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The Octonauts

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Creative director(s)
  
Stephen Robinson

Networks
  
CBeebies, Disney Junior

7.5/10
IMDb

First episode date
  
4 October 2010

The Octonauts wwwgstaticcomtvthumbtvbanners8287494p828749

Genre
  
Children Animation Action Adventure film

Created by
  
Meomi: Vicki Wong & Michael C. Murphy

Written by
  
Stephanie Simpson (head writer) Billy Aronson Glen Berger Ian Carney Cydne Clark Cusi Cram Sarah Durkee Steve Granat Carin Greenberg Jonathan Greenberg Peter Hirsch Adam Idelson Dave Ingham Susan Kim Catherine Lieuwen Myles Mcleod Allan Neuwirth Sascha Paladino Gabe Pulliam

Directed by
  
Darragh O'Connell Henry Lenardin-Madden (uncredited)

Voices of
  
Simon Greenall Rob Rackstraw Paul Panting Keith Wickham Jo Wyatt Teresa Gallagher Michael C. Murphy

Nominations
  
PGA Television Producer of the Year Award - Outstanding Children’s Program

Cast
  
Simon Greenall, Jo Wyatt, Keith Wickham, Teresa Gallagher, Rob Rackstraw

Profiles

YouTube
Twitter

The Octonauts is a British children's television series, produced by Silvergate Media for the BBC channel CBeebies. The series is animated in Ireland by Brown Bag Films but uses British voice actors. The TV series is based on American-Canadian children's books written by Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy of Meomi Design Inc.

Contents

The Octonauts follows an underwater exploring crew made up of stylized anthropomorphic animals, a team of eight adventurers who live in an undersea base, the Octopod, from where they go on undersea adventures with the help of a fleet of aquatic vehicles.

The subject matter is reminiscent of Star Trek and Thunderbirds blended with Jacques Cousteau. Although it is science fiction as regards its technology, the exotic creatures and locations that the crew encounter are real marine animals in their natural habitats.

Books

The original books were first published in the USA by Immedium in 2006, and were republished in the UK by Harper Collins in 2009. Six titles by Meomi have been published:

  • The Octonauts & the Only Lonely Monster, about an Architeuthis (Giant Squid).
  • The Octonauts & the Sea of Shade, about a world where everyone's shadows have gone missing.
  • The Octonauts & the Frown Fish, about a glum-looking catfish.
  • The Octonauts & the Great Ghost Reef, about a dying coral reef.
  • The Octonauts Explore the Great Big Ocean, about the search for Tunip the Vegimal's home.
  • The Octonauts & the Growing Goldfish, about Dunkie, a giant goldfish who won't stop growing.

    • TV series

    In 2010, The Octonauts was adapted into a 52 episode CGI animated television series co-produced by Chorion and Brown Bag Films. It first aired in the UK on 4 October 2010 on CBeebies, a BBC television channel for the under 7's. The first series ended in February 2011, but continued to be aired as repeats. A second series of 22 episodes commenced in November 2012.

    The Octonauts had its US premiere on the Disney Channel in January 2012, however many of the characters' voices were redubbed to give them American accents (Hispanic in the case of Peso and Pinto), although Captain Barnacles, Kwazii and Prof. Inkling retained their original British voices. It has also been shown in Ireland (RTÉ Two), Canada (Treehouse TV), and Australia (ABC Television). The show has been translated and shown in French (TF1), Spanish and Portuguese (Discovery Kids Latin America), Finnish (YLE TV2), Welsh (S4C) and Slovakian (STV 2).

    The series was made with the help of marine biologists Dr. Lara A. Ferry-Graham and Dr. Michael H. Graham, who had previously worked on the making of Finding Nemo.

    The TV show is episodic, with each 11 minute episode seeing them encountering an unusual but real sea creature as they explore strange underwater worlds. Often they must discover a vital biological or behavioural fact about that creature to rescue it or themselves from danger. The stories usually feature three main characters: Captain Barnacles, Kwazii and Peso, with the other five Octonauts acting in supporting roles.

