The Jellabies is a television animation series that aired on the Australian television network ABC Kids

ABC Kids (Australia)

ABC Television broadcasts the greatest amount of children's content than any other network in Australia.Prior to early 2009, there was a brand called ABC Kids which was separate from regular ABC TV and contained all children's programming on the ABC...

. It was also shown in Germany, USA (Fox), The Netherlands (Kindernet

Kindernet

Kindernet was the first commercial television station in The Netherlands. It started on 1 March 1988. It broadcast programmes, most of them were cartoons. Their final broadcasting was on 31 December 2004...

), UK and many other territories. Its target audience is children in the age of 2–6 years old. The program is created using computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

. The show is narrated by Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall

Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...

. The Jellabies are jelly made people that live in the Jolly Jelly World, (made of jelly) which is the magical land at the end of the rainbow, where their main job is to make rainbows. (for which they have a machine called the Jellyscope, a computer / teleporter / rainbow generator which is constantly monitoring weather conditions around the world) Although each Jellabie has its own vehicle to drive around in, their main use of travelling long distances around Jolly Jelly World is on the "Jelly train", a train that only consists of a cab (no actual locomotive) and one passenger car. The show debuted in 1998 and ended in 2003.

For children the voice-over explains a lot of things from everyday life, either the objects, (like what is a trampoline meant for) as well as basic culture, (like what do you give as a birthday present).

Jellabies is also known as Jellikins in parts of the world. This version is exactly the same as the jellabies in every way except the characters heads were changed to look like bears. Duffy the dragon remained the same. It aired on GMTV

GMTV

GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...

 but has not been aired since the end of 1999.

History

Brothers Jonny and Mikel Lewis of Malvern, UK designed and created the world using 3D Studio Max software. It was loosely based on Jelly Babies sweets. Originating from humble beginnings in a dusty basement in Malvern and made on a home PC, it was signed up by a small editing house, Optical Image nr Birmingham, UK, commissioned by GMTV and then in many other countries around the world. It was the first British fully 3D computer animated series to make it on to television.

With Optical Image sealing sponsorship from a confectionary company, Jonny Lewis directed a group of animators to make the series, with Mikel Lewis focusing on design. Other animators who made considerable input were Meena Kamurai Pai, Andrew Lindsay, Richard, Andy Day, Ian Friend, Harjit Birdi, making each episode between them in a matter of days to meet a tight schedule. Editing was done by Ralph Tittley (also a Director), Paul Perrins and Jason Bills.
During the production of the many episodes, Jonny Lewis (the original designer/director of animation) left due to conflicting aims between him and the management.
Notably, the company finished the production but did not then go on to successfully produce another show that made it to tv, in spite of several more attempts.

Characters

Each of the 6 jellabies represent the colours of the rainbow. Strum (aged 8), who lives in a helicopter, is purple, and is the musical Jellaby that plays the saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

; Bouncey (aged 3), who lives in a bumper car, is yellow, Denny (aged 5), who lives in a boat on the jelly-lake, is blue, Pepper (aged 9), who lives in a tree house, is red, the twin

Twin

A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...

s Amber (aged 6) and Coral (aged 6) (which they are orange & pink respectively) who live in an air balloon, and finally Duffy the green Dragon

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

, the only non-Jellaby character.

Season 1

1. Caterpillar

2. Circus

3. Pepper's Den

4. Hide and Seek

5. Apple

6. Seeds

7. Burst Balloon

8. Snow

9. Music

10. Drum

11. Drumsticks

12. The Jolly Jelly World Fair

13. Waiting

14. Birthday

15. Echoes

16. Sky

17. Egg

18. Monster

19. Sheep

20. Train Trouble

21. Balloon

22. Jack in the Box

23. Lost Voice

24. Sneezes

25. Invisible

26. Runaway Train

27. Rescue

28. Seal

29. Super Jelly

30. Bridge

31. Race

32. Jellybeard

33. Shadow

34. Sun

35. Jelly Day

36. Animals

37. Jelly Lake

38. Jellyphone

39. Strum's Concert

40. Shipwreck

41. Cave In!

42. Bouncy Ball

43. Camping

44. Tobbogan

45. Jelly Dance

46. Fancy Dress

47. Obstacles

48. Football

49. Sounds

50. Caves

51. House

52. Twins

53. Night

54. Poor Denny

55. Bouncing

56. Cloud

57. Butterfly

58. Parrot

59. Spring

60. Magic

61. Where's Pepper?

62. Hot

63. Robot

64. Wheels

65. Chums

66. Baa!

67. Found

68. Autumn

69. Nature

70. Zebra

71. BIG

72. Rubbish

73. Silly Sax

74. Small

75. High

76. Tower

77. Footprints

78. Yuk

79. Jelly Disco

80. Mountain

81. Party

82. Christmas

83. Paint

Season 2

1. Safari

2. Beach

3. Rainy Day

4. Spider Webs

5. Flying

6. Castle

7. Jellyvision

8. Dinosaurs

9. The Joly Jelly Band

10. Jungle

11. Kangaroo

12. Coral's Pet