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Animated TRON Coming to DisneyXD

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Disney — always one for smartly leveraging properties across the many arms of its empire — has given a series order to an animated follow-up to this winter’s hotly-anticipated feature film Tron: Legacy.

Tron: Uprising will debut Summer 2012 on DisneyXD, Disney’s “tween boy” network. Film screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (formerly of Lost) will consult for the show, which will be run by Charlie Bean of Samurai Jack.

The series is set to feature a rather eclectic cast, which includes Tron star Bruce Boxleitner in his role from the film, as well as Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens, Lance Henriksen, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Nate Corddry. Wood stars as the main character, Beck, who leads a revolution inside Tron‘s computerized world called the Grid.

There’s also a ten-part “microseries” that ties in with the movie on the way, which DisneyXD will air Fall 2011. There’s also a sequel already in the works to the big-screen film Tron: Legacy, so one assumes that all of these various properties (not to mention the Tron: Evolution video game) will somehow work in the same continuity without conflicting one another.

Animated Napoleon Dynamite Coming to Fox

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Cult hit comedy Napoleon Dynamite is coming to Fox — in animated form — and the entire original cast, including star Jon Heder, are providing the voices.

Six episodes of the show have been ordered so far, with more contingent on ratings. The look and feel of the characters reminds me of King of the Hill, another comedy set in rural America, but the animation duties are actually being handled by Rough Draft Studios, which has worked on Futurama, The Simpsons, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Comedy Central’s Drawn Together, among others.

‘Clone Wars’ Imports George Lucas’ Movie Character

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars is continuing to explore every last nook and cranny of the Star Wars universe, that there wasn’t time to highlight in the films. The latest aspect to fall under the magnifying glass? The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it character “Papanoida” that was played in Revenge of the Sith by none other than George Lucas himself. Lucas is not voicing the character that borrows his likeness.

Clone Wars‘ upcoming episode “Sphere of Influence” upgrades the character with a full backstory, bringing him to the forefront when Papanoida’s family is kidnapped and held for ransom. The three children in the story are modeled after Lucas’ own children, Jett, Amanda, and Katie, though none of the real-life Lucas siblings lend their voices to the production either. “Sphere of Influence” takes viewers into the underbelly of Coruscant, where Papanoida gets revved up into a blaster-shooting action hero, Han Solo style.

I’m curious to see how fans will react to this one. Fun tribute to Star Wars’ creator, or self-serving waste of a half hour? Decide for yourself when “Sphere of Influence” airs this Friday night, October 1st, on Cartoon Network. Here’s a quick glimpse at Papanoida in action:

NBC to Air New Shrek & Kung Fu Panda Specials

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Holiday season is nearly upon us, and NBC and DreamWorks are planning a pair of brand new half-hour animated specials to commemorate Halloween and Christmas.

Scared Shrekless, scheduled for October 28th, finds Shrek challenging his friends Donkey, Puss in Boots, his wife Fiona, and the franchise’s other fairy tale characters to spend the night in the former Lord Farquaad’s haunted castle. It’s planned to be paired with a rerun of last year’s Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space.

Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, airing November 24th, features panda bear Po having to choose between his family and his duties as Dragon Warrior when he’s asked to host a winter feast at the Jade Palace. It will be paired with a rerun of last year’s Merry Madagascar.

Clone Wars Season 3 premiere date + trailer

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You may or may not recall that Star Wars: The Clone Wars was originally proposed as a five-season, 100-episode series that chronicles the events of the Clone Wars between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Jedi. If that’s still the plan, then it’s hard to believe that we’re almost halfway through.

The CGI animated show really hit its stride in Season 2, with numerous multi-episode arcs and some of the most imaginative storytelling from the franchise since the original trilogy. Cartoon Network has just announced that Season 3 will premiere with a one-hour episode on Friday, September 17th at 9:pm EST/PST. Season 3’s 22 episodes will unfold on subsequent Friday nights.

Lucasfilm Animation’s hyperbole-filled press release hints at major developments, describing the new season this way:

As war continues to rage throughout the galaxy, the dark side grows even stronger and the Jedi Knights are pushed to the breaking point.  The lines between good and evil become blurred as secrets are revealed, truths are questioned and alliances are betrayed. Loyalties are tested as new enemies emerge and heroes rise — and fall. In this transformative new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, surprises wait at every turn, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance and the destiny of the “Chosen One” will at long last be uncovered.

Don’t we already know who the Chosen One is? That’s kinda what the whole prequel trilogy was about. Anywho, here’s the teaser trailer for Season 3: