New 10-episode Adventure Time: Side Quests set for October release on Cartoon Network in Africa

by Thinus Ferreira

The new animated series, Adventure Time: Side Quests, will make its debut on 5 June on Hulu and Disney+ in the United States, and months later in South Africa on the Cartoon Network (DStv 301) on 5 October.

Produced by Cartoon Network Studios, South African viewers will get to see the new spin-off series four months after America, with Finn and his dog Jake reuniting for new adventures, or so-called "side quests" in the fantastical land of Ooo.

Taking place before the events of the original Adventure Time, the series moves away from the heavy serialised storytelling of its later years, to return to the lighter, standalone, episodic format of the original show's early seasons.

John DiMaggio is back to voice Jake the Dog, alongside other returning favourites like Tom Kenny as Ice King, Hynden Walch as Princess Bubblegum, and Olivia Olson as Marceline. Young Finn will be voiced by Sasha Knight.

The series is leaving the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) platform ecosystem in the United States and will stream exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu. 

It's licensed for profit and to make the project financially viable, WBD chose to license the American streaming rights to the highest external bidder, which was Disney.

The longtime series showrunner Adam Muto is not attached to this series. Instead, it is being helmed and executive produced by Nate Cash, the former Adventure Time supervising director and storyboard artist.

In order to match the creative spirit of the original show's early seasons, the crew is not using traditional scripts. Instead, a team of franchise veterans and guest artists are acting as storyboarders to organically craft the dialogue, pacing, and visual gags from basic outlines.

Adventure Time: Side Quests is structured as 10-episode companion show consisting of self-contained, light-hearted, standalone adventures.

Vanessa Brookman, Warner Bros. Discovery general manager, international kids, animation and franchise, says "With its wit, originality and unpredictability, Adventure Time has always been quintessential Cartoon Network".

"In Side Quests, Nate and the team have crafted the perfect entry point for new audiences discovering the Land of Ooo for the first time, while offering a heartfelt love letter to fans who have been on the extraordinary journey from the very beginning."

Nate Cash says "Making Side Quests felt like making the original Adventure Time, which felt like hanging out with art school buddies making professional cartoons. That sounds like a big sandwich of feelings, and it was! You're going to love these new adventures with Finn and Jake!"

'Black Swan' moment for Canal+'s MultiChoice facing a Y2K crisis at midnight as Warner Bros. Discovery prepares to pull 12 TV channels from DStv on 31 December 2025

by Thinus Ferreira

Canal+'s MultiChoice is ensnared in a "Black Swan" moment and is staring a TV-type of Y2K destruction in the face due to the threatening, massive loss of pay-TV content at midnight tonight when Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will pull its 12 TV channels from DStv when its channel carriage contract runs out.

Canal+ and MultiChoice will not only lose these 12 TV channels without a new deal, but also all of WBD's content like HBO from M-Net (DStv 101) and the M-Net Movies channels on DStv, as well as everything supplied by all of Warner's TV studios and film studios to M-Net, but also to the struggling Showmax streamer run by MultiChoice and Comcast's NBCUNiversal.

Twenty-five years after the so-called Y2K bug that threatened to shut down computers on New Year's Eve before the arrival of the year 2000, the clock is ticking down to midnight tonight for an utterly massive and unthinkable loss of content from DStv in terms of TV channels, shows and movies.

MultiChoice's new French Canal+ bosses, who have been closing the money taps for the past few months since October, have so far failed to sign a new channel carriage agreement with WBD, which expires at the end of 2025.

Without a new multi-year channels carriage agreement, TV channels from CNN International, Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network, Food Network, TLC, HGTV, TNT and several more will all vanish from DStv on 1 January 2026.

An M-Net insider told me that the threat represents a "true extinction-level event" for legacy M-Net's value proposition for DStv subscribers.

Ironically, the possible destruction of M-Net's premium content pipeline from America, through Warner, comes on the eve of M-Net's 40th anniversary year in 2026, with M-Net became synonymous with HBO as the home of premium shows that M-Net acquired exclusively for DStv subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Negotiations between Canal+ and Warner Bros. Discovery continued this week.

According to several sources, Maxime Saada, Canal+ CEO in Paris, as well as David Mignot, the recently installed new Canal+ Africa boss in Johannesburg, are adamant that the financial exploitation by third-party content providers like WBD must end.

They apparently want to send a "strong and clear signal" that MultiChoice under Canal+ control and ownership "will no longer simply pay content providers their asking price".

One source tells me it's a "cost-cutting principle" and to "definitively indicate that MultiChoice's days as simply a price taker are over under Canal+" to all other entertainment and sports content distributors whose international contracts will also be expiring and coming up for renewal talks.

Warner Bros. Discovery on the other hand, is adamant to get paid what Warner knows its TV channels and content are worth, including its extremely desirable HBO series, as well as its studios' overall output volume.  