    In the TV series they use five sea-creature-inspired underwater vehicles called GUP-A to GUP-E, the pedal driven GUP-F, driven by Captain Barnacles and Kwazii, which appears in Episode 10 of Series 1 (The Speedy Sailfish), the narwhal-shaped submarine Gup-S that can split so one half goes over land, the train-shaped vegimal-driven Gup-V, and the powerful and sturdy tracked GUP-X, first appearing in Episode 52 of Series 1 (The Great Christmas Rescue).

    The opening theme tune finishes with the chant "Explore! - Rescue! - Protect!", the Octonauts’ motto.

    TV spin-off books

    A series of shorter books based on individual episodes from the TV series is being published by Simon & Schuster. These titles can be distinguished by the "As seen on TV" label on the covers and are not written or illustrated by Meomi. The books have the same titles as the episodes they are based on.

    Reception

    The TV series was well received when shown on CBeebies in the UK and by ABC in Australia. According to the authors' website, it was the No. 1 pre-school age show in the UK, and the first pre-school show to be ranked in the top ten by older audiences (aged 4–15). The show was the top-ranked ABC programme for 5-12 year olds in January 2011 in Australia, with the ABC calling its first month an "unprecedented success online and on-air". It has been rated 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb. In 2013, Octonauts was nominated for (but did not win) two awards: an International Emmy Award in the "Kids—Preschool" category and an Irish Film and Television Award in the "Best Children's/Youth Programme" category. The Octonauts DVD boxed set was 4th best-selling Children's TV DVD at Amazon UK as of 7 April 2013.

    Characters

    Note: Recent UK editions of the books changed Sauci's name to Dashi to match the television series.

    Other Vegimals

  • Barrot, half-bass, half-carrot. Although nervous, he can go super fast in an emergency.
  • Grouber, half-grouper, half-tuber. He is big and can eat almost anything.
  • Tominnow, half-minnow, half-tomato. She is the littlest one, but she is also a daredevil.
  • Codish, half-cod, half-radish. He is very clumsy and also causes accidents.

    • Recurrent minor characters

  • Calico Jack, a pirate cat and Kwazii's grandfather. His exploits are frequently talked about but he is assumed long-dead until he finally makes an appearance in the Amazon Adventure special. In real life, the pirate Calico Jack was the creator of the Jolly Roger, though the Octonauts character's name might also be an allusion to the Calico cat.
  • Pinto, Peso's little brother, a young penguin who visits in episode 24, episode 32 and the Great Penguin Race special. He initially aspires to be a pirate like Kwazii but later decides he'd rather be a medic like Peso.
  • Sandy the sea turtle, a good friend of Tweak's. She swims long distances and makes appointments to meet the Octonauts in several episodes.
  • Boris the narwhal, a friend of Captain Barnacle's from when he was young. Boris remains in the Arctic but the Octonauts meet him in several episodes.
  • Pearl the sea otter and Shellington's married sister who recently had a baby, first seen in the episode The Urchin Invasion.

