Beta Heroes

Beta Heroes is an American 2D superhero animated television series produced by Firebasket Studios and Beta Cartoon and Beta Initiative Program, for Beta Cartoon. It is one of Beta Cartoon's premier programs.

Synopsis
When Earth is in trouble, a group of heroes teams up to stop the villains from terrorizing their home planet.

Characters

 * Phoen-X, leader, big brain guy
 * Voice: Liam O'Brien
 * Ice Queen, secondary leader, ice powers and strategy
 * Voice: Laura Bailey
 * Big Brute, superpower: Super strength and high defense
 * Voice: Marc Diraison
 * Premonition, superpowers: Premonitions, Plasma Blasts
 * Voice: Patrick Seitz
 * Relentless, superpowers: strength, strategy, agility
 * Voice: Carrie Keranen
 * Twilight, superpowers: Magic, Astral Projection, Darkness manipulation, Teleportation
 * Voice: Xanthe Huynh
 * The Fast Spectacle, real name Dawson Gilbert, superpower: increased speed and agility
 * Voice: Grey Abbey
 * Shox, real name Mike Fallon, superhero: electric powers and flight
 * Voice: Kenn Michael

Supporting characters

 * Helon, superpower: Ice Manipulation, Evil Projections, Dark powers
 * Voice: Dan Green

Background
Firebasket Studios president Scott Bailey announced in the summer of 2018 that new animated series was being produced, with an animated franchise also being produced by Zachary Jordan. This was revealed in August of 2018 as the Beta Initiative Program, a production studio that also serves as an alternative name to the franchise. Firebasket Studios invested $15,000,000 for the B.I.P project. Lionsgate invested $9,500,000 for the project, and Splash Entertainment invested 500,000 for the project.

In September of 2018, Beta Cartoon was announced and a project titled Beta Initiative Program Series #1 was unveiled at the press conference, with a date of May 2019.

Writing
Writing for the first season was Zachary Jordan and three other writers who were friends to Jordan. Jordan created the bulk of the characters, while the writers were encouraged to write their own as well. Writing for Season 2 lasted from June 2019 to August 2019.

Animation
Animation work was done in house at Studio Acesky's USA and Canadian animation studios, as well as animation from Firebasket Asian Animation Studios. Sketches and storyboarding take place at Beta Cartoon New York. Animating for the first season took place from July 2018 to April 2019. Animating for the second season started in July 2019 and will end in February 2020.

Casting
Voice over work was done at Bang Zoom! Entertainment and NYAV Post and featured Californian and New York-based voice actors. Zachary Jordan cast actors to fit their characters. Zachary Jordan alongside Marc Diraison did the voice direction of the series.

TV Rating
The show is rated TV-PG LV overall, although most episodes carry TV-PG V. Some episodes carry TV-PG DL, as well as DLS, DS, LS, and LSV. The cable syndication carries over these ratings, however, the broadcast version edits these down to a solid TV-Y7 FV.

Future
Zachary Jordan announced in July of 2019, that the series was a hit on Beta Cartoon, and so a second season was ordered, and a third season is under consideration. At SDCC 2019, Beta Cartoon announced two new series, Phoen-X & Helon, to air in November of 2019 for six episodes, and a untitled Beta Initiative Program series, currently titled B.I.P. Series #3. This was later announced as Beta Heroes: New Breed, which will be aired in the mid-summer of 2020.

Jordan announced that Season 2 of Beta Heroes will introduce the Legendary Swords of Justice.

Anime series
An anime series, produced by Studio Aura, Silver Warrior Animation, Beta Cartoon, and Firebasket Studios was announced in the spring of 2020 to air in the fall of 2020. Zachary Jordan will help writing the series, as well as producing the show. The series will cover the first season, as well as an original storyline.

Broadcast
The show premiered in the United States on Beta Cartoon. In Canada, it airs during the Beta Cartoon Fridays block on YTV Family. In Japan, it airs during the Beta Japan block on SurgeAnime.

Syndication
Firebasket Television teamed up with Lionsgate Television for syndication distribution. Vision's Rising Sun block bought the cable broadcast rights for the series and has plans to air it in October of 2019.

Home Media
Shout! Factory and Firebasket Media Publishing & Distribution will be distributing volumes and box sets of the series, respectively. Shout! Factory released the first six episodes as Beta Heroes: Formation - Part 1 in August for $25. The second five episodes were released by Shout! Factory in September, titled Beta Heroes: Formation - Part 2 for $23. Beta Heroes: Formation - Part 3 was released in November for $25. Beta Heroes: Formation - Part 4 was released in January with the final five episodes for $23.

Firebasket Media released a boxset of the first eleven episodes in November, titled Beta Heroes: Season 1 Part 1 for $32.99. The second half of eleven episodes were released in March, titled Beta Heroes: Season 1 Part 2 for $31.99.