The Cast’s Personal Sol Dorado

“Honestly, this project is the treasure,” Rodriguez replies to Nerd Reactor about what his Sol Dorado was. “Like this is the best project I could have asked for, truly. We had such great producers, such a great cast, such a great crew, writers, everyone was so amazing. And truly, we got to do things that we have never done before. We got to hold capybaras, got to play with some snakes, got to do crazy things with crazy animals, got to be in a jungle, see some immaculate rivers and monkeys, and whatever it may be. It was just truly, truly a blessing to be a part of this project.”

“My personal treasure was getting to know this cast,” Lorraine said. “I mean, they’re like my family. Shooting with a Latin crew, and Mariana’s been saying it, but being able to speak Spanish with them and just feel more immersed in our Latin culture, it was such a special thing. I grew up in Miami. Of course that’s a lot of Latin culture there. But seeing it firsthand is an experience like no other.

“And then Sol Dorado to me and Dora, I feel like we’re kind of similar in that way of like Sol Dorado, the golden sun. That wish for me is that kids and families and people continue to have curiosity in life and to continue asking questions, continue with that thirst for knowledge, to just embrace each other, be empathetic and care for each other and lend a shoulder when someone needs to cry or a hug or a laugh when someone needs it. It is so important, and I think this movie hits all those marks.”

Lorraine’s Love for The Last of Us

With Isabela Merced portraying Dina in The Last of Us on HBO, it’s very fitting that Lorraine enjoys playing the video game version.

“I love playing video games, so I got a few,” Lorraine said about her favorite video games. “Obviously, The Last of Us. I played like the original two games when they first came out. The second game I played in like two days. I was very, very young to be playing that, watching all the cutscenes, playing all the video games. I’m like, ‘Yeah, Ellie!’ As a child playing these video games, I also love the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West series. So, so good. When you turn off the light and you have to run back to your room and you’re like scared of something because it’s dark, I always think to myself, ‘Be like Aloy. Be like Ellie.’ They wouldn’t be scared about the dark staircase.”

About Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado

Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado will debut Wednesday, July 2 on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon in the U.S.

Synopsis: Latina heroine Dora returns as a 16-year-old, played by Samantha Lorraine (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah). In this brand-new family movie, the world’s greatest explorer and her friends will trek through the perilous dangers of the Amazonian jungle in search of the ancient treasure of Sol Dorado to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

Jacob Rodriguez portrays Diego, Dora’s 17-year-old loyal cousin and jungle-exploring partner; Mariana Garzón Toro is Naiya, Diego’s bold and no-nonsense coworker; Acston Luca Porto is Sonny, Naiya’s younger brother with boundless energy and curiosity; Daniella Pineda is Camila the Crusader, a legend in the world of archaeology and Dora’s childhood hero; and Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is the voice of Boots, Dora’s monkey sidekick and best friend.

The film is directed by Alberto Belli (The Naughty Nine) and written by JT Billings (Are You Afraid of the Dark?). Adam Bonnett (Monster High: The Movie) serves as an executive producer, alongside Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes (Dora the Explorer).

The post ‘Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado’ Cast Shares Emotional Bonds and Gaming Obsessions appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Fast forward to 2025, and the two twins are now adults on an undercover mission in The Thundermans: Undercover. They bring their youngest sister, Chloe, who gets roped into becoming a superhero while having to attend school. Set in the seaside town of Secret Shores, the Thundermans have their secret identities back, and it’s a tightrope act of living two lives.

Kira Kosarin, Jack Griffo and Maya Le Clark reprise their roles as Phoebe Thunderman, Max Thunderman and Chloe Thunderman, respectively.

There was a hiatus for the actors between The Thundermans ending in 2018 and The Thundermans Return being released in 2024. It has helped them live life outside of the show and grow as people.

