Jellabies

***Jellabies*** (also known as ***Jellikins*** or ***The Jellies***) is an Australian CGI animated children's television series that aired on the Australian television network ABC Kids from May 18, 1998 to 2003. It was also shown in Germany, (Super RTL), United States (Fox Family Channel), The Netherlands (Kindernet), France (TF! Jeunesse), and the United Kingdom (GMTV) in the preceding years.

The target audience is only for preschoolers ages 2 to 6.

It was one of the first fully CGI-animated series in the world.

## Format

The program was created using CGI animation. The show was narrated by Rik Mayall. The Jellabies are jelly-made children that live in the Jolly Jelly World, which is the magical land at the end of the rainbow, where their first job is to make rainbows. (for which they have a machine called the Jelliscope, a computer/teleporter/rainbow generator which is constantly monitoring weather conditions around the world) Although each Jellaby has its own vehicle to drive around in, their main use of travelling long distances around Jelly Land is on the "Jelly Train", a train that only consists of a cab (without any actual locomotive) and one passenger car. The show premiered in 1998 and ended in 2003.

Jellabies is also known as *Jellikins* in certain parts of the world, including the United Kingdom. This version is exactly the same as the Jellabies in every way, except the characters' heads were changed to look like gummy bears. However, Duffy the dragon remained the same. This version aired on GMTV in the United Kingdom until 2004.

## History

Jonny Lewis of Malvern, UK designed and created the world using 3D Studio Max animation software. It was loosely based on Jelly Babies candies. Originating from humble beginnings in a dusty basement in Malvern and made on a home PC, it was signed up by a small editing house, Optical Image nr Birmingham, UK, commissioned by GMTV and then in many other countries around the world. It was the first British fully 3D computer animated series to make it on to television.

With Optical Image sealing sponsorship from a confectionery company, Jonny Lewis directed a group of animators to make the series. Other animators who made considerable input were Meena Kamurai Pai, Andrew Lindsay, Richard, Andy Day, Ian Friend, Harjit Birdi, making each episode between them in a matter of days to meet a hard schedule. Editing was done by Ralph Tittley (also a director), Paul Perrins and Jason Bills. During the production of the many episodes, Jonny Lewis (the original designer and director of animation) left due to conflicting aims between him and the management.

Music were written and composed by Vo Fletcher.

## Characters and voice cast

Each of the six Jellabies represent the colors of the rainbow.

### Main

* Narrator (Rik Mayall)
* Strum: Lives at the train station, he is purple, he is the first Jellaby/Jellikin, and is the musical Jellaby/Jellikin who plays the saxophone.
* Bouncey: The second Jellaby/Jellikin who lives in a bumper car, and he is yellow, the same color as lemons and the sun.
* Denny: The third Jellaby/Jellikin who lives in a boat on the Jelly Lake, and he is blue, the same color as the sky and the world's oceans.
* Pepper: The fourth Jellaby/Jellikin who lives in a treehouse and he is red the same color as ripe strawberries and apples.
* Amber and Coral: The last two Jellabies/Jellikins who are orange and pink, respectively. Amber lives in a hot air balloon and Coral lives in a house made out of building blocks and toys that she can use to rebuild her house as she pleases.

## Supporting

* Duffy: The only non-Jellaby character in the entire show, he is a green dragon who lives in the Jelly Caves.

## Episodes

### Season 1 (1998-99)

1. Caterpillar
2. Circus
3. Pepper's Den
4. Hide and Seek
5. Apple
6. Seeds
7. Burst Balloon
8. Snow
9. Music
10. Drum
11. Drumsticks
12. The Jolly Jelly World Fair
13. Waiting

### Season 2 (1999)

1. Birthday
2. Echoes
3. Sky
4. Egg
5. Monster
6. Sheep

### Season 3 (1999-00)

1. Train Trouble
2. Balloon
3. Jack in the Box
4. Lost Voice
5. Sneezes
6. Invisible
7. Runaway Train
8. Rescue
9. Seal
10. Super Jelly
11. Bridge
12. Race
13. Jellybeard

### Season 4 (2000)

1. Shadow
2. Sun
3. Jelly Day
4. Animals
5. Jelly Lake
6. Jellyphone
7. Strum's Concert

### Season 5 (2000-01)

1. Shipwreck
2. Cave In!
3. Bouncy Ball
4. Camping
5. Tobbogan
6. Jelly Dance
7. Fancy Dress
8. Obstacles
9. Football
10. Sounds
11. Caves
12. House
13. Twins

### Season 6 (2001)

1. Night
2. Poor Denny
3. Bouncing
4. Cloud
5. Butterfly
6. Parrot
7. Spring

### Season 7 (2001-02)

1. Baa!
2. Found
3. Autumn
4. Nature
5. Zebra
6. Big
7. Magic
8. Where's Pepper?
9. Hot
10. Robot
11. Wheels
12. Chums

### Season 8 (2002)

1. Rubbish
2. Silly Sax
3. Small
4. High
5. Tower
6. Footprints
7. Yuk

### Season 9 (2002-03)

1. Jelly Disco
2. Mountain
3. Party
4. Christmas
5. Paint
6. Feelings Rhyme

### Season 10 (2003)

1. Safari
2. Beach
3. Rainy Day
4. Spider Webs
5. Flying
6. Castle
7. Jellyvision
8. Dinosaurs
9. The Joly Jelly Band
10. Jungle
11. Kangaroo
12. Coral's Pet
13. Rabbit

## Theme song

The theme song *Jellytastic* written by David Lowe and Vo Fletcher was performed by Rik Mayall (who is also the narrator of the show) and Sherrie Ashton with children from The Wyche C.E. Primary School, Malvern.

## CD release

In 1999, a CD was released that was called *Jellikins: Songs from the TV series* which featured songs performed by Mayall.

## Ride(s)

Since 2000, there has been a Jellikins roller coaster at British theme park, Fantasy Island. Amutec has got the rights to make a Jellikins coin-operated ride featuring Bouncey in his bumper car in 2001.

## International Broadcast

### North America

* United States
	+ Fox Family Channel
* Canada
	+ Treehouse TV

### Australia

* Australia
	+ ABC For Kids

### Asia

* Japan
	+ TV Tokyo
	+ NHK
* South Korea
	+ Seoul Broadcasting System
* Taiwan
	+ EBC Yoyo

### Europe

* United Kingdom
	+ GMTV
* France
	+ Canal+ Jeunesse
	+ TF! Jeunesse
* Germany
	+ Super RTL
* Netherlands
	+ Kindernet
	+ Nickelodeon (Nick Jr.)