Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. The seminar itself involved a lot of films and multimedia presentations, and took place in Chicago. A lengthy description of the planning of the Bell Data Communications Seminar — sans a mention of the Henson involvement — is on the blog of Inpro co-founder Jack Byrne. It later was renamed the Bell Business Communications Seminar.
For the equivilent of $275 American dollars, Xu You Ji – a Chinese media company – will scan your child’s likeness to create a custom animation with your child as the star of the show! Products vary from Gundam to Disney Princesses (only not actual Gundam or Disney products… see below)
We design and develop our own animation with their own copyrights. They do contain elements of popular titles, but all are adapted ourselves so there is no copyright concerns.
I can see how this video has no copyright issues. The “mecha” are clearly Gundam in style and presentation, and the alien creatures are very obviously from the cast of Monsters vs Aliens. Now I am sure they did something like giving Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. 14 eyelashes instead of 12 so there is a distinct change as not to confuse the character.
Elements of popular titles? That’s like saying a clone has elements of its donor’s DNA.
But I remember when I was a kid and my parents bought me a vinyl record that had some cartoon alien pictures on the cover and the song sang a Happy Birthday song and I nearly pooped my Batman underoos when the song included MY NAME!!! Yeah. Thrill of my day.
With the update of technology and media, this is well expected. It is the natural technological evolution of this product. I am sure there is some sort of fine line of copyright that they are straddling here, but most kids would get a massive kick out of it!
