ThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1985, based on the characters created by Tobin “Ted” Wolf. The series, for which Leonard Starr was the head writer, follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens. The animation was provided by Japanese animation company Pacific Animation Corporation whose artists later went on to join Studio Ghibli. Season 1 of the show aired in 1985, followed by a TV movie entitled ThunderCats – HO! in 1986. Seasons 2, 3, and 4 followed a new format of twenty episodes each, starting with a five-part story.
The series was originally distributed by Rankin-Bass Productions’ then-parent company Telepictures Corporation, which would later merge with Lorimar Productions in 1986. In 1989, Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by and folded into Warner Bros., whose television syndication arm would eventually assume distribution of the show; Warner Bros. have had the rights to the series from that point on.
There were also several comic book series produced: Marvel Comics’ version, 1984 to 1988; and five series by Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics, beginning in 2003. Items of clothing featuring the ThunderCats logo and DVD boxsets of the original series have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as nostalgia for the former children’s favorite has grown.
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The Lone Ranger is an American western television series that ran from 1949 to 1957, starring Clayton Moore with Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator. Fred Foy served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 to its finish and became announcer of the television version when story narration was dropped there. This was by far the highest-rated television program on the ABC network in the early 1950s and its first true “hit”.
Regular Show is an American animated television series created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network that premiered on September 6, 2010. The series revolves around the lives of two friends, a Blue Jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby —both employed as groundskeepers at a local park. Their regular attempts to slack off usually lead to surreal, extreme and often supernatural misadventures. During these misadventures, they interact with the show’s other main characters: Benson, Pops, Muscle Man, Hi-Five Ghost, Skips and Margaret.
Many of Regulars Show’s characters are loosely based on those developed for Quintel’s student films at California Institute of the Arts: The Naive Man from Lolliland and 2 in the AM PM. Quintel pitched Regular Show for Cartoon Network’s Cartoonstitute project, in which the network allowed young artists to create pilots with no notes, which would possibly be optioned as shows. The project was green-lit and it premiered on September 6, 2010. The show is inspired by some British television series and video games. Episodes are produced using storyboarding and hand-drawn animation, and each episode takes roughly nine months to create. Quintel recruited several independent comic book artists to draw the show’s aminated elements; their style matched closely Quintel’s ideas for the series. The show’s soundtrack comprises original music composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and licensed songs.
Caitlin “Cat” Sullivan is an NYPD detective working in Brooklyn. After her driving privileges are suspended, she relies on Leo Romba, a highly skilled Brooklyn cab driver from France. Leo becomes Cat’s driver and a consultant on her cases. While solving crimes with Leo, Cat is also running her own unauthorized investigation into the death of her father, an NYPD detective thought to have been executed by the Capella crime family. In doing so, she clashes with her boss, Captain Baker, and her ex-husband Gregg, who has picked up the case for the FBI.
Years after the events of Predacons Rising, Bumblebee is summoned back to Earth to battle several of Cybertron’s most wanted Decepticons that escaped from a crashed prison ship and assembles a team of young Autobots that includes Sideswipe (a rebel “bad boy bot”), Strongarm (an Elite Guard cadet), Grimlock (a bombastic Dinobot), and Fixit (a hyperactive Mini-Con with faulty wiring).
Follow Digital Survivalist Andy Quitmeyer as he travels to remote parts of the world and hacks his way back to civilization using a hybrid of time-tested outdoor survival skills and a backpack’s worth of wires, laptops and tracking devices.
Teletubbies is a British BBC children’s television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 31 March 1997 to 5 January 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll’s creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show’s 365 episodes. The programme’s original narrator was Tim Whitnall. Teletubbies was also aired internationally in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service public television on 6 April 1998 and aired until 19 June 2005. It would continue to air reruns until 29 August 2008, when it was pulled from the schedule along with Mister Rogers Neighborhood and Boohbah. In 2002, production was cancelled and it was announced that no new episodes would be produced, with the last episode being aired on 5 January 2001. However, a total of 365 episodes had been produced – enough for a full year.
Teletubbies, particularly notable for its high production values, rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad and won a BAFTA in 1998. Teletubbies Everywhere was awarded “Best Pre-school Live Action Series” at the 2002 Children’s BAFTA Awards.
Although the programme is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, it had a substantial cult following with older generations, mainly university and college students. The mixture of bright colours, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, ritualistic format, and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to many who perceived the programme as having psychedelic qualities. Teletubbies was controversial for this reason. Other critics felt the show was insufficiently educational.
Young Justice is an Emmy Award winning American animated television series created by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman for Cartoon Network. Despite its title, it is not a direct adaptation of Peter David, Todd Dezago and Todd Nauck’s Young Justice comic series, but rather an adaptation of the entire DC Universe with a focus on young superheroes. The series follows the lives of teenaged heroes and sidekicks who are members of a fictional covert operation group called The Team. The Team is essentially a young counterpart to the famous adult team, the Justice League. The main setting is the fictional universe of Earth-16, during a time period in which superheroes are a relatively recent phenomenon. The series debuted with an hour long special on November 26, 2010 with the airing of the first two episodes, “Independence Day” and “Fireworks”. Young Justice premiered on September 9, 2011 on Teletoon, in Canada. The series ended alongside fellow DC Nation show Green Lantern: The Animated Series after its second season came to a conclusion during spring 2013. Because of this, their slots will be taken by new shows Beware the Batman and Teen Titans Go!, respectively.
Rocko’s Modern Life is an American animated series created by Joe Murray. The show aired for four seasons between 1993 and 1996 on Nickelodeon. Rocko’s Modern Life is based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic, Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko, and his new life in the city of O-Town. The show explores his American life as well as the lives of his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Filburt, and Rocko’s faithful dog, Spunky. The show is laden with adult humor, including double entendres, innuendos, and satirical social commentary.
Joe Murray initially created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, who were looking for edgier cartoonists for their new Nicktoons block. The network gave the staff a large amount of creative freedom, the writers targeting both children and adults. The show’s animation stylistically features crooked architecture. In addition, Murray picked many newcomer voice actors, such as Tom Kenny and Carlos Alazraqui, who have gone on to become very popular. The show was the fourth Nicktoon to premiere. Kenny described the show’s impact in an interview, saying, “Rocko’s Modern Life was just one of those shows that were the first break for a lot of people who went on to do other stuff in the business.”
Follow Blue as she invites viewers to join her and Josh on a clue-led adventure and solve a puzzle in each episode. With each signature paw print, Blue identifies clues in her animated world that propel the story and inspire the audience to interact with the characters. A remake of the groundbreaking, curriculum-driven interactive series Blue’s Clues.
When he was a child, Murakami was friends with a girl he called Kuroneko. One day, while trying to prove the existence of aliens to Murakami, she is killed in an accident that he barely survives. Guilty of his role in the accident, Murokami decides to dedicate his life to proving that aliens exist. Then, one day, a new student with mysterious powers transfers into his class who not only looks a lot like Kuroneko, but is named Kuroha, Neko.
