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Once again claiming a centerpiece slot at the Annecy Animation Festival, this year’s Netflix’s animation showcase teased upcoming title “Leo” with an intro from Adam Sandler, drew buzz for series like “Blue Eye Samurai” with a stirring display, and offered an extended behind the scenes peak at “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” with the creative team in tow.

Taking the stage to a warm welcome, Aardman co-founder Peter Lord, producer Leyla Hobart and the film’s director Sam Fell world premiered 12 minutes of fowl footage and shared technical details about a long-awaited sequel set to hatch on December 15 – the same end-of-year perch where Netflix placed “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”

“Dawn of the Nugget” picks up twelve (screen) years after the first film, and in the intervening decade Ginger and Rocky (now voiced by Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi) have had Molly (Bella Ramsey). We meet the...

Den Of Geek Nov 24, 2016

Ron Thornton – who worked on Bablyon 5, Star Trek, Spaceballs and more – has sadly passed away.

We have some sad news to pass: visual effects pioneer Ron Thornton has passed away after a lengthy battle with illness.

Thornton began his career working in special effects for Doctor Who and Blake’s 7, and went on to forge an impressive path through the world of visual effects. He worked on sixty-five episodes of Babylon 5 (through his company, Foundation Imaging), seven of Star Trek: Enterprise, and seventeen of Star Trek: Voyager (on which he co-created Species 8472 and worked on the famous crash landing scene from Timeless, which earned an Emmy nomination).

His visual effects prowess was also implemented on Star Trek: Nemesis, Starship Troopers: The Series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the 2005 version of Captain Scarlet and the 2001 directors edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He worked in models and miniatures,...

“Demons run when a Good Man goes to war,” went the ancient line. But the problem is, The Doctor is no longer sure he’s a good man. Further problem is, neither is Clara. So The Doctor’s not quite sure what he’s going to do when he’s invited to go…

Into The Dalek

By Phil Ford and Steven Moffat

Directed by Ben Wheatley

Human rebel fighter Journey Blue is about to have her ship destroyed by a Dalek saucer when The Doctor saves her by materializing the ship around her, a move for which he expects and demands a thank you. Returning her back to her command ship, he’s quickly arrested, until Journey tells them he’s a Doctor…which is lucky because they have a patient. The patient is a Dalek, who is malfunctioning. As in, it has become good – it is raving that the Daleks must be defeated.

ITV's new series brings in Rosamund Pike as voice of Lady Penelope, with David Graham returning as chauffeur Parker

Rosamund Pike will provide the voice of Lady Penelope in the new ITV version of Thunderbirds in a cast that also includes Fonejacker's Kayvan Novak.

However, some things remain the same: David Graham, who provided the distinctive nasal tones of Lady Penelope's chauffeur, Parker, in the original 1960s children's series, is to reprise the role.

Pike, the actor best known for her role as a double agent opposite Pierce Brosnan in James Bond film Die Another Die, said she was "very excited to bring Lady Penelope's wry wit and taste for adventure to a new generation".

The new series, which will be called Thunderbirds are Go!, also sees the return of Graham as the voice of Parker. Graham voiced Parker, along with three other puppet characters, in the original series...

Dust off your homemade Tracy Island playset - the Thunderbirds are set to go again in 2015. Gerry Anderson's classic children's series is to be revived and revamped "using a unique mix of CGI animation and live-action model sets" for 26 new half-hour episodes, to air on ITV and Citv in two years' time.

News that an old favourite - particularly a kids' show we feel all warm and nostalgic about - is to be tampered and tinkered with always leads to a little trepidation, but having had a day to absorb it, the Week in Geek is going to consider whether a Thunderbirds revival should fill us with dread or with childish glee...

> Week in Geek - Lost, Fringe, Person of Interest: Jj Abrams cult TV hits

> Week in Geek - Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D.: Our wishlist for the comic book drama

© Pa...

Children's TV series to return in 2015, 50 years after it launched, and will be made with New Zealand special effects team

Thunderbirds are back! The children's TV series will return to ITV in 2015, 50 years after Thunderbird 1 first launched from under the swimming pool on Tracy Island and Parker drove Lady Penelope around in a pink Rolls-Royce, number plate FAB1.

