Bubble Guppies (2006)

***Bubble Guppies*** is an original 2006 American CGI animated television pilot produced by Guru Studio and Nick Digital.

## History

There is a television pilot for *Bubble Guppies* that was seen on the Alias Maya showreel at the SIGGRAPH convention. The television pilot was being produced at Guru Studio and Nick Digital in September 20, 2006. In January 24, 2007, a complete episode, "Happy Clam Day", was finished and was ready to be produced. The characters had major differences and some were voiced by different voice actors. In October 21, 2007, Guru and Nickelodeon said to air the show for their 2007-2008 season. But in June 29, 2008, only 10 episodes were produced. In November 22, 2008, Viacom fired approximately 720 staff members -- basically like the whole studio of Guru and Nick. After so many predicaments, the show gave up on production and Wild Brain heard about it. Wild Brain decided to make adjustments to the show. Team Umizoomi was in a competition with them but both series got picked up. In December 23, 2010, the series had 20 episodes ready to launch and was picked up by Nickelodeon. The show is produced using Autodesk Maya 3D animation software. The show made its debut on January 24, 2011.

## Characters

* **Molly**

Species: Mermaid
Hair color: Magenta
Eye color: Brown
Swimsuit color: Capri and Turquoise blue
* **Gil**

Species: Merman
Hair color: Capri
Eye color: Blue
Swimsuit color: Irish green and Spring green
* **Goby**

Species: Merman
Hair color: Indigo
Eye color: Brown
Swimsuit color: Capri and Violet
* **Deema**

Species: Mermaid
Hair color: Sunshine yellow
Eye color: Blue
Swimsuit color: Hot pink and Light hot pink
* **Oona**

Species: Mermaid
Hair color: Violet
Eye color: Brown
Swimsuit color: Red-violet and Magenta
* **Nonny**

Species: Merman
Hair color: Tangerine
Eye color: Green
Swimsuit color: Amber and Safety orange
* **Bubble Puppy**

Species: Dog
Body color: White and Amber
* **Mr. Grouper**

Species: Fish
Body color: Safety orange and Amber
* **Little Fish**

Species: Fish
Body color: Turquoise blue and Spring green
## Voice Cast

* Tajja Isen as Molly

* Nicholas Castell as Gil

* Zachary Bloch as Goby

* Rita Moreno as Deema

* Tara Strong as Oona

* David Medinhall as Nonny

* Cory Doran as Mr. Grouper

* Debi Derryberry as Little Fish

## Gallery

Goby, Deema, Oona, Nonny, and Mr. GrouperMolly, Gil, Goby, Deema, Oona, and NonnyThe Whole Cast
## Trivia

* The CGI animation used by Alias Maya is simple but very cute and adorable, light-hearted and relaxed, and almost flawless, for 2006 standards, to look like a Nintendo GameCube video game.

* The six Guppies (Molly, Gil, Oona, Deema, Nonny, and Goby) are all cute, diverse, imaginative and likable characters who work off each other well, have multicultural designs and are always eager to learn something. And Mr. Grouper is a gentle and patient teacher.

* Molly and Gil are very welcoming and friendly hosts.

* The "literal school of fish" plot is creative, original, cute and uncommon.

* Beautiful and catchy songs that use a mixture of different genres, mostly pop.

* Very educational, as it helps the viewers learn about colors, music, the solar system, industries and even hospital treatment.

* Outstanding and entertaining sketches that sometimes parody pop culture, like Indiana Jones.

* The talents of Tajja Isen, Nicholas Castell, and Zachary Bloch do not go to waste.

* Cute and great voice acting for the main characters.

* The seascapes successfully defocus backgrounds to emphasize characters and objects.

* Promotes teamwork and imagination.

* Tons of additional voice actors who voiced characters, such as Rita Moreno, Tara Strong, David Medinhall, Cory Doran, and Debi Derryberry.

## Goofs/Errors

* The CGI animation, while nice-looking, also sometimes looks way too much like animation errors and bland graphics, especially in some scenes, here and there.

* Nonny's character mostly consists of being the typical "nerd" cliché.

* Some songs are not that catchy. Notably the theme song, while decently cute, is also lazy and irritating, with the characters repeatedly saying "bubble" and "guppies", and at some point introducing themselves in 2-word sentences.

* Can get formulaic and repetitive at times. Also, the sketch formula is repetitive. They put the intro to the scene first, then a learning moment, then a music video showing curiosity, then lunchtime, then a story (outside sketch), then a song and a dance. However, as of the revival, the episodes started focusing more on the outside sketches.

* Most of the background characters are either crabs, lobsters, or snails, they also use the same models with different outfits or hair to them, which can come off as lazy.