Summit Entertainment, distributors of the soon-to-be-released and much anticipated Astro Boy full-length CGI animated movie, have October 23, 2009 as the official release. YIPPEE!!

Imagi, the grunt behind this fantastical graphical wonderment, have recently posted a few more snapshots of what we can expect here and there are now two trailers and the original teaser showing off some incredible CGI magic.

Do not doubt for one second that the depth and darkness of the original Astro Boy — created by the unquestioned God and creator of Manga, Osamu Tezuka — will not be nipped and tucked for the family friendly demographic that the trailers seem to be aiming for.

Let’s be honest here, over the years Astro Boy has been reworked in cartoon format at least three times [...]

Forget December 21, 2012. Those Mayan’s wouldn’t know a significant date if they stared at the sun and the moon and the stars for thousands of years from huge monuments built specifically to track the movements of these objects throughout the heavens and their unique relationship to the tiny speck of dirt we call earth. PAH!

Tomorrow is 07/08/09. So at 12.34 and 56 seconds (both AM and PM) it will be — I am told — 12:34:56 7/8/9 [...]

So geeks, quite a while ago now I wrote an enormous piece about Tezuka’s Astro Boy, his cartoonical history and his place amongst the greats within the birth of Manga.

I know that October 2009 is still a considerable distance for people who have not yet mastered the traversing of parallel universes in order to cheat time, but the trailer recently appeared on astroboy-themovie.com and I am SUPER STOKED!

Watch the teaser trailer here below and check out the phenomenal action that IMAGI have, once again, masterfully employed. And check out the voice talent — Nicolas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Donald Sutherland, Matt Lucas!!!

IMAGI are the tech gurus behind the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Digitization. Say what you will about the plot, the apparent lack of zaniness we are used to with the TMNT crew, but can you fault the graphics? Exactly [...]

I was watching E Hollywood Soup the other night and was OVERJOYED to hear (and see) Seth Green announce that Adult Swim on The Cartoon Network will be premiering Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II on November 16 at 11:30pm (ET/PT).

Anyone who saw the first Robot Chicken: Star Wars Special will know, this will be a RIOT.

GoD salutes Seth Green and the whole crew from Stoopid Monkey/Robot Chicken for continually managing to demonstrate the firepower of their fully operational comedic genius at the innocent and peaceful planet of the dull and treacherous everyday. (They could pick a another target, a MILITARY target, they could just NAME THE SYSTEM…)

Really, those five of you that have never heard of Matt Stone or Trey Parker and the universe of South Park can just either stop reading right now or, as Cartman says, “RESPEC’ MY AUTHORATAAAA!”

The recently released South Park: The Complete Eleventh Season holds another 14 episodes of manic and uncensored hijinks from the infamous clan of Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny as they continue to boldly go where nobody really should in grade 4.

The Season Eleven DVD of the Comedy Central series includes the three-episode “Imaginationland” arc, which was released separately on DVD earlier this year.

“Special features are bad, mmmkay?”

As anyone with any previous seasons experience will tell you, they are a long way from special. Only Stone and Parker’s commentary at the beginning of each show gives us any insight into how this brilliant abomination of 2D animation comes to life and how intense it must be to be on the staff…

BY far my favorite televisual feast has to be the Emmy-winning Robot Chicken on Adult Swim. Take away any form of guidance whatsoever and let a couple of graduates from “The Eternally Revolving College of Beer Pong” revel in their own distinctive, twisted, sometimes sick humor with absolutely no compromise. Add to the mix the fact that the characters in this entirely stop-motion animated show come from the graveyard of toys and action figures from the last 20 odd years of television and movie marketing and you have the ingredients for some serious side-splitting laughs.

Enter the newly released DVD Robot Chicken: Star Wars Special. The brainchild of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich under the guise of Stoopid Monkey Productions, in conjunction with Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico’s ShadowMachine. Just under half an hour of action figures and remodeled toys from various Star Wars movies parading around in a collection of skits from deep within the insanity that is Stoopid Monkey Productions. Seriously, Boba Fett’s private moment with the carbonite-encrusted Han Solo? Admiral Ackbar Cereal? This stuff is mad funny and I think I have now watched the DVD 5 times already. Hey, it’s under half an hour and the work these animators put in really deserves closer inspection…

Hot on the heels of the motion picture adaptation comes this new generation of Speed Racer, which sets up the new animated half-hour TV series airing on the Nicktoons Network.

David Attenborough hosts this 4-disc 10-episode BBC series that highlights the diversification of mammals and explores the furthest reaches of their habitat.

Ry Cooder provides the score while Norah Jones and other various artists round out this soundtrack to the upcoming Wong Kar Wai film.

This 3-DVD set includes 20 episodes of the 1990′s cartoon series based on the popular SEGA video game character and contains a fourth bonus CD with music from the show.

Carlton’s third release is more pop oriented and features a track with Stevie Nicks.

New concept art for the animated feature coming to theaters in 2009.

A few words with the genius behind those hilarious “Shreds” rock videos on YouTube.

The Golden Anniversary Edition DVD of Felix the Cat has all 31 episodes from the 1958-59 TV series, plus a short film made in 1920 that is tagged as the precursor to Felix.

Compositions comes off as a very tasty and well-recorded fusion of some unexpected styles and some intense tune-smithery.