Vin Diesel, for one reason or another, has been talking up an epic movie about the Carthaginian General Hannibal, nemesis of the Roman Empire via 200 B.C. or thereabouts, for as long as I can remember. Now it appears as if Vin Diesel, who besides directing a 20-minute prequel to “The Fast and Furious 4″, will also get his hands on Hannibal and his elephants at last — well, sort of. It won’t be the big-budget epic action movie that Diesel always wanted, but it will be an animated version called “Hannibal the Conqueror” that Diesel envisions as a prequel to his live-action movie — if, you know, someone ever gives him the money to make it.

SciFiWire has more on the Diesel’s plans:

Diesel told reporters that it’s still his ultimate goal to produce and star in a live-action film based on the life of Hannibal, but that in the meantime he’s producing and directing Hannibal the Conqueror, a children’s animated series about the third-century B.C. Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps in order to attack the Roman empire.

“You know my love of animation, you know my love of the [Ralph] Bakshi films and how I was always a fan of that medium,” said Diesel, who was the voice of the title character in the animated classic The Iron Giant. “I’m directing an animated Hannibal that will serve as the prequel to the [live-action] film. So it’s Hannibal as a boy. So it’s like the boy and an elephant. It’s for BET, actually, which will be great fun. Great, great voices [including Diesel as Hannibal].”

An animated movie on the BET network? Seriously? The last time I saw anything on BET it was — well, okay, so I don’t think I even know what channel BET is on my Dish Network programming, so never you mind that.

Diesel’s Hannibal animation arrives in 2009. As for the live-action version? Don’t hold your breath — that is, unless Diesel’s stardom rises significantly once more in the next few years, in which case we might actually get to see The Battle of Zama after all…