The Shapies

***The Shapies*** is an Australian children's CGI animated musical television series. Produced by Light Knights Productions, it first aired on July 6th, 2002, on the Australian Nine Network and, in the United States, on PBS Kids and Animania. The series originally lasted for 27 episodes, with the Season 2 finale airing on December 30th, 2002.

## Synopsis

The show, which was aimed at kids ages 4-8 years old, following the adventures of the Shapies, a rock band consisting of ten different geometric shapes who have always wanted to be the best band in the whole wide world. They emerge from a toy box into the bedroom of a young 5-year-old boy named Zack.

The show also consists of musical parts for each character, sung by Robert and Meika Robertson out of Island View Recording Studio in Coffs Harbour. Each one lasts over 2 minutes.

The episodes in Seasons 1-2 were 24 minutes without any commercials during the episodes. – MIPCOM 2001

### Season 1

Bob, Paul, Sarah, Rex, Sally, Tammy, Mirror Man and Zack appear in every episode.

Sammy is absent from Episodes 1–2.

Starry is absent from Episodes 1–5.

Connie is absent from Episodes 1–8.

Perry is absent from Episodes 1–12.

### Season 2

Every Shapie makes an appearance in every episode.

This season marks the first appearances of Mr. Boo and Urkel.

## Characters

* Bob Oblong (Grey)

The self-proclaimed leader of the band, he's also known as The King of Cool. His best friend is Paul. He has been shown to be scared of ghosts in the episode "Boo!".

Voiced by Tony Bellette; Louis Chirillo in North America.

* Paul the Ball (Amber)

The silly clown of the band, he laughs a lot and has a ton of energy. His best friend ever is Bob. He gets to "fly" in the episode "Full of Hot Air".

Voiced by Jane U'Brien; Kathleen Barr in North America.

* Tammy Triangle (Kiwi green)

The athletic member of the band. She argues with Sally a lot. She won a computer game in the episode "Virtual Shapies". She was found in the episode "Another World".

Voiced by Jane U'Brien; Tabitha St. Germain in North America.

* Rex the Rectangle (Tan)

The pet of the band. Always a carefree dog and plays the drums.

Voiced by Jane U'Brien; Aidan Drummond in North America.

* Sarah Circle (Violet)

The second smartest of the group. Thinks of others and is brave such as in the episode "Wet World".

Voiced by Joey Moore; Chantal Strand in North America.

* Sally Cylinder (Crimson)

The vain one of the band. Only thinks of her looks and often argues with Tammy, but they repaired their friendship in the episode "Mirror Mirror".

Voiced by Joey Moore; Cathy Weseluck in North America.

* Sammy Square (Turquoise blue)

The smartest of the band. Able to come up with ideas, found in the episode "Talent Quest". He saved the bedroom from goo in the episode "The Day The Goo Came!".

Voiced by Jane U'Brien; Chiara Zanni in North America.

* Starry Star (Sunshine yellow)

The sweet one of the band. She is timid, but is able to overcome it. Found in the episode "The Amazing Maze". She overcame her fear of heights in the episode "Hanging Around".

Voiced by Jane U'Brien; Maryke Hendrikse in North America.

* Perry Pyramid (Cream yellow)

The chilled-out member of the band. He is a gentle giant and the last Shapie to be found. He was found in the episode "X Marks The Spot". He has his first idea in the episode "Mr. Boo to the Rescue".

Voiced by Tony Bellette; Brian Drummond in North America.

* Connie Cone (Magenta)

The youngest member of the band. She is more quiet than the others. Found in the episode "Circus Day". She befriended Urkel in the episode "The Little Green Men".

Voiced by Joey Moore; Britt McKillip in North America.

* Mirror Man

Not a Shapie, but a person who appears on the door after Zack leaves, he is the one that guides The Shapies through their adventures.

Voiced by Tony Bellette; Scott McNeil in North America.

* Mr. Boo

Also not a Shapie, but a person who appears in the second season as the main antagonist.
He is the toy of Zack's cousin, Chad.
His main goal is to get rid of The Shapies, so he can have the bedroom to himself.

As the season progresses, he starts to be more friendly towards The Shapies and everyone else.
In the season finale, "Mr. Boo to the Rescue", he helps The Shapies escape from a box, and earns their friendship before he leaves. However, he stays because Chad gives him to Zack, when he is put in the toy box along with The Shapies, he smiles, thereby he confirms his new-found friendship with The Shapies.

Voiced by Tony Bellette; Ian James Corlett in North America.

* Major Mobile

He is an old toy of the room. He first appears in "Hanging Around", where he believes that the Shapies are his new crew.
In "The Little Green Men", he thinks Urkel the alien is evil.

Voiced by Tony Bellette; Mark Oliver in North America.

* Zack

The owner of The Shapies and future owner of Mr. Boo; he is a kind boy who likes to hang out with his cousin, Chad.

