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As The Clone Wars draws ever nearer, The New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff profiles George Lucas — who is now apparently “Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to ‘Star Wars’” (if you can still call it Star Wars).

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The adventures of Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture, his clueless clone sons Hank and Dean, superspy stud Brock Samson and their necromancer neighbor Doctor Byron Orpheus resume in grand fashion with a third season starting tonight.

The Venture Bros. airs 11:30 p.m. tonight (Sunday, June 1, with a 3 a.m. encore in the wee hours of Monday, June 2) on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. You can also watch it online here.

No doubt that evil cad The Monarch will be waiting in the wings with his hordes of butterfly minions and “gal Friday,” Dr. Girlfriend!

This show is a twisted take on the teen superscience and mystery-adventure cartoons of the ’60s, from Jonny Quest to Scooby-Doo. It’s an event not to be missed.

Go Team Venture!

According to his blog WWdN, former Star Trek: The Next Generation wunderkind Wil Wheaton is one of the voices behind Cartoon Network’s upcoming series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which will pair with The Clone Wars on Friday nights (see original entry). (more…)

StarWars.com has released a new annotated sketch of Yoda as he appears in The Clone Wars. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, really … but it’s neat to read the notes on how the diminutive Jedi Master should look and act.

These sketches make it look so easy, don’t they? Until you remember that The Clone Wars is actually a CGI movie and this is just previsualization.

Keith piloting Black Lion (TIME WARNER/BOOMERANG)
Starting Monday (Feb. 18), Boomerang will air the 1984 giant robot cartoon Voltron: Defender of the Universe in all its glory! This follows the announcement of a live-action movie in development.

If you’re unfamiliar with Voltron, it’s the complex human story of five mechanical lions that, when crammed together, form a sword-wielding robot warrior that defends Planet Arus from evil King Zarkon, the vain Prince Lotor and the wicked witch Haggar.

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Tony Carrllo, the brilliant artist behind the syndicated cartoon “F-Minus” (which you can read in the Classifieds section of your East Valley Tribune), will be signing copies of his book (titled, appropriately enough, F-Minus) noon to 3 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 15) at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe.

I went to see The Golden Compass this weekend. It was a fun and entertaining movie, but nothing special. Check out Craig Outhier’s movie review for more. The highlight of the movie was seeing the trailer for the new Wachowski Brothers picture, 1960’s Japanese animated cartoon turned live action adventure movie Speed Racer. I don’t know much about the Speed Racer cartoon, but what I do know is that the Wachowski Brothers make excellent movies (V for Vendetta, The Matrix, Bound) and I’m sure this will be no different. The cast is solid, featuring actors Emile Hirsh, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman, and the NEW TRAILER looks freakin’ sweet. Speed Racer zooms into theaters on May 9.

I’m a huge fan of the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, even though I believe he was an unabashed white supremacist. (Just to be clear, I am not.)

Tarzan and his Martian Tales aren’t the finest literature in the world, but how can you not have fun reading chapters with titles like Love Making on Mars, Through Carnage to Joy and Corridors of Peril? It’s the pinnacle of pulp fiction from the era that defined it.

Burroughs’ swashbuckling vision of a living Mars (or Barsoom, as he called it) awash in the blood and sweat of all-too-human aliens so captured the imaginations of his time that a crater on Mars was named in his honor.

The world will likely be talking about this epic interpretation of Mars again soon, if Pixar’s hybrid CGI/live action adaptation, tentatively titled John Carter of Mars, takes off in the years to come. (more…)

The cavalcade of ’80s animation to the big screen of the 21st century continues!

Remember this:

“Thunder … Thunder … Thunder … Thundercats, ho!”

?

Variety reports that Jerry O’Flaherty, art director on such popular video games as Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3, will direct the CG retelling of those cats from Thundera. This will be O’Flaherty’s first foray into film.

The magazine says the movie will encapsulate the origin story of the Thundercats and their journey from a dying world to a new home inhabited by an undead sorcerer named Mumm-Ra. Who hates them. For some reason.

Superman Doomsday, DC Comics’ newest direct-to-DVD, feature-length animated movie hit stores on Tuesday and I must say it lives up to all the hype. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel “The Death of Superman”, which gained national media attention in 1993 when DC Comics killed their greatest hero, the movie condenses the epic story into a 75-minute gem that packs one heck of a punch.When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday, Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his life…literally. To beat the hulking monster who’s sole purpose is to destroy all life, Superman has to sacrifice himself. The epic fight scenes in the movie are fantastic, as the two powerhouses use all the powers they have to beat the crap out of each other, destroying half of Metropolis in the process. As the world mourns Superman’s death, the main characters (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Martha Kent) struggle with how to go on living without their hero, savior and son. Even Lex Luthor goes a bit nuts saying “Why did you leave me! Why! We had so much unfinished business!” Without giving too much of the story away, let me just say that the Man of Steel does return, and when he does, he’s got to fight himself to save the world all over again.Overall the movie is great. The story of Superman’s resurrection has been simplified quite a bit as the writers skip the comic’s story of multiple Superman-like characters (The Eradicator, Steel, Superboy and Cyborg Superman) all claiming they were the new, real Superman and confusing the heck out of all of us. The action is intense and the animation is very well done, much like the other Warner Brothers’ Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman and Superman television shows and movies. The special features are also very good, including a comprehensive documentary about how the DC Comics team decided Superman’s fate. I’d definitely recommend this to comic fans and others just wanting to see a great animated telling of one of Superman’s best stories.”There comes a time when even gods must die” - Lex LuthorSuperman Doomsday - Official Trailer

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