Aardman Animations is using Blackmagic Design capture cards and Stop Motion Pro for their latest TV production, TIMMY.

Do you know how many sun swords a wizard with only seven charisma points needs to slay a wandering armored Tharg troll? Likely, you don't have a clue, but this is common knowledge in NERDLAND, a new stop-motion animated pilot debuting at MIPCOM in October from Cuppa Coffee Studios and set to air this fall on TELETOON.

Invading Martians will hit the screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic" event on Wednesday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The centennial celebration, hosted by director Joe Dante (GREMLINS), will feature a panel discussion with several Pal collaborators as well as a screening of two Pal "Puppetoons" and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) in its entirety.

ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS, the sequel, has been greenlit, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Just days after earning an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Series, the Adult Swim show is moving forward with Episode II, to air November 16.

"It doesn't even seem real -- getting to make STAR WARS twice!" said ROBOT CHICKEN co-creator Seth Green. Green won an Annie Award for directing the first one, and will helm the sequel. The first ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS special was released to DVD on Tuesday.

Nike co-founder and billionaire Phil Knight is making some noise with Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio he bought six years ago, according to VARIETY.

Laika, which does both CG and stop-motion, is scheduled to release their first feature, CORALINE on February 6, 2009 from Focus Features.

The stop-motion film follows a girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who stumbles upon a dark fantasy alternate universe. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS director Henry Selick helmed the picture, with Knight's son Travis the lead animator.

D3Publisher has entered a worldwide publishing agreement with the Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group for video games based on Focus Features and LAIKA Ent.'s CORALINE, the upcoming HD stop-motion animated feature -- the first to be originally filmed in 3-D.

This week AWNtv has a place for stop-motion fans to start a commotion. There's a food fight, caged birds, funerals, rockin' puppets, lumps of clay, cyborgs, soul-sucking looms and Manny Schmeckstein.

Hot trailers ! WALL*E behind-the scenes peek! Two SIGGRAPH previews! And the LOVE GURU!

The cool vids of the week take a Middle Eastern flare with Omid Khoshnazar's ZERO DEGREE, Mashaallah Mohammadi's OTHER BEING, and Shlomi Schillinger & Tamar Moshkovitz's PLUSHOOD.

Check it all out today!

Disney Channel programmers from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific have joined forces to acquire global rights for the stop-motion animated series TIMMY from the acclaimed U.K. production company Aardman Animations (WALLACE & GROMIT).

It is scheduled to premiere in 2009 on Playhouse Disney channels and programming blocks around the world. The announcement was made today by Gary Marsh, President, Disney Channels Worldwide.

Oscar's 2008 Best Animated Short PETER & THE WOLF will be airing at 8 p.m. on March 26 on PBS' GREAT PERFORMANCES.

Suzie Templeton's take on how little boys can find extraordinary courage, set to the Russian composer's famous score, offers the latest in stop-motion animation, particularly effective here in the tale's updating into the grim realities of a more contemporary Russia.

Richard Jones' darkly imaginative take on Humperdink's HANSEL AND GRETEL will air immediately after at 9 p.m.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has handed out the winners of the 80th Academy Awards. The first animated related prize of the evening went to Brad Bird for Outstanding Animated Feature for RATATOUILLE. In the category of Animated Short Subject, director Suzie Templeton and producer Hugh Welchman took home Oscars for the stop-motion film, PROKOFIEV'S PETER AND THE WOLF.