Hi all,
Following last night’s Team Meeting, dedicated to discussing issues pertaining to the Cartoon Section, below here is an overview of what was discussed - this is particularly for MannyF, who was unable to attend (we missed you, my friend! :)), and also to basically summarise the things we discussed. 
Layout of the Cartoon Section:
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The layout of the Cartoon Section was discussed, both in terms of physical appearance and in terms of what content should go where.
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Neil suggested dividing the Cartoon Section into four categories:
[INDENT]1. About the Series - this would contain articles about the ThunderCats series, such as information about Rankin-Bass/Lorimar Telepictures, etc., as well as articles about things of particular interest that happened in the series (one of Martin’s suggestions being an article about how many times the Sword of Omens was broken!). Another important feature in this section would be a page containing info about the voice actors who worked on the show. [/INDENT][INDENT]2. Episodes - this would contain the Episode Guide, scripts from the series, airdate information and the Encyclopedia section, basically anything dedicated to the episodes specifically. [/INDENT][INDENT]3. Animation Art - basically the integration of Mark’s section into the Cartoon Section. More on this below.[/INDENT][INDENT]4. Special Features - basically a section containing everything that you can’t fit obviously into one of the others! Material that already exists that you could incorporate into this could include the Toonami commercial bumpers, the (in)famous ThunderCats outtakes and the French Encyclopedia. Something else that we have available but not yet online that would fit neatly into this section would be the ThunderCats PSA video.[/INDENT]- The integration of the Animation Art section into the Cartoon Section was discussed at some length. Celesta voiced concerns that the Animation Art should technically be further integrated into another subsection, perhaps titled “Behind the Scenes”. Whilst many of the team agreed that this is technically correct, concern was expressed both about the appearance to the general public if this section was “downgraded” even further (i.e., from being its own section to being a subsection within a subsection), and also that, given that Mark (Grizzlor) had expressed disappointment at the Animation Art’s integration into the Cartoon Section (albeit in so doing expressing his acceptance of ManyF’s decision to do so), to integrate it still further could create a flammatory situation. Whilst it is true that Mark’s area of the site has been dead for many months now, the consensus of the team was that we would like to retain Mark’s content if possible, and that it is therefore advisable to be flexible on its positioning within the Cartoon Section.
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The issue of adding new content to the Animation Art section was raised by Chris as a matter of concern. There is a possibility of large amounts of Rankin-Bass production material (not cels) becoming available to add to the site, but which has not been pursued because this is technically Mark’s area.
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It was decided by the consensus of the team that Chris would contact Mark via e-mail, writing in a very conciliatory tone, explaining the situation, stating that we would love to see updates to the Animation Art section and to see Mark play an active role in that area of the site, but advising him of the possibility of new content, and stating that, given his inactivity, the team hopes he will not be offended if we pursue the avenues of obtaining new material to add to that section in the meanwhile. It was agreed that Chris would send out this e-mail ASAP, and if no response was received within approximately a week, then the team would be left with no alternative but to proceed with that section as they see best.
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As a compromise on the issue of the Animation Art section being integrated into a “Behind the Scenes” subsection, Chris suggested renaming the Animation Art section “Animation Art and Production Materials” (or a variation on same), which would contain a large proportion of what you would expect to find in a “Behind the Scenes” subsection - i.e., not just cels, but also prototype drawings, height and colour charts, storyboards, and other art-based production materials used by Rankin-Bass in the creation of the cartoon. This was approved by a majority of the team.
Episode Guide:
- It was agreed that the format of the Episode Guide pages should remain similar to the way it is now, but with the addition of a section for fans’ comments from the Talkback Threads, and also the addition of screengrabs at the bottom of the page.
Subsections:
- Already addressed in some detail above, a discussion was had about specific content for the various subsections of the Cartoon Section (see above). A couple of jobs were assigned - more on this below.
Existing content:
- A discussion was had about what content is already available to use in the Cartoon Section but is not currently online. MannyC has available the official Rankin-Bass synopsies for the first third of season 2 (I believe up to episode #90), which need typing up. Celesta had previously agreed to use a special scanner to transfer the text in those files from .jpg to text, but as yet has not been able to get around to doing those. Chris stated that if she is unable to do this, he would be willing to slowly plough through them and convert the text by hand, although Celesta’s method would obviously be preferable.
Assignments:
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It was agreed that Chris & Kyle would discuss ideas for the layout of the Cartoon Section, as well as suggestions for content ideas. At the same time as this, both would continue to work on their other sections, the Comic Section and Encyclopedia respectively.
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As well as writing and compiling info for the Encyclopedia, Martin offered to begin work on a page for the “About the Series” subsection containing info about the series’ voice actors. This was welcomed by the team, and Martin agreed to proceed with this.
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Neil stated that his time may be slightly limited with the new content he & MannyC are now able to incorporate into the Toy Section now that they are able to incorporate pages into the site via HTML, but said that he would be willing to write some articles for the Cartoon Section if his time permitted.
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MannyC (or rather his lovely wife Nadja! ;)) is going to scan the two scripts that he has in their entirety for display on the site. MannyC also passed on an offer of help from Nadja to capture videograbs from the cartoon episodes for the Episode Guide - this was heartily welcomed by the team, the majority of whom are UK-based and thus unable to play Region 1 DVDs on their computers for taking videograbs.
Off-Topic discussion:
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MannyC offered to assist Kyle in adding new pages to the Comic Section by modifying the pre-existing template. This was gratefully acknowledged by both Chris & Kyle, but it was agreed that for now the most sensible thing would be for MannyC to concentrate on the Toy Section, and then when that is close to completion see what needs adding to the Comic Section.
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The correct spelling of the word “Encyclopedia” was discussed - several team members’ spell-checkers had picked up on the spelling used by the team and noted it as incorrect, officially being spelt as “Encyclopaedia”. Chris has subsequently looked up the word in his dictionary and is sure the team will be relieved to know that both our spelling and the alternative spelling are recognised spellings of the word, and thus acceptible!
I believe I’m right in saying that that’s everything that was covered - I stupidly didn’t save the chat and so am working from memory, but AFAIK that’s all of it!
Thanks to everyone for an enlightening Team Meeting - whilst I know that the Cartoon Section represents both a mountain to climb in workload terms, and is also something of a thorny issue for some of the team, I believe that with hard work and dedication we can create a ThunderCats Cartoon Section to match the high standard of our Toy Section. I’m looking forward to seeing it come to fruition!
Take care, and speak to you all soon!