We’ve already seen two trailers for the return of ThunderCats on Cartoon Network, but the premiere of the series itself is nearly upon us as the cable network has announced the series will kick-off with an hour-long premiere on Friday, July 29th at 8/7c. Then the series will hit its regular timeslot at 8:30/7:30c on August 5th. But before all that, audiences at Comic-Con in San Diego will be able to watch the full premiere episode at a ThunderCats panel on Friday, July 22nd at 3:30pm in Room 6A. The panel will include a discussion with producers Michael Jelenic, Ethan Spaulding and art director Dan Norton.

And if you’re anxious to check out some of the old school ThunderCats before this new series takes off, Cartoon Network will also air nine episodes from the classic ThunderCats series over the weekend of July 23 and Boomerang will also host a classic ThunderCats marathon on July 16 and 17 along with airing the series every day at 5 p.m. starting Monday, July 18. For an official synopsis of the new Cartoon Network series, hit the jump.

Ben 10 has grown into a massive franchise under my nose.  Since 2005, Cartoon Network has produced a hundred-some episodes of three separate animated series, not to mention one animated and two live-action telepics.  Variety reports Ben is ready to make the leap to his next medium, a live-action theatrical feature.  Joel Silver was tipped off to the property by his young boys, and reportedly sees Ben 10 as a “potential franchise starter.”  Steve Richards and Andrew Rona of Dark Castle will co-produce with Silver — Warner Bros. is in talks for distribution rights. Richards indicated the new feature will recast from any previous live-action iterations.

Read quotes from the filmmakers and background on the Ben 10 story after the break.

A few weeks ago we brought you footage from the first trailer for Cartoon Network’s rebooted Thundercats animated series. Today, we have what seems to be casting confirmation from the new voice of Panthro, Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show). While discussing the upcoming series, Richardson claims that the voice of Lion-O is being provided by Will Friedle. Probably best known (by me at least) for his turn as Eric Matthews in ABC’s long-running sitcom Boy Meets World, Friedle also has an extensive amount of voice acting credits under his belt with series’ such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman Beyond, and Kim Possible.

In addition to Richardson and Friedle, Emmanuelle Chriqui also revealed that she is lending her pipes to an unidentified character for the new-look Thundercats via her recent interview with us. For more on what Richardson had to say about the series, hit the jump to check out his video interview.

UPDATE: We’ve confirmed with the studio that Emmanuelle Chriqu is the voice of Cheetara.

Fans of the original Thundercats series will want to skip right to the jump to check this out!  Cartoon Network is gearing up to release the new Thundercats series later this year. We recently brought you some still images of their new anime-styled look. Now, we can show you those same characters in action, plus a slew of other heroes and villains from the original series.

Want to see what Jaga and King Claudius look like re-imagined?  How about WilyKit and WilyKat?  Or maybe villains are more your thing and you want to check out the new interpretations of Mumm-ra and the Reptilians of Plun-Darr?  Why are you still reading?  Hit the jump!

The first official image from Cartoon Network’s new Thundercats series caused a big splash when it dropped a couple days ago, in part because of the extensive character redesigns.  Thundercats is a property precious to the hearts of many, and you have to be careful when you try to reintroduce it to a new generation.

Producer Ethan Spaulding realizes this, and went on record to talk about the new series, including the motivation behind some of the redesigns, the Japanese influence, and where Tygra’s whip was.  Read what he had to say after the jump:

Last June we broke the good news that the 1980s would be making an appearance in the 21st Century with a new Thundercats animated series in the works at Cartoon Network.  Today, we have the first glimpse at new toys and character designs from the upcoming series.  While the image quality may be less than stellar, they provide enough of a glimpse for Thundercats fans to get excited about the series’ premiere later this year.  Hit the jump to check out the new images of Lion-O and company.

[Update: Shortly after posting this story, Warner Brothers Animation sent over the first official image and a short synopsis from the new ThunderCats series.  Find both after the jump.]

As we’ve previously reported, DreamWorks Animation is not only planning a sequel to their terrific film How to Train Your Dragon, but they’re developing an animated series for Cartoon Network as well.  BadTaste.it recently spoke with executive producer Tim Johnson about their plans for the sequel as well as the animated series.  Johnson says that (unsurprisingly), the sequel (which is due out in 2013) will be massive and they’re in the process of figuring out the new sets and characters.  As for the TV series, while DreamWorks Animation is pushing a Kung Fu Panda series onto Nickelodeon, HTTYD is going to Cartoon Network because DWA want to keep the more dramatic and darker edge of Dragon, and the challenge is in keeping that tone.

Hit the jump for Johnson’s in-depth answers on the sequel and TV series.  How to Train Your Dragon co-director Dean DeBlois is helming the sequel with the original voice cast set to return.

One of the hallmarks of a great television series is the willingness to shake up the status quo, to risk alienating the audience in the service of letting the characters and story evolve.  No two creators seem to embrace this ethic more than Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick.  When we left The Venture Bros. at the end of their third season, Henchman 24 was dead, the boys had lost their clone-based immortality and, Brock Samson quit, replaced by recovering pedophile super-villain Sergeant Hatred.