Insiders say the fear is that Warner Bros. Discovery's channels going dark, together with the ripping away of HBO content on M-Net, will lead to further millions of DStv subscribers cancelling their DStv subscriptions in early 2026 as they jump to streamers like Netflix and Disney+.

MultiChoice has already lost a shocking 2.8 million DStv subscribers since April 2023.

MultiChoice said that it continues to negotiate with WBD.

WBD told TVwithThinus that it "remains fully committed to finding a resolution and keeping our channels available for our audience".

"We are in regular contact with Canal+/MultiChoice and we remain hopeful that a constructive path forward can be agreed that benefits all parties, especially our viewers."

According to insiders, both sides are posturing and behaving like cowboys in a Hollywood movie.

"Canal+ and Warner are both hard-knuckled gunslingers because they can be. Neither side is blinking. They've been negotiating for months and neither one is willing to budge. Canal+ and Warner, both global players, are more than willing to pull the trigger and leave DStv subscribers with black screens where CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery and all the rest are - even if it leads to immense reputational and financial pain for both."

The loss of WBD's TV portfolio alone will inflict immense damage on DStv.

Just Cartoon Network alone has a 49% audience share of all children's viewing. All of the other DStv channels combined represent the other half.

WBD confirmed this and said Cartoon Network has maintained its leadership position since 2006 as DStv's biggest kids TV channel.

Cartoonito, WBD's other children's channel that will also be ripped away at midnight from DStv, is, according to WB,D "the number one kids' channel on the DStv Family package".

Meanwhile, TNT holds the number one position as the most popular international movie channel on DStv, while TLC is hugely popular as a lifestyle TV channel.

MultiChoice says it's working on "alternative" channels and content plans to replace Warner's content if no deal is reached by the end of today, but sources explain that there exists no like-for-like equivalent replacement content for the Warner offering anywhere else in the world for Dstv to acquire and package.

Prof Lizette Rabe, media expert and emeritus professor at the University of Stellenbosch, told TVwithThinus that entertainment content can still be negotiated, but that the reduction of information and the news offering, especially during a time where democracies are under pressure is a serious matter.

"MultiChoice had already started scaling back channels, which represents a loss for viewers looking for a wider perspective," she said.

"BVN, the Dutch service, and Deutsche Welle, for example, simply disappeared quietly after on-screen messages of 'this service will no longer be available a month from now' - without any explanation to consumers."

"The fact that MultiChoice and Canal+ have to renegotiate for a new contract - of which the clock is ticking down to 31 December - in addition to Warner Bros. Discovery fielding buyers in the United States - has set the stage for a perfect storm for the South African company that has basically always had a monopoly over pay-TV information and entertainment."

"And as a consumer, I have to add - one apparently not concerned about its subscribers and not communicating truly and honestly. The result is that DStv is bleeding subscriptions."

"Now the company is in a position where possibly even more people are going to decide whether the R1000 plus per month for the DStv premium package are worth it, for what they're getting in return. It is indeed an unexpected 'Black Swan' moment for MultiChoice/Canal+," she explained. 

ALSO READ: Stalemate in channel carriage extension negotiations between Canal+'s MultiChoice and Warner Bros. Discovery could see 12 TV channels axed from DStv at the end of December 2025: 'You trust us with your money'

ALSO READ: SHOCKER. Canal+'s MultiChoice now says 12 TV channels from Warner Bros. Discovery will definitely be removed 31 December 2025 in channel carriage fight.

ALSO READ: Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studios and HBO Max streamer for $72 billion: 'The Albanian army has taken over the world'

ALSO READ: Subscriber starts 'Save our DStv channels from cancellation' petition as Canal+'s MultiChoice tries to strike new deal with WBD: 'Loyal DStv subscribers are deeply frustrated over betrayed trust'

ALSO READ: M-Net and Showmax at risk of losing HBO and all other Warner Bros studios series and film output in TV channels carriage fight between Canal+'s MultiChoice and WBD

ALSO READ: Canal+'s MultiChoice and Warner Bros. Discovery unable to agree on price for 12 TV channels and HBO content, won't lower subscription fees for DStv subscribers if channels are axed

ALSO READ: Why Canal+'s DStv faces massive downfall danger after a Warner content wipeout

INTERVIEW. The voice cast of The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball on Cartoon Network on the revived series' wackiness and 'gentle wisdom'

Thinus Ferreira

The voice cast of The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball sat down for an interview about the new adventures of the multi-coloured animation family on Cartoon Network and how the new stories, even more than before mirror the absurdity, challenges and wackiness of modern-day family life and help to open conversations between kids and parents.

The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball on Cartoon Network (DStv 301) is a new continuation of the beloved animation series following the misadventures of Gumball Watterson, a blue 12-year-old cat, as well as his adopted 10-year-old brother, Darwin who is a goldfish.

There is also blue cat mom Nicole, pink rabbit dad Richard, as well as younger sister and pink rabbit Anais.

Although a revival of Gumball, The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball is really the 7th season of Gumball with 20 (of about 40) new episodes available and released so far.

