Wonder Woman will be appearing in a direct-to-DVD directed by Lauren Montgomery (above). This animated interpretation of Wonder Woman will retell the origin of the Amazon warrior princess. Courtesy of Janet Hetherington.

Producer and noted artist Bruce Timm said that director Lauren Montgomery (co-producer of Superman Doomsday) is responsible for all the designs for this animated interpretation of Wonder Woman, which will retell the origin of the Amazon warrior princess. "Lauren is an accomplished storyboard artist and she designed most of the major characters, with tiny input from me."

Timm said that it was logical to choose Wonder Woman for the next movie, which will make its debut in both PG and PG-13 versions in February 2009. "She's an obvious candidate," he said, "because she didn't have her own animated television series, and she's one of the 'top three' characters of DC Comics [with Superman and Batman]."

What Timm did find surprising was that the direct-to-DVD project was greenlit even after the live-action feature had been optioned. The animated version will feature Wonder Woman as a fierce warrior who is not afraid of bloodshed or battle.

"We wanted to make her a strong, loveable, appealing character," commented director Montgomery. "However, we didn't pull any punches either; she's out there kicking butt. There's a lot of violence. Of the 'big three,' Wonder Woman is the one who is not afraid to kill."

The story, which takes place in contemporary times, uses material from various comic book sources and will include familiar Wonder Woman elements such as bulletproof bracelets, the lasso, the tiara and the invisible jet. The movie will feature both 2D and 3D animation, with the 3D touches focusing on vehicles such as the plane.

For the voice of Wonder Woman, dialog director Andrea Romano needed to find someone who could express both strength and innocence. "There's a certain naive quality about the character... at first Wonder Woman is kind of ignorant about the ways of mankind," Romano told the crowd. "I watch a lot of TV and film, and I saw the movie Waitress with Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion. There was a good chemistry between the two." Russell was cast as Wonder Woman and Fillion became the voice of Steve Trevor.

Dialog director Andrea Romano discussed her work on Wonder Woman, as well as Freakazoid and Tiny Toons Adventures. Courtesy of Janet Hetherington.

Other voice actors include Rosario Dawson as fellow Amazon Artemis, Virginia Madsen as Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta, Oliver Platt as Hades, David McCallum as Zeus and Alfred Molina as Wonder Woman's adversary, Ares. "He's a strong villain, and Alfred Molina is a brilliant actor, with such a versatile voice," Romano said.

While Wonder Woman has a legacy of being a feminist icon, the movie is aimed at all comics fans, both male and female. "We didn't make a concerted effort to make it more girl-friendly," Timm noted. "Wonder Woman's appeal to women is already built into the character."

Freaks, Geeks and Tiny Toons
Timm and Romano also appeared on the "Freaks, Geeks and Tiny Toons" panel that spotlighted the popular Freakazoid and Tiny Toons Adventures TV series, which were each released on DVD from Warner Home Video on July 29. Other panelists included Paul Rugg (Freakazoid writer), Jean MacCurdy (executive producer), Paul Dini (writer, story editor), Sherri Stoner (writer, producer, story editor), John McCann (Douglas Douglas, Hero Boy story editor) and Rich Arons (producer, writer, director).

MacCurdy recalled how, in 1988, Steven Spielberg wanted to make a Tiny Toons movie. However, following the success of Disney's DuckTales show, the decision was made to turn the feature into a TV series. The show proved to be a fertile training ground for many animation writers, artists and directors.

Storyboard artist and character designer Bruce Timm joined the team early on, after working with John Kricfalusi on Mighty Mouse and Beany and Cecil. Paul Dini moved to LA to join the writing staff. Director Rich Arons says that he had not actually directed before Tiny Toons. "I was doing layout at the time," Arons says. "I was walking down the hall, and [senior producer and production head] Tom Ruegger asked me, 'Want to direct?'" Sherri Stoner, who had previously only written sketch comedy for the Groundlings comedy troupe, wrote a script for Babs Bunny and was offered a staff position by Ruegger. "There was so much pressure to get it just right," Stoner says. When there were changes to be made, they came straight from the top. "There were no notes except from Tom and Steven," Stoner recalls with awe.