Jellabies (also known as Jellikins or The Jellies) is a British children's animated television series that aired on the Australian television network ABC Kids from 18 May 1998 until 2003. It was also shown in Germany, (Super RTL), U.S. (Fox Family Channel, now Freeform), The Netherlands (Kindernet), France (TF! Jeunesse), and the United Kingdom (GMTV). The target audience is for children ages two to six.
Jellabies | |
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Also known as |
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Genre | Children’s |
Written by | Jan Page |
Directed by | Ralph Tittley, Animation: Jonny Lewis (first 15 episodes) |
Voices of | Rik Mayall |
Narrated by | Rik Mayall |
Music by |
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Country of origin |
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Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 97 |
Production | |
Producers |
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Animators |
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Running time | 5 mins |
Production companies |
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Distributor | Just Entertainment |
Release | |
Original network | ABC for Kids (Australia) GMTV (UK) |
Original release | 1998 (1998) – 2003 (2003) |
It was one of the first fully CGI-animated series in the world.
The program was conceived and developed in Worcestershire, UK by Jonny Lewis, a 3d artist/animator and Optical Image Ltd, a small TV/video editing house, using CGI animation. The show was narrated by Rik Mayall.[1] The Jellabies are jelly-made children that live in the Jolly Jelly World, which is the magical land at the end of the rainbow, where their first job is to make rainbows. (for which they have a machine called the Jelliscope, a computer/teleporter/rainbow generator which is constantly monitoring weather conditions around the world) Although each Jellaby has its own vehicle to drive around in, their main use of travelling long distances around Jelly Land is on the "Jelly Train", a train that only consists of a cab (without any actual locomotive) and one passenger car. The show premiered in 1998 and ended in 2003.
Jellabies is also known as Jellikins in certain parts of the world, including the United Kingdom. This version is exactly the same as the Jellabies in every way, except the characters' heads were changed to look like gummy bears. However, Duffy the dragon remained the same. This version aired on GMTV in the United Kingdom until 2004.
Jonny Lewis designed and created the characters and developed the pilot episode with his brother Mikel Lewis, using 3D Studio Max software. It was loosely based on Jelly Babies candies. In the early months, before funding, Jonny Lewis lived in a dusty basement in Malvern so he could afford to develop the show on his home PC. The pilot led to the series being 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.
Optical Image sealed sponsorship from a confectionery company. Other animators who made significant input were Meena Kamurai Pai, Andrew Lindsay, Richard Smart, Andy Day, Ian Friend, Harjit Birdi, making each episode with only five days to complete each one in order to meet the schedule.
Music written and composed by Dave Lowe and Vo Fletcher.
Each of the six Jellabies represent the colours of the rainbow.
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
1. Birthday
2. Echoes
3. Sky
4. Egg
5. Monster
6. Sheep
1. Train Trouble
2. Balloon
3. Jack in the Box
4. Lost Voice
5. Sneezes
6. Invisible
7. Runaway Train
8. Rescue
9. Seal
10. Super Jelly
11. Bridge
12. Race
13. Jellybeard
1. Shadow
2. Sun
3. Jelly Day
4. Animals
5. Jelly Lake
6. Jellyphone
7. Strum's Concert
1. Shipwreck
2. Cave In!
3. Bouncy Ball
4. Camping
5. Tobbogan
6. Jelly Dance
7. Fancy Dress
8. Obstacles
9. Football
10. Sounds
11. Caves
12. House
13. Twins
1. Night
2. Poor Denny
3. Bouncing
4. Cloud
5. Butterfly
6. Parrot
7. Spring
1. Baa!
2. Found
3. Autumn
4. Nature
5. Zebra
6. Big
7. Magic
8. Where's Pepper?
9. Hot
10. Robot
11. Wheels
12. Chums
1. Rubbish
2. Silly Sax
3. Small
4. High
5. Tower
6. Footprints
7. Yuk
1. Jelly Disco
2. Mountain
3. Party
4. Christmas
5. Paint
6. Feelings Rhyme
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
13. Rabbit (Final Episode)
The theme song Jellabies (also known as Jellikins) written by David Lowe and Vo Fletcher was performed by Rik Mayall (who is also the narrator of the show) and Sherrie Ashton with children from The Wyche C.E. Primary School, Malvern.[2]
In 1999, a CD was released that was called Jellikins: Songs from the TV series which featured songs performed by Mayall.
Since 2000, there has been a Jellikins roller coaster at British theme park, Fantasy Island. Amutec has got the rights to make a Jellikins coin-operated ride featuring Bouncey in his bumper car in 2001.