Adventures of the Little Koala
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Adventures of the Little Koala was an anime series of Japanese/Korean origin that aired on Nickelodeon dubbed in English from 1987 to 1993. In Japan, the show aired in late 1984 and early 1985 on TV Tokyo under the title Koala Boy Kokki. It also aired in Italy, France and other countries, but its biggest success by far was in the United States on Nickelodeon. Production of the English and French versions of the series was done by Canadian studio Cinar Films. The storyline revolved around Roobear Koala and his friends in a utopian village.
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[edit] Characters
Roobear, an inquisitive, adventurous young boy koala, lived with his sister Laura, who was generally sweet and good-hearted but could be a bit of a spoiled brat, and his parents, known simply as "Mommy" and "Papa." Mommy was a devoted homemaker, wife and mother, but she had other talents as well: ten years ago, she won the village's airplane race, and proceeded to win a second time in the episode "Mommy Can Fly." Papa worked as a photographer for the village magazine, and had an apprentice, a bespectacled boy kiwi bird named, fittingly, Kiwi. He also had a tendency to overeat, leading his family to try to put him on a diet and exercise program in the episode "Papa On Stilts." Roobear also had a girlfriend, a pretty young girl koala named Betty.
Roobear's nemesis was a kangaroo named Walter, who loved to show off his boomerang skills. Walter hung around with two other boy kangaroos, Colt and Horsie, and the three of them loved to stir up trouble in the village. One source of friction between Walter and Roobear was that Walter had a crush on Betty (who obviously liked Roobear), but Betty couldn't stand him. Nevertheless, Walter and Roobear often did get along well, when they weren't fighting.
Roobear and Laura had a number of other friends as well. Floppy, a boy rabbit, was a science enthusiast and a budding inventor who always wore a Walkman. Floppy's sister Mimi was also involved in some of the gang's adventures. Pamie was a somewhat chubby girl penguin who loved to eat but was also self-conscious about her weight (in the episode "Balloon Pamie," she decided to starve herself to lose weight after Walter and his gang teased her about her big stomach). Pamie also had an unrequited crush on Roobear. Pamie also had a twin brother, Nick, and the two of them always wore scarves (Nick also wore a bobble hat). Nick was something of a dimwit but was willing to do anything to help out his sister.
The show also featured a few regular adult characters aside from Roobear and Laura's parents. Miss Lewis, an attractive young woman koala, was the editor of the village magazine for which Papa worked. Then there was the mysterious, enigmatic Weather, a dingo who was always shrouded with a heavy coat, scarf and hat, even in the hottest weather, and could predict the weather with great accuracy. Weather's constant companion was a sugar glider named Mingle, who spoke in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.
Although it can be assumed that the series takes place in Australia due to the presence of koalas and kangaroos and the fact that Ayers Rock is mentioned in one episode, it is zoologically incorrect in that Australia is not a natural habitat for penguins. Nevertheless, including different types of animal creatures in the daily life of the village was likely meant to demonstrate the virtues of pluralism and diversity.
[edit] Trivia
- In 1984, the Tama Zoo in western Tokyo welcomed its first koala, and the government of Australia sent six koalas to Japan as a token of goodwill. As a result, according to The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, Japan went into a koala frenzy and anything to do with koalas became very popular. It was during this "koala-mania" that The Adventures of the Little Koala was made, as was another anime on Fuji TV, Nippon Animation's Fushigi na Koala Blinky, which would later be broadcast alongside Little Koala on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in 1988, as Noozles.
- The Japanese animation studio Top Craft worked on The Adventures of the Little Koala. Top Craft provided animation assistance for Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 feature film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind; in fact, some of the animators who worked on Little Koala also worked on Nausicaa.
- When the (English) opening theme song mentions Mimi's name during the bridge in which some of the other characters (such as Laura, Nick and Floppy) are named, Betty is shown onscreen. This error was never corrected.
- An Arabic dub of the anime was broadcast on several Arabic speaking networks.
[edit] Credits
[edit] Korea
- Writer: Su-jeong Kang
- Animators: Yong Su Bang, Kyu-So Chan, Mina Kang, Han-so Kim, Ko-Bak Sa
- Director: Ki-nam Nam
- Co-producers: Kae-Soo Hwang, Jin-woo Jeong, Kôichi Kudô
[edit] Japan
Source: Anime News Network
- Co-producer: Haruo Nakayama
- Scripts: Kenichi Ogawa, Kiichi Takayama, Mamoru Kanbe, Nanako Watanabe, Naoko Miyake, Riki Matsumoto, Toshiaki Imaizumi, Toshiro Ueno, Tsuyoshi Yatsuki, Yoshiaki Yoshida
- Storyboards: Akio Mitani, Katsuhisa Yamada, Kozo Takagaki, Masamitsu Sasaki, Sodatsu Ishikuro, Takashi Tanasawa, Tatsuya Matsumoto
- Animation Directors: Ai Kagawa, Hidekazu Ohara, Hiroshi Yamagishi, Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Masahiro Sasaki, Masahiro Yoshida, Masaru Hirakawa, Masayuki Uchiyama, Shinnosuke Kon, Takashi Watanabe
- Music: Tsuyoshi Kawano
- Animation Studio: Top Craft
- Original Animation & Story: Tohoku Shinsha Film Co., Ltd.
