Although production ended for Dudley the Dragon, showbiz life continued for his creators and producers.
Peter Williamson and Ira Levy‘s company, Breakthrough Entertainment, expanded its television production to an impressive degree. Today, according to their website, they have produced over 2600 half-hours of programming, licensed to broadcasters in over 200 territories. Their digital media division encompasses websites, and online, mobile, iphone and ITV games. A list of their productions can be found here.
Alex Galatis, the main creative force behind Dudley, tallied credits as a writer, story editor, developer and creator for many shows. In particular, he served as story editor for Atomic Betty, a series created and Flash-animated by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver.
By day, Betty Barrett is a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl. By night, she becomes Atomic Betty, Defender of the Universe, aided by her trusty sidekicks Sparky the Martian and Robot X-5. Commander-in-chief Admiral DeGill of the Galactic Council sends them to combat Supreme Emperor Maximus I-Q of Lynxia and other galactic scum. After that, it’s bedtime for Betty and another day at school.
Martin Goodman details how Atomic Betty was sold here, with a followup article two years later here.
Kevin Gillis and Ira Levy of Breakthrough Entertainment became interested in the series, and partnered up with Atomic to produce it. Breakthrough provided the writers—led by Alex Galatis—while Atomic handled the artistic end.
Said co-creator Rob Davies, “If something doesn’t work we either re-jig it with Alex and Kevin, or it gets sent to the bin. We have some fantastic writers on board and the scripts are progressing wonderfully. Some of the stories actually originate with us, too. In this case, Alex fine-tunes them and hands them out to writers, depending on schedule needs.”
In Canada, Atomic Betty premiered on Teletoon September 6, 2004. In the U.S., it premiered on Cartoon Network on September 17, 2004. Atomic Cartoons produced 78 half-hours (three seasons), plus a one-hour Christmas special.
Tajja Isen provided the voice of Betty. Adrian Truss gave her orders as Admiral DeGill.
These actors would work together again—this time, on a series unlike any before on television.
Source: Martin Goodman, Animation World Network, “Atomic Betty Redux: A Toon’s Progress,” posted January 12, 2004.
