From left to right: Scott Schultz, Christian Jacobs, Lance Robertson, Kevin Lee, J. Torres (Oni Press), Matthew Loux (Oni Press)

Today’s kid-packed Yo Gabba Gabba panel provided many cool stories about the origins of the series and insight into the production of the show, as well as a couple of newsworthy items. It even had a Dancey-Dance Off for prizes! Here’s the scoop.

J. Torres and Matthew Loux from Oni Press were on hand to talk about the upcoming Yo Gabba Gabba comics. There will be three books due this year. The first will be a 128 page oversized anthology in the fall, and the other two will be shorter comics in the ideal board-book format for younger fans. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve bought traditional comics for our toddlers, only to have the pages ripped out before we got them home. Board books are great, except for those teething who like to chew on those thick cardboard pages!

Next announcement, Vans will produce a line of Yo Gabba Gabba shoes. No date was given on when we would expect to see them in stores, but they did say they were kids sizes only – no adult sizes! Christian mentioned, “We tried to talk Vans into it, and they were like ‘what are you talking about, this is a kids show’!” The audience was instructed to email Vans to let them know we want the Yo Gabba Gabba shoes in adult sizes (you could also contact them on Facebook or Twitter as well).

The follow-up album to last year’s “Music Is Awesome” CD  was formally announced. “Music Is Awesome 2″ will be released this August – just right around the corner! And expect to see official Halloween costumes this fall as well.

And lastly, yours truly asked Christian and Scott about the oft-discussed Yo Gabba Gabba movie, and it seems it’s pretty far off. “We were developing it last year with Jason Reitman – ‘Up In The Air‘ Jason Reitman – and his daughter’s a big fan of the show”, said Jacobs. “And his schedule got so crazy once he became ‘academy award winner’ Jason Reitman. It seemed like it got really hard to get meetings, and so we amicably decided to not develop the movie together anymore, because he’s got things he’s doing. It was not a bad thing, but we’re continuing to develop it on our own, and maybe that might be a better way to at it.” At least they are still working hard on it – maybe there will be some progress at next year’s con.

The Scooby Gang will take up shop in the spooky town of Crystal Cove, where they’ll encounter their share of ghosts, ghouls, and grumpy old men in monster costumes plotting revenge. Here’s the show description from the press release:

In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the curious gang investigates every circumstance with a questioning mindset. Ghosts and monsters may exist, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and the gang will stop at nothing to learn the truth of Crystal Cove. Plus, the drama won’t be limited to paranormal activities — the gang will be portrayed as real teens with real problems, dealing with situations that arise in their families and personal relationships within the group.

Produced by the same folks who have been involved with series such as Batman: Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans and Ben 10, this series has some great animation pedigree behind it. We’re always looking for some spooky-yet-kid-friendly programming, especially during the Halloween season, and it’s exciting to know Warner Bros. Animation is putting so much quality behind it. We can’t wait.

Read the full press release here.

We think this is a weird choice. The original Monsters Inc. made a half billion dollars worldwide, but to us there was just something missing with the concept. It’s success confounds us; we think A Bug’s Life is vastly superior in just about every category, yet audiences couldn’t have disagreed more. Perhaps it was because it was Pixar’s first original franchise after Toy Story 2, just when the hype for the company was hitting a fever pitch. If there’s any consistency between our tastes and the box office, it’s that Finding Nemo is our favorite of all the Pixar films and needs a sequel stat.

And in a sign it has become the animation studio of Walt Disney Pictures, a second film from Pixar, Brave, was also announced for a 2012 release date. Yes, that makes two Pixar movies in 2012. Also the year the world ends. How convenient, we all get to perish with happy thoughts.

Brave was originally titled The Bear and The Bow and had been slated for a summer 2011 release before the bump into 2012. /Film calls this film “Pixar’s first fairy tale” and stars Reece Witherspoon as the eponymous title character. Hmmm…could be what the studio needs to fill the void left by Shrek Forever After?

