Discovery Family buys teen toon drama

US cable channel Discovery Family has bought Dream Defenders, an animated series about two teenage twins that have adventures in the ‘real’ world and a fantasy universe.

The deal with Singapore-based CGI studio Tiny Island Productions means Discovery Family gets US rights to the 26x22mins show, and will premiere it at a later, currently unspecified date.

In the show, twins Zoey and Zane discover a portal that allows them to travel to Dreamworld, where they discover villains looking to attack the real world of Meridian.

“Discovery Family is committed to building the very best destination for family television,” said Tom Cosgrove, general manager, Discovery Family Channel. “We are excited to bring this high quality CGI series from Tiny Island to the network’s robust daytime lineup.”

Producer Tiny Island is known for its work on the Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens TV movie and the coproduced toon series Shelldon for American kids multiplatform service Qubo.

The now-defunct Discovery Communications 3D channel, 3net, which Cosgrove also led, previously ran Dream Defenders Adventures, which is the first Singaporean 3D series.

Discovery Family replaced The Hub last year after Discovery took majority control of the channel, changing the structure from a previous 50-50 joint venture with toyco Hasbro.

Cosgrove switched to the new channel at the same time, as 3net was wound down following low 3D TV set take-up.