“When you work on a show as a kid, you don’t really get to live as much life as you might otherwise, because you’re dedicating so much of that time to playing this person who’s not you,” Kosarin tells Nerd Reactor. “Personally, when the show ended, I was a little like, ‘Who am I? Am I Phoebe? Am I a different person?’ So just going and spending six years, living and building memories and personal connections and references and learning more about the world. The more stuff you have in your toolkit as a person, the more you can then bring as an actor to a set or to a character. So getting to come back to an old character with everything new that you’ve learned about the world and yourself in the six or seven years prior was an amazing gift that not a lot of actors get.”

Maya Le Clark has been playing the role of Chloe since she was three years old. In The Thundermans: Undercover, she gets more of the limelight as she learns to become a superhero while also getting to live a normal life as a teenager.

“We’re very lucky that Maya was not only a very cute three-year-old, but she’s also a very talented 13-year-old,” Kosarin explained. “Because not every TV actor who’s very cute at three turns out to also be a good actor, and she did. So we got very lucky.”

Part of what makes The Thundermans work is the bond and teamwork between the cast members and the crew. After the hiatus, the cast and crew were able to come back together to continue the legacy.

“Teamwork, you really can’t do it alone,” Griffo said. “I think communication is a big part of that and I think it’s healthy for teams to have different ideas and sometimes disagree. And I think it covers a broad spectrum of what’s possible. And then you meet somewhere and you find the middle ground and what’s the best for the project, and the best idea wins.”

Phoebe and Max have different ideas about how to teach Chloe, and the results can be a nice balance of following the rules and living on the edge.

“I think it was really fun because Phoebe in the show, she’s the more strict kind of girl,” Le Clark said. “She’s more under control, more mature about it. And then Max is like the crazy one that’s just gonna let me come home, go party and stuff like that. So it’s fun to have both sides, but in the end, they’re both just like my siblings who are both trying to teach me how to be a good superhero. And it’s really fun. You’ll get to see it in the show.”

You can watch the full episode of the first episode below:

About The Thundermans: Undercover

The Thundermans: Undercover premiered on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon and will air regularly Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon + roll out internationally on Nickelodeon channels later in the year.

The half-hour series follows Phoebe and Max as they are sent undercover to handle a new threat in the beachside town of Secret Shores and bring Chloe along to develop her superhero talent.

The Thundermans: Undercover stars original series cast members Kira Kosarin as “Phoebe,” Jack Griffo as “Max,” and Maya Le Clark as “Chloe.” The show also stars Daran Norris as “Thunderford,” and Dana Snyder as the voice of “Dr. Colosso,” as well as new cast members Kinley Cunningham as “Booch” and Nathan Broxton as “Jinx.”

The series will also feature guest appearances from original series cast members including: Chris Tallman as “Hank,” Rosa Blasi as “Barb,” Diego Velazquez as “Billy,” Addison Riecke as “Nora,” Audrey Whitby as “Cherry,” Kenny Ridwan as “Gideon,” Helen Hong as “Mrs. Wong,” Jeff Meachum as “Principal Bradford” and Daniele Gaither as “Super President Kickbutt.” Other guest stars include Ryan Ochoa, Jessica Marie Garcia, Lilimar and Anna McNulty.

The Thundermans: Undercover is executive produced by Jed Spingarn (Big Time Rush, Jimmy Neutron) and Sean W. Cunningham & Marc Dworkin (The Thundermans, Julie and the Phantoms). Kira Kosarin serves as an executive producer and makes her directorial debut in the episode titled “Prank You, Next.” Jack Griffo is also an executive producer on the series.

The post Kira Kosarin and Jack Griffo on Returning for The Thundermans: Undercover and Living Life During the Hiatus appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Stop-Motion Joy

It was always a dream for executive producers Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller to collaborate with Screen Novelties on previous SpongeBob projects. “We look for any excuse to work with them,” Ceccarelli shares with Nerd Reactor. “They’re our favorite alternate vendor.” Waller agreed with the sentiment and described Screen Novelties’ studio as an amazing maze. “Going through their tiny little studio, it’s like a maze. Every corner you turn, it’s another amazing setup with the characters,” Waller said.