We don’t know if either of these are getting the 3D treatment, but word is out that Avatar: The Last Airbender is going three-dimensional for it’s July 2 release date later this summer. As more and more studios turn to 3D at the 11th hour for fear of leaving serious sums of cash on the table – as well as setting a precedent that all films titled Avatar must be in 3D – there is growing concern with movie-goers these types of movies are nothing more than a cash grab to dupe audiences into buying those tickets priced at a premium. After the hatchet job on Clash of the Titans, we all have reason to worry.

According to Avatar: The Last Airbender producer Frank Marshall, they have been looking at using 3D “for months” and M. Night. Shyamalan will supervise the conversion process. That’s a different story from what Clash director Louis Leterrier experienced, where the movie was effectively pulled from him at the last minute to do a 3D conversion without his consent or assistance.

Mind you, we need to keep things in perspective. Avatar: The Last Airbender is still directed by Shyamalan, and we all know his track record of late. 3D can never make his awkward cameos any easier to swallow, and the only thing that could have saved The Happening would have been a 4D conversion complete with fake gusts of wind inside the theater.

But nothing this week beats the next post – this one comes from the folks behind our kids’ favorite TV show, Yo Gabba Gabba, with a photo journal of DJ Lance and the gang’s appearance at last week’s destination festival Coachella. Wait, you caught us – it’s really our favorite show. Now excuse us while we dancey-dance into the weekend…

Let’s go back and remember what else happened today:

Back To The Future’s Not The Only Movie That Went Back To The Drawing Board – Movies [io9]

More Wacky Rumors: Vanessa Hudgens in Talks to Play Spider-Woman? [/Film]

EXCLUSIVE: CAPTAIN AMERICA WILL MEET THE HOWLING COMMANDOS [CHUD]

The biggest news of the day was the Cartoon Network 2010 Upfront in New York City. Toonzone was there to bring the complete coverage of the network’s new shows. Along with the news of some of our favorites returning for another season – Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Batman: The Brave and The Bold first and foremost in our minds - here are some of the noteworthy additions to the CN lineup:

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Seriously, it’s been 40 years since the Scooby-Doo TV series first premiered, and as timeless as it has become, Casey Casem isn’t getting any younger. Enter Matthew Lillard, who did more than a fine job in the live-action adaptions to provide the voice of Shaggy in the new series. From the press release:

“With the animated Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and their talking dog Scooby-Doo are back, solving mysteries in the spooky town of Crystal Cove, a sleepy coastal village that boasts a long history of ghostly sightings, werewolves and glowing deep sea divers. From Warner Bros. Animation, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated features the voices of Frank Welker (What’s New, Scooby-Doo?) as Fred/Scooby-Doo, Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life) as Velma, Grey DeLisle (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) as Daphne and Matthew Lillard (the Scooby-Doo films) as Shaggy. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (both credited for Duck Dodgers, Back at the Barnyard, Space Jam) are the supervising producers.”

Any mention of Scooby-Doo in the same sentence as Batman: The Brave and the Bold gets us excited. Too bad CN already aired the pilot episode last week without telling any of us, but Wired’s GeekDad caught it in the wild before it disappeared. You know what would be cool? If this Scooby reboot took on a tone similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sure reads like it could.

The Looney Tunes Show

If there’s one thing that breaks our hearts, it’s that Bugs and the gang just haven’t been able to hold a new generation of fans. The last ongoing series featuring the popular WB characters that folks remember was Tiny Tunes - maybe because that was the last good series – but this new premise sounds interesting:

“A new half-hour animated comedy series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. No longer confined to 7-minute shorts, Bugs and Daffy are out of the woods and living in the suburbs among such colorful neighbors as Yosemite Sam, Granny, Tweety and Sylvester. In addition to each episode’s main story, The Looney Tunes Show also features “cartoons within a cartoon.” The Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian and other classic characters sing original songs in two-minute music videos called Merrie Melodies and the Road Runner and Coyote are featured in 2-1/2 minute CG shorts. This all new series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (both Duck Dodgers, Back at the Barnyard, Space Jam) are the supervising producers.”

