An Animal Year

VHS cover

An Animal Year, referred to as just **Animal Year** on the title card, is the eleventh episode of the second season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry learning about the seasons and how it affects animals. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 24th June 1997.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for An Animal Year.

Henry is looking through his clothes for something and finds a set of sunglasses. When the wind starts blowing strongly, the narrator asks if it is the right weather for sunglasses. When the view zooms out, Henry is sitting on a weathervane before he is blown off and into his closet. The narrator says that Henry should sort out his closet so that he has the right clothes for the different seasons. They then run through the four seasons – winter, spring, summer and autumn or fall. The falling leaves of autumn allow animals to prepare or try to escape from the coming winter. While the length and duration of the seasons can vary around the world, the seasons always come in the same order.

#### First cartoon

* Tiger sees three Rabbits playing and tries to scare them. They find him comical and laugh at him before pelting him with snowballs. Now angry, Tiger roars more loudly and causes an avalanche that buries him into a snowman.

Henry goes outside thinking it is summer, only to find it is winter. Henry slides away on ice and gets trapped in a snowball. Rather than wrapping up warm, Henry decides to go home and sleep through the winter. He shares his bed with a black bear. Henry reminds the narrator to wake him when winter is over, and the narrator tells him to have a nice sleep. Caribou have to make a long migration from the tundra to the forest in order to escape harsh winters, while the beaver stays put in a lodge insulated by the snow.

#### Second cartoon

* Two male Gorillas are standing together and see a female Gorilla approach; one flexes at her and she leaves. Having an idea to remove his rival from consideration, the flexing Gorilla convinces his rival to give her a box of chocolates he has swapped out for bugs. She however likes the bugs, eats them and goes off with the first male Gorilla.

The narrator wakes up Henry, now that spring has arrived. As soon as Henry awakens, the narrator sets him to work with spring cleaning. But no sooner has Henry hung all his washing outside than a spring shower begins. Spring is often a wet time of year, as the winter snows also melt. The caribou have to cross raging torrents as they travel from the forest back to the tundra. Other animals, including frogs, insects and birds, start breeding in the spring. Henry is now reminded to do his Special Report, which is supposed to be about how animals tell the time. Henry says that many animals have an internal clock so they know what time of year it is, but says they did this by first carrying sundials before inventing clocks. They eventually give up on migrating and stay home. The narrator says that while some animals do have an internal alarm clock, which relies on observing changes around them. For Canada geese, this tells them when to migrate south to escape the worsening winter weather.

#### Third cartoon

* Rooster and the Chicks are looking through a holiday brochure when Hen comes in from the rain. Rooster invents an artificial beach inside a case and they all relax on it. One of the Chicks presses the button that makes it go back inside the case and drags all the chickens inside with it.

Henry comes out dressed in full rain gear, but soon finds it is a baking hot summer day. He sheds the gear just before he finds a picnic. Thinking it is unattended, he prepares to dig in only to find the picnic actually belongs to the black bear. Henry says that bears love to share their food and hides in the picnic hamper, only to find that it has packed honey and termite sandwiches. While summer is a time of plenty with lots of food available, it has its problems – it can get too hot and dry, while mosquitoes are a huge nuisance to animals around the world including the caribou in the arctic. Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards for the best season. The bronze medal goes to spring and the silver to winter. The Golden Gecko Award goes to the monsoon season in the tropics, which can bring highly destructive rains but equally provide water for life to thrive.

#### Fourth cartoon

* The bigger Eagle comes in to land and slips on leaves. He orders the smaller Eagle to sweep them up. After the winds blows his first attempt away, the smaller Eagle uses a vacuum cleaner. Just when the bigger Eagle comes in the check, the overstuffed cleaner explodes and covers him with leaves. He locks the smaller Eagle in a cell.

Henry is relaxing in his hammock when summer changes to autumn. The wind picks up and the leaves start to fall again. Henry tries to fly a kite, but flies away. He passes some migrating Canada geese before he falls off the kite and crashes back into his closet again. Autumn is the time when animals start preparing for winter – pikas start assembling their winter haystacks, while the caribou continue their never-ending migration. Henry decides that he is just going to stay inside to avoid the seasons. He has invited many of his animal friends around, but they start hibernating before Henry’s party can begin. Henry wanted his friends to watch a show on TV with him – when the narrator asks what the show is, Henry says that it is Amazing Animals.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Brown bear, *Ursus arctos*
* European robin, *Erithacus rubecula*
* King penguin, *Aptenodytes patagonicus*
* American black bear, *Ursus americanus*
* European rabbit, *Oryctolagus cuniculus*
* Eurasian red squirrel, *Sciurus vulgaris*
* Canada goose, *Branta canadensis*
* West European hedgehog, *Erinaceus europaeus*