Screen Novelties was excited to bring Sandy Cheeks’ family into the SpongeBob stop-motion world. Seamus Walsh, a member of the team, revealed his excitement. “Sandy’s family is a really cool gang of characters that you can do a lot of fun stuff with,” he said.

The holidays seem to be a recurring theme of the SpongeBob team working with Screen Novelties. “And if you’ve seen our spin-off, The Patrick Star Show, there’s an ongoing segment that pops up in various episodes that Screen Novelties also does for us of Plankenstein’s laboratory,” Ceccarelli said. “This is our version of the classic monsters, and we decided to do those in stop motion because we have different animation styles in that show.”

Mixed Media Playground

The SpongeBob show has a love for mixed media, and the Christmas special pushes the medium with a mix of live-action and stop-motion footage.

“SpongeBob has already established a mixed-media look, and the sense of humor is so irreverent that it totally works with SpongeBob,” Screen Novelties’ Chris Finnegan said. “So that’s one of the reasons why we love doing it on these projects.”

Waller went all in for the live-action portion by donning a sweltering 130-degree helmet.

“Stop motion, if you’re not careful, can be a little more grounded because you’re feeling physical objects,” Walsh said. “So because they set such a high bar on the show, we love the challenge that it gives us to keep up with them on that stuff, which is not easy.”

Innovation Meets Tradition

Stop-motion techniques have mostly remained the same all these years, but there are advancements in technology that helped Screen Novelties with production.

“The core process of stop motion has remained unchanged for like a century, more or less, like the core idea of moving the puppets frame by frame on a set,” Finnegan said. “But there are some technological advancements that do help. The Dragonframe Software that we use helps a lot. We use 3d printing and 3d sculpting a lot now, which is funny, because it it helps with some things, making some things more efficient, but then it also adds complexity because you can do all these different replacement faces and stuff.”

Stop motion isn’t as common as CG-animated projects; luckily, there will always be a few animators who will keep the medium alive.

“It’s not like there’s 1000s of people out there making stop motion right now,” Walsh said. “It’s always going to be this few dozen weirdos throughout the world that do this… There’s still going to be another 12 or 15 weirdos that’ll take it over after we stop. Stop motion’s never gonna be this giant mainstream technique.”

“We love working in different mediums,” Ceccarelli said. “It’s it keeps it kind of fresh for us. But I wouldn’t want to take anything away from the great work that RDK does.”

About SpongeBob and Sandy’s Country Christmas

SpongeBob SquarePants, “SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas,” is an all-new half-hour special where one of Sandy’s experiments goes awry and the Cheeks family must team up to save Christmas in Bikini Bottom. The special features stop-motion animation and will premiere on Nickelodeon at 5:00 pm ET/PT and stream exclusively on Paramount+ on December 2.

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The trailer showcases the CG animation, which emulates the styles of stop-motion animation.

Max & the Midknights debuts on Wednesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT). New episodes will air on Wednesdays. The show will begin rolling out internationally on Nickelodeon on October 10.

About Max & the Midknights

The debut episode synopsis: “Welcome to Byjovia” introduces Max, a medieval girl who dreams of becoming a knight and battling dragons but must instead roam the countryside as an apprentice troubadour with her Uncle Budrick. After encountering a thief, Max and Uncle Budrick head to the medieval kingdom of Byjovia but soon discover that the town is nothing like Uncle Budrick remembers.

The voice cast behind the Midknights, a group of misfits each with their own unique talent, include: Blu del Barrio (Star Trek: Discovery) as Max, a brave and determined girl ready to take on any challenge headed her way; Melissa Villaseñor (Saturday Night Live) as Millie, a wacky yet super positive girl who brings the power of magic to the Midknights; Zeno Robinson (Transformers: EarthSpark) as Simon, Millie’s street-savvy and sometimes sarcastic companion; and Caleb Yen (Beyblade X) as Kevyn, the bookish genius with a photographic memory. Together, the group accomplishes nearly everything that they set their mind to achieve.

