• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 29, 2010

Viacom and the NFL will debut a series of animated shorts this fall, where actual players offer voiceovers in a serious game of good vs. evil. The weekly minisodes will air on the Nicktoons network throughout the 2010 season, leading up to a one-hour movie airing just before the Super Bowl.

The 22-episode "Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core" will include two- to five-minute shorts, while linking with an NFL Web site for kids. Among the luminaries offering voiceovers as themselves are New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning, as well as the New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton.

Episodes will be available after debuting on the network on Nicktoons.com and NFLRushZone.com. Perhaps breaking some ground in multiplatform distribution, the minisodes are also being produced to appear on the large Jumotrons in stadiums.

Keith Dawkins, Nicktoons general manager, stated the programming "combines fantasy, sports, game play, teamwork, competition and the age old theme of good vs. evil, under one compelling new narrative."

Part of the Nickelodeon family, Nicktoons -- in 57 million homes -- targets boys ranging from ages 6 to 14, among other demos.

The series focuses on a 10-year-old who discovers a band of outer-space heroes has been ripped apart and dispersed into the 32 NFL stadiums. He wants to guard the "life force" from the pernicious "Sudden Death," which wants to put them back together and end humanity. To stop Sudden Death, the boy is given the physical abilities of an NFL football player, among other super powers.

"Sudden Death" is the term the NFL uses for its overtime policy, where the team that scores first wins, but it has come under increased criticism since it does not require each team to have a possession.