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Hero: 108 Story Development.

Mike Young Productions is harkening back to animation's heyday by adopting a storyboard-led writing model for its new boys action-comedy co-pro Hero: 108. The 52 x 11-minute Flash toon originated in Taiwan as a concept worked up by the development team at Gamania Digital Entertainment, Asia's largest publisher of MMGOs. With exec production help from Radar Cartoon's Rita Street, the game studio is shouldering some pre-pro duties, including mapping out a storyboard for each episode as a first step in the narrative development process. Co-exec producer Kent Redeker will extract first-draft scripts from the boards and fine-tune from there.

The over-arching story, geared to the six to 11 set, is loosely based on an ancient Chinese novel called Water Margin, which details the trials and tribulations of 108 rebel bandits fighting against the corrupt rulers of the Song Dynasty. GDE's modern version of the epic centers around 14-year-old Lin Chung (a.k.a. Panther Eye), one of 108 kid defenders trying to end a conflict between humans and animals in a hidden kingdom. Standing in their way is a villain named High Roller, who uses his ability to communicate with the animals to try and dominate the human race. Each ep plays out a new chapter in this struggle for power, as well as spotlighting one of the heroes.

All of the show's visual elements are uniquely Asian-flavored, and GDE worked up several short animation sequences that helped draw in MYP and co-producing broadcasters Telegael and Cartoon Network International, which has picked up rights for all its worldwide territories. Hero: 108 is budgeted on the high side for Flash at just over US$350,000 per half hour, but MYP partner and co-CEO Bill Schultz explains that 17 language tracks wll be produced right off the bat. The show is due to wrap up in time for a Q4 2008 rollout, and MYP is actively scouting for presales.