Cartoon version of Jay Chow [Photo: KAKU]

Cartoon version of MJ, comedians Zhao Benshan and Xiao Shenyang. [Photo: KAKU]

Beijing Television (BTV) plans to host an animation party extravaganza during the Spring Festival holiday.

The 2010 BTV Animation Gala will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 on Beijing KAKU TV, a channel dedicated to animated programs.

With the theme of "space adventure," the animation gala will transport the audience to amazing outer space for a very unprecedented experience. The program will intertwine hilarious, non-stop scenes attended by more than a hundred celebrities in their meticulously designed cartoon versions.

The two-hour long gala will push the boundaries set by traditional galas to include elements that are currently influential, popular and fashionable coupled with special computer effects and cutting-edge animation technology.

Famous Hong Kong singer Andy Lau will bring his two cartoon sons "Andox" and younger "Box" onstage. While pop king Jay Chow will reprise the cool Speed Racer role he played in the film "Initial D" and will compete with superstars such as former world champion hurdler Liu Xiang and Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming in outer space.

Actor Wang Baoqiang will be seen as the "Big, Big Wolf," a popular cartoon image, paired up with idol singer Zhou Bichang's "Pleasant Sheep." Meanwhile, Comedian Zhao Benshan will also appear with his up-and-coming prot茅g茅 Xiao Shenyang who made a name for himself after the 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

Following a successful debut in 2009, BTV's animation gala this year will make further strides by adding hit songs, movie punch lines and many other dynamic sections to its previous repertoire which consists mostly of only cross-talk performances or sketch scripts.

Shang Wenjie, winner of the 2006 "Super Girl" talent show, has been selected to sing the theme song "Feng Guang" for the "Space Adventure" show, a joint work by young writer Guo Jingming and famous music producer Cui Di whose other works include Feng Xiaogang's bestselling movie "If You Are the One."

BTV has launched an online poll asking netizens spanning from the young to the aged to select their favorite stars and state their expectations for BTV's gala show. About 300,000 people responded during the first three days of the poll.