Beat Bugs

Plot

Beat Bugs is a series aimed at five to seven year olds, set in an overgrown suburban backyard, which serves as an environment that five young bug friends regularly explore. To the bugs, the backyard is known as "Village Green". Songs by the Beatles, such as "Come Together" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", are interwoven into the narrative of the episodes. These versions are performed by popular recording artists such as Pink and Sia. The songs often influence the life lessons that the young bugs learn.

Wakely described the series as "about teaching kids, but with a bit of humour and not in a patronising way." He stated that the message of the song "All You Need is Love" was the main idea he wanted to portray.

Characters

The series revolves around five young bugs, known as the "Beat Bugs", who are all friends and live in the backyard together.

Jay (Ashleigh Ball) is a curious, ambitious and impulsive yellow and blue beetle. He often desires to try out new things, and his mischievous interest in the world frequently leads him into trouble.

Crick (Lili Beaudoin) is a green cricket inventor who is very intelligent and creative. His inventive mind helps him create devices which help the group out, however sometimes he struggles to see the value in his work.

Walter Walrus (Charles Demers) is a blue slug with a big heart and exceptional storytelling skills. He is very theatrical and loves performing, although he can be highly emotional and sometimes his fear and self-absorption can get in his way.

Buzz (Rebecca Husain), a red fruit fly, is the youngest of the bugs and is very optimistic and enthusiastic. However, sometimes she is easily scared or experiences sadness, and does not always think for herself.

Kumi (Erin Mathews) is an imaginative pink ladybug with a zest for life who is very protective of her friends. She is confident and the natural leader of the group, and has developed her own dance-involved variety of martial arts.

The bugs are fascinated by the humans ("Gigants") who live in the "Big House" at the edge of the backyard. The youngest human of the house is a girl named Julia (introduced in "I've Just Seen a Face"), who Jay seems to relate to.

Conception

Beat Bugs was created by Josh Wakely who in 2014, under his US-Australian production company Grace, acquired worldwide rights from Sony/ATV Music Publishing to a catalogue of music by the Beatles. The music was to be used for a children's animated series in development to be entitled Beat Bugs, which would tell the story of young bugs learning life lessons set to songs by the popular rock group. The publishers liked Wakely's vision of bringing the classic songs to a new audience of children with original stories written around them. Managing director of Sony/ATV Damian Trotter stated, "the idea of opening up the single greatest music catalogue of the 20th Century to the next generation is something we are particularly excited about". The music acquired was the Lennon-McCartney "Northern Songs" catalogue. The deal reportedly cost an estimated $10 million.

Wakely, an Australian writer and producer who grew up as a fan of the Beatles, stated that he never considered using any other artist's music for the series. He said, "people in years to come will talk about the Beatles like we talk about Shakespeare." Wakely spent three years originally working on the show before acquiring the rights to the Beatles' music, and by this time, he had already conceived all of the episodes and characters. Of the characters, he said, "They have lived in my head for so long that I don’t have their date of conception". Wakely sold the project to Netflix as a global distribution partner. The Seven Network in Australia was also an investor of the production.

Daniel Johns, former singer of Silverchair, arranged and produced the music for the series as musical director. He stated, "It’s a dream job to go into the studio and dissect all of the Beatles’ music". Johns and Wakely had previously worked together on a musical short film which Wakely wrote and directed. Wakely was closely involved in the production, arranging and mixing of the music.

More than 1000 people were involved in the production of the show, including a worldwide team of writers and animators in Australia, Los Angeles and Vancouver. Wakely described the process as a full-time job lasting three years. Vancouver's Atomic Cartoons created the 3D animation for the series. By the show's premiere, Wakely had spent six years working on the program from its conception. It wasn't originally planned to produce Beat Bugs in Australia until Beyond Entertainment allowed Wakely to do so.

Release

The initial order of 52 segments (26 half-hour episodes) was split into two 13-episode seasons for distribution. The episodes were a given a provisional classification of C (children's) in Australia over 2014–15.

All episodes from Season 1 became available worldwide on Netflix on August 3, 2016. Prior to its premiere, on July 27, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season to debut later in the year. The first season premiered exclusively in Australia on 7TWO on July 25, 2016.

Season 2 was released through Netflix on November 18, 2016. The second season also debuted on 7TWO on November 16, 2016.

Beat Bugs received a 2016 AWGIE Award in animation for the episode script of "Yellow Submarine", written by Wakely. The episodes "Hey Bulldog", written by Kate Mulvany, and "Ticket to Ride", by Erica Harrison, were also nominated. The program also won an AACTA Award for Best Children's Television Series.

Reception

Beat Bugs generally received favourable reviews. Critics praised the concept of reimagining Beatles songs for a young audience. Reporting for Common Sense Media, Emily Ashby said "this unique series borrows some of rock-and-roll's most recognizable lyrics to help tell its gentle stories and teach excellent life lessons", commending it as a series for parents and children to watch together. David Knox of TV Tonight praised the music for "bursting with optimism and exuberance", while describing the animation as "an alluring, inviting feast". A reviewer for the Daily Telegraph applauded how the series presents children with "an influence that lasts beyond the screen time".

Ivan Radford of VODzilla.co noted that the program as a whole "is something closer to a visual album than a series", and stated that the show's theme song of "All You Need is Love" provides "an upbeat sentiment that gives an overall theme and identity to this strange universe". However, Radford expressed that the main characters are not always fully developed.

The series also received some negative comments. Jordan Runtagh of Decider disliked the character of Jay, stating "I find the lack of comeuppance for his behavior distressing". He stated the music of the series is "forgettable, but inoffensive", however added that the songs are incorporated into the episode narratives "with grace and skill". Decider''s Jessica Jernigan of described the series as "disheartening and dull because there’s so little art in the transformation of Beatles lyrics into stories", suggesting that the songs were already appropriate for children "without visual or narrative contextualization."

Soundtracks

The first soundtrack to the show, "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was released on online music-streaming service Apple Music on August 3, 2016. The release featured all of the songs performed by the guest artists in the first season, compiled on one soundtrack. It was only available exclusively on Apple Music until November 4, 2016. The record was released by Republic Records and Universal Music. Melodia Music was formed by the show's production to release music from Beat Bugs and other related productions.

A new compilation album, "Beat Bugs: The Best of Seasons 1 & 2" was released physically and digitally on November 4, 2016. This was the first time a selection of the music from the first season was available for purchase, and included songs from the second season ahead of its premiere. "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was also made available on iTunes for the first time.

"Beat Bugs: The Complete Season Two" was made available on iTunes on November 18, 2016 at the same time as its Netflix premiere.