TVSquad

It's 'toon news time. Here's some stuff my fellow animation freaks might find interesting:

• First off, thanks to reader Ytoabn for telling us about the Frederator Films, a new animation studio (spun off from Frederator Studios) that has a Samurai Jack feature film slated as one of its first projects. Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky will write and direct the movie.
• The Onion's AV Club has two cool interviews with fans of new and not-so-new 'toons: Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi and Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants (and many other voices).

The first season of The Powerpuff Girls comes out on DVD June 19. The series, created by Craig McCracken (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends), debuted on the Cartoon Network in the late '90s, first as occasional shorts on such showcases as What A Cartoon and then later developing into an actual series.

On the surface, Powerpuff Girls appeared to be little more than a cute action cartoon for the Hello Kitty set, but McCracken has a knack for throwing in plenty of pop culture references for the adults, and, frankly, it's just cool to see a cartoon starring three tough little girls who aren't damsels in distress. The basic shapes and vibrant colors mixed with the simple lessons learned in each episode, then combined with action sequences borrowed heavily from Japanese animation, resulted in a series that resembled a preschool show taken over by caffeine-addled weirdos, which is the highest compliment I can think of.

First of all, some Adult Swim news:

The first Brak Show webisode is now online. Go watch it.

Also, some cool news for Metalocalypse fans: a brand new Dethklok album will be released on September 25, followed by the release of the first season DVD one week later. Before all of that, however, a brand new 2nd season, with that fresh "2nd season smell" will hit Adult Swim one week before the CD release. NOTE: Thanks to Holly for pointing out that this information changed since I first posted this.

Finally, you can bid on a tour of the Robot Chicken studio. Seth Green himself will be your tour guide.

Here's what's coming up on Adult Swim:

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, as mentioned previously, has received an order for thirty new episodes.

Moral Orel has also been picked up for a third season (which I already knew, but I was sworn to secrecy until it was officially announced). Also, the latter half of the second season kicks off this Sunday.

The first season of Metalocalypse, which finished off last week, will be available on DVD in the summer of 2007, according to DethKlok's lead singer Nathan Explosion (each of the band members have their own MySpace). The message was sent as a bulletin to members of the site, but you can check it out in the Toon Zone forums, also.

The message also teases that there may be a second season of the series, telling fans to pay close attention to the last line of the season's last episode. Since that line was something like, "The Metalocalypse has begun" I'm going to say that's a pretty good sign we'll be seeing more of the brutal but not-especially-bright boys of DethKlok in the future.

Also, a full-length DethKlok album will be available this summer. The CD will include complete songs featured in the show, as well as some new stuff. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for new information on both of these releases as more pops up. ROCK.

Back in August I posted a clip of Brendon Small, creator of Home Movies and Metalocalypse, performing a stand-up routine as a mumbling character called Captain Mustache. Home Movies ranks as one of my favorite shows of all time, and Metalocalypse holds a special place in my dark, twisted heart for its over-the-top depiction of the raw brutality of heavy metal. Small has a knack for divining humor out of what seems like thin air, and I'm both entertained and made insanely jealous by his talent. The same YouTube user who posted the original Captain Mustache video has posted another one, and you can watch it after the jump. This time the Captain even sings and plays the piano, giving a whole new dimension to Toto's "Africa" that just might make you weep at its brilliance.

This is why Zeus created the DVR, animation lovers. According to an updated schedule grid, Adult Swim has a few marathons planned for the month of December. Fans of Bleach, Metalocalypse (ROCK!!!), Squidbillies, Robot Chicken, Venture Brothers and Boondocks pay heed, cause here's what's being served up:

On Christmas, gather the family around the television for a fifteen-episode, out of order Venture Brothers marathon beginning at 10:30 pm.

On December 26th, a marathon of episodes one through fifteen of The Boondocks begins at 10:30 pm.

Robot Chicken marathon on December 27: Episodes ten through forty starting at 10:30 pm.

Squidbillies marathon: Episodes one through twenty, then a repeat of episodes one through ten, starting at 10:30 pm on December 28.

Bleach marathon: Episodes one through fourteen kicking off at 11 pm on December 30.

Metalocalypse marathon: Episodes one through twenty, followed by a repeat of episodes one through twelve, starting at 10 pm on December 31.

Okay gang, here's what I'm looking forward to in the new fall season. Slip on your reading socks and enjoy:

1. The return of South Park: Many shows have a tendency of starting off strong and then entering a slow decline if they stay on for too long. South Park is one series that I think has actually improved with every season, and last season's episodes, most notably the two-part "Cartoon Wars," contained some of the most hysterical and vicious jabs at every religion, political affiliation and societal norm you could think of. As Stan so rightly points out, either everything is okay to make fun of, or nothing is. That mantra is what makes South Park still one of the best shows on television, even as it enters its tenth year.

2 and 3. New Adult Swim shows from the creators of Home Movies and Sealab 2021: Brendon Small created one of my favorite shows of all time, Home Movies. His new Metalocalypse, which he created with Tommy Blacha (a writer for Conan and TV Funhouse) won't have the same poignancy of Home Movies, but that's just fine with me. Also, the crew behind Sealab 2021, an Adult Swim "classic" if it's not too early to use such a term, are also returning with Frisky Dingo, the tale of a super hero named Awesome-X whose secret identity is that of Xander Crews, a billionaire who makes money from the toys based on his alter ego. He battles Killface, an evil mastermind who wants to plunge the Earth into the sun, but only if he doesn't lose interest in his plan. I'm anxious to see how both of these shows fare.

(S01E01) "By the power of all that is evil I command you to awaken and make me a sandwich!"

This is an early review courtesy of Adult Swim Fix.

Are you metal? I don't mean are you made of a durable alloy of some sort, I mean do you RAWK* in every conceivable way that one can RAWK? I think I used to be slightly metal, but my frail body couldn't take it so I had to give it up for folk music. Sad, really.

Anyway, Dethklok is a death metal band of mythical proportions, a group of five musicians who so embody everything that is metal they're unable to really function in any other capacity. They're the idiot savants of metal, which is just fine because their worldwide fan base has made them worth billions of dollars. In the premiere episode, over 300,000 fans gather at the Arctic Circle to hear one song from the band, a jingle they've written for a coffee commercial. Lead singer Nathan Explosion insists the band has not sold out, and that they will not only make coffee metal, they'll make EVERYTHING metal. Encased inside a gigantic cube, the band parachutes from their restaurant/helicopter, missing their target and smashing several people in the process. Then the cube opens its spiked doors to reveal the stage, also killing more people. During the song large pots of coffee are poured onto audience members, burning the skin off their bones. This is why all fans are forced to sign "pain waivers" before entering a Dethklok concert.