Animalia (TV series)
Animalia is an animated children's television series based on the 1986 picture book of the same name by illustrator Graeme Base. The series premiered on Network Ten in Australia on November 11, 2007, airing two seasons before ending on November 7, 2008. Plot. "Animalia" tells the story of two human children, Alex and his friend Zoe, who stumble into the magical library which transports them to the animal-inhabited world of Animalia. Strange events have undermined the Animalian civilization, and Alex and Zoe join forces with their new friends G'Bubu the gorilla and Iggy the iguana  to save Animalia from evil and comical villains. Characters. Animalians. Note: In a nod to the book, the names of all the Animalians begin with the first letter of their species name. Corespore types. There have been many different types of Corespores throughout the series, each causing a wide variety of adverse effects on Animalia and its inhabitants when they blast off from the Core. Production. The series is computer-animated, and 40 half-hour episodes were produced by Animalia Productions, based at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland, and Australian visual effects companies Photon VFX, and Iloura Digital Pictures. Development . The series was first conceived in 1999 when Australian producer Ewan Burnett met with Base, and obtained the rights to an adaptation of the best-selling book. In early 2002, Burnett finalised the funding arrangements with Australian and international broadcast partners and investors, but the project was delayed when the British government revised the United Kingdom's taxation laws so that projects claiming special tax status had to be delivered in the financial year they were claimed. After three years of re-financing, "Animalia" began production in 2005. The book on which the series was based is a picture book  with each spread depicting an elaborate illustration in which every animal and object begins with a particular letter of the alphabet. As there was no coherent narrative or central characters, these were developed with the concept of a fantasy world where animals of all kinds intermingled and interacted becoming the central theme. As the series was to be broadcast internationally, the alphabetical theme central to the book was dropped, as it was based on the English language alphabet and would lose its meaning if the program were dubbed into other languages. Episodes. Two seasons, consisting of 20 episodes, have been  made, and the first season was first broadcast in Australia on November 11, 2007, in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2007, and in the United States on PBS Kids Go! on January 5, 2008. Broadcast. The series began running in Australia on Network Ten at noon on Sundays beginning on November 11, 2007, and also on Nickelodeon since May 2008. In the United Kingdom it aired on CBBC on BBC One beginning on November 19, 2007. The series also aired in the United States on PBS Kids Go! beginning on January 5, 2008. As of November 3, 2008, the  show is also running on NRK in Norway. In Latinoamerica, the series began running on Animal Planet and later in Venezuela on Tves. In India, the show is broadcast on Cartoon Network India. The other broadcast partners and investors in the series have not yet announced their broadcast schedules. The international networks involved in the production are: the BBC in the United Kingdom and CBC in Canada. The series will also be broadcast by SABC 2 in South Africa, Al Jazeera and in Israel. Reception. Critical response. A "New York Times" reviewer commented that the phrase based on the book  by' may never have been stretched so far" in the creation of this TV series, while characterizing it as "weird" and "intermittently interesting." Awards. In 2008 "Animalia" was nominated for BAFTA Children's Kids Vote Award. In 2009, composer Christopher Elves won a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for his work on "Animalia"'s musical score. APRA-AGSC Awards. The annual Screen Music Awards are presented by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). Other merchandise. In 2008, BBC Children's Books and the Penguin Group published four books by Mandy  Archer based on the series: the "Animalia Colouring Book", the "Animalia Sticker Activity Book", plus two storybooks, "Animalia: Hello, we must be going" and "Animalia: Goodbye, we must be staying" which were based upon the first and second episodes of the same name and adapted from the scripts by Tom Ruegger. All four books have text and design by Children's Character Books and all but the colouring book are heavily illustrated with colour screenshots from the series.