Animalia (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Four books based on the series were published in 2008 by BBC Children's Books and the Penguin Group, written by Mandy Archer.
• The first seven episodes were released on DVD in the UK on 30 June 2008 as Animalia: Where Animals Rule!.

Characters

Alex, a 12-year-old boy artist rarely seen without a sketchbook and pencil, is enthusiastic, athletic, and keeps a cool head. His special ability is seeing forgotten portals that can transport anyone anywhere in Animalia. Zoe, also 12, is sassy and smart-mouthed but benevolent and jolly; she met Alex by accident when she followed him to Animalia and calls him "Sketch Boy." She is a very good storyteller. Stanley is the librarian of the Metro Library and Livingstone's human counterpart and close friend. Emma, Zoe's friend, is heard only through Zoe's PDA. G'Bubu is a green-furred Western lowland gorilla who lives in a treehouse with his best friend Iggy; he is fun-loving but also has acumen about Animalia and his family tree. Iggy is a Mexican-accented iguana with an excitable personality who thinks himself bigger than anyone else; he can camouflage and change body color due to being part chameleon via his grandfather. Livingstone T. Lion is a friendly lion who rules Animalia and is the Keeper of the Core, possessing vast knowledge of the Core and everything in Animalia; he can be gentle and helpful but sometimes self-deprecating about managing the unstable Core. Reenie is a Scottish-accented black rhinoceros who works at the Great Library and helps Livingstone keep the Core stable; she is almost as smart as Livingstone and claims to have a "love friend" named Rumble.

Production

The series was computer-animated using Autodesk Maya, with 40 half-hour episodes produced by Animalia Productions at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland, along with visual effects companies Photon VFX and Iloura Digital Pictures. The project was first conceived in 1999 when Australian producer Ewan Burnett met Base and obtained rights to adapt the best-selling book. Funding arrangements with Australian and international broadcast partners and investors were finalized in early 2002, but the project was delayed when the British government revised United Kingdom taxation laws so that projects claiming special tax status had to be delivered in the financial year they were claimed. After three years of re-financing, production began in 2005. The original book is a picture book with each spread depicting an elaborate illustration where every animal and object begins with a particular letter of the alphabet; since there was no coherent narrative or central characters, these were developed with the concept of a fantasy world where animals of all kinds intermingle and interact. The alphabetical theme was dropped for international broadcast because it was based on the English alphabet and would lose meaning if dubbed into other languages.

Broadcast

BBC Worldwide originally managed distribution everywhere except North America, where PorchLight Entertainment handled it. Cyber Group Studios acquired the global distribution rights from both companies in December 2009. The show first aired in Australia on Network Ten at noon on Sundays starting 11 November 2007, and later on Nickelodeon from May 2008. In the UK, it appeared on CBBC via BBC One beginning 19 November 2007. In the US, it ran on PBS Kids Go! from 5 January 2008 to 6 September 2009. From 3 November 2008, NRK in Norway also broadcast the series. Latin American viewers saw it on Animal Planet, and later in Venezuela on Tves. In India, Cartoon Network India carried the show. The BBC in the UK and CBC in Canada were among the international production partners. Additional broadcasts were planned for SABC 2 in South Africa, Al Jazeera, and in Israel.

Reception

A New York Times critic once said that the phrase "based on the book by" had rarely been pushed so far, calling the show "weird" and "intermittently interesting." In 2008, the series received a nomination for the BAFTA Children's Kids Vote Award. The following year, composer Christopher Elves earned a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for his work on the show. Additionally, the episode "Butterfly Winter," with music by Elves, won the 2008 Best Music for Children's Television prize at the annual Screen Music Awards.