AWN Headline News

New York-based studioNEXT.com Corporation and Voyager Entertainment, Inc.have announced a partnership to bring the Japanese television series, STARBLAZERS, to the Internet. The series first appeared on US television in1979, and lasted for three seasons. The story of STAR BLAZERS is about agroup of heroic voyagers who, in order to save Earth from invasion, journeyon the starship Argo to battle the diabolical forces of Gamilon, the evilstellar empire. "There has been further interest to bring back STAR BLAZERS

San Francisco-based MetaCreations Corp., which develops and markets 2D and 3Dvisualization software for graphic artists and the World Wide Web, hasannounced Carrara 1.0, a 3D modeling and animation solution for print,video and the Web. Carrara will contain a hybrid Ray Tracer, advancedshader editors, multiple modelers, real-time Metaballs, particle systems,3D light sources, lens flares, motion blur, key framing, physical effects,deformers and more. Carrara will introduce a workflow called SmartFlow that

The Fantoche International AnimationFestival, which was held August 31-September 5 in Baden/Zurich,Switzerland, has announced its award winners. The jury, which was comprisedof Linda Simensky (USA), Pierre Hébert (Canada), Michail Aldashin (Russia),Franziska Oliver (CH) and Frédéric Maire (CH), awarded the following prizes:

First Prize 'Best Film'MAJOR'S NOSE by Michail Lisowoi

Second Prize 'High Risk'GRACE by Lorelei Pepi

Third Prize 'Encouragement-Prize'

Fox Family Channel, which was launched on August 15, 1998 when Fox took over the Family Channel, hasannounced its fall schedule. The schedule includes four new animatedseries: WEIRD-OHS is about three kids uncovering the mysteries of life;KIDS FROM ROOM 402, based on the book, GRACIE GRAVES AND THE KIDS FROM ROOM402 by Betty Paraskevas, is about a classroom of ten year old eccentrics;ANGELA ANACONDA, a cut-out style animated series, is about an eight yearold girl and her elementary school problems; and MEGA BABIES, revolves

Universal Studios Home Video is releasing ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS MEET FRANKENSTEIN. Produced anddirected by Kathi Castillo and animated at Universal Cartoon Studios inUniversal City, California, the direct-to-video shows what happens when thehavoc wrecking chipmunks encounter Dr. Frankenstein and his creation at aUniversal Studios-type amusement park. The chipmunks were created by RossBagadasarian (aka David Seville) in 1958 for the hit novelty record, "TheChipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." Seville's earlier hit, "Witch

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD has appointed BRIAN COMPTON Senior VicePresident, Chief Financial Officer. Compton will be responsible forfinancial reporting and budgeting, planning and implementation of operatingbudgets, and direction of the financial management organizations of bothUniversal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios CityWalk. Previously, Mr.Compton served as Director of Operations, Finance for Coach Leatherware, adivision of Sara Lee Corporation. He has held key financial posts with

Kid Rhino's BATMAN BEYOND soundtrack on CD and cassette was released onAugust 31, 1999 in the US. BATMAN BEYOND is a popular series that is setfifty years in the future, taking place after Warners' previous Batmanseries, THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN AND ROBIN. The album includes twentytracks. Also, the inlay and CD booklet include comments about thesoundtrack music by Bruce Timm, the series' producer, and artwork from theseries' opening sequence. The CD will retail for US$13.98, and the cassette

Hollywood, California-based CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO COMMERCIALS has signed TOMDECKER to direct spots for its commercial division. Decker is best knownfor his direction of the on-going Chuck E. Cheese campaign. From 1994-1997Decker was senior animator at Chuck Jones Productions where he worked ontheatrical shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other classiccharacters in such titles as SUPERIOR DUCK and FROM HARE TO ETERNITY.