[edit] English Language Version (produced in Montreal, Canada)
- Adaptation & direction: Ernest Reid
- Executive Producer: Micheline Charest
- Producer: Ronald A. Weinberg
- Associate Producer: Elizabeth Klinck
- Post-Production Supervisor: Pierre Michaud
- Production Coordinator: Liz Joyce
- Talent Coordinator: Marrielle Gaudreault
- Production Secretary: Donna Vektris
- Sound Editor: Tony Reed
- Music Production: Andre Perreault
- Rerecording Engineer: Andre Perreault
- Titles Sequences: Tony Reed
- Production: Cinar Films
- Distribution: Viacom International Inc.
[edit] Characters/Voice actors
- Betty Koala (Cleo Paskal)
- Colt Kangaroo (Yi-yong Ju, Rob Roy)
- Curator, Mr.
- Duckbill Platypus (Won-seob Kim, Arthur Grosser)
- Floppy Rabbit (Tim Webber)
- Horsey Kangaroo (Dong-jim Lim, Dean Hagopian)
- Kiwi (Hae Hwang, Phillip Pretten)
- Laura Koala (Hwa-ja So, Morgan Hallet, Japanese: Chisato Nakajima)
- Lewis, Miss (Jin-ae Kim, Bronwen Mantel)
- Macky Macky
- Mayor, Mr. A.J. Henderson)
- Mimi Rabbit (Jong-a Kim, Barbara Pogemiller, Japanese: Mayumi Shou)
- Mingle
- "Mommy" Koala (Beru-Bera Lin, Jane Woods, Japanese: Yoshie Asai)
- Nick Penguin (So-Cho Han, Ian Finlay, Japanese: Yumiko Shibata)
- Nose, Dr. (Walter Massey)
- Pamie Penguin (Hui-ra Kim, Bronwen Mantel)
- "Papa" Koala (Jeong-min Choi, Walter Massey, Japanese: Hachirou Ozuma)
- Roobear Koala (So Zang Yoon, Steven Bednarski, Japanese: Yoshiko Fujita as "Kokki")
- Walter Kangaroo (Dae-kun Lee, A.J. Henderson)
- Weather (Richard Dumont)
[edit] Theme Song
[edit] Korean & Japanese theme music
Hirokazu Ohta
[edit] English Language Version "Koala Song" theme
- Music: Pierre-Daniel Rheault
- Lyrics: Liz Joyce
- Performed by: Sonja Ball, Shari Chaskin and Maxie Vaughann
[edit] List of Episodes
There were 50 episodes; they are listed in the pairs they were aired in.
- The Old Clock Tower / Mingle Takes A Dive
- Is Weather A Frog? / Lost In A Race
- Ghost Ship / Balloon Pamie
- The King of the Castle / Hang-Gliding With Roobear
- The Mysterious Moa Bird / Love That Baby Moa!
- Snow White and the Seven Koalas / Roobear's Invention
- Papa On Stilts / Detective Roobear
- The Dinosaur Egg / Treasure Hunt
- Pamie Falls In Love / The Koala Butterfly
- The Koala Bear Gang / Back To Nature
- Roobear Saves the Day / Editor-In-Chief Roobear
- Monster Scoop / The Biggest Jigsaw Puzzle In the World
- Who Will Be the Flower Queen? / Circus Day
- Roobear the Babysitter / Papa Makes a Pie
- The Amazing Boomerang / The Runaway Hat
- Conquering Mt. Breadknife / Save the Eucalyptus
- Mommy Can Fly / The Secret of the McGillicuddy Vase
- Heavenly Fireworks / Save that Junk
- The Winner / A Hundred-Year-Old Camera
- Nurse Pamie / Any Mail Today?
- The Writing on the Wall / A Ride In A Spaceship
- Is Mingle a Nuisance? / Allowance Problems
- A Whale of a Ride / Laura Finds An Egg
- A Broken Umbrella / Save The Butterflies
- The Moon Goddess / The Flying Doctor
| Formerly Broadcast Animated Nickelodeon Shows of the 1980s |
|---|
| Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N |
| Premiered between 1983-1989:
Bananaman | DangerMouse | Belle and Sebastian | Star Trek: The Animated Series | The Little Prince | The Smurfs | Mysterious Cities of Gold | Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea | Adventures of the Little Koala | Heathcliff | Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | Inspector Gadget | Maple Town | Count Duckula | The Alvin Show on Nickelodeon | Beetlejuice | Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics | Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon | Noozles | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! | The World of David the Gnome |
