POOCHINI, the 26-episode series produced by San Francisco-based animation house Wild Brain, Inc. and Germany's EM.TV debuted in the U.S. on September 7, 2002. Wild Brain has partnered with The Television Syndication Company, Inc. (TVS) to distribute POOCHINI in the U.S. market. Stations are currently being cleared in each of the 210 U.S. markets, with over 50% of the country already on board including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia among the top 30 stations.

TINY PLANETS, co-produced by Pepper’s Ghost Productions (PGP) and Sesame Workshop, will be returning to MIPCOM along with the newly formatted tween series BUS STOP. Nominated as "best new property" by License! Magazine at this year’s New York Licensing Show, TINY PLANETS has already been sold to 73 countries and Pepper’s Ghost Productions is seeking sales in Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia. TV broadcast rights are also still available in France and are being handled by Euro TV. Pepper’s Ghost will also be bringing the series BUS STOP to MIPCOM.

The latest network series refugee to join cable's Cartoon Network is Matt Groening's FUTURAMA. Twentieth Television and Cartoon Network have entered into an agreement for the exclusive cable rights of all 72 episodes of FUTURAMA to begin airing January 2003, during Cartoon Network’s late night adult animation block Adult Swim. FUTURAMA chronicles the adventures of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy who was accidentally frozen on New Year’s Eve in 1999 while on the job.

Atomic Cartoons will be in attendance at this year's Mipcom, showcasing a bevy of shows including DENNIS THE DRAGON, CONEY ISLAND CARNEYS, GOAL!, and DIRTY LIL’ BASTER. And in other Atomic news, ATOMIC BETTY, the studio's co-production with Film Roman, has picked up a distributor. Toronto-based independent production company Breakthrough Films will act as the series' international distributors with Breakthrough's Ira Levy and Nghia Nguyen on board as executive producers and Kevin Gillis as producer.

OLLIVER’S ADVENTURES, a new 13 x 30-minute animated series from Collideascope Digital Productions will have its Canadian premiere starting Saturday, September 7, 2002 at 8:00 am ET/PT on Canadian broadcaster TELETOON. The series is a spin-off of Collideascope’s Gemini Award-winning animated shorts, OLLIE’S UNDER THE BED ADVENTURES.

Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. will offer a variety of computer animated fare for preschoolers, kids, tweens and primetime audiences at MIPCOM 2002. Among the projects Mainframe will promote include TONY HAWK'S FEASTERS, with pro skateboard champion Tony Hawk acting as a mentor to a group of local kids; an all-new BETTY BOOP series featuring Betty on the road as the lead singer of a rock band; and the collage animation series FAMILY VALUES.

UK-based production company Animatrix Ltd. plans to create an all new 26 part series based on the 1980s preschooler DR. SNUGGLES. Featuring Sir Peter Ustinov voicing the title character, a cuddly bow-tied inventor who strives to make the world a better place, the original DR. SNUGGLES was broadcast in more than 80 countries, and can still be seen in Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Ireland and Canada. Animation studio Telemagination has produced a 3 1/2-minute pilot of the newly revamped DR. SNUGGLES scheduled to screen this year at Cartoon Forum and Mipcom.

DIC Entertainment has acquired the worldwide television distribution, merchandising and licensing rights for the Japanese animated classic SPEED RACER. DIC acquired the license from Speed Racer Enterprises and Tetsunoko. John Rocknowski and his son, Jim, are the proprietors of Speed Racer Enterprises, who acquired worldwide rights to the property in 1991. The package consists of the original 52 half-hour episodes and 34 new episodes, none of which have been shown in the U.S. with English dubbing until now.

BBC (UK), France 3 (France) and ABC (Australia) have picked up independent studio Millimages' latest animated series CORNEIL & BERNIE. The 52 x 13-minute series, also known as WATCH MY CHOPS!, is currently in production and is set to broadcast internationally during 2003. Lead character Corneil is a cultured and well-read dog, who is likened by the producers to "a canine FRASIER." Corneil keeps his genius talents hidden from his owners, but when Bernie the dog-sitter is hired and discovers Corneil's secret, Corneil's life is turned upside down.

A new 13 x 10-minute series being billed as the first CG series from Africa is currently in pre-production at Johannesburg, South Africa studio AnimMate. "The series will be entirely produced by African talent in South Africa," Tanja Botha of Johannesburg-based Animation Africa, which is distributing the series, told C21 MEDIA. "It's a first for Africa.

