Vancouver: When Footman takes to the Manhattan night to ‘stomp’ out crime, the animated character works in a 3D world complete with renderings of actual buildings like the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the Information Technology Centre and the United Nations building.

The itc building, which animator Gordon Stanfield of Vancouver is licensed to use, is the central communications nervous system that Footman – who is more of a Stooge than a Superman – taps to get the goods on criminals in his midst. And the series creator says Footman will use the latest in real-life technology (albeit foot-like) to nab the bad guys and enhance the ties to reality for the action-adventure-comedy series.

Footman flies a Heelicopter, drives a Toe Truck, uses a Footphone and Footnoculars, and… well, you get the idea.

‘This is a total play on superheros and superspies,’ says Stanfield in his new Vancouver offices. He says superhero series that take themselves seriously do not perform well in Europe.

‘There is a new edge and a new feeling to the series,’ adds Stanfield.

‘Footman looks funny, but he tries to do serious things that don’t work out.’

Footman is a character with a foot for a head and toes forming a kind of sideways Mohawk hairdo. How he acquired his distinctive look will remain a mystery at least for the first season. His first challenge, however, will be to attract viewers with his antics fighting international terrorism at night while, by day, he is the modest man-servant to General Mullhaven, the un’s crotchety, near-sighted expert on terrorism.

At Footman’s side are his friends and cohorts: the robust, acrobatic Cleaning Woman; itc inside source Ms. Lea; and Fungus, a tiny Footman hanger-on who is adept at computer hacking and navigating the World Wide Web.

In the first episode, Footman and Cleaning Woman foil the plans of evil Dr. Subliminal who is turning Internet users and computer buyers into zombie-like computer hackers who try to disrupt the world’s governments.

In another episode, Footman’s clan mess up the plans of an evil beautician named She-vil who has created a shampoo-truth serum to uncover secrets. In yet another episode, Footman does battle with an environmental terrorist named Vine, who is part human, part plant. Each villain, like Footman, will sport an odd head.

When Footman goes into full production mode in April with the first of 26 episodes, it will also be one of the most successful animated series to combine 2D characters in a 3D environment. The computer renderings are painted to be flatter than other 3D cgi-based shows so that the traditional, cel-animated characters look more at home, says Stanfield.

He will produce the show through a division called Twinkle Toes Productions.

The first season will air tentatively in the fall of 1999. Just where the show will end up is a bit of a mystery since, at press time, Footman’s partners were still negotiating. However, Stanfield has sold the show to Spain’s Luk International, which has one of the largest inventories of animated programming.

A Footman promotional tape debuted at MIPCOM Junior last fall and, according to Stanfield, racked up 54 screenings for potential partners compared with the much-hyped Men In Black series which had nearly 70 screenings.

He says Footman will likely be a French coproduction with 75% of the $400,000-per-episode budget done in b.c. to take advantage of the ctcpf and new tax credit incentives.

While details about partner and subcontractor companies were still under wraps at press time, Stanfield says the home office in Vancouver will handle the scripts, administration, direction, releasing and post-production, while a French company will handle the preproduction.

The 3D animation, much of which has been created for the promo and an unfinished pilot that has been shelved in favor of going straight into the series, will be done in Vancouver. Animation assisting and coloring of the cels might go to Asia.

Stanfield’s previous production Kleo the Misfit Unicorn is currently airing 26 episodes on Radio-Canada and Family Channel in Canada and on Discovery in Latin America.