Intergalactic Kitchen was a CBBC

CBBC

CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

 television series, based on the novel The Intergalactic Kitchen

The Intergalactic Kitchen

The Intergalactic Kitchen is a 2001 book by Frank Rogers. The book was released on October 4, 2001, which would soon lead to the sequel. The book, part of the Sci-Fi genre, is centered around a kitchen which can start intergalactic travel...

by Frank Rogers

Frank Rogers

Frank Rogers may refer to:*Frank Rogers , American record producer*Frank Lewis Rogers , New Zealand politician*Frank Rogers , fictional character in TV soap Brookside...

. It ran from January to April 2004.

The show had a distinct reality to it, with the normal themes (romance

Romance film

Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

, adventures).

The plot

The show is about the Bird children (Robin, Snoo and Jay), their mother and Fleur, a rival from Snoo and Jay's school. They are about to go camping, when Mrs. Bird accidentally activates a force field, and are shot off into outer space

Outer space

Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....

. They attempt to try to get back to earth, when a family of four aliens

Extraterrestrial life in popular culture

In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...

 arrive in the Kitchen. Then everything goes wrong, when Mrs. Bird accidentally climbs into the alien's spaceship, and Mr. and Mrs. Krryptyx accidentally activate the engines, thus separating Mrs. Bird's children and Mr. and Mrs. Krryptyx's children. This has, both the kids and the adults, on a series of mad adventures.

Cast

Role	Actor
Robin Bird	Lloyd Balie
Snoo Bird	Linzi Campbell
Jay Bird	Luke Mackle
Fleur Mason	Emma Ballantine
Krrk Krryptyx	Joshua Manning
Kirstie Krryptyx	Helen Mcalpine
Mrs. Emily Bird	Tamara Kennedy
Mr. Krryptyx	Mark McDonnel
Mrs. Krryptyx	Julie Coombe
Cheese Mite	Damian Farrell
Cheese Mite	Colin Purves
Dave	Stephen McCole
Pintoid	Callum Cuthbertson
WGA Leader	Mark Robertson

Crew

>

Role	Name
Directors	Martin Burt
	Shiona McCubbin
	David Cairns
Writers	Frank Rodgers
	Moray Hunter Moray Hunter Moray Hunter is a Scottish comedian, writer and performer. He is perhaps most famous for his roles in the Channel 4 sketch show, Absolutely. Alongside Jack Docherty he played one half of the eccentric double-act, Don and George, in Absolutely and later in the spin-off series, Mr. Don and Mr. George...
	Mark Robertson
	Robyn Charteris
	Rhiannon Tise
	David Cairns
Director of Photography	Scott Ward
Camera Operator	Stephen Mochrie
Production Design	John Gorman
Costume Design	Connie Fairbairn
Makeup Design	Jacqui Mallett
Art Director	Adam Squires
Assistant Art Director	David Turbitt
Props/Standby	Paul Macnamara
Assistant Costume	Hannah Goldinger
Script continuity	Sarah Gill
Sound recordist	David Quinn
Production manager	Gillian Irvine
Executive Producer	Simon Parsons
Series Producer	Nigel R. Smith

