"I'm a believer," he said while talking about Titan A.E., the newest animated film from him and longtime collaborator Don Bluth. Goldman added that NASA's chunk of the national budget is one part of his taxes he "doesn't mind sharing."

"Watching the world population grow is scary," he said. "It's good to know that there are people researching the rest of the universe. It's extremely important, because we're not the only world out here. We'd be like specks in the middle of a dandelion."

"The opening is a great hook," he said. "It's a great twist to start with everything calm, and then everyone's panicked and running to escape."

Even though he and Bluth are mostly "Capra lovers," Goldman said they're excited about their first science fiction flick.

Goldman said the genre has inspired him and Bluth before.

"One of the first movies that grabbed us was The Matrix," he said. "It was so futuristic and intelligent. And Outland and Star Trek are very intelligent, but we were never on any bandwagon."

According to Goldman, Titan A.E. combines traditional 2-D animation and computer-generated imagery like no other film. Goldman and Bluth subcontracted three animation companies, including George Lucas' animatics division, to help vivify their SF vision.

"The tech guys can do things they couldn't do three years ago with the new software," he said. When they started, only 45 percent of the film was going to be CG, but that number climbed to almost 90 percent by the end.

"It got tough for the computers," he said. Here's the breakdown: All lead good guys are 2-D, while the evil aliens, most of the backgrounds, vehicles and props are CG.

Goldman especially likes how the villainous Drej aliens turned out.

"They have their pelvis around their thorax," he said. "They have no eyes in their face, and they have a skeletal, crystalline, see-through look, and their heads come out with a void where the face should be."

So, if 90 percent of the film is already CG, why not just go all the way?

"Computers can't do realistic humans," he said, citing the "plastic" looking humans in Toy Story and Antz.

"I don't think you'll see traditional animation go away," he said. "It goes in cycles. Maybe the audience will think 2-D is passe one day, but we're not there yet."

We're not there yet? What would take us to this world without traditional animation? Goldman said that as more animators learn to use computers, we might see hand-drawn animation dwindle. Right now, most computer animators are techies first and animators second, he said.

"We're starting to see George Lucas hire animators and teach them to use computers," he said, adding, "I know there's a segment of the audience that wants CGI, but if the animators can't commit to it, then the audience can't accept it."

Goldman and Bluth are the duo behind such popular animated films as The Secret of NIMH, Anastasia, The Land Before Time and An American Tail. How do they work so well together?

"We're a tag team," Goldman said. "Don likes to tell stories, and once we hit production then I take over with notes to all the participants to cover all the details. Don works with the actors, mostly."

Goldman said he has a lot of good memories from the production end.

"I love watching animators moan and groan about animating human characters -- that's one of the hardest things to animate -- and then they turn around as the animation gets cleaned up and say, 'Wow! This is good! Did I work on that?' "