TVwithThinus sat down with Alkaio Thiele, who voices Gumball, Hero Hunter voicing Darwin, Kinza Syed Khan voicing Anais, Teresa Gallagher, who is the voice of mom Nicole, as well as Dan Russell, who is Richard. 

Episodes of the new "7th season" of The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball are thoroughly 2025 and don't shy away at tackling and exploring issues and themes which are all extremely relatable to modern family life.

From AI to the struggle to eat healthily due to expensive and bad food availability, body shaming, traffic, deteriorating schools and a lack of proper school funding, video-sharing app addiction, drug-use, economic inequality and various difficult extended family dynamics (hello Granhy Jojo!), The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball touches on it all with humour, sharp commentary and stories relatable to both kids and parents.

Right off the bat I wanted to know from the voice cast what they make of the new season and all of the fascinating, and interwoven contemporary issues that have been made stories, and which are so relatable to anyone watching in the crazy world of 2025.

"I feel like they balance the craziness of it all very well and put in into little lessons so well so that we can all learn from it, but also enjoy the laughs and the giggles of all the crazy things they put in," Kinza said.

'all that wackiness,

 kept relevant to today'

"I completely agree," said Teresa. "To have messages and lessons with a very heavy hammer in anything - you know, the fun disappears, whereas I think the balance is exactly the right word, Kinza. I think they've managed to bring in all that wackiness, keep it all relevant to today and the scenarios."

"We are all trying to find our way through the social media circus of some things and I think they've done a really good job of getting that balance just right."

Alkaio says that " when you're watching a series, especially like an unenjoyable series, sometimes it's because it feels like they are hitting you over the head with the moral of the story".

"The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball put you as the viewer into such ridiculous, dramatic situations that would never happen, that you don't realise until after you finish the episode that they really did give a message. But you got that message while enjoying the episode."

Dan notes that The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball "has an effortlessness to it that can be very hard to achieve".

"They do great things without appearing to be trying very hard. And that's a really cool and a very clever thing to do."

One of the standout things within The Wonderfull Weird World of Gumball continues to be the depiction of the emotionally involved and fully rounded parents within the story and the experiential world of Gumball and his siblings. 

The parents love their kids, are flawed characters, try their best, have their own issues and insecurities and challenges and themselves don't always make the best or the right choices.

Nicole gets them trapped in traffic on the way to an amusement park, dad Richard has a body image cheerleader past story, there is parental disapproval across generations, and parents feeling unable to live up to expectations depicted in an episode about a neighbour who has a swimming pool.

"I've played many mothers in various series through the years, and Nicole is, I can honestly say = she is flawed but my goodness, you know, the love of family - she will do anything for her children and her husband," Teresa said.

"Sometimes she has some really weird ways of going about things, and her anger issues, yeah, still need addressing."

"I can't take any credit at all for the way that the parents come across, but I think that's one of the reasons, certainly, why an awful lot of adults also still engage and continue to engage with the show - it is because of that lovely portrayal of deeply flawed characters that we can all understand and recognise."

'a lovely portrayal of

deeply flawed characters

 that we can all understand'

Dan says someone once asked him what he does to be Richard. "And I said no, that's the trick. And I've kind of been that way as a dad in real life as well".

"Richard doesn't kowtow, he doesn't order around, except within his own capacity to do so."

"Perhaps, quickly, one of the best words I can say, my kids were eight and ten when Gumball started, and they'd seen me on television and stuff before, and we were sitting there watching, and they watched Richard and Nicole, and Richard just being complete Richard - I'm eating butter for no reason, or whatever it is. And I said, so what do you think of that?"

"And they looked at me and just said, 'dad'. They couldn't tell the difference between Richard and me."

"So I consider that a bit of an accolade that I've managed to stay hands-off enough with my kids. On a serious note, you can, you know, you have such power over kids, and you've got to be very careful not to wield it. You've got to be careful to let them see you fail, for real."

"The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, and sorry, I don't know if it's too intellectual or not, but I like the way they just let the parents be the parents."

'they just let the parents

be the parents'

Alkaio says "as a kid who thinks he might be in touch with his parents and adults, I think Gumball does a really good job of opening conversations for kids and adults, and how they can watch it together".

"It doesn't give all the answers, and it doesn't explain everything, but it introduces younger people to topics that they wouldn't normally be introduced to, so that the parents can maybe have something to reference to, and can explain it in a very safe way."

Besides parents not always making the "right" or best choices the kids are also very prone to making wrong decisions and then having to deal with the chaos of the outcomes.

"At the end of each episode Gumball learns something," explains Alkaio.

'That's part of the beauty: Because sometimes characters can get a little redundant, and they're kind of the same every time, and I really didn't know what Gumball was gonna try and pull off this time in each of the episodes, and learn about life."

Kinza says she feels "like the characters around Gumball like to join him in his mistakes, but also try to learn from him what not to do".