Series One

Episode	Title	Summary
1	Blast Off	A family of aliens Extraterrestrial life in popular culture In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...  arriving on Earth for a holiday inadvertently cause the Bird family and their kitchen Kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...  to blast away from their house and speed off away from our solar system Solar System The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun... . Intent on returning the kitchen and its occupants to Earth, the aliens give chase. Something goes wrong, and human and alien children are stranded together in the kitchen as it hurtles away from the spaceship and into a black hole Black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that... ....
2	Brain Drain	The human and alien children's attempts to survive alone in space are not helped by discovering that they're allergic to each other, and by the Earth kids suspecting that the aliens want to remove the brain of Robin Cannibalism Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy... , the youngest and brightest kitchenaut.
3	It's a Mall World	The kitchenauts drift past a Shopping Shopping Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with the intent to purchase at that time. Shopping is an activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one....  Planet and Fleur sneakily indulges in some retail therapy. Everything goes pear-shaped when her credit card is refused and the shopping planet announces that it will repossess the kitchen to cover her debt. The title is a reference to the Disneyland attraction "it's a small world".
4	Rebel Appliance	The kitchen is invaded by a race of hyper-intelligent household appliances Major appliance A major appliance, or domestic appliance, is usually defined as a large machine which accomplishes some routine housekeeping task, which includes purposes such as cooking, or food preservation, whether in a household, institutional, commercial or industrial setting...  intent on making the kitchenauts into their servants. The title is a reference to the Rebel Alliance Rebel Alliance The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar faction of the fictional universe of Star Wars....  in the first three Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year... films: A New Hope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the... , The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan... and Return of the Jedi Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology... .
5	Useless	The kitchen passes by a Rubbish Waste Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...  Planet which assesses many of the kitchenauts favourite objects as useless and plans to remove them for recycling Recycling Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...  - including Jay!
6	The Other Mother	Mrs. Bird unexpectedly arrives in the kitchen, having miraculously crossed four hundred million light years of interstellar space. Or has she? The kitchenauts begin to suspect that their mother just might not be what she appears to be.
7	Turning Point, Part One: The Diceman Cometh	Pintoid, a game playing alien, tricks the kitchenauts into playing a bizarre game of snakes, ladders Snakes and ladders Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...  and forfeits. The winner will be able to return to Earth - but the losers face an eternity of playing games on Pintoid's home planet, as well as being transformed into dice Dice A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers... . The title is a reference to the 1939 Eugene O'Neill Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...  play The Iceman Cometh The Iceman Cometh The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-... .
8	Turning Point, Part Two: The Umpire Strikes Back	Pintoid returns to the kitchen to claim his forfeit, encountering unexpected resistance as the kitchenauts fight back. The title is a reference to the second Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back. This is the second episode which title parodies Star Wars, the first one being "Repel Appliance".
9	Virtual Mum	Realising that the Robin is missing his mother, Krrk creates a computer Computer A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...  simulation Simulation Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....  based on everything he's overheard the human kitchenauts say about mothers.
10	Emotion Sickness	Snoo and Fleur go all out to win the affections of an unemotional Krrk, with Jay attempting to stop them! The title parodies the condition Motion Sickness Motion Sickness Motion Sickness: Live Recordings is a live album by Bright Eyes. Documenting the I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning tours from the first half of 2005, Motion Sickness is a compilation of live tracks, including covers of Feist and Elliott Smith... .
11	Take me to your Larder	An alien gourmet Gourmet Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...  invades the kitchen, intent on savouring the rare delicacy of human brains. And when Snoo tries to fix everyone's brains, everyone winds up swapping bodies! The title parodies the phrase "Take me to your Leader", which is commonly associated with alien films. At one point, Snoo and Kirstie share Kirk's body, like what happened in the 1989 film Identity Crisis Identity Crisis (film) Identity Crisis is a 1989 comedy film directed by Melvin Van Peebles. Written by Mario Van Peebles, the film is about a rapper who winds up sharing his body with the soul of a dead fashion designer, switching between personalities every time he is struck on the head... and the 1984 film All of Me.
12	Baby on Board	Fleur becomes surrogate parent to an alien slime baby.
13	Space Cowboy	The kitchenauts engage the services of Dave, a decidedly dodgy double glazer Confidence trick A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,... . This is currently the last episode of the series Series finale A series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series... . The title is a reference to the opening line of the Steve Miller Band Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and... 's 1974 song "The Joker The Joker (song) "The Joker" is a song by the Steve Miller Band from their 1973 album The Joker. The song is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the neologism "pompatus". The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974. It draws heavy influence from the Allen Toussaint's song Soul Sister featured... ".

Trivia

The role of Mr Krryptyx was originally filled by Gavin Mitchell

Gavin Mitchell (actor)

Gavin Mitchell is a Scottish actor and comedian.He is best known as Boaby the Barman in Scottish sitcom Still Game. He previously played the character of Winston in the stage show Still Game...

, who filmed one day on set before leaving the production, whereupon Mark McDonnell was drafted in to replace him. McDonnell and Mitchell had previously worked with the show's producer on a highly successful short film, Cry For Bobo. Mitchell and McDonnell had also worked together on the series "Revolver" and "Velvet Soup".

This series was filmed in the rebuilt Maryhill Studio complex in Glasgow which had been used to film many of the Comedy Unit productions before it burned down on 22 April 2001. Since rebuilding, the studio has been used to house the sets for "Balamory" and other productions.