Alongside the Midknights, Jeremy Rowley (iCarly) lends his voice as Uncle Budrick, Max’s lovably silly parental figure and professional troubadour, Gary Anthony Williams (Central Park) voices Mumblin, a famous retired magician who helps guide the Midknights on their quests, Brian Stepanek (The Loud House) voices King Gastley, the nefarious ruler of Byjovia, willing to do whatever it takes to maintain his throne, and India de Beaufort (It’s Pony) voices Fendra, a dark sorceress working for King Gastley.

Throughout the series, Max leads the rest of the Midknights on challenging quests filled with all-new original songs. After King Gastley steals the throne and forces an unjust rule on the Kingdom of Byjovia, Max must come to the rescue to overthrow the power-hungry foe. With her friends and Uncle Budrick by her side, Max’s courageous spirit won’t back down no matter how difficult the quest gets.

Produced by Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, Max & the Midknights is executive produced by Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate) and Jane Startz (Ella Enchanted). Sharon Flynn (All Hail King Julien) and David Skelly (Toy Story 2) serve as co-executive producers and showrunners. Development and production is overseen by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, Nathan Schram, Vice President, Development, Nickelodeon Animation, and Stephanie Alpert, Vice President, Production, Nickelodeon Animation.

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The voice cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is returning including Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) as April O’Neil. In the series, the Turtles are separated from each other and will have to test their resolve to survive against deadly robots.

“It was a very different recording for Ninja Turtles without all of the Ninja Turtles together, because I’d gotten used to that with the movie,” Cantu tells Nerd Reactor. “Honestly in the booth, I was thinking reading your guys’ lines, like, ‘How would Brady say this? How would [Micah] say this? So having the isolation aspect kind of tie into the story – made me feel better about it, because I was like, ‘Okay, it’s functioning on a story level.'”

Christopher L. Yost (Thor: Ragnarok, The Mandalorian, 2013’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) serve as the showrunners, and both have worked on many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles projects.

“There have been many versions of the Turtles before,” Yost said. “We’ve seen many shows, we’ve seen many comics, we’ve seen all these things, but you know, a couple things that the movie did differently that kind of set this apart is really to focus on them as teenagers, more or less just normal kids who happen to be turtles and ninjas and all that. And then secondly, it was like, ‘How can we challenge these kids like never before? How can we do something that we haven’t necessarily seen before?’ And we kind of put all that in a blender and came upon this idea of tearing them apart, putting them in the situation, and seeing what they do without their brothers by their side.”

About Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

Featured image: Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Paramount+

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Nerd Reactor had the chance to chat with the cast and crew of the new animated series including voice actors Ron Funches, Thomas Lennon, Carlos Alazraqui and Melissa Villasenor and creators and writers Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman.

Rock Paper Scissors Interview with Ron Funches, Thomas Lennon, Carlos Alazraqui and Melissa Villasenor

Interview with Creators Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman

About Rock Paper Scissors

Synopsis: In Rock Paper Scissors, titular characters, Rock, Paper and Scissors, are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways. Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more.

Rock Paper Scissors will start airing on February 12, 202 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. New episodes will air weekdays at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and internationally later in the month.

Rock Paper Scissors originally launched as a 2019 short and was greenlit as a series from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program. It’s produced by Nickelodeon Animation with the short and series created, written and executive produced by Kyle Stegina (Robot Chicken) and Josh Lehrman (Robot Chicken), with Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents) serving as executive producers. The show’s development is overseen by Nickelodeon Animation’s Kari Kim, Vice President of Animation Development and Daniel Wineman, Vice President of Original Animation Development. The series is overseen by Executive in Charge, Jason Oliveri.

The post Behind the Scenes: Nickelodeon’s Rock Paper Scissors Cast and Crew Interview appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Rock is described as the one “with the biggest heart and moral compass,” Paper is “the wannabe intellectual who dreams of being a famous inventor,” and Scissors is “overly confident and always wants to be cool.” Pencil is the smart neighbor down the hall and Eddie Pepitone (The Muppets, Old School) portrays Lou, the angry landlord who is also a garbage can.

