The Bellflower Bunnies

The Bellflower Bunnies (French: La Famille Passiflore) is an animated series based on the Beechwood Bunny Tales book series by Geneviève Huriet. The show debuted on the TF1 network with four episodes airing between December 24 and December 28, 2001.^[11] It is a co-production between France's TF1 and several Canadian companies.

The show centres on the adventures and exploits of the Bellflower family, a clan of seven rabbits who live in Beechwood Grove. The two adults in the family, Papa Bramble and Aunt Zinnia, take care of their five children: Periwinkle, Poppy, Mistletoe, Dandelion and Violette.

Production

Early on in its run, the series was produced as a package of four specials by TF1 and its subsidiary, Protécréa, along with TVA International of Montreal and Melusine of Luxembourg;^[12] Moran Caouissin, an animator from Disney's DuckTales movie,^[13] served as the director. Production of the series began in the fall of 2000, at a cost of over US$2 million,^[12] or US$600,000 per episode.^[14]

Starting in 2004, later episodes were produced by Euro Visual,^[15] Tooncan, Megafun,^[16] Big Cash, Dragon Cartoon^[17] and Disney Television France. This time, Eric Berthier directed, and Alice Willis composed.

Main characters

• Poppy(French name:Romarin): He's the older of the Bellflower kids, and also the smartest. He uses blue glasses, a yellow shirt and blue pants.
• Violette(French name:Pirouette): The only girl of the family, and the most daring among her siblings. She wears a blue skirt.
• Periwinkle(French name:Agaric): He's usually shy. He wears a blue shirt and brown pants with a belt. He also has a crush on Pimpernelle, one of his friends and former neighbor.
• Mistletoe(French name:Mistouflet): The middle kid. He wears a cap and a shirt both consisting of light and deep pink stripes, and blue pants.
• Dandelion(French name:Dentdelion): The smallest of the kids, and he's often prone to dangerous situations. He wears a yellow shirt with a carrot printed on it, and a small red jacket.
• Papa Bramble(French name:Onesime): The father of the kids, his wife, named Mia according to the book L'album photos des Passiflore, was killed by a hunter. He takes care of the children along with his sister Zinia.
• Aunt Zinia: Bramble's sister, who helps him take care of the children after the death of Bramble's wife. She can be a bit harsh against the children sometimes, but she still loves them.

Broadcast

As of 2010, The Bellflower Bunnies is airing on these following stations worldwide:

• TVP1 in Poland
• YLE TV2 in Finland^[3]
• RTP in Portugal's Azores
• CBC Television in Quebec^[18]

In April 2008, it was the 19th most-watched children's program in Finland, with audiences averaging 62,000 viewers (as Pupu Pitkäkorva).^[19]

The Latin American version of Boomerang premiered the show on its Mini TV block on October 2, 2006.^[7] On March 4, 2007, it ended its first run in order to make way for the Australian/Canadian TV series, Faireez. Bellflower returned to Boomerang between June 4 and December 28, 2007.

The show was removed from Playhouse Disney France's lineup on January 2010 but reruns returned on August 2010.

Home video and DVD

Europe

At least six DVD volumes of The Bellflower Bunnies have been released by TF1, Beez Entertainment and Seven Sept in the franchise's native France, separately and in a box set.^[20] In Germany, edelkids released the first sixteen episodes in February^[21] and August 2008.

North America

Feature Films for Families released the first two volumes of the English version on VHS (in 2001) and DVD (in 2003), as part of a marketing deal with TVA.^[12] In 2005, another four DVDs were released under the Direct Source brand. Each disc in this version consists of two episodes.

Episodes

Fifty-two episodes of The Bellflower Bunnies have been produced over the course of three seasons.^[8] and all of these have aired in the show's native France; although episodes 39-52 were first aired on Germany's kid channel KI.KA in May 2008.^[22]

Voice cast

Season 1

• Tom Clarke Hill
• Regine Candler
• Tom Eastwood
• Rhonda Millar - Periwinkle / Violette (Pirouette)
• Joanna Ruiz Rodriguez

Seasons 2 & 3

English version

• Danielle Desormeaux^[23]
• Anik Matern
• Holly Gauthier-Frankel (as Holly Gauthier-Frankle)
• Eleanor Noble
• Matt Holland
• Joanna Noyes
• Liz Mac Rae
• Simon Peacock
• Laura Teasdale

French version

• Flora Balzano
• Julie Burroughs
• Hugolin Chevrette
• Mario Desmarais
• Antoine Durand
• Marylène Gargour
• Annie Girard
• Hélène Lasnier
• Elisabeth Lenormand

See also

• Beechwood Bunny Tales
• Watership Down
• Max and Ruby

References

External links

• The Bellflower Bunnies at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bellflower Bunnies and Beechwood Bunny Tales, an external wiki
• (French) The Bellflower Bunnies at TF1.fr
• (French) Episode list
• (German) KI.KA's Bellflower Bunnies site (with a video clip from the "Room to Move" episode)
• Series' second theme song by Alice Willis
• Promo clip of the show at ZDF site (requires RealPlayer)
• Trailers for the first two Region 1 volumes at YouTube:
  • "Room to Move" / "Carnival"
  • "Balloonatic Bunnies" / "Slide On"