Much of Season 4, part 1 concerns the ramifications of these events. Brock’s post-venture career, 21’s transformation from sweet-natured incompetent to deadly possible-maniac and the boys, finally, growing up. Because of season 4’s new format (2 sets of 8 episodes as opposed to 13), many of these story lines don’t play out until part 2. Nonetheless, there is still a lot of gold in part 1 and, when coupled with the still-unreleased part 2, makes for one of the strongest seasons of television in years. My review of The Venture Bros. Season 4 after the jump.

Back in June we found out that a brand new animated series would bring Thundercats back to television. At the time details were practically non-existent, but at last month’s New York Comic-Con producer Michael Jelenic  and revealed some juicy details about the eagerly awaited return of Lion-O, Mumma-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara, and the rest of the gang. In case you’re not one of those people excited about the prospect of a new Thundercats, the producer puts things in perspective,

“It’s funny because I’ve been working on a lot of Batman cartoons the last couple years, and I tell people I have a new Batman cartoon coming out and they’re like, ‘Cool.’ But when I say Thundercats, they’re like, ‘Thundercats?!?! Oh my God!’”

To find out what he had to say about the eagerly anticipated new series on Cartoon Network, hit the jump

DreamWorks Animation bringing a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon is one thing, but tainting one of their best movies by creating an animated series is simply pandering to kids and profits from selling more toys, advertising and more. That’s not stopping the studio from moving forward with it though as Deadline reports an animated series, based on the hit film from earlier this year, has been set up at Cartoon Network for release in 2012. It’s unclear whether any of the film’s cast will voice the series in addition to the films, but I doubt that will happen. The series follows in the footsteps DreamWorks Animation’s exploitation of their more popular properties with garbage like The Penguins of Madagascar series and awful holiday specials from Shrek and a forthcoming 3D Christmas special featuring Kung Fu Panda.

The full-court marketing press for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World continues as Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] will be airing a short animated film dubbed Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation on August 12th at midnight.  /Film reports that the short will cover Scott’s high-school relationship with Sex Bob-omb’s sardonic drummer Kim Pine that was featured in volume two of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series but didn’t end up in the movie.  Universal, O’Malley, and Wright quickly got on board after hearing the network’s pitch.  Wright even managed to secure the voice acting talent of Michael Cera and Alison Pill reprising their roles from the film and getting co-stars Mae Whitman and Jason Schwartzman to provide the voices for Lisa and Simon Lee, respectively (although O’Malley says voice casting Whiteman as Lisa was his idea).

Hit the jump to learn more about this very cool project.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation will air on Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] in two parts between 12:00 and 12:30 am and then the following day (when Scott Pilgrim vs. The World comes out) on adultswim.com, and on the [adult swim] and Scott Pilgrim Facebook pages.

If you’re a fan of ThunderCats and have been curious who might voice Lion-O on the new Cartoon Network show arriving in 2011, you’ll be happy to learn Larry Kenney is returning to voice Lion-O again.  The news comes from Rosemary Ward’s Facebook page (via toynewsi).  Ward works in costuming and she posted:

“Interesting Thundercat News! Talking to the a talent agency just now in regards to Larry Kenney, I found out He’ll be voicing Lion-O again!

Hit the jump for what we know about the new ThunderCats show:

UPDATE: I’ve been told by someone at the studio that we may have jumped the gun.  According to the studio, Larry Kenney will be voicing King Claudus who is Lion-O’s father.

The popular 80s cartoon show Thundercats will say it’s name and “Ho” once more as Warner Bros. is developing a new series for Cartoon Network.  The new Thundercats will feature anime-style art but also bring “realistic cat-like characteristics” to Lion-O, Mumma-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara, and the rest of the gang.  Personally, I’ve never watched a single episode of the series, but am aware of it due to its place in 80s pop culture.

I’ve been told that the rights to Thundercats were tied up with several different companies and that’s why nothing Thundercats-related was moving forward.  If that’s the case and this new cartoon series is a hit, then that could renew interest in the rumored Thundercats live-action/CG movie.  Also, the timing of the press release is worth noting since Comic-Con is less than two months away.  I would bet that Warner Bros. Animation may show off some concept art from the series.  Anyway, hit the jump for the full press release.

UPDATE: We’ve been given some official images! Hit the jump for high-res!

Cartoon Network unveiled their new and returning series yesterday and one of the new ones was Young Justice.  Based on characters from the DC Universe, Young Justice will feature teenage versions of Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis.  The series will be executive produced by Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and 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.

No word on the premiere date, but I’d imagine it’s sometime in the fall and we’ll hear specifics at Comic-Con.  Hit the jump for the first image/poster from the series.

There are only two famous Dexters on TV (and perhaps in television history): Dexter, the often thwarted mad scientist child of the Cartoon Network show Dexter’s Laboratory; and Dexter Morgan, the often successful serial killer of the Showtime series Dexter.  I’m amazed it took this long for someone to put them on a t-shirt together (although there is this delightful illustration from H. Caldwell Tanner).

Hit the jump to check out a picture of the t-shirt.  It’s from TeeFury meaning that it only costs $9 (plus $2 for domestic shipping; starts at $5 for international ) and it’s only available for today.  Click here to buy it.