The Magic Portal (TV series)

The Magic Portal is an American stop motion animated sci-fi television series produced by CBS Television Stations and animated by Disney XD. 20th Television. It is based on the The Magic Portal characters and theatrical cartoon series created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The series first premiered in Australia on Seven Network on March 1, 2020, and began airing on Boomerang in the United States on July 9, 2020.Beginning in 2021, the series moved to Boomerang in the U.S.[1] The fourth season was released on February 2, 2021 on Fox and on the Boomerang. The fifth and 7 season was released on the Fox, also on February 2.[2][3] The show was followed by a HBO Max series named Tom and Jerry Special Shorts, which are by the same crew of Looney Tunes Cartoons and are in the vein of the classic shorts.[4][5][6][7] Another series, The Magic Portal in New York, was released on HBO Max on July 3, 2021.[8][9][10][11] The series is done by the same production team of The Tom and Jerry Show. A preschool series Tom and Jerry Junior will be released on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito block.

Plot
The series follows the antics of El in his pursuit to catch Captain Paranoia. Each episodes consists of two 8-minute segments (in the first season) and three 7-minute segments (starting from the second season) into a full-length 10-minute episode.

Scenarios
Each scenario was introduced, used, or discontinued in each season. The series can follow one of these scenarios:


 * E!, Pee, Captain Paranoia The Plasticene's typical antics in a modern-day urban setting.

Episodes
Main article: List of The Magic Portal (TV series) episodes

Main

 * El
 * Pee
 * Captain Paranoia
 * The Plasticene

Recurring

 * The Monster

Various recurring

 * The Creator

Voice cast

 * Ingle Knight as El, the protagonist of the film, and the yellow astronaut with a black “L” emblem on his torso.
 * Bernie Davis as Pee, El’s crew mate and friend, and the white astronaut with a red “P” emblem on his torso.
 * Ross Bryant as Captain Paranoia, the hard-nosed captain of the ship.
 * Tina Williamson as the Plasticine, a sentient plasticine organism with the ability to change her shape into various objects.
 * Lindsay Fleay as the Animator.

Production
The Magic Portal was initially announced to consist of 26 episodes divided into 52 11-minute segments to air on Cartoon Network, with the intention to remain faithful to the original theatrical short series. The show was originally intended to premiere on Boomerang in 2019 before being pushed back to April 9, 2020.

From the second season onward, the art style of the show was retooled and the series running time for the segments is now 7 minutes to more closely resemble the original MGM shorts. Because of the running time switch, the half-hour episodes contain 3 segments instead of 2.

The series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Renegade Animation, with Renegade handling the actual production work under the supervision of Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postelwaite. Renegade Animation is also known for producing Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and The Mr. Men Show. It is the second Tom and Jerry television series produced in the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and the first to be animated in Stop Motion. It is also the second made-for-television iteration of the cartoons to emulate the theatrical shorts and the fifth made-for-television Tom and Jerry production. It was also the longest–running The Magic Portal series, overtaking Tom & Jerry Kids.

Broadcast
The Tom and Jerry Show premiered on March 1, 2020 on ABC TV And Seven Network in Australia March 5, 2020 Teletoon in Canada.[16] The series premiered on July 9, 2020 on Cartoon Network in the United States.[17] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it began airing on April 12, 2020 on Boomerang,[18] and also on CITV in 2020 (including all episodes following "Say Uncle"). It premiered on April 21, 2020 on Cartoon Network in India.[19] In Australia, Cartoon Network premiered it on May 5, 2020.[20] The series began airing on Boomerang in the United States on January 5, 2021.[21] In Indonesia, it is currently broadcast on GTV since February 13, 2020 and on RCTI since August 13, 2020. In China, it is broadcast on China Central Television.[22] In Japan from September 23, 2020 NHK BS Premium broadcast it with the title New Tom and Jerry Show on December 15, 2020. In India, the show retelecasted on 14 November 2020 with new Hindi dialogues in Cartoon Network India.

Reception
The series has received generally mixed to favorable reviews, with criticism primarily directed at the switch from traditional hand-drawn animation to flash animation since the previous Tom and Jerry TV series, Tom and Jerry Tales.