Jul 18, 2016

'Atomic Puppets' debuts today on Disney XD

Disney XD premieres a new series today: the Atomic Puppets. In this series, superhero Captain Atomic transforms into a helpless puppet that is only effective when placed in the hands of his biggest fan, 12-year-old Joey Felts.

Despite airing on Disney XD, this is not a Disney show. This quirky concept was developed and produced as an international co-production between Technicolor, Mercury Filmworks of Canada, and Gaumont Animation of France. The series will also air on the international Disney XD channel, including France, the UK, and Spain, and will be broadcast in Canada by Teletoon later this year.

Atomic Puppets took a long road to becoming a series. The idea was conceived by animated TV writer Mark Drop ("Recess," "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," "The 7D") and writer/creator Jerry Leibowitz ("The Mouse and the Monster") In Canada, the series was developed by John DeLebrany ("Lego Legends of Chima") and Brad Burch ("Johnny Test"), with Mercury Filmworks development director Travis Williams ("Total Drama") and Technicolor creative development team oversaw the project. Development in France was led by Heath Kenny, creative director of Gaumont Animation.

Steve Lamb ("Breadwinners," "Fanboys & Chum Chum," "Jimmy Too Shoes," "El Tigre") served as lead character designer, with art direction by Andy Coyle. Series directors were Jeff Barker, Andy Coyle, Kyle Marshall, and Khalil Ben Naamane.

The series is the second original project that Technicolor Creative Development, a young division under Technicolor Animation & Games, has brought to broadcast in recent months. The first major production is the CG action-adventure series The Deep, currently available on Netflix. [Ottawa-based Mercury Filmworks is known as one of the primary service providers for Disney Television Animation and has produced such films as "The Lion Guard," "Pen Zero: Part-Time Hero," Mickey Mouse short films, and the "Tangled" series of The company produces animated films. Atomic Puppets has finally allowed Mercury to step out of Disney's shadow and claim credit for projects they have co-developed and co-produced.

Starting today, Atomic Puppet airs daily on Disney XD in the U.S.

Following are examples of development and pre-production artwork created for the show: