partners in crime” lead each other into all sorts of adventures in Andy’s backyard and throughout the neighborhood that makes Andy’s dad want to kick the oblivious Rodney out on his furry butt. Joining them on some of their adventures is Rodney’s best squirrel buddy, Leon, who prefers the call of the wild to Rodney’s life as a kept squirrel.

    Cartoon Network Studios makes Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars and The Powerpuff Girls. In addition to Squirrel Boy, Cartoon Network Studios’ current production slate includes three half-hour series set to premiere on Cartoon Network in 2006 (Ben 10, My Gym Partner’s a Monkey and the untitled Andre Benjamin project), three original shorts and ongoing production of the series Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, and Camp Lazlo.

  • Dubbing a success story

    Dubbing a success story

    Kishore Bhatt is a happy man!

    In 2001, the 50-year old gave up a secure job in State Bank of India for a career in dubbing.

    At that time, it looked quite a gamble: the switch from one of the country’s top financial institutions to something which has an uncertain entertainment industry piggybacking it. There were many who wanted to correct him.

    Now, as I speak to Bhatt, his ten year old kid proudly lists out names of the characters Bhatt lends his voice to: Beakman, Batman, James of the Pokemon series, Samurai Jack, Uncle in the Jackie Chan animation series…the list goes on.

    For Bhatt, the timing was right. This period saw international players including Discovery, The History Channel and National Geographical Channel entering the Indian market. Then, Walt Disney’s arrival in three Indian languages has ensured lot of work from the kids’ channel segment. We have many more international networks knocking the door as well in approximately Rs. 150 million TV language dubbing industry.

    The evolution

    As per industry estimates, the total dubbed content was of approximately 2,400 hours in the 2003 fiscal. In the current fiscal, Disney alone has 1800 episodes of dubbed content in Telugu and an equal number in Tamil. The channel has already dubbed 1650 episodes of content in Hindi. Taking all the other players into account, the growth pattern definitely shows an upward curve.

    Indranil Ghosh

    “The volume of dubbed content in all segments including broadcasting has gone up. English to Hindi dubbing has gone up over the last two years,” says UTV Post Production and Dubbing GM Indranil Ghosh.

    The industry scenario

    Dubbing vendors are riding on this wave. UTV, which has a

    UTV‘s dubbing business primarily caters to movies, television serials, documentaries and animation films. Walt Disney, Discovery, Star TV, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Channel (NGC) and The History Channel figure in its clientele. UTV is offering dubbing services to the Walt Disney channels in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for serials and feature films. According to the agreement with NGC Networks Asia, UTV’s services include translation and transcription of the original English scripts into Hindi and Tamil for both dialogues and lyrics and also for dubbing.

    dubbing business unit, recorded a volume of 733 hours in this period. In the quarter ended December 2004, the company has done 461 hours of dubbing.

    Other leading dubbing vendors include VGP, En Sync, Mainframe and Sound & Vision. The boom has given birth to a large number of dubbing organisations, big and small. There are at least 25 small outfits in Mumbai itself. Industry experts find it difficult to give an accurate assessment of the size of the market because of the fragmentation.

    “It is a very fragmented market. Apart from a handful of big players, we have many smaller players to take into account,” says Ghosh.

    Industry analysts value the market size at an approximate Rs. 150 million with UTV in the lead. The company earned Rs. 34 million from dubbing in the 2003 fiscal and has already touched 24 million for the six months period ended 30 September 2004.

  • ‘Samurai Jack’ adjudged world’s best TV series at International Animated Film Festival

    ‘Samurai Jack’ adjudged world’s best TV series at International Animated Film Festival

    Cartoon Network’s Samurai Jack has been voted the World’s Best TV Series at the International Animated Film Festival. The animation festival in France screens 500 animated films from 33 countries with 5500 professional visitors and 380 journalists covering the events.

    Samurai Jack was created by Genndy Tartakovsky, the talent behind Dexter’s Laboratory and producer/director of The Powerpuff Girls. Samurai Jack has been a major rating success for Cartoon Network’s channels around the world and is now in production as a major live action feature film.

    Combining action, adventure, comedy and great character interaction, this is a unique tale of mental wit, Samurai strength and the fight of good over evil and stylistically is unlike any other animated show on television. 

    Cartoon Network, the 24 hour, seven day a week, all-animation channel is available on localised feeds in nine languages on digital and analogue satellite, cable and DTT in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It is operated by Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited, an AOL Time Warner Company. 

  • Cartoon Network spices up Sundays with ‘Cartoon Theatre’

    Cartoon Network spices up Sundays with ‘Cartoon Theatre’

    Cartoon Network has announced a new initiative Cartoon Theatre to be launched from Sunday.

    The programming block has been positioned as an optimum viewing destination for animated movies and cartoon series for the whole family. Cartoon Theatre will air from noon to 1:30 pm and again from 8 pm to 9:30 pm on 27 January. The block will air on the fourth Sunday of every month at the same time.

    According to an official release, Cartoon Theatre will showcase Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones & Yogi Bear in Cartoon Theatre during the year. Titles include The Flintstones: On the Rocks, Scooby Meets the Boo Brothers and Yogi’s Great Escape, among others.

    Fans can look forward to Cartoon Network’s tenth original half-hour animated series Samurai Jack, which will debut on the block. Created by Genndy Tartakovsky of Dexter’s Laboratory fame, Samurai Jack: The Trilogy is a 90-minute animated action series. The channel is banking on the series’ captivating backgrounds and stylish action scenes to draw in audiences. The story revolves around a great warrior displaced to the distant future by the evil shape-shifting wizard Aku. Samurai Jack travels this foreign landscape in search of the time portal to return home and encounters trademarks of modern urban landscapes such as flying cars, huge skyscrapers and even techno music.

  • Cartoon Network to go 24 hours from 1 July

    Cartoon Network to go 24 hours from 1 July

    Responding to growing viewer demand, Cartoon Network will expand to a 24-hour television service effective 1 July 2001, it was announced today by Ian Diamond, senior vice-president and general manager, Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, Inc. (TENA).

     

    TENA is pursuing content aggregation across multiple platforms including television, interactive media, publishing, consumer products and promotional licensing, with a view to establishing Cartoon Network as an entertainment superbrand in this region.

     

    The company is currently exploring alternative distribution platforms to deliver TCM Turner Classic Movies as a premium offering in markets that present that opportunity. Until now, TCM and Cartoon Network have been a shared service in most Asian markets, with the Hollywood classic movies being featured from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am.

     

    “The 24-hour service is in line with Cartoon Network’s global strategic mission to elevate cartoons and animation to the level of general entertainment that appeals to both kids and grownups at different levels. The enhanced daypart will enable us to customise our programming and marketing efforts to better suit viewer needs,” said Ian Diamond.

     

    The 24-hour launch will be marked by the debut of several new programme franchises and an enhanced lineup of Cartoon Network originals, Japanese animation and other acquired shows. 2001 Network premieres include new Cartoon Network shows Sheep in the Big City, Samurai Jack, Time Squad, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed Edd n Eddy, and Mike Lu n Og; and new programme franchises Boomerang, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, Toonami, Acme Hour and Power Zone. External acquisitions include Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Trouble Chocolate and GI Joe. Many of these are also Asian television premieres.