Salty's Lighthouse

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Salty's Lighthouse was the American Spinoff version of the British Program TUGS. The show consisted of a cartoon plot line, with an "episode" of TUGS (mostly stock footage). It was about an animated boy called Salty, who with his friends would go into a lighthouse (with a personified and animated light bulb), and look through the lighthouse windows to see the tugs of Bigg City Port (from TUGS).

Despite the fact that the show introduced TUGS to the US, this was about the only good thing that ever came out of it. Scenes from the original 13 TUGS episodes were mixed, matched, and rewritten, degrading TUGS from a nice, adventuresome series to a low action, politically correct, overly simple preschool program. None of the original episodes' plotlines were used, and the new stories were watered down and morale based, rather than action based.

For example; one SL episode (as described on the internet) is about how the tugs overcome their fear of the dark and fog. This is obviously an enormous redo of the original episode "Ghosts", in which the tugs let their imaginations run away with them. Fears of the dark were not a feature of Ghosts at all.

The producers of the show made extravagant changes to the TUGS universe in the series, threading new ideas into the show which almost destroyed TUGS. One thing that they changed dramatically were the characters' profiles. Big Mac was renamed into the more politically correct Big Stack, Zebedee and Zip were changed, respectfully, to the more "cool-sounding" Z.B. and Ziggy, Big Mickey was redubbed as the more American Big Basil, and O.J. to the more "convenient" name, Otis. The producers went as far as to rename the harbour, from the maritime sounding Bigg City Port to the more childish and innocent Snuggleboat Harbour. Even the characters' genders were changed, with Captain Star, Sunshine, Little Ditcher and Grampus four very important males in TUGS, being rendered as female, to add diversity among the main cast.

[edit] Comparisons with TUGS

Salty's Lighthouse greatly changed the whole setting of TUGS, possibly contributing to the show's disliking in the US.

TUGS never had a cartoon plotline.
None of the TUGS segments used plotlines from the original 13 episodes; instead, various scenes were cut up into new, shorter episodes that resembled those of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
Sunshine, Captain Star, Little Ditcher and Grampus were all female instead of male.
Big Mac was called Big Stack and O.J. was called Otis.The coast guard and his messenger were merged and became one character called Cappy.
Zebedee was called Z.B., and Zip was called Ziggy.
Burke and Blair became movie producers, and were changed to Mr. Bocco and Mr. Socco.
Puffa was called Stanley.
Frank and Eddie became police boats and were changed to Mr. Knight and Mr. Chapman.
Lord Stinker became a rotten barge and his name was Stinky Morris.
Billy Shoepack became Anthony-George.
Lillie Lightship became Mrs. Dempsey.
Bigg Mickey became Bigg Basil.Snugleboat Harbour.