From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adventures of the Little Koala (コアラボーイコッキィ, Koara Bōi
Kokki
?) is an anime TV series that aired originally in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 4, 1984 through March
28, 1985, and then aired in the United States on Nickelodeon dubbed in English from
1987 to 1994. It also aired in Greece, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, in the Arabic-speaking
world and other countries, but its biggest success by far was in
the United States on Nickelodeon. Production of the English and
French versions of the series was done by Canadian studio Cookie Jar Group. The storyline
revolved around Roo-bear Koala and his friends in a utopian village.
Characters
- Roo-bear - a young boy koala, the series' central character and
protagonist. Smart, adventurous, inquisitive, and athletic, he
enjoys surfing, skateboarding, and baseball. His name is Kokki
(sometimes spelled "Kocky") in the original Japanese version and
"Kolbi" in the Italian dub. Voiced by Steven Bednarski (English) and Toshiko Fujita
(Japanese).
- Laura - Roo-bear's younger sister. Although
she is sometimes a bit of a brat, she is generally kind-hearted and
is also a strong-willed girl. In the original Japanese, she is
"Lala" (or technically "Rara"). Voiced by Morgan Hallet (English)
and Chisato
Nakajima (Japanese).
- Mommy - Roo-bear and Laura's mother, known as
simply "Mommy" to her children and her husband, and as "Mrs. Koala"
to the other children. She is a devoted homemaker, wife and mother,
and an excellent cook, but she has other talents as well: ten years
prior to the events in the series, she won the village's airplane
race, and proceeded to win a second time in the episode "Mommy Can
Fly" (despite not being an official entrant in the race and only
taking the cockpit in order to rescue other contestants who were
stranded following a crash). Voiced by Jane Woods (English) and
Yoshie Asai (Japanese).
- Papa - Roobear and Laura's father, known as
"Papa" to his children and wife and as "Mr. Koala" to the others.
He works as a photographer for Miss Lewis' magazine. His biggest
vice is a tendency to overeat, leading his family to try to put him
on a diet and exercise program (despite his protests) in the
episode "Papa On Stilts." Voiced by Walter
Massey (English) and Hachirou Azuma (Japanese).
- Betty - Another girl koala, Roobear's
girlfriend. Generally a kind-hearted girl, she also can be somewhat
vain at times, and her relationship with Roobear is sometimes
colored by misunderstandings. Voiced by Cleo Paskal.
- The Kangaroo Brothers - Led by
Walter, a self-described expert boomerang thrower,
and also including his brothers, the taller Horsey
and the shorter Colt. Walter was the ringleader of
this group, who loved nothing more than stirring up trouble in the
village; Pamey and Mingle were the most frequent recipients of
their teasing. Walter had an unrequited crush on Betty but, oddly
given his character, was too shy to tell her how he felt (one
episode revealed that he had written seventy unmailed love letters
to Betty). Walter is voiced by A.J. Henderson, Horsey by Dean Hagopian,
and Colt by Rob Roy.
- Floppy - Roo-bear's best friend. Floppy, a boy
rabbit, is a science
enthusiast and budding inventor who also has a strong competitive
streak when it comes to sports and other contests. He always wears
a Walkman. Voiced by Timothy
Webber.
- Mimi - Floppy's twin sister, and Laura's best
friend. Voiced by Barbara Pogemiller (English) and Mayumi
Shou (Japanese).
- Pamie - A girl penguin who loves to eat (although she
temporarily turned anorexic in the episode "Balloon
Pamie" as a result of Walter's teasing about her big stomach, which
resulted in her fainting). She also has an unrequited crush on
Roobear and has ambitions of being a nurse one day. Pamie and her
brother Nick always wore scarves, even in hot weather, and had
three younger brothers who were triplets. Voiced by Bronwen
Mantel.
