It’s been 75 years since Babar the elephant made his book debut and now Nelvana is giving him the 3-D treatment in a new animated series, The New Adventures of Babar.

The 26-ep series, being co-produced with Paris-based TeamTO and France’s TF1 and Canada’s YTV, is slated for delivery between fall 2010 and spring 2011, and Playhouse Disney France came in on a pre-buy to air the series in its second broadcast window.

The 3-D toon explores the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren through King Babar and his adventure-seeking eight-year-old grandson. Other new characters being introduced are the grandson’s friends, like the monkey Chiku (Zephir’s daughter), porcupine Monroe, zebra Zawadi and hyena Jake.

Babar is inspired by the kid lit series from Jean and Laurent de Brunhof, and Nelvana had previously produced a 2-D series Babar from 1989-91 (65 eps with Ellipse Programme) and from 2000 to 01 (13 eps with Ellipse Animation and Kodansha), which are still broadcasts internationally.