Over the last few weeks I've been watching an interesting series
on Cartoon Network called STORM HAWKS.

It first caught my eye about a month before it debuted on the
'toon channel, when I happened to see several episodes playing
on the laptop of a fellow passenger on a flight back home from
Los Angeles. In particular, I noticed what appeared to be several
"furry" characters in the main cast. This was confirmed when the
episodes finally started airing in June. Granted, the cast is
mainly human -- rather typical human teenagers, who just happen to
be ace fighter pilots bravely defending their planet from the Evil
du Jour (a Goth megalomaniac named Master Cyclonis). I can't quite
figure out if these kids are interns or if they actually draw a
paycheck from somewhere -- *somebody* has to be covering their fuel
bills, if nothing else. But I digress...

As I said, mostly human, with a smattering of "furry" characters:
the muscle is provided by a Rhino-morph named Junko, some kind of
paranoid avian-humanoid named Stork is the navigator (easily the
funniest character on the show), and the lead's co-pilot is a
rabbit-monkey cross named Radarr (Grape Nehi, anyone?). The
baddies include a gaggle of dino-morphs, and the most recent
episode, "Fire and Ice," featured Canadian-accented Bunny-boys
(and girls). Mutated Canuck hoppers in outer space? Take off, eh!

The show is animated using an interesting cross between CG and
"traditional" styles (sort of like STUART LITTLE 3, but not nearly
as creepy-looking). The stories are fairly standard, with a
smattering of teenage angst, levels of violence guaranteed not to
offend (or engage), art design right out of "How to Draw Anime!",
but enough action each episode to keep things from getting too dull.
Worth checking out.

-timmy