    • Vehicles

  • The Octopod is their mobile home base and the biggest vehicle. It is built to look like a giant octopus.
  • The GUP-A is propeller-powered and Captain Barnacles' favorite. It is built to look like an anglerfish.
  • Kwazii's favorite, the GUP-B is a turbo sub so is the fastest of all GUPs. It is built to look like a tiger shark.
  • The strong GUP-C has a towline and is powerful enough to tow an elephant seal. It can also be used as an icebreaker when fitted with a special reinforced prow. It is built to look like a blue whale.
  • Multi-purpose GUP-D has two claws, two drills and six legs. It is also Tweak's favorite. It is built to look like a manta ray (or a crab when legged).
  • The GUP-E is an ambulance GUP and colored green. A tank behind can be filled with water for creatures with gills. It is built to look like a guppy.
  • The GUP-F was a pedal-powered metal-framed vehicle only seen in series 1, episode 10, Octonauts and the Speedy Sailfish, used to round up the runaway GUPs A-E. It was built to look like a clownfish. In the episode "The Artificial Reef" the GUP-F is destroyed by a hurricane and is converted into an artificial reef. In the same episode, it is also revealed by Tweak that it was the very first prototype GUP built.
  • The GUP-H is built to look like a dragonfly, to soar above the sea, and watch the animals hop in and out of the water. It is first seen in series 4, episode 1, The Poison Dart Frogs.
  • The GUP-I is an polar exploration station and rugged vehicle first seen in the 8th special, Operation Deep Freeze. It is built to look like a water bear.
  • The GUP-K is a half air-boat, half-tank vehicle that can float on surface and is first seen in the 9th and latest special, The Great Swamp Search to save Tweak's hometown the Everglades from fire. It is built to look like a crocodile or an alligator.
  • The GUP-S is an Antarctic exploration vehicle first seen in the 6th special episode The Over Under Adventure. Like the GUP-X, it can split in 2 sections, with the front part forming an amphibious snowmobile called the Octo-Sled. The Gup-S is built to look like a swordfish or narwhal, with a tusk-like ice-penetrating heated drill at the front.
  • The GUP-V is a vehicle designed by the Vegimals in the 5th special episode, A Very Vegimal Christmas. It is shaped like a train.
  • The GUP-X is a powerful and sturdy tracked vehicle presented to Captain Barnacles as a Christmas present from Tweak. It can split into 3 sections, for instance, a glider, the 'Octo-Ski' and its central main section with the caterpillar tracks. It is first seen in series 1, episode 52, The Great Christmas Rescue. It is built to look like a horseshoe crab.
  • The Deep Sea Octolab is a moveable base from which the deepest parts of the ocean can be studied and first appears in the 4th special episode, The Mariana Trench Adventure. It is dome-shaped and stands on springy legs to cope with subterranean tremors.

    • Series 2 (2012–2013)

    A second series of 22 episodes started on 19 November 2012 on the UK's CBeebies channel but was halted with no explanation after 10 episodes leading to criticism from viewers. Broadcasts resumed in March 2013 but stopped a week later (with the last 7 episodes still unaired) - then resumed again in September 2013.

    Series 3 (2013–2014)

    A third series of 22 episodes started being broadcast by CBeebies on 4 September 2013.

    Series 4 (2015)

    A fourth series of 24 episodes started being broadcast by CBeebies on 23 September 2015.

    Special episodes

    The specials are double-length episodes which are first broadcast during the Christmas, New Year, or Memorial Day periods before being repeated alongside regular episodes.

    Creature Reports

    The Creature Reports are one-minute, musical, poem-like sequences which recap the facts learned about the sea creature that the Octonauts encountered in the associated episode. In the UK these were shown as separately scheduled items but in the American version they were used at the conclusion of each regular episode. However at the end of the episode, "The Surfing Snails", it was replaced with a surf rock song called, "Surf's Up, Bubbles Up (Ready to Ride)".

    DVDs

    The BBC have released three Octonauts DVDs, comprising episodes from the first series along with their associated "Creature Reports". The UK DVDs are Region 2 format, playable in European DVD players:

  • Here Come the Octonauts (episodes 1–8)
  • Octonauts – To The Gups (episodes 9–16 plus 1st special episode)
  • Octonauts – Ready for Action (episodes 17–24, 2nd special episode, plus 3 minute video How to Make a Gup X)

    • A boxed set of all three DVDs was released under the title Octonauts – The Collection in September 2012.

    Australia

    Octonauts is distributed on region 4 DVD in Australia by Roadshow Entertainment on behalf of the ABC.

    The first four DVDs have sold together as the Octonauts Starter Pack since 2016.

    Spin-Offs

    The Octonauts brand has been licensed by the production company for numerous spin-off activities. These include Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure, a themed rollercoaster within the CBeebies Land of Alton Towers theme park and themed bedrooms with the CBeebies Land Hotel. There is also a travelling live show called Octonauts Live, which has toured in the U.S. and other countries.

    An Octonauts app was launched for iOS on 17 November 2016, produced in partnership with Night and Day Studios.

    References

    The Octonauts Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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