"So I think it's really like trying to figure out and learn from your mistakes, but also try to have fun."

Hero says "In life we all make mistakes, but we learn from them. And I think that's cool how they do that in the show with Gumball, Darwin and Anais - I think it's cool how we'll all make mistakes".

"And in the end, at the end of the episode, we'll all learn from that mistake".

'learn from your mistakes,

but also try to have fun'

"It's really so easy to get overwhelmed by all the negativity that we're fed and I've got to have hope all the time," says Teresa.

"If The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball can teach us anything, it's that we know that the core things will get us through life: Love and friendship. So let's be positive."

Alkaio says "I really think everything in the world is just so complicated and it takes a lot to fix something, even something really small. It takes work to fix it and make it right."

"But part of the beauty of Gumball is that things sometimes can be so simple. Like having a remote that just controls everything in the world and clicking a button and things are just magically fixed. But also in terms of storylines in Gumball, where you don't need much to make a storyline for Gumball."

'part of the beauty of Gumball is

that things sometimes

 can be just so simple'

"There's a lot to be distrustful about the world today, but that doesn't mean you have to live your life as a cynic," says Dan.

"As the great Paul McCartney once said, he thinks there are more nice people in the world than not nice people.

"I remember when I was once at a lake in New Hampshire where we went every summer and there was a very wealthy, lovely man who went up there from New York and he was in his 80s."

"And I'm not going to let you guys do any math at all, but if he was in his 80s, he was born in about 1880. That's how long ago this was."

"And he was sitting there one afternoon working on his second rum and Coke. And he creased himself laughing because somebody had given him a newspaper from when he was 18 years old. And he laughed and laughed and laughed - this wise guy from Wall Street."

"And he said, you know what? Nothing's changed. Everybody was arguing about the same stuff."

"You know, you got to ask yourself: Are there any design faults in humans? And I think we can all, we just work on our own design faults and just be good people."

"And getting back to Gumball, there is this kind of a gentleness about it and a wisdom about it that I really, really like."

The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball is on Cartoon Network (DStv 301), on weekdays from 6 October 2025

Warner Bros. Discovery to combine HBO Max and discovery+ video streamers under new name, earliest South Africa launch in late-2024 or later.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africans will never get access to the global video streaming services HBO Max or discovery+, with these streamers now getting combined into one - with a new name - which will only be rolled out in South Africa in late-2024 or even later.

Warner Bros. Discovery is also going to keep more TV shows and content back it used to sell to channels like M-Net (DStv 101) to bolster its own streaming service, as it also scales back its content investment on linear TV channels available on DStv like Cartoon Network, to try and save billions of dollars.

The newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) released its second quarter earning report late on Thursday night and confirmed that HBO Max and discovery+, already available in the United States and other countries, will never see the light of day in South Africa as they're getting combined under a new name and "relaunched" next year.

South African consumers already have access to MultiChoice's Showmax, The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ since a few months ago, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, VIU, TelkomONE, e.tv's eVOD and with the South African public broadcaster planning to launch its SABC+ in late-2022, and with Paramount also supposed to launch its Paramount+ in 2023.

On WBD's Q2 earnings call on Thursday night, JB Perrette, WBD CEO and president of global streaming and games, said HBO Max and discovery+ are getting combined and will relaunch first in America in 2023 under an as-yet-unannounced name.

"At the end of the day, putting all the content together was the only way we saw to make this a viable business," he said.

The newly combined streaming service will initially be focused on subscription-driven sign-ups, although it also plans to launch a cheaper ad-filled tier, similar to what Netflix and Disney+ plan to launch.

After the American launch in 2023, WBD will launch its new combined streaming service in Europe in ealy-2024, in Asia-Pacific countries in the middle of 2024, and then in other markets in late-2024. Africa and South Africa haven't been mentioned, meaning it would only get the service in either late-2024 at the earliest, or sometime from 2025.

Kids content cut

Warner Bros. Discovery also confirmed on Thursday night it's cutting back on kids content, with the company running children's channels like Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami which are available as linear TV channels across sub-Saharan Africa on traditional satellite pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes' StarSat.

On the earnings call, Gunnar Wiedenfels, WBD chief financial officer, said animation and kids content across both the streaming services and linear TV channels are getting cut back. 

He also mentioned that WBD is ending local content investment in international markets, putting a question mark behind some of the local investments the company has been making in content like CN to the Rescue on Cartoon Network Africa and My Cartoon Friend nominated for an upcoming SAFTA award in the Best children's programme category.

Gunnar Wiedenfels also mentioned that WBD is going to hit the pause button on new content licensing deals and that there will be a significant reduction in external content sales. 

M-Net in Africa and MultiChoice's Showmax have for instance benefitted for years from HBO output and content licensing and distribution deals to grab series ranging from Game of Thrones and the upcoming prequel House of the Dragon.

