Asaph Fipke is a Canadian producer, writer, and director and the creator of the animated series Storm Hawks , which is made by the animation studio he co-founded, Nerd Corps Entertainment, [1] cooperation with Cartoon Network and YTV. He is also the creator of both the animated series Slugterra and Rated A for Awesome which aired on Disney XD and Endangered Species , which was also produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment that aired on Teletoon as well as the executive producer in the sixth and seventh seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic , which currently airs on Discovery Family and game show Airmageddon , which airs on CBBC.
Fipke studied at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Film School.
Fipke began his career with computer animation starting with his employment at Mainframe Entertainment, where he worked on series such as Beast Wars: Transformers (as associate producer) and Beast Machines: Transformers (as producer and supervising production designer). In addition, he worked on productions for ReBoot , the 2000 series of Action Man , the TV adaptation of Heavy Gear , Max Steel and Barbie in the Nutcracker . He eventually became Senior Vice President of Development and Production at Mainframe Entertainment in 2000, however abandoned the position in 2001.
In 2002, Fipke founded Nerd Corps Entertainment in Vancouver, along with fellow animation producer Chuck Johnson. The company's first animated series, Dragon Booster , won Fipke a Gemini Award for Best Animation Program or Series in 2005 and a Leo Award nomination in the same category in 2006.
ReBoot is a Canadian animated television series that originally aired on YTV from 1994 until 2001. It was produced by Vancouver-based Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Distribution and BLT Productions. The animated series was created by Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, and John Grace, with the visuals designed by Brendan McCarthy after an initial attempt by Ian Gibson. It is notable for being one of the first made-for-television CGI series.
David Kaye is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known for animation roles such as Megatron in five of the Transformers series, Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, Professor X in X-Men: Evolution, Cronus in Class of the Titans, Khyber in Ben 10: Omniverse, several characters in Avengers Assemble, and Duckworth in the reboot of DuckTales. He is also known for anime roles including Sesshōmaru in Inuyasha and Treize Khushrenada in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and video game roles such as Clank in the Ratchet & Clank series and Nathan Hale in the Resistance series. He is also the announcer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO and voiced the Celestial Arishem in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals. He did voice work for various other studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for many years while occasionally doing voice work in Los Angeles, California, US, before fully relocating there in 2007.
Cosgrove Hall Films was a British animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall, headquartered in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was a major producer of children's television and animated programmes/films, which are still seen in over eighty countries. The company was wound down by its then owner, ITV plc, on 26 October 2009. It was mainly known for its series Danger Mouse, The Wind in the Willows and Count Duckula.
Beast Wars: Transformers is an animated television series that debuted on September 16, 1996 and ended on May 7, 1999, serving as the flagship of the Transformers: Beast Wars franchise. It was one of the earliest fully CGI television shows. The series is set in the future of the "original" Transformers franchise, 300 years after the events of The Transformers, and features the Maximals and Predacons, descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons respectively. While engaged in battle, small teams from each faction crash land on an unknown planet, and must find a way to return home while continuing their war.
Mainframe Studios is a Canadian animation company owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and John Grace, the company established itself as a leading contributor to the introduction of computer-generated imagery (CGI) live action in animation, film and television.
Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon and/or give the render a characteristic paper-like texture. There are similar techniques that can make an image look like a sketch, an oil painting or an ink painting. The name comes from cels, clear sheets of acetate which were painted on for use in traditional 2D animation.
Richard Newman is an American-born actor who is notable for his numerous voice roles in Transformers.
The Transformers is an American-Japanese animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro and Takara Tomy's Transformers toy line. The first television series in the Transformers franchise, it depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.
WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programming, including the assets of acquisitions such as Cookie Jar Group, Epitome Pictures, and Wildbrain Entertainment among others, distribution rights to the Jay Ward Productions library, and a stake in the Peanuts franchise.
Storm Hawks is an animated television series created by Asaph A. Fipke and was produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment. It premiered on YTV in Canada on September 8, 2007, and on Cartoon Network in the United States on May 25, 2007. Reruns formerly aired on Family CHRGD and Nickelodeon Canada.
Nerd Corps Entertainment was a Canadian animation studio located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded by former Mainframe Entertainment producers Asaph Fipke and Chuck Johnson in 2002, it specialized in CGI animation, computer animation, and Flash animation.
Peter Eugene Keefe was an American television producer best known for creating the popular series Voltron, an English dubbed combination of Beast King GoLion, and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, two similar, but unrelated “mecha” anime series originally created and produced by Toei Animation. Keefe's work on the series is credited with introducing American audiences to Japanese animation and influenced later children's programs like the Dragon Ball, Pokémon, and Power Rangers franchises., although Japanese programs, including such programs as Astro Boy, and Ultraman, had aired on American television prior to the premiere of Voltron.
Jeff Kline is an American film and television writer-producer and former television executive. He has been involved in more than 40 animated and live-action series and pilots, has received multiple Emmy nominations and wins.
Slugterra is a Canadian animated television series created by Asaph Fipke. The series was produced by the Canadian animation studio Nerd Corps Entertainment, a subsidiary of DHX Media. It premiered on Disney XD Canada on September 3, 2012 and started broadcasting in the United States the following month. The series was formerly streamed on Netflix from 2016 until 2018, and is currently available on other platforms such as The Roku Channel.
Slugterra: Ghoul from Beyond is a 2014 Canadian animated television film produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment. It premiered on March 30, 2014 on Disney XD and is the first Slugterra film.
Endangered Species is a Canadian animated children's television series created by Asaph Fipke, produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment and distributed internationally by DHX Media for Teletoon that premiered on the channel on March 3, 2015, and aimed for kids ages 6–11.
Slugterra: Return of the Elementals is a 2014 Canadian animated film produced by the Canadian company Nerd Corps Entertainment. It is the second film of Slugterra. It premiered on August 2, 2014, in US and August 21, 2014.
WildBrain Studios is the in-house television studio arm of Canadian entertainment company WildBrain based in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was established in 2016 as DHX Studios.