The new series, which has the working title Thunderbirds Are Go!, will be made with the New Zealand special effects studio that worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Thunderbirds first appeared on ITV in 1965 featuring Gerry Anderson's famous "supermarionation" puppet techniques. Anderson, whose other TV shows included Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Space 1999, died on 26 December last year, aged 83.

The 26-part series will be made in collaboration with the Oscar-winning Weta Workshop, which worked on Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, and will...

Thunderbirds is to be revamped for a new 2015 series.

Thunderbirds are Go! will update the classic '60s series using a combination of CGI animation and live-action model sets.

© Pa Images / Yui Mok/Pa Archive

['Thunderbirds' creator Gerry Anderson with his beloved puppets]

An order has been made for 26 half-hour episodes to air on ITV and the Citv channel, marking 50 years since the Gerry Anderson original debuted in 1965.

Anderson - who created the 'Supermarionation' series as a follow-up to his previous children's hit Stingray - passed away late last year.

The revamped Thunderbirds is being produced by ITV Studios and New Zealand-based Pukeko Pictures, in collaboration with the world-famous Weta Workshop (Avatar, The Lord of the Rings).

ITV Studios' Denise O'Donoghue said: "Thunderbirds is a highly respected brand that continues to hold recognition around the world. This cult series is often credited as changing the history of animation and action-adventure, and we look forward to taking the...

The BBC had a gap in their schedule following the end of The Sarah Jane Adventures due to the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen. However, the popular Doctor Who spin-off is to be replaced by a show from many of the same writers, Wizards vs Aliens, a show which reportedly does exactly what it says on the tin.

Writer and co-creator Phil Ford (The Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, Torchwood, the new Captain Scarlet) has just tweeted:

“Principal photography on Wizards vs Aliens has just begun!! Hooray! Best of luck to everyone involved!”

Only a few days before, he tweeted:

“Just done the first full cast read-through for Wizards vs Aliens. So excited. Very happy!”

Ford's enthusiasm is infectious, though no doubt completely warranted based on the high-concept title alone.

As his co-creator Russell T. Davies says, "it was called Aliens vs Wizards until a lawyer stepped in, but there we go.

From Screen Rant:

A few weeks back the name Joseph Gatt made headlines everywhere when it was reported that he had been cast into a “secret role” for the upcoming Thor movie. We knew nothing more about it other than his history of work on some major video game titles and a few roles on TV and in several films. We had that and some guesses as to which character from the Thor comics he could be playing.

I had a chance to speak with Joe Gatt over the holidays and briefly again on Monday after the first day of Thor’s principal photography where I tried to get some hints on what character he could be playing in the movie, whether or not he could be involved in the game and if he could play the part of Kratos in the God of War movie. In our discussion, we...

A few weeks back the name Joseph Gatt made headlines everywhere when it was reported that he had been cast into a “secret role” for the upcoming Thor movie. We knew nothing more about it other than his history of work and guesses as to which character from the Thor comics he could be playing.

I had a chance to speak with Joe Gatt over the holidays and briefly again on Monday after the first day of Thor’s principal photography where I tried to get some hints on what character he could be playing in the movie. In our discussion, we talked about the Thor movie and his character, how he got into the business, his diverse background which includes working as a motion capture actor in some triple-a video game titles, and his favorite films.

From what I’ve gathered, Joe will be playing an Asgardian character with...

LONDON -- Classic ITV shows including Brideshead Revisited, Goodnight Mr. Tom and Captain Scarlet will be available via iTunes under a content deal unveiled Tuesday by ITV global content head Dawn Airey.

Customers accessing the download site will be able to choose from more than 260 hours of programming, with such shows as Inspector Morse, The Prisoner, The Saint and adaptations of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Emma being offered later in the year.

Shows will cost from 1.89 pounds ($3.76) per download and can be viewed on Macs, PCs, iPods and iPhones.

Some 38 million videos have been downloaded from ITV's own broadband portal, ITV.com, since the service launched last October.

ITV content also will be licensed to the forthcoming VOD platform Kangaroo, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.