Planet Sketch
| Planet Sketch | |
|---|---|
| Written by |
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| Directed by | Andy Wyatt |
| Country of origin |
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| Original language(s) |
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| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 40 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
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| Distributor | DHX Media |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | |
| Original run | 2005 – 2010 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Distribution website | |
Planet Sketch is a British 15-minute television show aimed at children, with each episode featuring an assortment of sketches. It is produced by Aardman Animations. The show aired on CITV[1] first and later began airing on Teletoon starting on November 19, 2005.[2]
Sketches
The show typically begins with a Nose Picker sketch, in which a girl named Olivia pulls out an object from her nose. From then on, several sketches (typically one of each type of sketch) are then played out to fill the remainder of the show, culminating with the June Spume and Melville sketch, in which a girl by the name of June Spume uses her body parts to produce music, such as her eyebrows as a guitar, which accompanies the show's theme music as the show ends. In the second series, however, only Melville appears, featuring in a parody of a number of musical genres before the theme begins. The nose picker girl still appears though. In the second series the 2D sketches did not return and the show went completely 3D. Also, in the second series, the 3D format is slightly different from the previous because of the different shape of the characters' eyes, the short depth of their heads and the huge shading on them not showing the glossy surface of their appearance.
Other sketches on Planet Sketch include:
3-D Cartoons
- The Ninja Handyman, where a family resorts to the help of a ninja to solve everyday mundane problems (such as using a rolling pin to squeeze the last few dollops of toothpaste from its tube). In the first season, the family liked Ninja handyman, but in the second season, the family sometimes get really annoyed when Ninja Handyman comes. In the first season, Ninja Handyman works hard in anything he does, in the second season, Ninja Handyman is lazy, stupid, careless, insane and accident-prone.
- Japanese Fighting Fish, where three fish (claiming to be "real hard" Japanese fighting fish) bully another (typically much larger) fish that is cohabiting in the same tank, or another sea creature or an item, only for the other fish, object or sea creature to retaliate in kind.
- Parping Ponies, where a horse named Horace and his aunt Hortense try to avoid embarrassment that usually results from Horace's flatulence problem. Sometimes Horace's Aunt has flatulence also.
- Timbo and Mr. Hives, where a boy tries in vain to avoid his evil teddy bear, which he claims to have outgrown. Mr. Hives inevitably reappears with the ominous catchphrase of "Huggy, huggy!" He appears in all manner of places, including in the ketchup bottle, behind garden gnomes and on TV.
- Napkin Squirrel, where a storyteller tells the story of a paper (origami) squirrel and what it considers fun — those that harm the squirrel in any way, shape, or form are said to be "no fun at all".
- Dr. Inosaur, a dinosaur doctor who tries to eat his patients.
- Captain Gagtastic, where the namesake supervillain terrorizes a family by repeating anti-jokes.
- Rude Limerick Boy, where a boy shows up on stage to perform a limerick, in which the limerick's last word is typically unsuitable for the audience, so he is interrupted before saying it, usually by an object from his limerick.
- Mad Dad Scientist, where a father pretends to be a mad scientist about to finish an invention, only to be interrupted by his son, which at the same time reveals that the father was simply repairing a common household item, or doing a household task, such as getting a spider out of the bathtub.
- Gnaughty Gnomes, where a passerby is enamoured by a set of lawn gnomes, only to faint in shock when they discover that the gnomes are alive and acting in a typically destructive manner.
- News Reporters, where news anchors Mike Today and Sally Van have gender wars by taking shots at the opposite gender. At the end of the sketch it is revealed that the two have a crush on each other. In the second season, this changes with the characters sharing the same views as their news reports.
- Street Rappers, where a group of three street rappers do something in a manner that is completely different from their image (mostly babyish or young kids things), only to be caught by an innocent bystander, who is one of the members of the Ninja Handyman family. In the second season, they would rap like normal and one of them would say something stupid and the other two would exclaim.
- Why the dinosaurs died out, a take on why dinosaurs became extinct "60 million years ago last Tuesday".
- June Spume a person who plays instruments with various parts of her body.
- Lorpy Slime, it was bad, is made of (slime)
2-D Cartoons
- My Mother the Armchair, where a teenage girl consistently becomes embarrassed by her mother: a yellow armchair with a purse.
- Swapsy, where the same teenage girl from My Mother the Armchair tries to swap an array of miscellaneous objects for an item that she sees with a random person (e.g.: the mother of a small boy)
- Only Joking where a young boy asks his father why something happens (e.g.: why bees collect honey) and his father jokingly replies with fictional comments (e.g.: Only honey bees collect honey, it's the brain bees you should look out for) which usually results with the boy running away screaming and the father saying "Only joking, son! Dear, oh dear". However, the father's "joke" turn out to be true during the last sketch shown in each episode, and it backfires on him.
- Arla and Larla Where two girls tell their mother a crazy false story about why one of them, for example poured water on the other, only to be caught out for a small detail such as where a certain bus stops.
- Okay Coach, I'm ready! Where a boy named Nathan dresses up in a sports costume only to find he's doing the wrong sport as indicated by the coach.
- Alien Gameshow An extraterrestrial gameshow featuring aliens that talk gibberish alien language. The host gives a question to the four alien-robot contestants and when they got the answer wrong, they lose a point and get tortured. If they got it right they get a point.
- Dragon Burping Contest A game show where two dragons must overpower each other and gain points by burping.
Second Season New Characters
The second season adds new characters. 2D segments and other 3D characters disappeared, such as the garden gnomes and the teddy. In addition, characters dance between segments OR the Planet Sketch sign is shown with a gag. Here are the new characters:
- The Two Astronauts These two men are always in the cockpit of their spaceship and have problems with their computer who acts as a human or acts stupidly.
- The Hypno Poodle He always gets what he wants, because he hypnotizes people, and mostly its owners into doing animal things or bizarre things.
- Master Handyman Ninja Handyman's counterpart, white-dressed and really more helpful than the normal Handyman.
- Melville He replaces the last sketch. He is a cat working as a janitor but when lights turn off, he starts dancing. The song always differs each episode, from Country to Pop. In the third season, he goes, R&B to Dubstep or Hip-Hop to Grime
Broadcast
Both series have aired on CiTV in the UK. The second series aired on Saturdays at 9:40am to CiTV on ITV1. Now the series is finished but there are still mini episodes showing on CiTV. A third series has been confirmed. It will be Planet Sketch: Reloaded! (look on the third season plot).
- Australia
- ABC
- Cartoon Network Australia
- Brazil
- Britain
- Canada
- Teletoon
- Croatia
- Denmark
- TV2
- France
- Ireland
- RTE Two
- Latin America
- Mexico
- Once TV
- Netherlands
- Philippines
- Scandinavia
- Turkey
- USA
- Nicktoons (airs segments and end credits on Shorts in a Bunch)
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
References
- ↑ "Sold » Playback". Playbackonline.ca. 2006-07-24. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
- ↑ "Cartoon conference stresses characters, stories » Playback". Playbackonline.ca. 2005-10-10. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
External links
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