Cartoon Network adds Aussie toon originals

Cartoon Network’s Asia Pacific division has commissioned four Australian-made animated programmes for its 2016 line-up.

These are short-form shows Bill & Tony and The Sketchy Show out of Brisbane; Lasso & Comet, which is coming through the Cartoon Network Studios’ shorts programme; and a pilot of Monster Beach: The Series (pictured), which follows on from a popular telemovie.

Non-verbal Claymation series Bill & Tony comes from Flying Gerkin in Sydney, and follows a pair of good-natured but extremely unintelligent friends who wreak havoc wherever they go.

The Sketchy Show comes from Ludo Studio in Brisbane is a comedy that takes kids’ real drawings and turns them into shorts.

Lasso & Comet, from Melbourne’s Rubber House Studios, is an action-adventure comedy about a 13-year-old boy with a magic rope and best friend, a talking comet from outer space who live in a prehistoric world filled with giant monsters.

Surfing-themed Monster Beach, another Melbourne producer, Bogan Entertainment Solutions, follows two kids trying to have their new home by the sea. A 2015 Cartoon Network telemovie won an ASTRA award.

The shows will sit alongside Cartoon Network perennials We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time and Ben 10 on the Asia Pacific slate.

“We’re looking to build on our success with Exchange Student Zero and Monster Beach, and develop even more Australia-made content using our ‘virtual studio model’ approach.

“The level of professionalism of the creators, the creative culture and understanding of comedy animation that can be exported around the world, are all reasons for tapping into this impressive talent pool.”