SCI Fi Channel, home of the new, adult-oriented CG comedy Tripping the Rift, has announced a few new shows set to join its lineup for 2005-2006. Among them is Amazing Screw-On Head, a half-hour animated comedy series adapted from the critically acclaimed, Eisner Award-winning comic book by Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy.

Amazing Screw-On Head will follow the exploits of a robotic secret agent who can screw his head onto a wide variety of bodies. Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, NBC’s Carrie) and Jason Netter (Kickstart Prods.) will executive produce. Fuller will write and Netter will oversee animation.

Also coming to the cabler is Witchhunter Robin, a live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime series. The gritty urban tale of action and horror centers on a small, specialized team of cops who set out to capture rogue witches who are abusing their powers. Robin, the newest member of the team, happens to be a witch herself–a trait that makes her a great cop and a danger to everyone around her. Joe Menosky, who spearheaded SCI FI’s upcoming Anonymous Rex, is on board as writer and exec producer. Roy Lee (The Ring) and Doug Davison will also executive produce.

SCI FI also has an untitled Joel Schumacher/April Smith project in development. Described as Sex and the City meets V, the edgy urban drama has aliens come down to earth to study human experience in preparation for an eventual invasion. When a sexy alien female falls in love with a human male, a deadly tale of love, lust and world domination unfolds. Schumacher (Batman and Robin) will direct and three-time Emmy nominee Smith (Chicago Hope) will write. The two will also share exec producing duties.

Other additions will include Monster Smash, a WWE-style showdown that will feature actors transformed into giant mutant monsters via prosthetics and special effects by Academy Award-winning creature maker Stan Winston, and Stranded, an action/adventure/reality series that will crash land two teams on an "alien planet," where they will have to use cutting-edge technology to survive a series of extreme challenges and compete for a big cash prize.

It seems the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood can’t help but find themselves in the middle of legal issues. Just a week after a judge threw out the Slesinger Family’s Winnie the Pooh royalty suit against Disney, the law has come down on Tigger, or at least someone pretending to be Tigger.

The Associated Press reports that an employee of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida has been charged with molesting a 13-year-old girl and her mother while dressed as A. A. Milne’s bouncing feline.

Michael Chartrand was arrested Friday after the mother and daughter filed a complaint saying that he had fondled their breasts while posing for a photo at the Magic Kingdom’s Toon Town. The 36-year-old was charged with one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 15 and one count of simple battery and was booked at the Orange County Jail on a $2,500 bond. He has also been suspended from his job without pay.

Opening against Disney’s new animated feature, Home on the Range, is Sony/Revolution Studios’ digital effects extravaganza Hellboy. Tippett Studio, The Orphanage, CafeFX, Hatch FX, Spectral Motion, Eden FX, Fantasy II, DDT Efectos Especiales, HimAnI Prods. and The Pit Crew all contribute hellish visuals to the possible franchise tentpole.

Directed by genre favorite Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, Mimic, Cronos), Hellboy is based on the comic book series of the same name by Mike Mignola. Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, T.V.’s Beauty and the Beast) dons makeup by latex legend Rick Baker to assume the title role, a demon conjured up by Nazis who decides to fight for good rather than evil.

In a marketing first, Sony and Revolution Studios have been distributing free preview DVDs at Best Buy stores, showing concern that the $60 million effects film may have trouble drawing audiences not familiar with the fairly obscure comic book. It is important to note, however, that blockbusters such as Men In Black and the Blade series had the same beginnings.

Hellboy visual effects supervisor Nick Allder discusses the challenges of bringing a comic book to life in the April issue of Animation Magazine.

HIT Ent. and The Jim Henson Co. have entered into a five-year global rights and production venture. The deal was announced today in Cannes by HIT chairman Peter Orton and Jim Henson Co. co-chairs and co-CEOs Brian Henson and Lisa Henson.

HIT, owner of such popular preschool properties as Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Barney, will distribute Henson’s award-winning classic family properties across various platforms, including television, home entertainment and consumer products. The Henson catalog includes the ACE Award-winning titles Fraggle Rock and Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas; the BAFTA Award-winning Jim Henson’s The Hoobs; the BAFTA-nominated Jim Henson’s Construction Site, Jim Henson’s Mopatop’s Shop; and the Emmy Award-winning Jim Henson’s Mother Goose Stories. The deal does not include titles involving The Muppets or Bear in the Big Blue House, the rights to which were recently acquired by Disney.

In addition to the distribution deal, the arrangement provides for the production of new properties, which will also be distributed by HIT. The first of such projects is Frances, a new animated preschool program based on the best-selling Frances Treasury series of books. This deal is the first formal collaboration between the two companies, although they have a common heritage with HIT’s founder Peter Orton, who previously led Henson’s international TV sales division.

Lisa Henson comments, “HIT’s demonstrated success with many well-known brands makes them an ideal co-production partner for our new preschool properties such as Frances. The show, using Henson’s proprietary CG animation technology, will be one of the most innovative productions ever created for young children. We look forward to developing other imaginative and exciting projects with HIT under this new venture.”

