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Andrew Paul of the Eagle Archives website tells us we can add some new names to the cast list on the Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future animated show. According to Paul, Julian Holloway will be voicing the role of Albert Digby, Carole Ruggier plays Professor Jocelyn Peabody and Rob Paulsen vocalizes the sinister Mekon

Last week the Eagle Archives website posted an unofficial trailer for Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future. This week They offer fans new insights into the upcoming CGI-animated sci-fi series. The site has available for download the compete series bible, provided by none other than show-runner Bob Forward.

Andrew Paul directs fans to his Eagle Archives website for a sneak peek at the upcoming Dan Dare animated TV show. Paul recently posted an unofficial trailer for an episode of the show called "The Outpost," which was provided by the show's producer Bob Forward.

Additional images from the show can be found in the gallery of Forward's own website at BobForward.com.

The producers of the Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future animated show have launched the official website for the program. The Flash-enhanced site allows users to download several Dan Dare goodies, including a nice trailer for the show. Other content includes character bios, desktop wallpaper, screen savers and an e-mail newsletter.

Thanks to the Dan Dare e-mail discussion group for the lead.

The big budget CGI animated TV series is apparently just the start for Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future. An article in today's Variety indicates that the British comic-book hero is aiming for the big screen as well.

According to the write-up, Columbia TriStar Intl. Television has acquired the worldwide rights to the $20 million, 26-episode show. Columbia may also be a partner in the planned feature film.

The write-up also said that Colin Frewin's Dan Dare Corp. is developing a second series of animated shows as well as a script for the film.

Robbie Coltrane, Tim Curry and Charles Dance are named as actors on the series.

Bob Forward, producer and story editor on Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, contacted Comics2Film to correct a bit of misinformation found in the recent article published by the Financial Times. The article states that Dan Dare purists might be upset by the addition of and elephant character as a sidekick for Digby.

However, Forward tells us that the character should not upset fans in the least. "The 'elephant-like character' that is Digby's pet is none other than Stripey, from the original Dan Dare comic series," Forward tells us. "Our Stripey is almost identical to the one in the comic, although Digby himself is a bit younger."

To demonstrate the resemblance Forward has passed along images of the original Stripey (as drawn by Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson) as well as the CGI counterpart. The new image shows Stripey pretending to pilot the Anastasia as Digby looks on.

Forward has previously worked on numerous animated shows, including the recent hit X-Men: Evolution.

Fans looking for more CG artwork from Dan Dare can check out Rowsby.com, the website for the animator known as Rowsby.

The site also goes into a bit of detail about the history of the show, which has been completed by Foundation Imaging after the Netter Digital, the original animation house to work on it, went bankrupt. Rowsby worries that the Netter episodes aren't quite up to par with the newer ones.

Rowsby has posted a nice poster of Dan Dare (and his various nemeses from the show) as well as modeling sheets for Evil Equinax and the Chronos Warriors.

In our recent article on Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future we incorrectly stated that the Mekon is "the evil alien race that are Dan Dare's nemeses." Reader and Dan Dare fan Ciaran Conliffe writes in to tell us we got that wrong. "As any kid who grew up reading Eagle comic knows, the Mekon is merely the big-headed leader of this race, who are actually called the Treens. (Hence the classic line in Geoffrey Willans's book, Whizz for Attoms 'You have captured me sir, like a Treen in a disabled spaceship'.)"

Thanks Ciaran!

A recent article by Paul Nathanson in the Financial Times details plans for the new Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future CGI-animated TV show.

FT reports that the show has a $20 million budget for 26 episodes. It's produced by Britain's Dan Dare Corporation and Sony.

The article also states that the show may raise the ire of the character's fans due to various changes. According to the write-up, the new Dan Dare resembles an 18 year old Tom Cruise, rather than the 30ish comic book character he's based on.

Fans should also be wary of an elephant character that's been introduced as a pet for Digby and a Liberace-esqe villain named Retro Rocket.

Colin Frewin, chief executive of the Dan Dare Corporation, hopes to allay the fears of the fans. "In everything I've done, I've tried to respect the quality of Frank Hampson's original creation," Frewin told FT. "That has been our first principle and we have achieved that and retained the Britishness of the story."

The show is geared for a younger audience and some of the villainy has been toned-down. However, the Mekon (the evil alien race that are Dan Dare's nemeses), are said to be as grotesque as ever.

Voice talent for the show is said to include Robbie Coltrane and Charles Dance. Elton John's 1980s hit "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" is to be used for the show's theme song.

Sources in the know have given Comics2Film a few bits of information on the Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future TV series. 

A few weeks back we reported on some Dan Dare images that could be found on animator Rob Powers' website. However, our sources tell us that those images are not part of the latest development efforts of the show. The episode that the images came from has been redone by Foundation Imaging to keep it looking consistent with the rest of the series.

We've also heard through the grapevine that Marvel's Rick Ungar is an Executive Producer on the show. However, at this point C2F has not been able to confirm this information.

Fans interested in a sneak peek at the spiffy new CGI animated series Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future can find it at the website for animator Rob Powers. His site features eight images from the production (as well as tons of computer generated images from other movies and TV shows). 

According to Powers' online resume, he served as Creative Director of Animation on the show from May to August of 2000, presumably when the show was still in development at Netter Digital. With the demise of Netter, the series was moved to Foundation Imaging, where episodes are in production

Thanks to Andrew Paul of The Eagle Archive for the tip.

Comics2Film has now heard from two independent sources that actor Charles Dance (The Last Action Hero, Michael Collins) is not among the cast of the new Dan Dare animated TV show as previously reported. However one source did allow that Dance and other name actors could possibly join the cast at a later date.

Comics2Film has learned that English actor Greg Ellis is providing the voice for Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future. Ellis starred in the 1999 film Crash and Byrnes and has also appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and The X-Files.

Following up on our Dan Dare report from last week, the SFX Network reports that Charles Dance (The Last Action Hero, Michael Collins) is among the cast members for the show. SFX speculates that Dance may provide the voice for the title character.

Comics2Film has learned that an animated television show based on the popular British comic Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future is in the works. We spoke with comic creator and animator Shannon Denton who worked as a director on several episodes of the new show when it first went into production.

Dan Dare is a classic English comic book character in the vein of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. The character was created by Frank Hampson in the 1950's and published by Eagle comics. 

Denton told C2F that the series has been in development for British television for over a year. Initially the project was set up at the now defunct Netter Digital, who did effects work for Babylon 5 as well as creating the CGI animated show Voltron: The Third Dimension. However, only a handful of episodes were produced by Netter before the animation shop closed its doors.

Bob Forward, who currently serves as the story editor on X-Men: Evolution is the story editor and producer on Dan Dare. After things went bad at Netter, Forward worked to revive the project elsewhere. Eventually the show landed at Foundation Imaging, the animators behind the Starship Troopers TV show. Like Forward, the folks at Foundation are big fans of the concept, and actually lobbied to get the show before it went to Netter.

Production on the show under Foundation resumed late last year. Denton told C2F that the show will be CGI like Starship Troopers. "The idea was to update it but still have it feel like the old stuff."

Once completed, the show will air on British television. The producers will also likely look for U.S. markets to pick up the series.