April 7, 2012 : Toonami… On Adult Swim
I have no idea how I missed this, but last Saturday’s Adult Swim broadcast aired as if people were watching Toonami. Not only did they have old school Toonami shows like DBZ, Gundam, Yu Yu, and Outlaw Star; but they also created new bumps with Tom the robot. This was apparently their yearly April Fool’s prank (it aired March 31st – April 1st).
Adult Swim asked on Twitter how many people would like to have Toonami return by using #BringBackToonami. It created such a positive reaction among its fans. The result is below:
I’m not sure what a potential return could entail. Toonami was a great programming block… when it was on during the week. They had great shows that filled the desire of anime. I was sad to see it go; but after being relegated to Saturday evenings, it went downhill because the number of solid shows being aired were few and far between. If this means more anime on Cartoon Network, then I say use the Dragonballs to wish Toonami back to this dimension. If this means going back to Saturday evenings with sub-par programming, then maybe we should call off the search for the balls.
posted by Pi Visuals at 8:27 pm
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March 30, 2012 : Say Goodbye To ThunderCats
Apparently it wasn’t that thunderous of a return. Cartoon Network’s recent upfront release showed that ThunderCats will not be one of the returning shows next year. This comes nearly a year after the cancellation of Sym-Bionic Titan. For the record, I will be more bummed about losing Titan, but ThunderCats was still a worthwhile show.
The new season just premiered last week, which implies this decision was made without TV ratings in mind (or at least the new season’s). Many speculated the demise of the show due to no new toys being released at the recent Toy Fair.
The question is – which action precipitated which? Were no new toys made because the show was about to be cancelled, or was the show cancelled because their weren’t marketable toys? If it was the former, then why would a second season even be green lit if the show was to be canned before the new season started? If it was the latter, then what the hell? Growing up, I couldn’t have enough ThunderCat toys. Then again, I couldn’t believe Sym-Bionic Titan couldn’t find a market for toys with a giant robot as its main character.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:13 am
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March 26, 2012 : The Sweatbox Documentary
The Sweatbox was the nickname of the old room at Disney studios used to screen films throughout their various stages of productions (it apparently had no air conditioning). It is also the name of an unreleased 2002 documentary that went behind the scenes for the making of Kingdom Of The Sun. The film eventually became The Emperor’s New Groove.
Disney has kept the film under wraps, which is legal since they own the rights. However over the last week, a rough cut of the film was leaked online. It has already been posted on YouTube, viewed nearly 100,000 times, and then removed. If you’re interested in checking out the film, I suggest using the Google these kids always talk about.
The film was interesting, although I thought it had too much Sting in it (he was signed on to write music for the original film, and his wife apparently was the filmmaker of the documentary). A movie altering its plot in pre-production is nothing new – nor is changing directors, which was done in this case. What I found extremely interesting was how much time and money was invested into the film prior to writing a finished (or near finished) script that was approved by the higher ups.
I never saw The Emperor’s New Groove so I can’t comment on the final product. However, the documentary showed that there were a lot of people besides the director that disagreed with altering the plot so significantly – including actors, animators, and even the great Sting. They claimed the original story was deeper and more original.
Something tells me that both sides were right. The original film was probably much more interesting and could have been great, but the story had flaws; and the fact that these flaws weren’t exposed much earlier in the process was a huge oversight by the creative team. I’d like to think that this is one of the main reasons why Disney has not wanted to release The Sweatbox because Disney’s collaborative process failed. Still at the end of the film, the producers did acknowledge their mistakes; and while it may not be your traditional Disney ending, it’s at least a mildly happy outcome.
posted by Pi Visuals at 2:50 pm
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March 14, 2012 : Happy Pi Day!
Happy Pi Day! It’s truly a great day for nerds everywhere.
So be sure to thank your calculators today. Without them, how else would you know the digits of Pi? I mean, I guess you could just approximate it (blasphemy)… or memorize some of it (too hard)… or google it (too easy).
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:41 pm
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March 14, 2012 : Hotel Transylvania: World’s Colliding
Images for Hotel Transylvania, Genndy Tartakovsky’s latest film, were recently released. I definitely like the character designs, and I am curious to see how Genndy does in his directorial film debut. The film is set to come out late-September, although there’s a chance this could get pushed back.
Despite my excitement, there is reason for concern. First off, the film has been in development since 2006. In fact, Genndy is the fourth director attached to the film. Plus, Adam Sandler stars in it (insert your AWESOM-O jokes here). Fortunately, it doesn’t look like he wrote or produced it – so that’s at least something… right?
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:05 am
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March 9, 2012 : ThunderCats’ Thunderous Return
After a 4 month hiatus (and an apparent gag order on its future), Cartoon Network finally announced the premiere date for ThunderCats’ second season – and they even released a few clips of the first episode. The show is moving to Saturday mornings, and the new season kicks off March 24th.
After not hearing much about the show’s production status, I was starting to worry that it was going to suffer a fate similar to Symbionic Titan. It’s far from a runaway hit, but it at least got a new season – and that is reason to celebrate.
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:44 am
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March 1, 2012 : New House Establishing Shot
Reusing establishing shots is a commonly used technique in animation – or at least modifying existing 3D models. Creating a new one just for a few seconds of air time isn’t the most efficient use of time. Still, every so often a scene occurs in a new setting, which necessitates an entirely new establishing shot. Below is a quick render that was needed for the fifth Ninja Tales short.
It’s nothing special, and it only took a few hours (and probably a few more to iron out the details). However, I like how it came out particularly since I used the house I grew up in as a reference. Sometimes working on a standalone 3D model is a nice change of pace from animating – assuming it isn’t too involved.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:17 am
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February 20, 2012 : Oh, The Drama (Underscore)
The fourth Ninja Tales short is wrapping up. Animation is complete, and a few post-production items remain. One of the recently completed tasks was to compose a quick dramatic underscore to accompany a rather tense moment. I considered purchasing stock footage, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I did a little research and wrote my own – with the help of MIDI software of course. The end result is below:
[audio:http://www.pivisuals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sc4_SuspenseUnderscore.mp3]I’m pretty happy with how it came out, particularly since I don’t score too many orchestral pieces. The file will be edited a little for the short, but the full version is pretty nice, too.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:57 pm
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February 18, 2012 : The MC Chris Cartoon Looks Bizarre… But Awesome
Apparently MC Chris is trying to make a cartoon and get it on Adult Swim. He used Kickstarter to raise funds to make a trailer (and I believe produce two or three five minute clips). Titmouse of Venture Bros. fame is the studio doing the animation so you know the look will be polished. Below is the trailer:
This is clearly the work of MC Chris. In addition to his voice, MC Chris’ humor permeates throughout the trailer. There is even a Facebook page demanding the cartoon be put on Adult Swim. Not sure what, if any, obstacles there are to moving forward with the show; but considering the current slate of cartoons on Adult Swim, hopefully it will get the greenlight soon… just as long as it doesn’t slow down the production of Venture Bros.
posted by Pi Visuals at 5:21 pm
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February 12, 2012 : Short Number Three Complete! Bombs Away!
The third Ninja Tales short is complete. This one was definitely a fun one to animate – in addition to the regular cast, there was a one-off character thrown in the mix. Below is a screen shot (which explains this post’s title).
Storyboarding for short number four will begin soon, followed by animation. The next short should go fairly quickly. Unlike the previous ones, this is predominantly a two person scene – so less people to animate. But it’s still a goodie.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:41 pm
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