Cookie Jar, the freshly minted product of the Cinar takeover, has joined forces with Toronto-based producer Shaftesbury Films to launch the live-action/animated adventure series Dark Oracle. The show is comprised of an initial 13 half-hour episodes and is set to debut this fall on YTV.

Aimed at kids eight-12, Dark Oracle follows the adventures of 15-year-old twins, Cally and Lance Stone, who discover a comic book that gives them clues about their futures. Thrust into a comic book world of danger, fear and uncertainty, the twins learn the Dark Oracle has a hidden agenda that threatens their very existence. In a unique blend of live-action and comic book-style animation, the two confront their animated alter egos, Violet and Blaze, who possess the uncanny ability to manipulate the future and attempt to escape into the real world to wreak further havoc.

“YTV is looking forward to this innovative production," says Corus Television’s Bonita Siegel, director of original productions, children’s television. "The live action and animation appealed to us right away. When those comic book characters move, it will spook out our audience and keep them watching the whole series.”

The series was created by newcomer Jana Sinyor, who has teamed up with Int’l Emmy Award winner Heather Conkie (Mrs. Ashboro’s Cat, The Zack Files) to write the series. Conkie will serve as exec producer, along with Shaftesbury Films’ Christina Jennings and Scott Garvie. Producers are Suzanne French and Laura Harbin for Shaftesbury Films and Jana Sinyor. Ron Murphy (The Gavin Crawford Show, Our Hero, In a Heartbeat) will also serve as a producer and will direct of most of the episodes.

Dark Oracle is produced in association with YTV, A Corus Ent. company, the Canadian Film or Television Tax Credit and Ontario Tax Credit and with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund Equity and License Fee Programs.

DECODE Ent. hopes to move to the head of the class in Cannes with the new series Bromwell High (working title). Co-produced by U.K. independent Hat Trick Prods., the 2D comedy was commissioned by Channel 4 for its primetime schedule. DECODE holds worldwide distribution rights excluding the U.K. and Ireland and has already struck a deal with TELETOON Canada at MIPTV.

Set in the "worst school in the world," Bromwell High follows the exploits of three unruly teen girls with an uncanny knack of undermining all forms of authority and getting away with it. The show is written by Richard Osman, Richard Pinto, and Sharat Sardana (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars at No. 42) and features the voices of Nina Conti (BBC New Comedy Awards 2002 winner), Jo Wyatt , Gina Yashere (Chef, Hope & Glory) Stephan Merchant (co-creator/co-writer of The Office) Doon Mackichan (Smack the Pony), Graeme Garden (The Goodies), Simon Greenall (I’m Alan Partridge) and Tracy-Ann Oberman (Big Train, Marion and Geoff).

Producer duties go to Anil Gupta (The Office, Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars at No. 42) and Beth Stevenson. Exec producers are Jimmy Mulville, Denise O’Donoghue, Mario Stylianides, Neil Court and Steven DeNure. Stevenson, Court and DeNure are partners at DECODE.

Bromwell High is DECODE’s second foray into primetime animation following its hit series Undergrads, which was co-produced by MTV. Channel 4 will air 13 half-hour episodes of the series in 2005.

Daily Variety reports that the voices behind Fox’s iconic animated hit, The Simpsons, are refusing to go back into the recording booth as their contracts are being renegotiated. Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, others), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) have reportedly failed to show up for recent table reads, holding up the production of new episodes.

The actors, who now get $125,000 per episode, are reportedly asking for $360,000, or $8 million for a 22-episode season. The strike resembles one the voice actors lodged in 1998 when they were only making $30,000 per installment. Twentieth Century Fox TV reportedly threatened to recast the roles at that time.

A Simpsons feature film is in the early stages of development and may also be put on hold until an amicable deal is reached.

Cartoon Network plans to launch Miguzi, a new weekday afternoon block of action/adventure programming. Aimed at the six-11 crowd, Miguzi will air weekdays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. (ET, PT), beginning Monday, April 19.

The new block will be built around an undersea environment. Each day, a CG host named Erin will be transported by a giant sea monster to a submerged ship where he and his sea creature pals watch the animated shows. Miguzi will also feature live-action segments profiling entertainers, athletes and everyday heroes ranging from comic book artists to the country’s top street basketball players. These lifestyle pieces are intended to bridge the gap between real life action/adventure and animation.

Totally Spies will kick off the lineup at 5 p.m., followed by Code LYOKO, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teen Titans.

Nickelodeon’s bilingual preschool toon Dora the Explorer is among the TV shows honored with a prestigious Peabody Award this year. The Awards, which recognize excellence in electronic media, were announced yesterday by the University of Georgia’s College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Peabody winners are selected each year by a 15-member board of TV critics, broadcast and cable executives and experts in the arts. This year, the board chose 29 winners from more than 1,100 entries.

Dora the Explorer was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner, and has been a ratings winner on Nick Jr. and CBS since it debuted in 2000. The toon helps preschool viewers develop problem-solving skills in an interactive format. Dora is Latina and teaches children basic Spanish words and phrases, along with math and music skills and physical coordination.

The 63^rd Annual Peabody Awards will be presented May 17 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and will be hosted by NBC Today’s Katie Couric.