Toonhound - Animal Stories (2001-2003)

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   Animal Stories     (2001-2003)

   producers: Collingwood O'Hare for ITV
   animation: 2D animation
     episodes: 52 x 5 minutes

     This hugely-cute series of Tall Tales for youngsters features a different critter
     each episode. The stories run like modern-day Aesop Fables and tell us all about
     a Penguin who can't fly, a Leopard who wants to change his spots, a Fly who
     learns how to read and many more. Even a dragon and a dinosaur get in
     on the act. Those fifty-two episodes allow for a lot of diversification!

    The stories are conveyed as humorous rhyming couplets narrated enthusiastically
     by the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Witness Tommy The Bat, who finds it so very
     difficult to get to sleep at night:

      Tom called for his Mother,
      and started to weep.
      "I've tried lots of ways,
       but I can't get to sleep!"

      "Well didn't you know?"
       Mum said with a frown,
      "That bats only sleep
       when they hang upside-down?'"

     Nowadays, fifty-plus episode commissions are quite the norm, but at the time
     "Animal Stories" proved to be ITV's largest-ever children's commission. And
     the show went on to be a preschool favourite on the Disney Channel
     in America, with Alan Marriott replacing nigel Hawthorne as the narrator.
    Best of all, the series collected the award for Best Pre-school
     Animation at the 2001 Children's Film And Television BAFTA Awards.

     Trivia Hounds will note that this was the second COH/Hawthorne collaboration,
     coming twelve years after the award-winning special Rarg.

     True Blue "Animal Stories" fans will find many of the tales published in the pages
     of CITV's Telly Tots Magazine, from Egmont World. Each was illustrated with
     a dozen-or-more splendid screen grabs. Now you might scorn the idea of
     buying a tots magazine on ebay, but predecessors to this kind of publication
     like Pippin and Playland are now mightily collectible...

      "Animal Stories" from Collingwood O'Hare

"Animal Stories" from Collingwood O'Hare

Awards

2001 Children's BAFTA - Best Pre-school Animation

     Series One
     Big Pink Pig
     Trevor the Frog
     Helen the Penguin
     Smelly Dog
     Big Bold Lion
     Hugh the Worm
   Edwina the Aardvark
     Simpson the Slug
     Win-Stanley the Sloth
     Polar Bear
     Billy the Giraffe
     Ron the Crab
     Lou the Crocodile

     Series Three
     Brian the Leopard
     Pointy the Hedgehog
     Peter the Peacock
     Lewis the Cat
     Horatio the Rat
     Cyril the Centipede
     Jimmy the Mouse
     Bob the Bee
     Keith the Caterpillar
     Maurice the Magpie
     Eddie the Catfish
     Sammy the Hippo
     Ernest the Hyena

Series Two
Bobby the Ape
Ant 2954
Tommy the Bat
Tony the Tortoise
Susie the Kangaroo
Camilla the Camel
Oliver the Owl
Dinky the Dolphin
Clive the Hamster
Fred the Dragon
Bruce the Goose
Eric the Elephant
Jake the Snake

Series Four
Ralph the Rabbit
Austin the Oyster
Philip the Fly
Felicia the Humming Bird
Drew the Whale
Clara the Cow
Tim the Dinosaur
Des the Donkey
Ross the Rhinoceros
Carla the Koala
Melvin the Moose
Dodo the Pigeon

      created by Trevor Ricketts & Christopher O'Hare

      developed for television
      by Tony Collingwood

      director:                  Tony Collingwood
      producer:                Christopher O'Hare
      written
      & designed by:        Trevor Ricketts
      composer:              Andrew Dimitroff
      script supervisor:    Helen Stroud
      prod manager:        Christian Holland
      art director:            Kieron Seamons
      editor:                    Zurine Ainz
      dubbing editors:      Richard Lambert, Peter Dixon
      on-line editor:         David Ward
      storyboards:           Andrea Tran, Kieron Seamons
      art team:                Denis Ryan, Julie Gleeson,
                                  Ann Goodall, Michael Longden,
                                  Alistair Douglas, Gordon Langley,
                                  Sean Topham, Jane Seamons
      production:             Mueser Alibey, Finola Davis,
                                  Mark Wright, Lee Carter
      animation:              Su Zhou Hung Ying Animation
                                  Bobby Hsieh, Tom Pong
      narration:              Nigel Hawthorne

    On the web

      Collingwood O'Hare
     The studio's web site...

     Sandman Animation Studio
     Animal's art director Keiron Seamons is a co-founder
      of this busy Chinese studio...

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