So geeks, quite a while ago now I wrote an enormous piece about Tezuka’s Astro Boy, his cartoonical history and his place amongst the greats within the birth of Manga.

I know that October 2009 is still a considerable distance for people who have not yet mastered the traversing of parallel universes in order to cheat time, but the trailer recently appeared on astroboy-themovie.com and I am SUPER STOKED!

Watch the teaser trailer here below and check out the phenomenal action that IMAGI have, once again, masterfully employed. And check out the voice talent — Nicolas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Donald Sutherland, Matt Lucas!!!

IMAGI are the tech gurus behind the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Digitization. Say what you will about the plot, the apparent lack of zaniness we are used to with the TMNT crew, but can you fault the graphics? Exactly. IMAGI are working on some other pretty sweet projects, the one that really has me going — aside from Astro Boy – is Gatchaman.

“What is Gatchaman?” I hear an incredibly small and getting smaller contingent of readers gasp… Well, most people know of G-force, or Battle of the Planets, which was alongside AstroBoy as one of my most revered cartoons of youth. Gatchaman is the original incarnation of those two Saturday morning staples of yore and IMAGI are going all out to make this one as hard-core and insanely fantastic as they possibly can, but don’t hold your breath just yet. Originally slated for 2008, this project has now been tentatively billed as 2010. Given the incredible workload of IMAGI, I wait patiently, knowing this too will be SWEEEEEEET! You can’t rush these guys.

Synopsis

A thrilling tale of a true hero, Astro Boy is an all-new, feature film full of action, adventure, humor and heart. It will be brought to life on the big screen in breathtaking CGI animation on October 23rd, 2009.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist named Tenma (Nicolas Cage). Powered by positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly.

Embarking on a journey in search of acceptance, Astro Boy encounters many other colorful characters along the way. Through his adventures, he learns the joys and emotions of being human, and gains the strength to embrace his destiny. Ultimately learning his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to understand what it takes to be a hero.

Teaser Trailer