The Hoobs

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Hubba Hubba; hoob overlord.

The Hoobs is a children's television programme created and produced by The Jim Henson Company. It stars four creatures called Hoobs (Iver, Groove, Tula and Roma) from the fictional Hoobland, and their interactions with Earth and the human race. In each episode they try to find the answer to a question to be put in the great Hoobopaedia created by Hubba Hubba back in Hoobland. They live in the Hoobmobile and travel to all parts of the world. The four creatures are puppets, but the show also includes some animated sequences as well as live motion of human children who explain concepts to the Hoobs.

In Britain it is a regular feature in early morning schedules also a cult favourite with students and those adults with a nostalgic fondness for the Muppets. The show is made in the UK, as are many other Jim Henson Company productions. It was commissioned for Channel 4,and has been shown at around the times of 5:00am to 6:00am regularly since 2000. It has also been regionalised for other countries, including North America. [1]

The four main characters are Iver, Tula, Groove and Roma. Iver, Tula and Groove live in the Hoobmobile, a psychedelic bus. Roma also lives in the Hoobmobile but is rarely there as she travels the world like a reporter on her motorbike. Iver (purple Hoob) is the team leader and co-ordinator and Tula (pink Hoob, the girl) is the inquisitive and occasionally bossy one, while Groove (green Hoob) is the happy-go-lucky one who spends his time managing his numerous collections of Different Things, with a grouped collection for every single occasion. Roma is yellowy orange, and speaks with an extremely upper-class accent.

A typical episode involves:

A preamble during which a question (to be answered) is stumbled upon.
Hubba Hubba formalises the task.
Roma is e-mailed to provide a report.
Ending a sentence with "who", "what", "when", "why" or "how" causes a cut away to a Motorettes' performance of that word.
There may be a song from the Hoobs or the Motorettes, with familiar lyrics, or a familiar tune, or neither.
The Hoobs visit the tiddley peeps (ie. the viewers) twice, as "They're smart, they're fun, they know".
One Hoob drives (right hand drive), one visits and turns the key and the third may participate in the B story
An animated story is aired
Reportage on a related subject appears on HoobNet
Various inappropriate solutions are rejected for an answer, just in time
HoobNews at the end summarises the adventure.

Puppeteers: Iver: Don Austen Tula: Julie Westwood Groove: John Eccleststone, Mark Jefferis, Brian Herring Roma: Gillie Robic Hubba Hubba: Mark Jefferis, Brian Herring. Motorettes: Mark Jefferis, Rebecca Nagan, Wim Booth