Jellabies

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Jellabies (also known as Jellikins or The Jellies) is an Australian children's animated television series that aired on the Australian television network ABC Kids from May 18, 1998 to 2003. It was also shown in Germany, (Super RTL), USA (Fox Family Channel), The Netherlands (Kindernet), France (TF! Jeunesse), and the United Kingdom (GMTV) in the preceding years. The target audience is only for children ages two to six.

It was one of the first fully CGI-animated series in the world.

Format[]

The program was created using CGI animation. The show was narrated by Rik Mayall.[1] The Jellabies are jelly-made children that live in the Jolly Jelly World, which is the magical land at the end of the rainbow, where their first job is to make rainbows. (for which they have a machine called the Jelliscope, a computer/teleporter/rainbow generator which is constantly monitoring weather conditions around the world) Although each Jellaby has its own vehicle to drive around in, their main use of travelling long distances around Jelly Land is on the "Jelly Train", a train that only consists of a cab (without any actual locomotive) and one passenger car. The show premiered in 1998 and ended in 2003.

Jellabies is also known as Jellikins in certain parts of the world, including the United Kingdom. This version is exactly the same as the Jellabies in every way, except the characters' heads were changed to look like gummy bears. However, Duffy the dragon remained the same. This version aired on GMTV in the United Kingdom until 2004.

History[]

Jonny Lewis of Malvern, UK designed and created the whole world using 3D Studio Max software, who later went on to produce Cubeez and The Wheels on the Bus. It was loosely based on Jelly Babies candies. Originating from humble beginnings in a dusty basement in Malvern and made on a home PC, it was signed up by a small editing house, Optical Image nr Birmingham, UK, commissioned by GMTV and then in many other countries around the world. It was the first British fully 3D computer animated series to make it on to television.

With Optical Image sealing sponsorship from a confectionery company, Jonny Lewis became Director of Animation was joined by his brother Mikel Lewis to complete the design. Other animators who made considerable input were Meena Kamurai Pai, Andrew Lindsay, Richard Smart, Andy Day, Ian Friend, Harjit Birdi, making each episode between them in a matter of days to meet a hard schedule. Editing was done by Ralph Tittley (also a director), Paul Perrins and Jason Bills.


Music were written and composed by Vo Fletcher.

Characters and voice cast[]

Each of the six Jellabies represent the colours of the rainbow.

Main[]

  • Strum: Lives at the train station, is purple, is the first Jellaby, and is the musical Jellaby who plays the saxophone.
  • Bouncey: The second Jellaby who lives in a bumper car, and is yellow, the same colour as lemons and the sun.
  • Denny: The third Jellaby who lives in a boat on the Jelly Lake, and is blue, the same colour as the sky and the world's oceans.
  • Pepper: The fourth Jellaby who lives in a treehouse and is red the same colour as ripe strawberries and apples.
  • Amber and Coral: The last two Jellabies who are twin sisters and are orange and pink, respectively. Amber lives in a hot air balloon and Coral lives in a house made out of building blocks and toys which she can use to rebuild her house as she pleases.

Supporting[]

  • Duffy: The only non-Jellaby character in the entire show, is a dragon who lives in the Jelly Caves.

Episodes[]

Season 1 (1998-99)[]

1. Caterpillar

2. Circus

3. Pepper's Den

4. Hide and Seek

5. Apple

6. Seeds

7. Burst Balloon

8. Snow

9. Music

10. Drum

11. Drumsticks

12. The Jolly Jelly World Fair

13. Waiting

Season 2 (1999)[]

1. Birthday

2. Echoes

3. Sky

4. Egg

5. Monster

6. Sheep

Season 3 (1999-2000)[]

1. Train Trouble

2. Balloon

3. Jack in the Box

4. Lost Voice

5. Sneezes

6. Invisible

7. Runaway Train

8. Rescue

9. Seal

10. Super Jelly

11. Bridge

12. Race

13. Jellybeard

Season 4 (2000)[]

1. Shadow

2. Sun

3. Jelly Day

4. Animals

5. Jelly Lake

6. Jellyphone

7. Strum's Concert

Season 5 (2000-01)[]

1. Shipwreck

2. Cave In!

3. Bouncy Ball

4. Camping

5. Tobbogan

6. Jelly Dance

7. Fancy Dress

8. Obstacles

9. Football

10. Sounds

11. Caves

12. House

13. Twins

Season 6 (2001)[]

1. Night

2. Poor Denny

3. Bouncing

4. Cloud

5. Butterfly

6. Parrot

7. Spring

Season 7 (2001-02)[]

1. Baa!

2. Found

3. Autumn

4. Nature

5. Zebra

6. Big

7. Magic

8. Where's Pepper?

9. Hot

10. Robot

11. Wheels

12. Chums

Season 8 (2002)[]

1. Rubbish

2. Silly Sax

3. Small

4. High

5. Tower

6. Footprints

7. Yuk

Season 9 (2002-03)[]

1. Jelly Disco

2. Mountain

3. Party

4. Christmas

5. Paint

6. Feelings Rhyme

Season 10 (2003)[]

1. Safari

2. Beach

3. Rainy Day

4. Spider Webs

5. Flying

6. Castle

7. Jellyvision

8. Dinosaurs

9. The Joly Jelly Band

10. Jungle

11. Kangaroo

12. Coral's Pet

13. Rabbit

Theme song[]

The theme song Jellabies (also known as Jellikins) written by David Lowe and Vo Fletcher was performed by Rik Mayall (who is also the narrator of the show) and Sherrie Ashton with children from The Wyche C.E. Primary School, Malvern.[2]

CD release[]

In 1999, a CD was released that was called Jellikins: Songs from the TV series which featured songs performed by Mayall.

Ride(s)[]

Since 2000, there has been a Jellikins roller coaster at British theme park, Fantasy Island. Amutec has got the rights to make a Jellikins coin-operated ride featuring Bouncey in his bumper car in 2001.

International Broadcast[]

North America[]

Australasia[]

Europe[]

References[]

  1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 444. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. ^ Children' Favourite TV themes 'All Together Now' (2001) at umtv CD sleeve notes
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