- Nick - Pamie's twin brother. While he is
generally more level-headed than his sister and also has a bit of a
sarcastic streak, he often goes along with Pamie's antics even
though he knows better. In the episode "Pamie Falls in Love" he
concocted a plan to cancel Roobear's planned picnic date with Betty
so that Pamie could have the date with Roobear instead, but the
plan ended in disaster for all. He also wore a bobble hat in
addition to his scarf. Voiced by Ian Finlay (English) and Yumiko Shibata
(Japanese).
- Kiwi - A bespectacled boy kiwi bird who worked as
Papa Koala's assistant. Voiced by Phillip Pretten.
- Miss Lewis - A young adult female koala who
worked as editor-in-chief for the village magazine and was always
on the hunt for stories that would interest her readers. She had a
close relationship with Roo-bear and his friends, acting as a
surrogate teacher of sorts, and encouraged them when they decided
to start their own children's newspaper. Voiced by Bronwen
Mantel.
- Weather - An enigmatic dingo who was always shrouded with a heavy coat,
scarf and hat, even in hot weather, and could forecast the weather
with great accuracy. Like Miss Lewis, he had a close relationship
with Roo-bear and his friends and acted as a sort of mentor and
counselor for them. Voiced by Richard Dumont.
- Mingle - A sugar glider and
weather's constant companion, who was often involved in the
children's adventures. Voiced by Barbara Pogemiller.
- Duckbill - A duckbill platypus
who enjoyed collecting old junk and fashioning useful things out of
it. The children called him "Bill" for short. Voiced by Arthur
Grosser.
It could be assumed that the series takes place in Australia due to the
presence of koalas and kangaroos and the fact that Ayers
Rock is mentioned in several episodes. Including different
types of animal creatures in the daily life of the village was
likely meant to demonstrate the virtues of pluralism and diversity.
Historical
Background
In 1984, the Tama Zoo in western Tokyo welcomed its first koala, and the
government of Australia
sent six koalas to Japan as a token of goodwill. As a result,
according to The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements
and Helen McCarthy, Japan went into a koala frenzy and anything to
do with koalas became very popular. It was during this
"koala-mania" that The Adventures of the Little Koala was
made, as was another anime on Fuji TV, Nippon Animation's Fushigi na
Koala Blinky, which would later be broadcast alongside
Little Koala on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in 1988, as
Noozles.
Production
Notes
The Japanese animation studio Top Craft, best known for
providing animation duties on many of Rankin-Bass' American
animated TV specials as well as the feature film The Last
Unicorn, worked on The Adventures of the Little
Koala. Top Craft provided animation assistance for Hayao Miyazaki's
1984 feature film Nausicaä of the
Valley of the Wind; in fact, some of the animators who
worked on Little Koala also worked on Nausicaa.
After Nausicaa, a number of Top Craft animators went on to
work for Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli.
Some notable animators who worked on this series included Katsuhisa
Yamada and Hidekazu Ohara.
Trivia
- When the English-language theme song mentions Mimi's name
during the bridge in which some of the other characters (such as
Laura, Nick and Floppy) are named, Betty is shown onscreen. This
error was never corrected.
Credits
Japan
Source: Anime News Network
- Co-producer: Haruo Nakayama
- Scripts: Kenichi Ogawa, Kiichi Takayama, Mamoru Kanbe, Nanako
Watanabe, Naoko Miyake, Riki Matsumoto, Toshiaki Imaizumi, Toshiro
Ueno, Tsuyoshi Yatsuki, Yoshiaki Yoshida
- Storyboards: Akio Mitani, Katsuhisa Yamada, Kozo Takagaki,
Masamitsu Sasaki, Sodatsu Ishikuro, Takashi Tanasawa, Tatsuya
Matsumoto
- Animation Directors: Ai Kagawa, Hidekazu Ohara, Hiroshi
Yamagishi, Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Masahiro Sasaki, Masahiro Yoshida,
Masaru Hirakawa, Masayuki Uchiyama, Shinnosuke Kon, Takashi
Watanabe
- Music: Tsuyoshi Kawano
- Animation Studio: Top Craft
- Original Animation & Story: Tohokushinsha Film
Co., Ltd.
