Friday, February 21, 2003
CARTOON NETWORK'S 2003 PLANS
Cartoon Network announced several major programming initiatives for 2003 on Thursday at a press conference in New York.
Comics-inspired announcements include an August start for Teen Titans, the new season of Justice League starting in October and the acquistion of 43 episodes of X-Men: Evolution. (To read more about Teen Titans, CLICK HERE.)
In the day's big news, Cartoon Network and Lucasfilm Ltd. announced a partnership to create Star Wars: Clone Wars, a series of 20 animated shorts that will air on Cartoon Network in 2003-2004 between other programming. For more on Clone Wars, CLICK HERE.
Here's a rundown of all the major announcements:
NEW SERIES
* Duck Dodgers, a new series starring Daffy Duck as an inept space hero, is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and will premiere in July.
* Teen Titans, an action-adventure series about a group of teen-age superheroes led by Robin The Boy Wonder, will premiere in August.
* LowBrow, an action-comedy series in which a 20-something slacker with a customized 80-foot robot from the future must defend all of humanity from evil aliens, debuts in December 2003.
NEW EPISODES OF ORIGINAL SERIES
* 20 new half-hour episodes of Samurai Jack, starting in May.
* 26 new half-hour episodes of Justice League beginning in October.
* 19 episodes of Codename: Kids Next Door.
* 4 new episodes of The Powerpuff Girls, starting in September, plus an all-new one-hour holiday special.
* 5 new episodes of Ed, Edd n Eddy begin in November.
* 11 new episodes of Dexter's Laboratory, beginning in April.
* 5 new episodes of Time Squad, debuting in March.
* 10 new episodes of Grim & Evil, debuting in June.
* 11 new half-hour episodes of Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? debut, starting in September.
ACQUISITIONS
* What's New Scooby-Doo?, a 21st century update of the classic comedy-mystery series starring the crime-solving Great Dane and pals Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred. What's New Scooby-Doo?, debuts on March 28.
* 15 new episodes of Dragonball Z, starting on March 17, 2003. Dragonball Z airs exclusively on Toonami, Cartoon Network's action-adventure franchise.
* Cartoon Network presents the U.S. television debut of Rorouni Kenshin. 95 episodes of the Japanese series will premiere on Toonami, beginning in March 2003.
* 52 new episodes of Dragon Ball, to air on Toonami this year.
* 26 episdoes of SD Gundam.
* 13 new episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
* 26 new episodes of Transformers: Armada.
* 26 episode of .hack//SIGN.
* 12 episodes of Kikaider.
* 26 episodes of Blue Gender.
* 52 additional episodes of Hamtaro.
* 13 new episodes of Big O.
* 50 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!.
* 52 episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures.
* 43 episodes of X-Men: Evolution.
* 100 episodes of Pokémon.
IMAGE COMICS FOR MAY
Image Comics has released its solicitation information for May.
For a complete rundown, with cover images, CLICK HERE.
MARVEL COMICS FIRST LOOKS
For covers and four-page previews of Marvel Comics titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.
Titles include Amazing Spider-Man #50, Avengers #64, Daredevil #44, Elektra #20, Fantastic Four #66, Hulk/Wolverine: 6 Hours #3, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #53, Weapon X #6, X-Statix #8 and X-Men Unlimited #42.
CROSSGEN COMICS FIRST LOOKS
For covers and four-page previews of CrossGen Comics titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.
Titles include Brath #1, The Path #12, Ruse #17 and Meridian #33.
X-MEN SEQUEL UPDATE
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Fox will have the world broadcast premiere of the X-Men movie on Sunday, including a preview of the upcoming sequel.
The 2000 movie will air at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on Fox.
According to the network, Bryan Singer, who directed both X-Men and X2, will introduce a sneak peek at the sequel in a special segment.
No word yet if the material will be different than that shown on the recently released X-Men 1.5 DVD.
Here's how the network describes X-Men:
"In this blockbuster film, two leaders have emerged; Professor Xavier, who runs a school for mutants and hopes to convince the world that their powers can be harnessed for the good of mankind, and Magneto, who believes in the inevitable war between mutants and the rest of humanity. While the mutant factions do battle for dominance, they must also fight government officials who are trying to eliminate them."
Look for more X-Men news soon here in The Continuum.
NEW MUTANT X EPISODE
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A new episode of Mutant X, "Under the Cloak of War," is scheduled to air in syndication this week. The episode is written by Nelu Giran and directed by Drew Potter.
For a plot synopsis, with spoilers and photos, CLICK HERE.
BRIEFLY
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