INTERVIEW. ‘Most African homes have just a mom’ – Producer Howard Fyvie and actor André Lembwa on making CN to the Rescue as TV’s new must-see kids show.

by Thinus Ferreira

Two African teenagers, a mama and their gogo, including a crazy uncle with secrets - all portrayed by comedian André Lembwa - are back for further episodes in the second season of the surreal CN to the Rescue South African series on Cartoon Network (DStv 301) that blends zany live-action humour with "rejected" animation cartoon characters in a story about imagination, adventure and family.

Is the new mysterious family member, Uncle Ezekius from Cape Town, a good guy - or is he plotting evil?

I sat down with Howard James Fyvie who is the CN to the Rescue creator, producer and director, and André Lembwa skillfully portraying all five characters again, including the new long-lost uncle.

With André, doing all of the roles, how many times did you have to film the same scene?

Howard: We'd shoot the same thing 5 times from multiple angles. We didn't actually keep track of the takes - there are just too many. All I'll say it is a headache - but a joy. It was a joy and it was a pain. Like childbirth.

Can you talk about the origin story of CN to the Rescue, how did the show and name come about?

Howard: The original brief was kind of a marketing exercise and the brief to me was "make a show that was going to highlight Cartoon Network". 

So we started with this character called Tapiwa, and I just wrote down an idea that he basically likes Cartoon Network so much, and he gets himself into danger, and then Cartoon Network comes to the rescue - his imagination becomes real. 

So the name - Cartoon Network essentially represents imagination, CN literally comes to the rescue. 

I first met WarnerMedia when I entered a competition in 2016 and me and my co-writer, Andrew Phillips, we won the Kids' Animation Pitching Competition at DISCOP. Our prize was being introduced to Cartoon Network. 

After three years they gave a brief for a new local show and asked if I could develop an idea. They gave us a shot and the first season came out in 2021 and now in 2022 season two. 

How have you've been able to expand the story from the first to the new second season?

Howard: The first season felt like a pilot. The second season feels like a real show. 

What we've been able to do was to work on these four characters - gogo, mama, Tapiwe and Garcia - and we knew by the end of the first season what they would do and wouldn't do.

So what we needed to do was to introduce a new character - a spicy character that would change everything. 

The second breakthrough decision - I never wanted to make standalone episodes. I wanted to make one long continuous story and I asked Cartoon Network not to do an episodic show. Otherwise for every episode you have to reset back to the beginning. You can't grow emotional depth. 

The decision of one long storyline opened up a massive sandbox for us and then we could just dream.

Emotionally, CN to the Rescue's second season is way deeper than the first season. It touches on real issues like fatherlessness, it touches on a woman's anxiety of being a single mother, it touches on children not respecting their parents and real issues but obviously in a comedic way.

Pixar does that so well where they tackle real-life issues and they have brilliant comedy in it at the same time and that's my model of what I'm trying to follow.

Putting on different wigs, playing all the characters - it's performance art. How difficult is it to switch from one character to another when they're all very different?

André: To be honest, it's not really difficult. With me it comes with the outfit. 

When I have a wig on and a dress, I go: "Okay, I'm not a male now, now I'm mama." I'm my mind I select different blocks: Mama, Tapiwa and the rest. I've mastered different accents and how to keep it going. 

Every now and then I'll be busy being Garcia and I would realise I've now heard Tapiwa.

Episodes hilariously end very cliff-hangery, we have dramatic music in-between, did WarnerMedia tell you to end on cliffhangers to make CN to the Rescue "binge-worthy" viewing or was that your idea?

Howard: I had to motivate to them and explained and said "We're going to end it on a cliffhanger, and people are going to want to watch the next episode even more so than if the story wrapped itself up in a single episode". 

We intentionally wrote every episode to end on a new dramatic beat. Ideally, it makes you as a viewer just want to watch the next episode.

While it's made primarily for children and a youth audience, it's not just over-the-top caricature. If you look at Mama or any of the others, there is subtlety in the big actions. 

There are hints of something deeper than just humour and something more than just playing for laughs. Does Howie tell you to do and bring that or is it you?

André: I don't have any professional background or education behind the acting.

 Howard's been a really cool mentor and would sit me down and explain that "After mama says this, it would make more sense for so-and-so to react this way". I would go: "I can see that, I can relate, because I live with my one aunt and my aunt would have do it this way." 

I get to put myself in my aunt's shoes and to wear the story and to make it mine. It's not all my own instincts, I ask Howard what way he wants me to bring something across.

How difficult is it to switch between the accents?

André: I won't lie, originally Uncle Zeek, he was meant to be someone from the UK.

Howard: Yep, British.

André: Which honestly I haven't quite mastered fully. We actually off shooting with that accent.

Howard: Two days.

André: We shot two days and then sat down and said we don't feel that it's quite working. I felt "eish" I'm not feeling this character, it's not coming alive in me. It doesn't feel like acting but being told "do this, do this". 

I was kind of scared with that accent, building up to it. I sat down and we moved to a more comfortable accent which is the Cape coloured side for Uncle Ezekius and it clicked.

