Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a 1996 Brazilian CGI animated feature film produced and released by NDR Filmes. It tells the story of an invasion of the planet Ateneia by intruders trying to steal their energy. The English version features the voices of Dan Aykroyd, Christopher Plummer, Wayne Knight, Garry Marshall, David Ogden Stiers, Patrick Stewart, Wallace Shawn, and Debi Derryberry.

The film was released in Brazil on April 1, 1996 by NDR Filmes, in Australia on June 21, 1996 by Hoyts, and in the United States on September 1, 2000 by Universal Pictures. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and grossed over $105 million in the US on a budget of $1.5 million.

Plot
In the interstellar constellation of Cassiopeia, the planet Ateneia is attacked by invaders who begin to drain its vital energy. A distress signal is sent into outer space by the local astronomer Liza and is received by four heroes who travel across the galaxy to rescue the dying planet. The four heroes (Chip, Chop, Feel, and Thot) venture through the galaxy, facing many dangers as they try to rescue the planet of Ateneia. Each has a specific function in their spaceship: Chop is the captain and pilot, Feel and Thot monitor space, and Chip is the gunman, working also as comic relief. Liza is an astronomer in Ateneia's main lab, working on all of the scientific details of the planet's life. On the way to defeat the evil forces of Shadowseat, the foursome meet Leonardo, a scientist from an undeveloped planet who creates crazy gadgets.

More coming soon!

Additional voices (English)

 * Jack Angel
 * Bob Bergen
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Jim Cummings
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Paul Eiding
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Danny Mann
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Phil Proctor

Development
Production began in January 1992 with environment and character modeling and the creation of the script. Animation began in January 1993, and the image generation work was completed in August 1995. The soundtrack was finished in December 1995, and the first copy was printed in January 1996.

The film was animated using Crystal Graphics' Topas Animator, running on 17 486 DX2-66 computers. The first character model was made on a 20 MHz 386 SX. Cassiopeia ' s animation team was composed of seven computer animators, three traditional animators (who served as consultants and directors of animation), and some freelancers.

Midway through production, some of the computers were stolen, requiring some scenes to be reanimated.

English adaptation
Universal Feature Animation was approached to supervise an English dub for the film's North American release. The studio hired Gary Hall as director and Michael Wildshill as producer of the dub. Screenwriters Mike Reiss and David H. Steinberg wrote the English dialogue.

Critical reception
Coming soon!

Box office
Coming soon!

Home media
Cassiopeia on VHS and DVD in the United States on 3 April 2001.

Trivia

 * Cassiopeia is the first CGI film ever, before Toy Story, that used to scan molds to produce the heads of the principal characters of the movie. Therefore, Cassiopeia had 100% of images generated by CGI.