U.K. animation company Pepper’s Ghost Productions (PGP) has aligned with U.S.-based Beckett Entertainment to develop animation properties and have announced their first project. Entitled GENE-FUSION, the concept is pitched as an adventure property designed for multiple formats including TV series, gaming, feature film and Web entertainment. PGP is currently involved in all aspects of design and modeling for the GENE-FUSION concept plus scripting for the TV series.

Cartoon Network’s previously announced weekly series I’M POPEYE, has been renamed THE POPEYE SHOW and is ready for its debut. The network will air weekly half-hour episodes, beginning this Sunday, November 11, 2001 at 1:00 am. Each episode will include three Popeye cartoons that have been restored to their original theatrical state. The show will also present facts and trivia about Popeye and his supporting cast.

Over the next six weeks the U.K.’s Channel 4 will be showing a wide variety of animation, including illustrator John Callahan’s new project QUADS, experimental animation from Animate! and the U.K. television premiere of the acclaimed anime feature BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. Also premiering will be a new series called CELMATES. The animation world’s answer to reality shows like BIG BROTHER, CELMATES follows a group of animators shut in a small room, competing against each other (and the clock!) to create an animated film in a sleepless 72 hours.

With the U.S.’s baseball World Series over, Fox is ready to premiere the new seasons of its animated series. Look for the season premiere of THE FAMILY GUY on Thursday, November 8th at 8:00 pm, followed by the series premiere of THE TICK, a live-action sitcom based on Ben Edlund's cult comic book. Then on Sunday, November 11th beginning at 7:30 pm KING OF THE HILL kicks off its sixth season followed by the season premiere of Emmy-award winner THE SIMPSONS.

In the first network initiative to unite all its global divisions, Cartoon Network will be airing a 12-hour marathon of fans’ favorite DEXTER’S LABORATORY episodes, selected by viewers from around the world. Viewers can cast their votes now through November 15, 2001 by logging on to their region's Cartoon Network Website. The fan picks will be aired on all Cartoon Networks worldwide on November 18, 2001 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and will include the winning episode from each country.

Victory Film Productions and Neptuno Films Deutschland have signed a co-production deal to produce two animated series for the worldwide market. Series in the pipeline are the classic story of the cat PUSS IN BOOTS (52 x 26’) who travels around the world in search of adventure, and AMBI & LANCE (104 x 7’). The preschool property follows the adventures of Ambi the ambulance and Lance the doctor, who look after the health of everyone in the county in an original and amusing way. Both co-producers will cover the budget expenses and distribution will be handled by Neptuno.

Cartoon Network Latin America has secured television rights to CORRECTOR YUI, STATIC SHOCK, X-MEN EVOLUTION, ANGELINA BALLERINA and POPOLOCROIS to premiere on the channel in December 2001. In addition, the network will be premiering the fourth season of POKEMON beginning in January 2002 and launches the original series, TIME SQUAD in February 2002. Speaking of TIME SQUAD, TV GUIDE recently voted it one of the ten best new shows for kids in the U.S. FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and JUSTICE LEAGUE made the top ten as well.

STVDIO Media, an American-run animation house based in Hong Kong and specializing in 2D character animation, has been awarded a grant by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to develop THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE. Based on characters from author Nury Vittachi's book, a bestseller in Australia and Hong Kong, the animated version has already generated interest from regional media companies. The FENG SHUI DETECTIVE follows the adventures of a Chinese feng shui expert and his Australian teenage girl assistant who travel across Asia assisting the police with their investigations.

Spanish-based animation company BRB Internacional secured a number of pre-sales for its two animation comedy series ZIP & ZAP and GLADIATOR ACADEMY. Portuguese broadcaster TVI will begin airing ZIP & ZAP in January 2003, as will Arab distributor Universal Productions. GLADIATOR ACADEMY was picked up by Mediatrade (Italy), NOGA (Israel), Turkish Media Corporation and MVS Latin America. Currently in production, the first 13 episodes are scheduled for delivery in July 2002.

TV-Loonland, in cooperation with German kids TV channel Super RTL and German production company GUM Studios, will start production of its first CGI project called DRAGON’S ROCK‚ in November 2001. Delivery of the 26 episodes of 24-minutes each are due at the beginning of summer 2002. Super RTL is co-financing the project and own the German rights and TV-Loonland holds all other worldwide rights to the series.