'Teddy P. Brains' aims higher

The creators of the Philadelphia-based cartoon

The Adventures of Teddy P. Brains

have gone a step beyond the one-to-grow-on lessons of

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

.

Joseph Lewis III and Eugene Haynes designed 6-year-old time and space traveler Teddy P. Brains as a math, science and history whiz with an unquenchable thirst for learning. And what the young P. Brains doesn't know off the top of his little chocolate head, he asks his "Brainberry."

"It shows that children of color can live exciting lives," said Yumy Odom, a Temple University professor and founder of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention.

"It's reminiscent of the '70s children's programs, but it's far more reaching and up-to-date. If it's successful, it will definitely spawn other programs like it."

Right now, Teddy P. Brains is an hour-long animated movie that Haynes and Lewis, both 42, have high hopes for developing into a DVD series and a children's television show.

Ten-thousand copies of the first episode, "Journey into the Rain Forest," were manufactured by distribution company Clarendon Entertainment. It's available now at www.TeddyPBrainstv.com as well as at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

The duo, whose company Fourth and One Productions is named after the make-or-break football situation, amassed a group of silent partners who provided the bulk of the $600,000 needed for the project.

The cartoon mixes 1970s sensibilities with new-millennium technology. Teddy lives with both of his parents in a brownstone. His 6-foot-plus tall mom plays professional basketball; his 4-foot-dad is a jazz musician.

As a present for his kindergarten graduation, Teddy P. is given a magic diploma and inducted into his family's secret society: The Pedagogical Order of Boundless Exploration.

With the help of his slightly salty cousin, Tempest Wits, who utters pithy rhymes, Teddy travels in a souped-up spaceship to solve intellectual riddles. Teddy's dog, D'Artagnan - named after one of the Three Musketeers - goes on the learning jaunts, too. And like any good cartoon canine, he talks to the audience, summing up the journey.

The creators splice real-life scenes into the animation so the cartoon has the feel of such PBS shows as Sesame Street and The Electric Company. But the slick animation and tight black family-life scenes are more reminiscent of the Disney Channel's Proud Family - thankfully, without the constant whining of Penny Proud.

"Here we have a young black boy who is very smart," Haynes said. "This is an opportunity for young black children to define themselves through learning and being smart."

Like most cartoon characters aimed at the 8-and-under audience, Teddy P. moves with slow deliberateness. He is generated on a computer three-dimensionally; but after modification at Port Richmond-based production company Artifact Pictures, he looks two-dimensional, giving his adventures the flatter, softer look of cartoons of yesteryear. Retro sneakers! Retro Coke! Retro cartoons!

Haynes and Lewis met in Philadelphia during the 1990s. Lewis worked with Haynes' wife, Lisa Nelson (of the city's art collective, The Painted Bride) on a couple of advertising projects.

The two became friends and, in 2001, decided to launch their company Fourth and One. As a former acquisition executive for U.S.A. Films, Haynes had experience on the business side, while Lewis, whose background is in documentaries, was more about creativity.

Each the father of at least one young child, they decided to make Teddy P. Brains their first project. Children weren't being challenged enough, they concluded. And watching hours of Barney had the potential to dull any parent's brain. Also, as owners of a fledgling production company, they wanted to get a hold on a potentially lucrative market: children's programming with an African American star.

"We wanted children to stretch their brains," Lewis said. "And we wanted their parents to have an opportunity to learn something, too."

In 2004, Lewis and Haynes linked up with Artifact Pictures, located in a warehouse space in Port Richmond. Nearly 30 writers, producers, animators and researchers spent three years bringing Teddy P. Brains to life.

So far, the duo is pleased with sales of the DVD, which costs $19.95. Upcoming episodes will include Teddy P. visiting the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canyon and possibly Victoria Falls in the Zambezi Gorge in Zimbabwe.

In the meantime, there are flaws to be addressed. It would be nice, for instance, to see Tempest's character progress beyond a shrill jive-talking city girl. And Haynes and Lewis are still trying to get over an embarrassing marketing faux pas involving scantily clad women at last month's comic-book convention.

Still, the partners couldn't be prouder of their project. It's hard to miss the family resemblance: Teddy P. Brains is a smart kid who combines Haynes' black-rimmed glasses and Lewis' perfectly round head.