Nickelodeon is planning an upcoming CG show based on Steve Oedekerk’s feature film Barnyard (above). © 2006 by Paramount Pictures and Viacom Intl Inc. All rights reserved.

Disney’s Kantor says the 2D/3D decision is in large part based on “trying to imagine how character best comes to life. Some projects like Charlie and Lola were originally picture books so they already have an established style. We wanted to capture that style so we never thought of translating it into a 3D image. Then again, the characters in Handy Mandy originally had a storybook look to them — its original creators were picture book illustrators.

“Manny is a fixit guy with a toolbox of talking tools. We felt we needed the tools to really seem alive. It’s much easier to do that in CG, where they would have a lot more movement and we could move the camera a lot more than in 2D. We tested out a lot of different styles and studios before Nelvana came up with a really good translation of the look. It’s true to the creators’ intentions while giving them something that pops a little bit more.”

At the moment, Cartoon Network’s only CG shows are a pair of acquisitions, the hybrid Code Lyoko and Transformers Cybertron. However, svp of programming and development Bob Higgins is looking at a CG show currently in the works from Billy and Mandy creator Maxwell Atoms. “Typically, we give our creators not complete freedom — we have to make sure their shows are directed toward our audience — but we don’t dictate their look. If Maxwell makes a pilot and we go ‘you showed us, it’s fantastic,’ then we’ll make a CG show. If it looks funky or we test it and it feels wrong, we’ll end up just not making it, because the whole isn’t working — not just the methodology by which it’s animated.”

The choice may also be based on whether a show is action or comedy oriented. A decade ago replicating reality was the goal in CG animation. “The idea of an affordable computer-animated series seemed kind of fantastical back then,” Simensky recalls, “and making one that was funny seemed way off. At that point a lot of it was used for action, hard-edged things. We weren’t at the point where you could do squash and stretch, funny animation or warm and cuddly characters.”

Cartoon Network’s only CG shows are a pair of acquisitions, the hybrid Code Lyoko (above) and Transformers Cybertron. However, CN is considering new projects in CG but only if they work as a whole. © Cartoon Network.

Since then, increasingly sophisticated software has made it easier to create and animate more fanciful characters. Still, Disney’s Moon feels that while “CG does action beautifully, comedy in CG is more a balancing act. A lot of shows are better served in Flash where it’s easier to get the snappy timing and scene cutting of traditional 2D. Ying Yang Yo! is a perfect example — Flash is absolutely the right tool for that show. But I think as people become more comfortable with CG, we’ll see it get more stylized. That for me is what helps the jokes play, that creates that great suspension of disbelief. It’s exciting because the more realistic it is, the less you can buy the world. It becomes crucial that it every detail is correct. If you set up a world that is very cartoonish and flat, you can make that leap a lot easier. What 3d does for us, gives us another arena to play in. It helps mix up, balance and dimensionalize what we have on air.”

While the percentage of CG shows on Cartoon, Nick and Disney is gradually increasing, none of them are interested in following the lead of theatrical animation producers and throwing 2D to the wolves. However, Playhouse Disney’s Kantor predicts that in a few years 25-30% of her schedule will consist of CG shows, while at PBS, Simensky foresees “TV migrating into a mixed media universe where you’re going to see a little bit of everything, even in single shows.”

From Mischel’s perspective at Mainframe, economics will lead the way toward more CG series. “As the technology becomes more affordable, you’ll get the perfect storm where the cost differential between 2D and 3D shows disappears. The differential between Flash and CG is now between 15-20%. When you can produce either for exactly same money, more companies will create more CG products. It’s all kind of a domino effect. You don’t have as many CG projects out there, so you don’t see as many on TV because there aren’t a lot to choose from.”

If anyone has the right to be jaded over computer animation, it would have to be Cartoon Network’s Higgins who, by his own estimate, has waded through, “hundreds of CG shows a year from around the world, most of which have never crossed the U.S. border.”

Freshly back from screening even more potential acquisitions at MIPCOM Jr., Higgins only allows that, “a couple of things look interesting, some of which may be CG.” Ever the optimist, he admits, “we know it’s something we don’t have. If we find one we’re going to be really excited.”

Joe Strike is a regular contributor to AWN. His animation articles also appear in the NY Daily News and the New York Press.