### Stock footage

* American red squirrel, *Tamiasciurus hudsonicus*
* Brent goose, *Branta bernicla*
* Canada goose, *Branta canadensis*
* Blue wildebeest, *Connochaetes taurinus*
* Reindeer, *Rangifer tarandus*
* American beaver, *Castor canadensis*
* European brown common frog, *Rana temporaria*
* Bushtit, *Psaltriparus minimus*
* Hazel dormouse, *Muscardinus avellanarius*
* Common chaffinch, *Fringilla coelebs*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Secretary bird, *Sagittarius serpentarius*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Mosquito, Culicidae
* Lar gibbon, *Hylobates lar*
* Proboscis monkey, *Nasalis larvatus*
* Great cormorant, *Phalacrocorax carbo*
* Kilimanjaro white-eye, *Zosterops eurycricotus*
* West European hedgehog, *Erinaceus europaeus*
* Brown bear, *Ursus arctos*
* American pika, *Ochotona princeps*
* Rough-legged buzzard, *Buteo lagopus*

## Credits

* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Writer - Alastair Swinnerton
* Script Editor - Jennifer Lupinacci
* Music - David Poore
* Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer - Kate Beldon
* Graphic Design Assistant - Emma Rigney
* Researchers - Matthew Brennan and Helen Exton
* Production Co-ordinator - Esta Porter
* Post-Production Co-ordinator - Liz Lewin
* Production Secretary - Vivienne Mackay
* Production Team - Steve Cronick, Pauline Davis, Sam Evans and Dominic Weston
* Camera - Graham MacFarlane
* Computer Animation - Ricochet 4 and Daniel Pearson
* Computer Animation Director - Henry Lutman
* Cell Animation - A for Animation
* Cell Animation Director - Mark Taylor
* Sound Editor - Paul Fisher
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Editors
	+ Offline - Vincent Pipe
	+ Graphics - Sue Land
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Special thanks to:
	+ Steven Barnes, Lawrence Breen, Jim Clubb, Pauline Davis, Chris Domaille, Tom Espiner, Gina Fucci, Derrick Gale, Mike Kamei, Anne Morton, Kevin Stinchcombe and Sid Wells

## Home media releases

The VHS for Amazing Animal Year was released in 1997. The cover shows Henry standing in front of a cake with a single candle and wearing a red-and-yellow-striped party hat, and he is accompanied by a reindeer, a monarch butterfly and an arctic tern.

The spine of the VHS has a photograph of a domestic sheep.

**Cartoon Characters**: \* Eagles • Tyrannosaurus • Rattlesnake • Tiger • Squirrel • Lizards • Elephant • Bat • Fish • Camel • Gorilla • Caveman • Mole • Bear • Stickman • Chicks • Hen • Rooster • Owl • Chameleon • Tortoise • Crocodile • Frog and Toad •
• Parrot • Porcupine • Mouse • Whale • Rhinoceros • Beavers • Snail • Rabbit • Dog • Skunk • Spider • Octopus • Vulture • Woodpecker • Flea • Dung Beetle • Butterfly • Gibbon • Fly • Mosquito • Bee • Beetles • Crab • Pigeon • Carnivorous Plant • Lamb

**Voice Actors**: Eric Meyers • Tom Clarke-Hill
**Season One**: Tropical Birds • Animal Disguises • Nighttime Animals • Animal Appetites • Animal Survivors • Animal Senses • Animal Weapons • Animal Builders • Armoured Animals • Mini-Beasts • Animal Babies • Poisonous Animals • Animal Journeys
**Season Two**: Birds of Prey • Desert Animals (Amazing Animals) • Scary Animals • Animal Records • Animal Colors • Animal Mothers • Animal Pets • Seashore Animals • Animal Families • Endangered Animals • **An Animal Year** • Prehistoric Animals • Monkeys and Apes
**Season Three**: Animal Hunters • Animal Talk • Slimy Animals • Rainforest Animals • Animal Acrobats • Underwater Animals • Animal Neighbors • Giant Animals - Creepy Crawly Animals • Farm Animals (Amazing Animals) • Animal Changes • Extinct Animals • Animal Eggs
**Season Four**: Around the World • Polar Animals • Clever Animals • Underground Animals • Animal Helpers • Woodland Animals (Amazing Animals) • Mountain Animals • Backyard Animals • Tiny Animals • Animal Partners • Scaly Animals • River Animals • Animal Flight