Voiced by George Blackley in Season 1 and Declan Steele in Season 2; Alberto Ghisi in North America.

* Chad

Chad is Zack's cousin and previous owner of Mr. Boo. He only appears in Season 2, where at first, he doesn't think highly of Zack, but as the season progresses, he grows a friendship with him, similar to how Mr. Boo formed a friendship with the Shapies.

At the end of Season 2, his holiday is completed, and he gives Mr. Boo to Zack.

Voiced by Bonnie Fraser; Brittney Wilson in North America.

## Voice Actors

**Original Version**

* **Tony Bellette** – Bob Oblong, Perry Pyramid, Mr. Boo, Major Mobile, Gossip The Clock, TV Head, Toot The Train, T-Rex, Big Bot, Mirror Man
* **Jane U'Brien** – Paul The Ball, Rex The Rectangle, Tammy Triangle, Sammy Square, Starry Star, Dizzy The Top, Uppity, Lauren, Urkel
* **Joey Moore** (aka Bonnie Moore) – Sarah Circle, Sally Cylinder, Connie Cone, Fair Bear, Zack's Mom, Snooty
* **George Blackley** – Zack (Season 1)
* **Declan Steele** – Zack (Season 2)
* **Bonnie Fraser** – Chad

**North American Version**

* **Louis Chirillo** - Bob Oblang
* **Kathleen Barr** - Paul The Ball
* **Tabitha St. Germain** - Tammy Triangle
* **Aidan Drummond** - Rex Rectangle
* **Chantal Strand** - Sarah Circle
* **Cathy Weseluck** - Sally Cylinder
* **Chiara Zanni** - Sammy Square
* **Maryke Hendrikse** - Starry Star
* **Brian Drummond** - Perry Pyramid
* **Britt McKillip** - Connie Cone
* **Scott McNeil** - Mirror Man
* **Ian James Corlett** - Mr. Boo
* **Mark Oliver** - Major Mobile
* **Alberto Ghisi** - Zack
* **Brittney Wilson** - Chad

## Goofs/Errors

* Horrible and creepy CGI animation (even for 2002 standards) where it looks unfinished with the movements being stiff or too robotic, many of the characters take you straight into the Uncanny Valley (especially Paul the Ball himself), and it looks like an old Nintendo 64/PSOne video game. Keep in mind that this came out when the same year as *The World of Happy Planet* and *The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius*, which they looked way better than this.

* The series is a rip-off of the Toy Story series through its core concept of toys coming to life when humans aren't present as well as their owner Zack being a rip-off of Andy Davis in appearance and personality.

* The title characters are all stereotypical and flat:

* Bob Oblong is your typical self-proclaimed leader who possesses an "I'm not scared" attitude.

* Paul the Ball is a standard comic relief who is really unfunny and has a very grating voice as well as a tendency to hyperventilate.

* Tammy Triangle is a tomboy with a take no prisoners demeanor who often acts selfish.

* Sammy Square is the smart guy and ideas person who doesn't do much other than to muster up strategies.

* Sarah Circle is just a female version of Sammy only dealing with friction with the other characters and speaks in technobabble at times

* Starry Star is irritatingly sweet who speaks in an indecipherable accent.

* Sally Cylinder is the vain fame obsessed type who is very prissy in a manner similar to Willie Scott and mostly just argues with Tammy.

* Rex the Rectangle is a dog who is useless other than being the drummer of The Shapies.

* Connie Cone who despite being generally quiet is sickingly cute especially during the times when she does speak.

* Perry Pyramid is the laid-back one who does not do much since he is the last Shapie to be found.

* Mr. Boo is a generic villain who's motivation is to overthrow The Shapies just so he can have Zack's bedroom all to himself. He also stangely resembles the title characters from Butt-Ugly Martians, which is also bad.

* Mirror Man is a clichéd mentor for The Shapies.

* The plots are really unimaginative.

* Atrocious Australian voice acting, ranging from hammy (such as Bob Oblong and Mr. Boo) to downright cringeworthy (such as Paul the Ball and Sally Cylinder).

* Forgettable and pointless songs.

* The theme songs for each member of The Shapies in particular are just there to pad out the runtime where three of them are played in each episode which interrupts the story in the process and having to hear the same songs as the series goes on can be tiresome really fast. The videos themselves constantly repeat footage and many of the song's performers don't sound like the characters such as Bob's song.

## Trivia

* The idea of a band consisting of toy anthropomorphic shapes is interesting and had potential, but executed poorly.

* The Shapies have decent designs.

* It has a creative way of toys coming to life where Mirror Man blows Zack's treasure chest toy box before it sinks into the ocean rug leaving the toys alone.

* The theme song is admittedly catchy, especially the instrumental version.

* The human characters' faces are not shown, especially given that the series is low-budget and that they could come across as more jarring than the toys themselves.

* The North American voice acting is decent.