With cel-shaded CG nowadays like Handy Manny, we think they can do some cool things with Road Runner, Marvin and Taz. But Bugs in the ‘burbs? If only it were like The ‘burbs, we’d be all over this one.

Young Justice

The JLA meets Runaways in this new take on DC Comics’ popular band of heroes. Robin, Superboy, Kid Flash and Aqualad are joined by Miss Martian and Artemis. We looked, but no sign of Urkel in this one. Sorry.

“In Young Justice, being a teenager means proving yourself over and over—to peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you’re not just a normal teenager? What if you’re a teenage super hero? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy of the Justice League? That’s exactly what the members of Young Justice—Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis—will found out, whether they have what it takes to be a proven hero. This all-new series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon characters from DC Comics. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman Doomsday, The Batman) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, W.I.T.C.H.) are the producers.”

It does have Gargoyles pedigree, in addition to the tried-and-true DC animation producers, but we think the make-or-break for this series will be the animation. Give us good action sequences and we’re on board; deliver teen angst exposition from Artemis…uh, yeah.

Firebreather

Firebreather is not a new series, but rather the network’s first CG animated feature premiering next season. The premise sounds like Avatar (The Last Airbender) meets Teen Wolf, and involves a high-schooler who finds out he has a “hot” lineage:

“Cartoon Network’s first original all-CG animation adventure presents Duncan Rosenblatt, a rather typical, awkward high school kid, except that his dad is a fire-breathing monster who tells Duncan that he is destined to protect the earth. Firebreather is created and co-executive-produced by Phil Hester (The Wretch), co-executive-produced by Andy Kuhn (Freedom Ring) and executive-produced by Julia Pistor (Lemony Snicket). Jim Krieg (Ben 10: Alien Force) joins as writer with Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) directing.”

This one would be a footnote if it weren’t for the mention of Peter Chung. A franchise in the making? We’ll see.

Sym-Bionic Titan

Okay, this is the one that has us most excited. “Giant robot battles”? Check. “High school comedy”? Check. Genndy Tartakovsky? HOLY CHECK.

“From creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack) comes an exciting hybrid of giant robot battles and high school comedy. Sym-Bionic Titan follows the lives of three alien teenagers who crash-land on Earth and must protect their new home from alien invaders while navigating the perils of high school life. Sym-Bionic Titan is being produced at Cartoon Network Studios and will premiere on Cartoon Network this summer.”

We’ll be glued to our TV sets this summer for this one for certain.

The full press release can be found here. Below are some of the other top stories of the day:

Sam Jackson Weighs In On Joss Whedon Directing ‘Avengers’ And Chris Evans Playing Captain America [MTV Splash Page]

How To Select Fighting Game Characters The MARVEL Way [Kotaku]

LEGO Harry Potter Collector’s Edition Announced [Gameinformer]

After debuting to record numbers and claiming the #1 series across the entire basic cable landscape in 2008 and through January 2009 with boys 6-11, Cartoon Network announced today that it has picked-up a second season of the hit CG-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas and Lucasfilm Animation. Slated to premiere in the fall of 2009, the second season will continue to take audiences on new and exciting adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with innovative animation. The season one finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars airs on Cartoon Network Friday, March 20 at 9 pm ET/PT.

Source: Cartoon Network Retains The Clone Wars!

Steve gave an overview of the movie and the series, and announced that the final episode in Season 1 will be aired on March 20th. What he said next made the audience snap to attention in their seats. He began talking about the upcoming Season 1 DVD boxed set, and how the set has yet to be completed. He then showed the fans two bonus content video clips that Lucasfilm was considering including in the DVD boxed set. Fans were asked to vote on which clip would be included as bonus material by the level of their applause after each video clip.

Dave [Filoni] ended his video clip by showing fans a never-before-seen compilation of scenes from the final 3-part series that will end Season 1 of The Clone Wars entitled The Ryloth Trilogy. I’m not going to detail what was shown in the segment for the sake of spoilers (those who know me know how I feel about spoilers), but I will say this about what was shown: fans are in for one HELL of a season finale. The action is ramped up to all-new levels, and the animated premiere of certain characters is mind-blowing.

