Channel Frederator Blog

On this date in 1954, “Lassie” premiered on CBS. The show proved quite popular, and ran for many years. It was predated by both a film, and a successful radio series.

In 1973, Filmation ran a series caled “Lassie’s Rescue Rangers”. In the show, Lassie lived near Thunder Mountain with the Turner family. Head Ranger Ben Turner worked with wife Laura and children Susan, Jackie, and Ben Jr. as “The Forest Force”, a ranger-rescue team that protected Thunder Mountain National Park. Lassie also headed up a group of wild animals that lived within the national park, working with the Turner family to maintain a healthy environment that was ecologically sound, and to create a safe place for tourists to hike and camp. This renegade group of animal heroes was known as “Lassie’s Rescue Rangers”.

The Rescue Rangers were a band of about eight animals, including Groucho the owl, Toothless the mountain lion, [Read more…]

It’s your last chance to catch the Crazy 4 Cult 2 show (closing Friday, September 12). Over 100 artists reinterpret classic cult films. Gallery 1988, 7020 Melrose Avenue (at LaBrea), Los Angeles, California. See the YouTube video above if you can’t make it.

On the opposite coast, The Panorama Project opened this weekend at Jonathan Levine Gallery (up until October 4). The exhibit features “commissioned works by over one hundred artists, which will be combined to create a single collective artwork and a site-specific installation.” The gallery is at 529 West 20th Street in NYC.

[Read more…]

click on image for full photo

Seven years ago, this was the view from Blue Sky Studios in White Plains, NY. From our office on the 17th floor of 44 South Broadway, we could see the Twin Towers on fire. We were 30 miles to the north of Manhattan, looking down the length of the island. In the photo, you can make out both towers smoking in the distance. The building that looks like it is next to them is the Empire State Building, but it’s actually several blocks away, on 5th Ave and 34th street.

It was a chaotic day, with the radio stations being the first way I learned of the disaster in progress on my way to work. At first, DJs seemed to think it was some kind of joke, or perhaps just a small plane. The second plane hit as I was getting in to the parking garage [Read more…]

Don’t let the title fool you. This is no kid’s film. I was unaware that director David Lynch (”Twin Peaks”, “Lost Highway”) also did a few animated shorts. This piece features his first wife Peggy. David combines trange audio and bizarre visuals to make for a very creepy film.

 -Floyd Bishop

This is a great piece of footage. This animatic was done by Phil Tippett and crew for the first “Jurassic Park” film. It’s really cool to see the armature supports and such as well. The personality that Tippett’s crew was able to inject into these characters was incredible. While I can see why CG was chosen over stop motion, that snake like tongue would have been awesome!

Here is the way the sequence played in the final film.

-Floyd Bishop 

Ever since the release of “Toy Story” back in 1995, movie audiences seem to have been in love with all things Pixar. This goes for many animation fans as well, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. Is this a healthy thing? In this post, I’ll be asking some questions that challenge that fanaticism, and I hope that Pixar fans will try to provide some answers in the comments section.

When Dreamworks released “Shark Tale”, many people implied that Dreamworks was trying to follow in the footsteps of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”. They are both films that are primarily based underwater. The similarities end there for me. When Pixar released “WALL-E” this year, no one seemed to remember either Blue Sky’s “Robots” from 2005, nor the design of Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” (another robot who becomes self aware and gains a personality). Granted, the Pixar films were stronger films in both cases, but the similarities are there [Read more…]

via The Business Sheet

This was an interesting read. It seems that many of the actions and attitudes in the Dreamworks animated film “Kung Fu Panda” are at odds with what are common mainstays in Chinese cinema. While many have to do with the characters’ flaws (which help to sell their believability), some are taking offense to the way Po interacts with his teacher. In China, a student has nothing but deep respect for their instructor.

In such a global community, is it not possible to do an animated film that is based on a culture, yet observes that culture’s beliefs AND entertains a broad audience? I enjoyed the film, but was unaware of some of the cultural gaffs that it included. While I was not offended, I can now see why some may have been. What do you think?

-Floyd Bishop 

PictureBox has announced that they are working on a John Kricfalusi book, to be published in 2009. It will be “the definitive book of John’s work – from childhood through Ren and Stimpy to today.” I can’t wait for this to come out!

PictureBox puts out high quality art books, including the recent comprehensive and massively tasty Gary Panter tome. Click here to see the $95 version. And, if you can bear it, click here to see the $1000 “Hot Burrito Deluxe” version!

They also have a store in Brooklyn near the banks of the scenic Gowanus.

If you go to the PictureBox news page and scroll down (no direct link–look for June 13th) you will see photos from Dan Nadel’s recent visit to Los Angeles. There are some pix of John K’s studio (but none of the man himself).

Also, there’s a photo of some guys. Very cool guys. Who apparently had a very cool party at the Chateau Marmont. Which we can only dream about.

Can you identify them? Answer after the jump. [Read more…]

Written By is a magazine published by the Writers Guild of America West. The Summer 2008 issue just came out and the theme is “Age of Animation”. The Cartoon Cover boy is Matt Groening, and you can read an except of his interview here. (One interesting tidbit that I didn’t know is that Bart’s name came from a bad novel that Groening wrote in high school. Bartholemew Simpson was the narrator who was “haunted by the fact that he looked like a beaver.”)

The issue is well worth purchasing: it includes interviews with Seth McFarlane (by Family Guy showrunner, David A. Goodman) and Brad Bird, an opinion piece by Mark Evanier, excerpts from unproduced animation scripts., and of course coverage of the history and present state of animation union organizing (by both the WGA and local 839). [Read more…]

This is a great find, which I was turned on to via the Disney History blog.

In this five part series, we hear about what goes into making Disney animation, from the artists and creatives themselves.
[Read more…]