The IRON GIANT on HBO
July 11th, 2000
Gookie

For those like myself who can't seem to ever get enough of The Iron Giant, Brad Bird's critically-acclaimed Warner Bros animated feature, cable channel HBO has granted your wish. Beginning Saturday, July 15 at 7:30 pm, The Iron Giant will be airing a total of 8 times throughout the month of July on HBO East and West, respectively.

Here's the July schedule, courtesy of HBO.com:

Saturday, July 15 -- 7:30pm (HBO East)
Saturday, July 15 -- 10:30pm (HBO West)
Tuesday, July 18 - 12:00pm (HBO East)
Tuesday, July 18 - 3:00pm (HBO West)
Tuesday, July 18 - 8:00pm (HBO East)
Tuesday, July 18 - 11:00pm (HBO West)
Sunday, July 23 - 8:00am (HBO East)
Sunday, July 23 - 11:00am (HBO West)
Sunday, July 23 - 5:30pm (HBO East)
Sunday, July 23 - 8:30pm (HBO West)
Friday, July 28 - 8:30am (HBO East)
Friday, July 28 - 11:30am (HBO West)
Friday, July 28 - 4:00pm (HBO East)
Friday, July 28 - 7:00pm (HBO West)
Monday, July 31 - 3:30pm (HBO East)
Monday, July 31 - 6:30pm (HBO West)

Thanks to Emile St. Claire for posting this news to The Iron Giant Mailing List.

Also worth mentioning is Gregory Singer's article in the July 2000 edition of Animation World Magazine, where he mentions some of the highlights
of the recent Animation World Celebration.

Singer reports that The Iron Giant panel, hosted by director Brad Bird, producer Allison Abbate and supervising animators Tony Fucile and Steve Markowski, was one of the best-attended events. Besides the panel discussion, attendees were treated to "clips of scenes that were cut from the final movie -- for constraints of time, money and storyline". Also included were some brief, gag animations "that the artists had done in their spare time, such as Hogarth doing the moonwalk and the Giant dancing around like a ballerina".

Iron Giant fans can only hope such gems will be included on the much-rumored special edition DVD release of IG that is said to be in development, with Brad Bird personally overseeing the project.

Image from the Official Iron Giant Web Site

Batman With a Big Ego
July 11th, 2000
Gookie

ComicsContinuum
reports that the 64-page BATMAN: EGO arrives in comic stores on August 30th. This graphic novel "offers a glimpse of the psychological conflicts that drove Batman early in his career". The story is written by and features art from Darwyn Cooke, who worked alongside Bruce Timm on storyboards for Batman: The Animated Series. For preview pictures, follow the links below:

Cover Art
Pic #1
Pic #2
Pic #3
Pic #4

Naaaaarf! Pinky & The Brain on KidsWB!
July 11th, 2000
Romey

Thanks to faithful fan support in voting for Pinky & The Brain on KidsWB.com's "Click & Pick" poll, a WB 'toon fan favorite returns to the lineup this weekend for one showing only on July 15th at 9:30am. The episode will be #59 - "A Legendary Tail".

To support your favorite supporting characters to be included in the ALL-STAR lineup on KidsWB! for July 29th, click & pick here.

In Passing: Don Foster
July 11th, 2000
Gookie

Jerry Beck reported earlier this week the sad news that Don Foster, an "unsung member" of Warner Bros cartoons died of lung cancer at the age of 82 on May 12, 2000.
>From 1950 onward, Foster was responsible for lettering the titles for all WB cartoons. According to Beck, "[Foster] must have hand-lettered the word ACME more than anyone in the world. It's been said that Foster actually "drew" the famous Chuck Jones signature." Colleague Martha Sigall said of Foster, "Don will surely be missed. He was a good friend to all who knew him and, like many others in the animation business, he had a great sense of humor."

The Famous June ForayJuly 11th, 2000
Gookie

Toon Zone would like to congratulate June Foray on the July 7 award of her much-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. June began her career in voice acting at the tender young age of 12. In an interview by Michelle Klein-Häss, June stated, "My dramatic teacher had a radio show, and so I went on it. By the time I was 15, I joined the WBZA Players in Springfield on a regular basis. Acting has been an important part of my life certainly since my school years...I managed to have a part in just about every school play that was put on. I have to hand it to Mrs. Larson...she really taught me a lot about being a professional."

>From those humble beginnings, June went on to voice some of animation's most beloved characters, such as Warner Bros' Witch Hazel and Granny, and Rocket J. Squirrel, Natasha Fatale and Nell Fenwick in the classic Jay Ward cartoons. Among her hundreds of other roles in animation, she is also the voice of the world's first talking doll, Mattel's "Chatty Cathy".

June's most recent work has been as the voice of Grandmother Fa in Disney's "Mulan" (1998), and in her recurring role as Granny on KidsWB's "The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries". She will also be featured as Granny in the upcoming direct-to-video feature, "Tweety's High-Flying Adventure", and can currently be heard voicing Rocky J. Squirrel in the feature live-action/animated film, "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle". And be sure to visit renegadecartoons.com where June voices the villainess Salamagrundy in the highly-entertaining Flash-animation serial, "Elmo Aardvark: Outerspace Detective".

For further information on June Foray, along with animation credits and other articles and interviews, such as the one by David Germain at Yahoo! News, please visit June's category at The Voice Actors Ultimate Links Treasury.

Daffy Days Clearance @ The WB Studio Store New P&TB "Bumper Sticker" Too!
July 11th, 2000
Gookie

If there's a Warner Bros Studio Store in your area, now would be a great time to visit. For the remainder of July, the annual DAFFY DAYS Summer Clearance Sale offers a 25% discount on selected items. Among these selected items are Pinky and The Brain character pins, the relatively new  P&TB keychain, Yakko, Wakko, Riddler and Poison Ivy figurines from the WB Minature Classic Collection, and lots of other great stuff for other us collector-types. Also sighted were two P&TB t-shirts ("Conquer Your Fear" and "Genius/Ingenius") for just $10 each, so get yours now while the gettin's good.

And lest I forget, the latest new P&TB item to grace the WBSS:

http://toonzone.net/gookie/pics/brain4prez.jpg

I took a risk scanning this - it's a magnet. It retails for $4.50 and is the same size as your average bumper sticker (11 x 3 - note that it's larger than the size pictured above). I bought two of them. Show your support for the "campaign" and buy a couple too!