Last week, Nicktoons released a clip for the series that gives viewers an idea of the show’s humor and adventures. The video parodies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with Scissors commenting how familiar the story is. Paper says it’s different, naming the team the Preteen Modified Martial Arts Tortoises.

Synopsis: In Rock Paper Scissors, titular characters, Rock, Paper and Scissors, are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways. Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more.

Rock Paper Scissors will start airing on February 12, 202 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. New episodes will air weekdays at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and internationally later in the month.

To get a taste of the show, the Rock Paper Scissors Intergalactic Short, “TV Time,” will air during the Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game on Monday, December 25 at 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET. In the episode, the trio will fight over the TV and being the stars of a successful Broadway musical.

Rock Paper Scissors originally launched as a 2019 short and was greenlit as a series from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program. It’s produced by Nickelodeon Animation with the short and series created, written and executive produced by Kyle Stegina (Robot Chicken) and Josh Lehrman (Robot Chicken), with Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents) serving as executive producers. The show’s development is overseen by Nickelodeon Animation’s Kari Kim, Vice President of Animation Development and Daniel Wineman, Vice President of Original Animation Development. The series is overseen by Executive in Charge, Jason Oliveri.

The post Nickelodeon Turns Classic Game, Rock Paper Scissors, into Animated Series appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Todd Holland is back as the director, and in Monster High 2, Draculaura will get more of the limelight and Clawdeen Wolf will meet a new rival.

“I think we’ll surprise people with our fierce kind of suspense action,” Holland tells Nerd Reactor. “And we’ve just raised the bar on that this time. Our actors love making the action stuff. And our third act is super exciting. There are a lot of monster powers and a lot more heroic acts.”

Monster High carries the message of “Be yourself, be unique, be a monster.” The second movie will continue the tradition.

“It’s core to Monster High the idea of inclusion, acceptance and being uniquely monster,” the director said. “I found that little slide that’s part of the Mattel brand, ‘Be yourself, be unique, be a monster,’ and I put it in the end credits. I said, ‘This is the message we need to end on.’ And we end on that message again in this movie. I mean, who does feel like they’re normal? You know, nobody thinks they’re normal. So to celebrate our uniqueness is the best thing about this franchise.”

Of all the types of monsters featured in the movies, Holland is especially drawn to werewolves.

“As much as I love vampires, I’m drawn to werewolves,” Holland revealed. “I like the lunar power part of the whole thing. So I gravitate towards Clawdeen as a werewolf, but I don’t have a favorite child. I mean, they’re all unique. The fun is the new ones. That fun is Toralei Stripe coming in finally. Another were-creature challenging Clawdeen for alpha status in the school. And that’s really exciting in this movie.”

If the first film is Clawdeen’s movie, then the second film is Draculaura’s movie, according to the director.

“This is Draculaura’s movie,” Holland said. “And what we came to realize in arcing the journeys of the characters is that Draculaura has known who she needs to be from the beginning. And this is the real extension of that. She actually is the most mature character. She is 1600 years old, but she’s the most mature character. And in this movie, she becomes confident in her reason to exist in the world. And she’s going to move on this mission. And so that’s what’s exciting. It becomes more complicated than she understands as she starts the journey. But what’s great about Draculaura is is she’s very centered. That’s kind of impressive for a young kid.”

Frankie Stein will have some new upgrades, and she’ll find out what she’ll need in order to help her friends.

“Frankie Stein, everybody’s favorite character,” he said. “I’m most excited that Frankie is kind of still questioning who they need to be in the world. And so Frankie’s tried some upgrades in our movie, and they’re not quite in their control. And so Frankie is still going to learn little lessons in this movie about how, what powers you need to be a great friend, and it’s not as complicated as they thought it was.”

Monster High 2 premieres on Paramount+ on October 5, 2023.

Featured image courtesy of Nickelodeon and Paramount+.

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