‘Powerpuff Girls’ Creator Craig McCracken’s ‘Wander Over Yonder’ Gets Stunning Title Sequence, Infectious Theme Song

We've been looking forward to Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken's new animated series Wander Over Yonder since it was first announced early last year. The show, McCracken's first since Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends concluded in 2009, follows the space-faring adventures of an uncommonly cheerful alien called Wander and his distinctly downbeat sidekick Sylvia as they travel the universe fighting the forces of hatred -- embodied by the villainous Lord Hater. 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer voices the title role.

This week the Disney Channel released an early look at the Wander Over Yonder title sequence. Featuring a kind of crazy original theme song by Two Man Gentleman Band (whose Andy Bean also composes the series' music), the intro is a frenzy of textured, otherworldly imagery and gradient-heavy color, signifying an ambitious step up from McCracken's typically flatter palette and rendering style.

Artist Joe Pitt was tasked with devising the intro, which proved technically daunting. He wrote about it on his Tumblr:

It was a hugely fun challenge because the question given to me was " I want to change the background and location on every beat and sometimes half beat using a fast tempo song…. Can this work or will it be a huge visual mess?" We decided that really the only way to find out was to do a test. I whipped up a quick test with [animator] David Gemmill’s walk cycle and from it, we decided that as long as your character stays mainly in the center of the screen and that your ground plane and perspective remained constant and locked, then you can get away with a lot of visual change around without giving the audience headaches or seizures.

Co-executive produced by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Super Best Friends Forever creator Lauren Faust, Wander Over Yonder premieres on Disney Channel in September.

[Via Cartoon Brew]