For the third year in a row, Cartoon Network will wrap up summer with a weekend-long marathon of original animation. Highlights include the premiere of eight new series pilots, the debut of four animated music videos, a sneak peak at the new series CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR and back-to-back episodes from CN's original animated series. From 8:00 pm (ET, PT) on Friday, August 23, 2002 until 10:00 pm on Sunday, August 25, Cartoon Network will air 50 hours of original animation from series such as DEXTER'S LABORATORY, GRIM & EVIL, COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG, ED EDD N EDDY and THE POWERPUFF GIRLS.

Corus Entertainment's Nelvana has signed a deal to supply a 90-minute Nelvana branded programming block for Eastern European kids' broadcaster Minimax. Starting in September 2002, the Hungary-based cable and satellite broadcaster Minimax will screen the Nelvana block on Saturday and Sunday mornings, across three of its territories -- Hungary, Poland and Romania. The deal is the first of its kind for Nelvana in Eastern Europe, and comes in response to recent demand from broadcasters there for a cohesive, themed approach to kids' weekend programming.

Artist Kenny Scharf brings his vision to Cartoon Network with a CG-animated half-hour special THE GROOVENIANS, premiering on Sunday, November 10 at 10:30 pm during Cartoon Network’s ADULT SWIM animation block. A self-described "pop-surrealist," Kenny Scharf came to fame in the 1980s with art inspired by pop culture, particularly cartoons like THE JETSONS and THE FLINTSTONES. Scharf works in a variety of media, from oil paint on canvas to sculpture, and incorporates not only cartoon characters, but vivid colors, graffiti-inspired imagery, vintage advertisements and more.

The brand new HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE series kicks off on Cartoon Network, Friday, August 16, 2002 at 4:00 pm (ET, PT) with 90-minute movie featuring the never-before-told story of the origin of He-Man. New episodes of the series will air Fridays at 6:00 pm during the network's "Toonami" block, starting on August 30.

Why hasn't American animation followed suit? Fred Patten reviews the new Trigun Ultimate Fan Guide and wonders why U.S. series aren't similarly documented.

CAOZ, a digital design and animation company in Reykjavik, Iceland, is in development on a series based on THE LOST LITTLE CATERPILLAR, a 26 minute computer-animated film by Gunnar Karlsson, which will premiere in Iceland on August 31, 2002. The film is based on a story by Fridrik Erlingsson and tells the tales of a spell bound caterpillar princess that one day wakes up on a tree leaf. As she goes on a journey and encounters the other creatures of the garden, she learns something about others and herself.

UK-based distributor Indigo Kids has signed a deal to distribute Toonz Animation India's new project THE ADVENTURES OF TENALI. Indigo will take worldwide television, video, DVD and licensing rights, excluding India and Singapore, as part of an ongoing agreement with the studio, which includes Asian distribution rights for HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR MONSTER, a co-production with UK-based Treehouse Productions and Canada-based Vivamundo. Based on a character from Indian folklore, THE ADVENTURES OF TENALI (26 x11-minutes) takes a trip through history to a world of monarchs and palaces.

According to an AP report, plans are underway to revive DAVEY & GOLIATH, the '60s stop-motion animated series created by Art and Ruth Clokey, with production scheduled to begin shortly on a brand new 26 x 15-minute series featuring young Davey and his talking dog pal Goliath. A one-hour Christmas special is also in the works. The special may premiere as soon as 2003, with the series scheduled to debut in 2004. DAVEY & GOLIATH made a recent comeback in a sly 30-second spot for Mountain Dew, directed by Wreckless Abandon Studios for BBDO/NY.

Vancouver, Canada-based Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. will provide the CGI animation production for Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (CTDT) Family Entertainment's new animated series, SPIDER-MAN, slated to premiere on MTV in winter 2002. According to Mainframe, this new incarnation of the Spider-Man series, featuring Peter Parker as a college student trying to juggle school, work, relationships and being a super hero, will feature CG animation processed to have a classic animation look, combining bright, abstract colors and including a realistic neon lit city.

Anime and pigs is the winning combination for Miramax Television's kids' TV debut. TOKYO PIG, an anime comedy produced by Miramax in association with SME Visual Works, Inc. will debut on ABC Family September 14, 2002. TOKYO PIG follows the adventures of nine-year-old Spencer and his magical pet pig, Sunny. When paired with Sunny, Spencer discovers he has the ability to make whatever he imagines come to life. Each week the duo embarks on a new adventure and Spencer tries to keep his stray thoughts from running wild and turning his life upside-down.