Animal Jam

Animal Jam
Directed by	Dean Gordon David Gumpel Jimmy Huckabee
Starring	Rickey Boyd Leslie Carrara-Rudolph John Kennedy David Maida Andy Stone John Tartaglia
Composer(s)	Michael Silversher and Patricia Silversher
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Derevlany David Gumpel Jim Rapsas Halle Stanford
Distributor	The Jim Henson Company
Broadcast
Original channel	TLC Discovery Kids
Original run	February 24, 2003 – April 4, 2003

Animal Jam is a children's television show created by John Derevlany (who also wrote most of the episodes) and produced by Jim Henson Television which first aired on February 24, 2003.

Production

The show featured many innovations in puppet design and production from the Jim Henson Company. It aired on TLC for several years, and ran on Discovery Kids until the channel was replaced by Hub Network (which is now Discovery Family). Several shows are also available on DVD.

Plot

It features dozens of kids in the audience dancing to songs with movement themes, and was hosted by two puppet characters named Waffle (a cow-monkey) and Edi (a zebra) as well as a giant dancing elephant named Bozark.

Characters

• Edi the Zebra (performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) – The host the show. Her favorite toy is Ginger the Jungle Slug and she has her own kind of dance called "the scooch." She gets the kids' attention to dance by saying "zebra, ready, pose!" She has bright pink and yellow stripes and her mane changes in style in every episode. She is the master of "Zebra Fu."

• Waffle the Cow-Monkey (performed by Rickey Boyd) – The co-host of the show. Waffle is referred to as a Cow-Monkey cause he is a monkey that dresses up as a cowboy. The nicknames he gives Edi are zebra girl, pumpkin seed(used in "The Right Size for You"), and striped friend. he gets the kids attention by saying "Now listen up with your cow-monkey ears" and wiggles his ears on his own. He always likes to take on a challenge such as in "The Not So Moving Episode", when Edi challenges him to a freezing contest to see who can play with Ginger the Jungle Slug for the day. He's the master of "Cow-Monkey Kwan-Do." He did a slide show in "I Am Rain".

• Bozark the Elephant (performed by David Maida) – A 7 ft. tall dancing elephant who is an Animal Jam Superstar. He once came in at the wrong time in "I Am Rain."

• DJ 1 the Panda (performed by John Kennedy) - One of the DJs on the show. He sings the songs for Bozark's dance numbers. His catch phrase is "Oh, yeah".

• DJ 2 the Koala (performed by John Tartaglia) – One of the DJs on the show. He makes sounds after Bozark's dance numbers and makes DJ 1 and DJ 3 look at him. He sat on a stack of books in "The Right Size For You"

• DJ 3 the Leopard (performed by Andy Stone) – One of the DJs on the show. He walked the tightrope in "Crouching Edi, Hidden Waffle" and he played the organ in "Boo! Day". He does the antics after songs in the show. He's the only DJ who can tickle himself.

• Pancake the Water Buffalo – Waffle's younger sister who appeared in the last three episodes.

Episodes

Season 1

1. Body Talk (Feb 24, 2003)
2. Walk the Walk (Feb 25, 2003)
3. Love 'Em and Leap 'Em (Feb 26, 2003)
4. Side by Side by Side (Feb 27, 2003)
5. Not So Lost in Space (Feb 28, 2003)
6. Pretzel Monkey and Cheese Dip to the Rescue (March 3, 2003)
7. The Quick, the Slow and the Waffle (March 4, 2003)
8. The Right Size for You (March 5, 2003)
9. The Not So Moving Episode (March 6, 2003)
10. Every Which Way But Forward (March 7, 2003)

Season 2

1. Take a Seat, Please (March 10, 2003)
2. Swimmin' (Twistin' Too) and Flying (March 11, 2003)
3. I Am Rain (March 12, 2003)
4. Boo Day (March 13, 2003)
5. Battle of the Animal Jam Bands (March 14, 2003)
6. Touched by a Monkey (March 17, 2003)
7. Rockin' and Rollin (March 18, 2003)
8. Crouching Edi, Hidden Waffle (March 19, 2003)
9. Snow Day (March 20, 2003)
10. On the Spot (March 21, 2003)

Season 3

1. Animal Jam Olympics (March 24, 2003)
2. The Parade Episode (March 25, 2003)
3. Edi Finds Her Groove (March 26, 2003)
4. Everything's Springin' Up! (March 27, 2003)
5. A Hug a Day (March 28, 2003)
6. Bright Lights, Big Shadow (March 31, 2003)
7. Hands Across Animal Jam (April 1, 2003)
8. A Water Buffalo Named Pancake (April 2, 2003)
9. Waffle Jam! (April 3, 2003)
10. Dance It Out! (April 4, 2003)

Cast

Puppeteers

• Rickey Boyd – Waffle the Cow-Monkey
• Leslie Carrara-Rudolph – Edi the Zebra
• John Kennedy – DJ 1 the Panda
• David Maida – Bozark the Elephant
• Alison Mork –
• Andy Stone – DJ 3 the Leopard
• John Tartaglia – DJ 2 the Koala

Later appearances

• Pancake the Water Buffalo appears as "Pancake Buffalo" in the Hannah Montana episode "Hannah in the Street with Diamonds" performed by Victor Yerrid and voiced by Susie Geiser. Pancake is the beloved puppet star of the local Malibu kids series called "The Pancake Buffalo Show." When Hannah Montana receives a diamond on a Hollywood street modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she requests the location be moved due to overly-frequent business in the area and learns that the area her diamond was originally intended to be placed was given to Pancake Buffalo. When Miley attempts to ask the kindly puppeteer of Pancake named Cindy Merriwether (played by Edie McClurg) to switch diamonds, she only communicates (rudely) through Pancake and refuses. Hannah then schemes to switch Pancake's dismal Street Diamond location with Hannah Montana's by playing on the childhood nostalgic fondness of her show by Hollywood Parade of Street Diamonds Committee Chairman Randall Harrison (played by Michael Boatman). She is successful, but ultimately a porta-john is placed directly over the newly moved Diamond much to Miley's astonished joy. Pancake is later seen "occupying" the stall and shooing away anyone who wishes to make use of it.

• The puppets for Waffle the Cow-Monkey, DJ 1, DJ 2, DJ 3, and Pancake the Water Buffalo made appearances in Puppet Up!

• Bozark the Elephant appeared in the movie Old Dogs. He alongside Scales the Dragon from the pilot to "Little Mermaid's Island" and Beak and YesNo from the proposed show "Muppet Bus" were seen as part of Jimmy Lunchbox's show.

• The puppets for Waffle the Cow-Monkey and Bozark the Elephant appeared in No, You Shut Up!

External links

• Animal Jam at Henson.com
• Animal Jam at Internet Movie Database