Source: New York Comic Con 2009

The panel discussion was dominated by announcements on the Emmy award-winning, TIME Magazine Top 10 show (and MDIAG! fav), Yo Gabba Gabba . Here are the highlights:

• New episodes of Season 2 will debut in April. Finally!
• Expect more YGG toys this year as part of a “toy aisle blitz”. We are surprised by this news – if the amount of YGG toys sitting on clearance aisles at Target is any indication, we would have assumed they weren’t selling as well as they should. Couple that with the amount of YGG merchandise produced for the holidays and its scarce availability at retailers (read: department and chain store buyers aren’t buying, sending merchandise to secondary sellers on Amazon Marketplace and eBay), and we would have expected the opposite.
• W!LDBRAIN hope to have a comic book deal in place by this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and are developing an online “comic-maker application”. More laptop fun with the kiddies!
• Two more DVD releases are slated for 2009, and they are entertaining the possibility of releasing an official soundtrack to retailers, instead of just to iTunes (and now Amazon). Nonetheless, they say sales of YGG music and episodes on iTunes have been popular.
• YGG will get its own YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes videos.

And the biggest news thus far, work has begun on a Yo Gabba Gabba feature-length film! No specifics other than it will be a 90-minute narrative including all the favorite characters in Gabbaland, and they are aiming to have a line-up of celebrity cameos just like the TV show.

Source: NYCC2009: W!LDBRAIN on “Team Smithereen” and “Yo Gabba Gabba!”

• The Marvel Super Hero Squad series, based on those lovable super-deformed versions of your favorite superheroes. According to Marvel, it will be an “action comedy series”, and will star Iron Man as the leader, with Hulk, Thor, Falcon, Silver Surfer and Wolverine on the team. According to the live blog, there are tons of villains and even more heroes to star,including Fantastic Four, Hawkeye, Storm, Wasp, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Misty Knight. No date has been announced yet, but episodes will be shown at conventions throughout the year. A tie-in video game was also unveiled.

• Iron Man: Armored Adventures, a mix of CGI and cell animation, to premier on Nicktoons April 24. It appears to be similar in style to the Spider-Man animation series which aired on MTV a few years back.

• The Wolverine and the X-Men series has been green-lit for a second season, which will be a full 26 episodes. The first DVD of the series will be released on April 21.

• Spectacular Spider-Man will be returning to television “soon”, but no other information was given during the panel.

• Thor is getting his own animated series, which is currently very early in development and will tie in with the theatrical release in 2010. And in hopes they will finally do the comic justice, Marvel is trying its hand at another Avengers animated series, called The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, for fall 2011.

• Most likely with the cross-over to Disney’s XD network, Marvel teased some of those Jetix shows will be coming to Marvel.com in the future. No further information was given.

Source: New York Comic Con 2009: Marvel Animation Panel Live Blog

You see, when Congress postponed the mandatory cutover date from its original place on the calender (February 17th), it also gave stations the option of sticking to that original date. Thus, what could end up happening is that half a city’s local OTA stations would go all-digital in under two weeks, while the others delayed things until June.

Time to justify the purchase of a new compact HDTV set as a replacement, right?

Source: Stations can still yank analog plug this month, though many won’t

So color us interested whenever something Clone Wars-related pops up in our aggregators. Behold, George Takei on his role as the villainous Lok Durd:

“Star Trek is science fiction,” said Takei. “Star Wars is science fantasy. Based on the episodes I worked on, I think with Star Wars: Clone Wars we’re starting to see a merging though. It does deal, philosophically, with some of the issues of the time, which is always something Star Trek was known for. War, Peace, Technology, Humanity, Sacrifice and Courage; these issues. I found that engaging.

The article points out Takei is the first actor to work on both Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. We assume that would be first lead actor, and it makes us long for a place in Star Wars lore for a bare-chested Ricardo Montalban. Maybe Lucas can make Khan shoot first in the next Special Edition…

Source: From ‘Trek’ to ‘Wars’: George Takei on Clone Wars