Different family members, all with their own motivations, do still help each other. What is the message of the show? 

André: Family face issues together and realise that they have to unite to make things work and to progress in life. As an African, I grew up with my aunts. There wasn't a mom and a dad. Most African homes have either just a mom and the kids, or it's single dad. 

In CN to the Rescue you can see there's no dad in the house. 

That's why these kids are behaving in certain ways, there's never been a father figure to direct them. Moms do a great job but the mom can't fully fulfil the dad's role. It shows how important family is.

How do you and co-writer Andrew Phillips work?

Howard: It's brilliant. It's amazing. Me and Andrew at his house, sit on the couch - I normally stand and pace - and we just say: "What would be cool?" Then we just throw out crazy ideas. 

Andrew's got a very good sensibility for emotional authenticity. So he'll say: "Ja but the mama shouldn't hide the fact that she's feeling hurt by the kids". 

We've both got good story instincts and we write out a bunch of cards on a wall we put them into order, and I would for instance say "Here by episode 3 something bad must happen between the uncle and mom". 

And Andrew would go: "Yes, maybe Uncle Ezekius betrayed her when they were young". And I would go: "Yes, because he wanted the house!" We literally finish each others' sentences. We've been working together for almost 6 years. Me and him won that original competition.

You went to go and live in a Dunoon township - no shower, no bath, washing in a bucket - why did you go live there and what did you learn from that experience?

Howard: I'm curious by nature and as a filmmaker even more curious. 

Seventy percent of South Africa live in townships and I thought that as a white dude I need to experience that. I moved there for one year and 3 months. I've been visiting the township for five years before that.

I think if every South African can spend just one month living in a township, what would it change in our country? That's the question I had going in. If we all had to do this, what would change?

I returned after a lot of conversations and experiences. People go through a lot of suffering. Just your average challenges: Your house is small. Dust. Wind. Dust everywhere - on your bed, your pillow. You close the door, dust comes in. I had a much bigger understanding of all of South Africa's workforce that comes from townships to get to your house.

Maybe I would have been angry with a domestic worker who comes half an hour late in the past. 

I would say, before you want to shout at someone for being late, ask them how many taxis they've had to take to get to your house. As them what time they woke up to get to your house by 8. 

The answer would be they woke up at 4 and they had to wash in a bucket, walk for 20 minutes, take two trains, one taxi and then walk another 20 minutes. And then you go: "You're late!" 

You've also spoken about the paralysis of perfection. Have you've overcome some of that with this project and what message would you have for young creatives in a country where going into animation is difficult, and the attempt to make everything be perfect?

Howard: If you're into anything creative you want it to be so good. 

My answer is take your ego out of it. When my ego was out of the equation, I could work more freely. When I'm worried about "How does this make me look?" I worry more and until it's perfect, I'm not going to want to release it because my name is attached. 

God took me out of serious live-action, drama content that I've always wanted to do, and put me into kids and youth entertainment. 

No-one cares about you in kids entertainment. Nobody talks to the directors of kids shows - nobody even knows them - except the guys at Pixar but nobody else cares. 

My ego is no longer attached to it and that frees me to make mistakes. And it's been my best work. Some of my friends don't even know that I'm the one making CN to the Rescue. Find stuff that doesn't stroke your ego as much.

For young kids who want to get into this industry, my advice is: Start with whatever is in your hand. Do you have a pencil in your hand? A piece of paper? Start writing a script. Start drawing something.

Practice and get better with that. Don't let what you don't have, stop you from doing what you can do. André is a classic example of that. He started with his phone and recording on his phone.

What message do you have for local content creators in Africa?

André: Honestly there no perfect time to wait until you get a quality camera, or whatever. 

Start with what you have. I started with a low-quality cellphone, shooting my own content and videos and sending it around, just doing everything I can to put myself out there and it landed in the right hands at the right time. Now I'm here. 

Don't limit yourself, don't underestimate yourself. Start with what you have and the rest will follow.

CN to the Rescue season 2 is on Mondays at 18:10 on Cartoon Network (DStv 301), from 21 February

INTERVIEW. On your TV on 10/10 at 10:10: Ben 10 supervising producer Will Patrick talks about the making of the brand-new Ben 10 vs. the Universe: The Movie coming to Cartoon Network on 10 October 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

It's so easy to remember: 10/10 at 10:10 - Tomorrow, on Saturday, 10 October 2020 at exactly 10 minutes past 10, the brand-new Ben 10 vs. the Universe: The Movie will premiere on the Cartoon Network (DStv 301) and I got the scoop in a sit-down interview straight from Will Patrick, the supervising producer.

The new Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie features new characters, settings and powers for Ben in his most epic adventure yet - the first movie for the new iteration of Ben 10 that made its worldwide debut in 2016.

Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie features around a "blast from Ben's past" returning to do double the damage on Team Tennyson and planet Earth itself, forcing Ben to go interstellar to save the day.

