Bob the Builder (Reboot Series)

***Bob the Builder*** is the 2015 reboot revival of the original TV series of the same name. It has three series and 130 episodes, and originally aired from 2015 to 2018. Also, one special was produced and is titled Mega Machines.

## Production

Around 2013, the series quietly started development.

The reboot was first announced to the public on April 2014, with a release date of late 2015, and with animation done by Mainframe Animation.

The redesigns were then revealed on October 2014, causing controversy from social media.

In November of 2014, it was announced the reboot would premier on UK's Channel 5 Milkshake! on September 1st, 2015. Later on, the official *Bob the Builder* US YouTube channel confirmed the show would come to the United States on PBS Kids in November 2015.

The reboot's first and only special, Mega Machines, was released on 2017.

The third series ended on December 30th, 2018, it is currently unknown if a fourth series will ever be produced.

It is no longer airing on PBS Kids in the United States after November 2018. The third series premiered on Qubo starting August 26, 2019 in the United States as revealed on August 13, 2019, until Qubo shut down around February 28, 2021.

## About

The characters were redesigned and their voices recast to fit with a newer audience.

Mainframe Animation (a division of Rainmaker Entertainment) was the animation studio for the series until the third series, Where DHX Media of MLP and Teletubbies fame is now the animation studio, while additional animation for online videos/inbetween shorts are produced by Brown Bag Films. Also, Muck is now male in both the US and the UK. The US dub is now done in Canada, and as a result, several notable Canadian voice actors, including Colin Murdock (Bob), Vincent Tong (Muck), Ian James Corlett (Roley and Mr. Bentley) and his daughter, Claire Corlett (Dizzy), Richard Newman (Two-Tonne), and Lee Tockar (Tiny), are involved in the series.

## Settings

The reboot brings back Fixham and a all new location called Spring City. New characters included are Leo, Mayor Maria Madison, The Spring City Rockets, Curtis, Vet Tilly, Dash Lightning, Chef Tattie, Jenny Dobbs and new machines, Two-Tonne, Betsy, Alfred, Phillip, Tiny, Stretch, Tread, Shifter, Ace, Crunch, Thud, Norm, Rocky and Picksy.

## Canonical Problems

This series is obviously not canon to the classic, as many fundamental features of the show, such as the characters' personalities, catchphrases, and designs have changed. Furthermore, the voice actors, which had always been the same from the Original Series to Ready, Steady, Build! in both the original British dub and the American dub, are suddenly different. Some of the characters (e.g. Scoop and Wendy) seem to be younger than their classic counterparts.

Travis, Bird, Scruffty, Scrambler, Spud, Scratch, Gripper, Grabber, Tumbler, and some others that appeared from the Original Series, Ready, Steady, Build!, nor Project: Build It do not appear in this reboot, further showing that it is non-canon to the original series. The series is set in a big city called Spring City rather than the traditional small village like Bobsville as an example.

However, Fixham from the Ready, Steady, Build! series is still featured. In the app, Build City, the classic series theme tune is played on instrumental. Farmer Pickles returns in the third series episode, Barn Building Bedlam, he was the only character from the original series to come back after Bob, Wendy, Pilchard, and the original team first appeared in the reboot.

## Series Overview

*Main Article: List of Reboot Series episodes*

## Trivia

* The series has been subjected to multiple amounts of criticism from fans and television critics (mostly for the fact the simple designs were replaced with 'High Tech' and 'crude' designs). Some examples include these: humans gain eyebrows, have eye colours (Bob and Leo have brown eyes and Wendy has green eyes) and have five fingers on each hand instead of four.
	+ The reboot is also notorious for it's infamous personality changes of each character (mainly the construction vehicles in this case).
	+ In the Original Series, most episodes start at Bob's Yard, but in the reboot, this does not happen.
* The first series released in the UK to not feature Neil Morrissey, Rob Rackstraw and Kate Harbour part of the original UK voice cast.
* While the original series creator, Keith Chapman (who also created Nickelodeon's "PAW Patrol" not only the original series) hasn't at all expressed any dislike to the reboot, he has admitted that the then newly-announced revamp of the show was a big risk. Chapman has even acknowledged that making changes to a popular series could be controversial, and had experienced this himself as a viewer.
* Despite the reboot not being canon to the original series, episodes from the reboot are being numbered with episodes from the original.
* The art style of the vehicles in this reboot may have been inspired by the art style of the vehicles from Jim Henson's Construction Site.
* In 2018, shortly after all the third series episodes aired in the UK, Channel 5 lost the rights to the show, but reruns are still shown on weekends on Channel 5.
* Some voice actors from the Thomas & Friends series have also voice acted on the reboot.
* Rob Rackstraw is the only voice actor to voice characters in both the classic and reboot *Bob the Builder* series.

## Cast

**UK**

* Lee Ingleby as Bob
* Joanne Froggatt as Wendy
* Blake Harrison as Scoop
* Steven Kynman as Lofty and Dash Lightning
* Terry Mynott as Two-Tonne and Tiny
* Sam Swann as Stretch
* Rasmus Hardiker as Rocky
* Paul Panting as Muck
* Jacob Scipio as Leo
* Marcel McCalla as Roley
* Iain Lauchlan as Chef Tattie
* Danny John Jules as Curtis
* Sarah Hadland as Dizzy
* Teresa Gallagher as Picksy
* Ben Miles as Ace
* Dustin Demri Burns as Tread, Alfred and Thud
* Lucy Montgomery as Mayor Maria Madison, Jenny Dobbs and Shifter
* Nick Mercer as Mr. Bentley and Farmer Pickles

**US**

* Colin Murdock as Bob
* Joanne Froggatt as Wendy
* Blake Harrison as Scoop
* Vincent Tong as Muck
* Claire Corlett as Dizzy
* Ian James Corlett as Roley and Mr. Bernard Bentley
* Richard Ian Cox as Lofty
* Richard Newman as Two-Tonne
* Lee Tockar as Tiny
* Dan Bacon as Leo
* Iain Lauchlan as Chef Tattie
* Danny John Jules as Curtis
* Nicole Oliver as Mayor Maria Madison
* Steve Cannon as Philip
* Ryan Beil as Tread
* Peter New as Stretch
* Sam Vincent as Shifter
* Lucy Montgomery as Jenny Dobbs
* Brian Drummond as Ace
* Brian Dobson as Thud

## See Also

* Bob the Builder: Mega Machines The Movie (special)

## References

* http://www.licensing.biz/news/read/hit-entertainment-reveals-new-look-and-new-voice-cast-for-bob-the-builder/040952
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R64mlh3bDlM