Animagic Entertainment has begun production on BALLOONATIKS, a new comic-action adventure CGI series being produced by The Krislin Company. The first episode is slated to show in October 2001 at MIPCOM. According to series producer Walk Kubiak (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, THE SMURFS), “We have successfully developed a 3D look that challenges in quality and richness any high-end CGI-produced feature film, while working within the constraints of a typical Saturday morning budget.” Grammy award-winner Ray Parker Jr. composed the theme song and will provide music for the series. A BALLOONATIKS book series is also being published by Animagic Publishing. The LPC Group is set to distribute the books, which will be available in October. T.G.I. Friday’s, a U.S. restaurant chain, will be kicking-off a nation-wide promotion in November. The publishing effort is being headed by Jay Poynor, Animagic’s president, a three-time Emmy winning executive producer for his work on GARFIELD. Book editor and writer Erica Orloff has penned the book series. BALLOONATIKS pits the evil Dr. Popemoff and his henchmen against a group of teenagers transformed by a high school science experiment gone awry.