Meanwhile, Gwen and Grandpa Max team up to help protect the world in Ben’s absence. But when the boy hero is confused for the villain in space, Ben must figure out a way to get back to Earth to help save it.

I spoke to Will Patrick, the supervising producer of Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie, as well as of the series about the new film. 

How is Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie different than the series and also the same?

Will Patrick: We wanted to raise the stakes more. 

We wanted to bring back some things from the older series that new viewers will enjoy and that older fans will remember, as callbacks, but the writing process for the film really comprised the full crew and the entire storyboard team of the series worked on the movie and they all brought their own ideas and interaction of course for the initial structure and outline of the movie. 

So as far as the process went there were a lot of people involved. We played around with a lot of different kinds of ideas. We wanted it to be distinct but we also wanted to keep it fun like the show but still elevate the stakes and make it feel a bit more important than just another adventure for Ben.

Ben is in a sense removed from the other characters for a while in the film. Is that to bring out story or character development for Ben first, and you also took him much further away spatially than what happens "regularly" to him. Why was it important to almost separate the characters?

Will Patrick: We wanted to raise the stakes and Ben's comfort zone is his family - that's really where his strength comes from.

Ben doesn't always realise that necessarily until he is separated from Gwen and his grandpa. To really, really chase Ben up a tree a little bit, separating him from his family a bit really raises the stakes definitely.

With the world in a Covid-19 pandemic and countries in different states of lockdown, how has impacted the production of the film? I would think that animation would be impacted less because the animation and voice recording can happen separately but how did Covid influence the making of the movie?

Will Patrick: Most of the writing and storyboarding were finished before the lockdown happened, so it didn't impact the movie too much but we did do all of the editing and sound mixing during quarantine.

It didn't impact the movie too much but towards the end with the editing process we had to figure out how editing work and mixing works when I'm home with my personal computer and on my headphones. That was a little tricky.

How difficult is it to come up with new and creative ideas in terms of spacesuits and characters and creatures for Ben's environment and to put the character in or does it write itself? How long do you guys have to think out new situations and how his transformations will impact those circumstances?

Will Patrick: As far as design goes a lot of that comes from the art director.

I mean, designing space suits is the fun part. He was having a blast with that! That's one of his most favourite things to do - designing space ships and different kinds of aliens.

The trailer had 1.5 million views on YouTube so there's obviously such an ongoing strong audience for this character and his stories. People watch it for the entertainment value but what is maybe one or some of the underlying messages you try to convey?

Will Patrick: It really is an emphasis on the importance of family coming together to defeat a strong opponent. It's really about having fun and triumphing over aliens. 

How does working on a movie compare to a season of episodes? How much longer does it take to make a movie like this compared to an episode and how is the production process of such a "stand-alone" project different?

Will Patrick: With a stand-alone episode we usually have a single storyboard team working on each episode.

They receive an outline, it's only 2 people so they put their heads together and really make it their own and really put their own spin on it. 

With the movie it's 5 board teams all working together, so it's a lot more coordination between them, it takes a lot more time. 

We broke it up into sections, so that each board team has sections and it's a lot of talking to each other about making things flow together, setting things up and paying them off later. It's a lot more of a balancing act with a movie.

Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie is broadcast on Saturday 10 October 2020 on Cartoon Network (DStv 301) at 10:10 with repeats over the coming months.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 13 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ Ghana groom leaves bride waiting in church ... to go fix a DStv dish on his wedding day.


■ Top veteran South African economist Dr Iraj Abedian slams what he calls MultiChoice's trash-bad DStv service and says he's done and cancelling - which leads to an outpouring of complaints from angry and highly upset DStv subscribers:
"DStv services have gone to the dogs. Their helpdesk doesn't answer, their Whatsapp responses are invalid, their website doesn't load. They message me that I have no decoder whilst I've been using their decoder for over 10 years! Such is the state of management at DStv. Embarrassing!"


■ Voice of America (DStv 853), now controlled by the controversial Donald Trump appointed Michael Pack, goes from an American radio station to propaganda station with glowing Mike Pence coverage.

■ Showrunners of Avatar: The Last Airbender leave live-action remake and slam Netflix:
Got no support from Netflix that created a "negative and unsupported environment".

■ Cartoon Network tried to de-gay Steven Universe.
- Cartier's romantic TV commercial with 2 men in China stirs censorship debate.

■ MultiChoice is an absolute joke says a DStv subscriber who has been waiting for months for a refund since cancelling his DStv subscription in June already.

■ Even more financial pain and ratings trouble because of lost advertising revenue due to lost sports content for ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) as more American college football tournaments are postponed to 2021.

■ Half-naked man walks in during live TV interview as frantic American football analyst Urban Meyer being interviewed freaks out.

■  Remote Control: Making TV amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Will viewers watch the new "boxed-in" shows done with remote and skeleton crews and casts spending all their time inside?
- The post-Covid-19 TV industry starts to take shape in the United Kingdom, but with missing pieces, frustrated unions, ditched episodes and ruined castles.


