Next spring's spin-off Nickelodeon TV series will star the conspiratorial penguins, King Juilen and [his lemur cohorts] Maurice and Mort.

"We got good mileage out of that," Peterson added, in particular referring to a shot where the light from the setting sun shines through those 3D clouds." On the other hand, "the clouds we were delivering were incredibly contrasty. They had realistic lighting on them, but there was just too much visual noise. It was just as easy for the matte painting department to take over the entire element" and create 2D clouds. "Between all the various departments involved and the rendering time, we found out clouds are expensive. In one sequence we had to take out some of the contrast and detailing. There was too much busyness everywhere -- in the sky, the ground, the trees and the characters. That's not a good thing -- it's a little bit hard to focus on everything at the same time."

Thirty million hours of rendering time went into Escape 2 Africa, two-and- a-half times more than the original Madagascar, and it shows in the film's flawless IMAX projection. There'll probably be a few less hours involved in next spring's spin-off Nickelodeon TV series starring the conspiratorial penguins. In the sequel, the quartet not only steals Nana's jeep, they come close to stealing the entire movie.

McGrath -- who voices Skipper in the upcoming series -- said that when he first pitched the penguins as an element of the original film, "I liked the idea of Robert Stack or someone like that" for the penguin mastermind. "Eric and I wanted to cast him in the first movie but he passed away. In all honesty we had to get these characters animated. We didn't have time to cast anyone" and McGrath's temp track went into the movie. "I throw in a little smarmy Charlton Heston, maybe some Peter Graves every once in a while.

Thirty million hours of rendering time went into Escape 2 Africa,and it shows in the film's flawless IMAX projection. A Nickelodeon TV series is next on the horizon.

"We're trying to get the series as close as we can to movie quality. It takes place in kind of a parallel universe to the movie with the penguins back in the zoo with their command center hidden under their enclosure. King Julien and [his lemur cohorts] Maurice and Mort are there as a foil for the penguins. We get a lot of fun out of Skipper and Julien's different perspectives on life." While Borat fans may be disappointed to learn that Futurama voice actor Danny Jacobs will take over from Sacha Baron Cohen as Julien in the series, McGrath said that "Eric, myself and Mireille [Soria, a producer on both Madagascar movies] consult with the show and review all the scripts and animatics." And what of Madagascar 3, announced months before the new film's release and due out in 2011? "It would be nice to get them back to New York," commented the directors of their animal stars, "and find out how the city is different for them now that they've gone around the world. We have some secret plot lines as to what they go through -- there are still some places they might have to travel to before they get back to New York."

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