Channel Frederator Blog

Mark Mayerson has posted a great news clip he found from a CBC news story from 1961. In the clip, we see Joe Barbera and William Hanna walk the reporter through the stages of production from the initial layout to the final audio mix. One interesting note is that even though the news clip (and the cartoons at the time) were broadcast in black & white, the cartoons were all produced in color. Joe mentions that when everyone gets to see the cartoons in color, it will be really exciting. I would have to agree.

 -Floyd Bishop

RAW Art Today!

James Sugrue

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Maybe there’s hope yet for Hank Hill. Variety is reporting that  ABC may pick up “King of the Hill”, now that Fox has decided not to order any new episodes of the series. According to Variety:

Fox’s decision not to order any new episodes of “King of the Hill,” meanwhile, came just three days before the animated laffer posted its best ratings in a year, averaging a 4.3 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 on Sunday night.

Oops!

-Floyd Bishop

Fox has cancelled “King of the Hill”. Above is the pitch trailer Mike Judge used to help sell the show, animated by Heart of Texas Productions back in 1996.

Mike’s new series, “The Goode Family”, will debut on ABC midseason.

-Floyd Bishop

There is a piece on “Sleeping Beauty” over at the Art of Disney Animation blog.  The post includes lots of art from the film’s artistic director Eyvind Earle. [Read more…]

This new clip from Disney’s “Bolt” is looking pretty nice. There have been layoffs at Disney recently, but it looks and sounds as though the work on the film is top notch. Hopefully the artists are all employed again real soon.

“Bolt” opens November 21st.

-Floyd Bishop

The Daily Mail is running a story about the top ten “tear jerker” films of all time. I thought it was interesting that three of the top ten films listed were animated, with two in the top three, and an animated film took the top spot.

What’s your “tear jerker” cartoon moment?

-Floyd Bishop

Paul Newman has passed away after a long battle with cancer. While he was famous for such great films as “The Hustler”, “Cool Hand Luke”, and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, many animation fans will remember him as the voice of Doc Hudson from Disney/Pixar’s “Cars”.

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According to the Anime News Network, “Astroboy” will open on October 23, 2009. Imagi did an incredible job with their TMNT feature. I am really looking forward to this new film.

-Floyd Bishop

Disney will be releasing “Sleeping Beauty” on Blu Ray disc in October. The title will also be available on DVD.

In production from 1951 until the end of 1958, this film set a record for the longest production schedule in the studio’s history. This record was later tied by “The Black Cauldron”. Featuring elaborate backgrounds and a much more angular character design, this film was initially no favorite of critics.

While the film seems to drag in some spots, it gives us perhaps one of the best villains in animation, Maleficant.

Maleficant is pure evil, from here color scheme, to her voice by Eleanor Audley (also the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion), and animation by Marc Davis. In my opinion, the film is worth the purchase price just to see her in action in HD.

-Floyd Bishop