Underground Ernie

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Underground Ernie
Image:undergroundernielogo.gif
Genre Animated children's television series
Creator(s) John Deery
Sid Rainey
Starring Gary Lineker
Janet Brown
Emma Weaver
Tim Whitnall
Chris Jarvis
Theme music composer Miles Hunt
Opening theme "The Importance of Being Ernie"
Country of origin Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 26
Production
Executive producer(s) John Deery Sid Rainey
Running time 12 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBeebies/BBC2
Original run June 5, 2006 – present
Links
Official website

Underground Ernie is a Computer-animated children's television series produced by Joella Productions in the UK and shown by the BBC on both CBeebies and BBC2. It is set in International Station, a fictional worldwide underground network, and focuses on the everyday adventures of Ernie, a friendly Underground supervisor, Millie, his multi-lingual collegue and Mr Rails the loveable maintenence man. The trains under Ernie's watchful eye all have charcaters of their own. There's Victoria, Bakerloo, City, Jubilee and the twins, Hammersmith & City. From time to time they are joined by their friends from across the world including; Paris, Brooklyn, Moscow, Sydney and Osaka.

The show is aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old. The initial series has 26 episodes each lasting 12-minutes. Its first showing on was on Monday 5th June 2006 on CBeebies.

Contents

[edit] Premiere

In its premiere run, Underground Ernie was broadcast twice a day five days a week - firstly on BBC2 at 9 a.m. and then repeated on CBeebies at 4.30 p.m.

In the first episode, "Pop Decoy", pop superstar "Sam 7" is performing at the theatre and Jubilee has to get him there without hundreds of fans finding out. Alas, the excitable Jubilee can't keep a secret and he and Ernie have to come up with a plan to get Sam 7 safely to the theatre.

[edit] Design

All the visuals for the show are produced using CGI computer graphics and that largely explains the high cost of the production (USD$7 million/£4 million) [1]. The first series was produced using LightWave 3D software.[2]

Some critics have pointed out the similarities between Underground Ernie and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, in that both series feature anthropomorphised talking trains. Whilst acknowledging a similarity, the producers make it clear that this is very different form Thomas and is very much based in the 21st century. Despite being underground trains, they often travel overground around open countryside to various stations including seaside resort.

The overall design is inspired by the real London Underground, and Transport for London has allowed the series to use design elements directly taken from their brand, in particular the use of their destinctive Underground logo, or 'roundel' as it's known.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Human characters

[edit] Trains

The majority of the characters are trains most of which take their names from lines of the London Underground network, though in Underground Ernie's world it is called "International Underground".

  • Hammersmith is twin brother to City, a fast and furious train who is a general knowledge "whizz". He wears blue spectacles.
  • City is Hammersmith's twin brother and is also fast and furious but is an expert in mathematics and finances (presumably a reference to the City, where many of London's financial institutions are based. He wears pink spectacles. Hammersmith and City are usually coupled back end to back and and run together as one train.
  • Victoria (voiced by Janet Brown) is the oldest train and is like a mother to the other trains. She wears a crown to suggest the link between herself and Queen Victoria but visually appears more like a caricature of the present Queen, Elizabeth II.
  • Circle (voiced by Chris Jarvis is a "hippy chick" - always helpful and rarely loses her cool.
  • Jubilee (voiced by Teletubbies narrator Tim Whitnall) is the youngest train and is into computers, music, internet, emails, games and all the latest gadgets and technology. He can be mischievous but is still well-liked.
  • Bakerloo (voiced by Howard Ward) is an eccentric and is dressed like Sherlock Holmes (the Bakerloo line used to end at Baker Street, where the fictional detective lived at number 221b) but has a profile resembling that of the Duke of Wellington, the victor of the Battle of Waterloo, after the Waterloo station (Bakerloo is short for Baker Street & Waterloo Railway).

[edit] International trains

There are also five international trains which Millie visits when she goes abroad every weekend. She always bring back exciting stories for Ernie, as well as a souvenir:

[edit] Storylines

In each episode Ernie faces a problem which he needs to fix with the help of the trains. This will typically involve one of the locations on International Underground or visitors coming via the Underground - often both.

[edit] Merchandising

In November 2005, Halsall International Ltd. announced that they had secured the rights to produce merchandising linked to Underground Ernie [4]. They hope to have products on sale by the autumn of 2006 with a comprehensive range available in 2007. The use of London Underground names and trains is a deliberate step to lead into merchandising suitable for children's gifts the revenue from which will be shared with Transport for London.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] References

  1. ^ Roach, Martin (2006). The Eight Legged Atomic Dustbin Will Eat Itself. Independent Music Press, 107. ISBN 0-9549-7040-3. 

[edit] External links

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