English
version (produced in Montreal, Canada)
- Adaptation & direction: Ernest Reid
- Executive Producer: Micheline Charest
- Producer: Ronald A. Weinberg
- Associate Producer: Elizabeth Klinck
- Post-Production Supervisor: Pierre Michaud
- Production Coordinator: Liz Joyce
- Talent Coordinator: Marrielle Gaudreault
- Production Secretary: Donna Vektris
- Sound Editor: Tony
Reed
- Music Production: Andre Perreault
- Rerecording Engineer: Andre Perreault
- Titles Sequences: Tony Reed
- Production: Cinar Films
- Distribution: Viacom International Inc.
Characters/Voice actors
- Betty Koala (Cleo
Paskal)
- Colt Kangaroo (Rob Roy)
- Curator, Mr. (Michael Rudder)
- Duckbill Platypus (Arthur Grosser)
- Floppy Rabbit (Timothy Webber)
- Horsey Kangaroo (Dean Hagopian)
- Kiwi (Phillip Pretten)
- Laura Koala (Morgan Hallet, Japanese: Chisato
Nakajima)
- Lewis, Miss (Bronwen Mantel)
- Macky Macky (Richard Dumont)
- Mayor, Mr. (A.J. Henderson)
- Mimi Rabbit (Barbara Pogemiller, Japanese: Mayumi
Shou)
- Mingle (Barbara Pogemiller)
- "Mommy" Koala (Jane Woods, Japanese: Yoshie Asai)
- Nick Penguin (Ian Finlay, Japanese: Yumiko Shibata)
- Nose, Dr. (Walter Massey)
- Pamie Penguin (Bronwen Mantel)
- "Papa" Koala (Walter Massey, Japanese: Hachirou
Ozuma)
- Roobear Koala (Steven Bednarski, Japanese: Toshiko Fujita as
"Kokki")
- Walter Kangaroo (A.J. Henderson)
- Weather (Richard Dumont)
Japanese
theme music
English version "Koala
Song" theme
- Music: Pierre-Daniel Rheault
- Lyrics: Liz Joyce
- Performed by: Sonja Ball, Shari Chaskin and Maxie Vaughann
List of
episodes
There were 52 episodes; they are listed in the pairs they were
aired in.
- The Old Clock Tower / Mingle Takes A Dive
- Is Weather A Frog? / Lost In A Race
- Ghost Ship / Balloon Pamie
- The King of the Castle / Hang-Gliding With Roobear
- The Mysterious Moa Bird / Love That Baby Moa!
- Snow White and the Seven Koalas / Roobear's Invention
- Papa On Stilts / Detective Roobear
- The Dinosaur Egg / Treasure Hunt
- Pamie Falls In Love / The Koala Butterfly
- The Koala Bear Gang / Back To Nature
- Roobear Saves the Day / Editor-In-Chief Roobear
- Monster Scoop / The Biggest Jigsaw Puzzle In the World
- Who Will Be the Flower Queen? / Circus Day
- Roobear the Babysitter / Papa Makes a Pie
- The Amazing Boomerang / The Runaway Hat
- Conquering Mt. Breadknife / Save the Eucalyptus
- Mommy Can Fly / The Secret of the McGillicuddy Vase
- Heavenly Fireworks / Save that Junk
- The Winner / A Hundred-Year-Old Camera
- Nurse Pamie / Any Mail Today?
- The Writing on the Wall / A Ride In A Spaceship
- Is Mingle a Nuisance? / Allowance Problems
- A Whale of a Ride / Laura Finds An Egg
- A Broken Umbrella / Save The Butterflies
- The Moon Goddess / The Flying Doctor
- A Eucalyptus Rocket / Penguins Don't Fly
See also
External
links
TV Tokyo
Nickelodeon
Wikis
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