Thiruvananthapuram:

Toonz India (www.toonzanimationindia.com) invited 400 school children between age six and 14 along with their teachers to a special premiere of the first episodes of its The Adventures of Tenali Raman series.

The episodes are from a 26-part series which is being developed and produced by Toonz and distributed worldwide by Indigo, UK. The screening took place at the Travancore Theatre on the Technopark Campus.

After the screening, the children and teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their reaction to the shows. A whopping 97 per cent of the children preferred Tenali to nearly any animation programme that’s currently being shown on television.

They loved the humour, music and the action. They were thrilled to see an Indian hero on the screen. Every single teacher commented that they would recommend the Tenali Raman show to children. They also enjoyed the music and the “beautiful backgrounds.”

Says Toonz CEO and president Bill Dennis, who was present for both sessions with the children: “I’m thrilled with their reactions. They laughed everywhere we wanted them to laugh and they sat on the edge of their seats during the scarier moments. After the screening, the kids had such great new ideas that our director Roger Dondis and story editor Ariel Prendergast are already busy trying to include some of them in the remaining episodes.”

The Adventures of Tenali Raman is scheduled to air in India in January 2003 and elsewhere in the world beginning in March 2003.

Opened in the fall of 1999, Toonz Animation India occupies more than 18,000 sq ft of space inside the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark. Toonz Animation is the most advanced studio to open in India since India emerged as a potential player in the international animation industry.

With a staff of 500 Indian and international artists, Toonz has been voted as one of the top 10 animation companies to watch in the year 2002 by Animation Magazine.