Tooning In to Edgy Compu-Characters

A pet ant with a green mohawk and a bad attitude, a three-dimensional Superman whose fate is subject to your whims, a cartoon scientist who woefully lacks a grip on reality, a Holy Deity who has made a pact with a she-devil to co-host a talk show: These are some of the original compu-characters you can only catch online. They all dwell at https://www.entertaindom.com, the spanking-new Web kingdom developed by Time Warner and devoted to contenting surfers with gobs of content.

While you can access newsstand infotainment from such sources as Entertainment Weekly, CNN, Reuters and Variety, the fun stuff at this corporate mega-site is the host of innovative, cartoony critters and classic toon types.

Skip over the usual yawnful staples--TV listings, chat rooms, fan pages--and steer toward the feature attractions. In addition to recycling a flock of familiar faces (Looney Tunes characters, Superman,) Entertaindom has enlisted some third-party properties--edgy upstarts like San Francisco-based animation studios Mondo Entertainment and Protozoa.

Getting the most attention and offering the most mirth is Mondo’s “God and the Devil Show.” This shock-waved talk show is co-hosted by the Almighty and Satan herself. Each week, the coffee-mug-toting hosts interview a prominent celebrity and ponder his or her vices and virtues. Spectators get to choose whether to send said celeb upward or below, eternally. Combining animation and celebrity impersonation, the show recalls MTV’s “Celebrity Death Match” a little bit, except that it’s much more clever and much less obnoxious. This week, God and the devil chat up the wrinkly, tanned rock legend Keith Richards. (It takes a little edge off the whole scene, however, to see the Richards album ad nearby.)

Next week, a buffed Gandhi appears on the show to compete with God in the Mr. Religious Pageant. Whose religion will appear as the one true faith?, the promo asks. Future guests include John Wayne and Santa Claus, but even more fun is the Devil’s Answering Machine. Here you can hear the phone messages left by famous personalities for evil incarnate. Sure, we all knew that Christopher Walken counts Satan as his personal friend, but did you know that Jennifer Lopez sold some soul to obtain that magnificent derriere? You can also pose questions to God and get the real scoop on the meaning of life and whether we ought to teach creationism in school.

(If you prefer life offline, you can use that oldfangled telephone to call [877] DEV-MSGS and leave a message for the devil. If it’s witty enough, your voice might just wind up on site.)

Another original feature is the Cine Mini, a stash of brief movies from Atom Films of Seattle. Entertaindom has exclusive rights to live-action shorts starring the likes of Jack Lemmon, George Clooney and Jennifer Aniston. Currently screening is the 30-minute “Judgment,” starring Matthew McConaughey as a Texas sheriff in a town that’s too small and too quiet to need a jail cell. This 1995 film was the directorial debut of David Winkler, son of producer Irwin Winkler (“Rocky,” “Raging Bull”).

Next up at this mini-fest is “Solid Action Love Partner,” in which a domesticated robot resolves a nasty marital dispute. One should catch these flicks (as well as other content) as they debut because word has it that Entertaindom will begin charging to view its archives.

Other fun features at the new entertainment hub include a weekly 3-D animated “Superman” series from Brilliant Digital Entertainment that allows viewers to determine the plot. In addition to multipath stories about the Man of Steel, future drive-your-own plots include cartoons featuring Xena, Ace Ventura and the rock band KISS.

Eclipsing an array of Looney Tune classics, Marvin the Martian is back from retirement. Originally created in 1948, only six Marvin cartoons were ever made by Warner Bros. Animation. Protozoa’s state-of-the-art technology brings back Marvin in new one-minute 3-D animated shorts, utilizing the classic Marvin voice and the original Carl Stahling “Looney Tunes” musical cues.

Also from Protozoa is “Dr. Science,” a question-and-answer 3-D animated “misinfotainment” program (born of NPR’s “Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater”) in which the bearded doctor with a high pile of hair takes your questions (e-mail ‘em in) and provides way-wrong reasoning, such as his statement that pigeons are hybrids between lost pet canaries and rats. Dr. Science will also tell you that the red-eyed relatives you see in your photos are actually Aptar beings from the “negative zone” who take on human form in order to get their pictures taken.

For live-action retro-tainment, Rhino (home of the superlative ‘70s compilation CDs) offers kitsch flashbacks. Viewables include streaming videos of camp commercials, such as the first Frisbee ad.

Beginning Thursday, the nostalgia corner will feature a tribute to B-movie master Ed Wood on the 21st anniversary of his death (which happens to be the 21st birthday of Rhino--eerie, no?). Streaming clips from Wood’s cheesy classic “Plan 9 From Outer Space” will be available. In this 1958 film, unspeakable horrors from outer space paralyze the living and resurrect the dead.

Who said Warner isn’t committed to quality entertainment?

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Erika Milvy writes about entertainment from her home in San Francisco. She can be reached aterika@well.com.