■ Secret: Broadcasters believe 5G will replace traditional TV distribution.
- Can broadcasters survive the video streaming battle?

■ Is Disney done with physical disks?
Mouse House apparently ready to dump disks.

■ Breathtaking: Scammers sell $1 billion's worth of TV shows ... a year.
Fake sites sell pirate internet-protocol TV services worldwide filled with live feeds of linear TV channels and it's completely illegal.

■ India bans the import of TV sets.

■ Netflix goes to Hell.

■ Turkey's Ertuğrul: The Muslim "Game of Thrones".

■ He coined the phrase "Content is king". Media mogul Sumner Redstone dead at 97.

■ The big Generation X animation comeback.

■ International TV news channels like Deutsche Welle off the air and forced to end programmes as they are directly affected by Tanzania's shocking new dictatorial media clampdown regulations.

■ Amazon Prime Video gives away free ice-cream in Los Angeles.

■ Nigeria's film and video censorship board abruptly introduces a 30-day mandatory content registration regulation for producers; adds a 5% tax levy payable on all audio and visual content produced in Lagos.

■ New Zealand's Sky TV pay-TV operator sells off its outside broadcasting unit responsible for doing its Sky Sport coverage; will keep the production crew.
- Also removes local Covid-19 horror TV series INSiDE as new real-life coronavirus cases emerge.

■ Egypt extends the detention of the Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) journalist Mahmoud Hussein.

■ Why is Nigeria's aggressive National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) fighting with MultiChoice, Nigeria' TV industry and the media?

■ The Princess Bride board game is an exercise in futility - which makes it brilliant.

Turner International's SuperheroHQ pop-up channel will run from 15 March on DStv across Africa with animation superhero series and films.

Turner International has announced more information about its Superhero HQ pop-up channel that it revealed in November 2018 is coming in 2019 at its first Turner Africa programming upfront, with SuperheroHQ that will run from 15 to 31 March on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

SuperheroHQ will be accessible for DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact subscribers on DStv channel 300 during the holiday period with the schedule that will include animation series, animation movies, as well as live-action superhero-themed movies.

Burson Cohn & Wolfe, in a press release on behalf of Turner Africa, says SuperheroHQ will run from 15 March to 31 March, but then also that the channel will run from 15 March to 21 March.

"Exclusive to DStv Premium, Compact Plus and Compact, SuperheroHQ is the exciting channel
where your favourite superheroes will gather for the holidays. For the full schedule, as well as
the latest information, visit [insert website here – where fans can access the channel schedule]," says Burson Chon & Wolfe in its press release.

During the day SuperheroHQ will show animation series like Batman, Superman, Justice League, Green Lantern and Teen Titans.

During the evening Superhero HQ will show films like the four Superman films, and 3 Spy Kids movies.

SuperheroHQ also curated animation films including The Lego Batman Movie, Batman Gotham Knight, and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis.

In-between Turner in South Africa is doing localised thematic fillers with the South African comedian Mojak Lehoko that will run between programmes in the form of superhero-themed stand-up comedy videos.

"I like being creative, always trying to do new things, and now being part of Cartoon Network's
pop-up channel, with relatable characters, makes me feel like a superhero. This channel is a
special treat for the legions of superhero fans - young and old - delivering thrilling action as well
as moments to laugh out loud," says Mojak Lehoko in the press release.

Series on SuperheroHQ will include Batman the Brave and the Bold; Batman the Animated Series; Superman the Animated Series; Green Lantern; Justice League Action; Young Justice League; Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titans.

Films on SuperheroHQ will include Batman Gotham Knight; Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker; Batman vs Robin; Justice League: Doom; Superman/Batman: Public Enemies; Superman/Batman: Apocalypse; Green Lantern: First Flight; Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite; Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom!; Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered (22' Special); Son of Batman; Superman: Unbound; Justice League: Throne of Atlantis; Lego DC Comics SuperHeroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League and Teen Titans: Trouble Tokyo.

So-called "blockbuster" movies on the SuperheroHQ channel will include Superman the Movie; Superman II; Superman III; Superman 4: The Quest for Peace; Superman Returns; Spy Kids; Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

No scheduled dates or times for when which of these specific titles will be seen on the SuperheroHQ channel have been released to the media but Turner International says a movie will run every weekday at 20:05.

Saturdays on SuperheroHQ will be dedicated to Batman, starting at 07:25 with an animated Batman film, followed at some time by animated Batman and Superman series.

On Saturday afternoons at 17:30 there will be a marathon of Batman episodes on SuperheroHQ with Saturdays that will end with a double film feature starting at an unspecified time.

Sundays will be dedicated to Superman with an animation movie starting at 07:25, followed at some time with a marathon of animation series including Batman the Animated Series and Superman the Animated Series.

At 17:30 on Sundays there will be another marathon of Superman episodes, with Sundays that will end with a double film feature starting at an unspecified time.