Jelly Jamm!

Every so often, one tends to find some fancy little oddities without even trying - and here be one of them.

Jelly Jamm is a pre-school series that's still fairly new on the block, having been released in 2011. Created in Spain for Cartoonita, it follows the adventures of a colourful band of friends who live in the musical planet of Jammbo. Together, Bello, Mina, Goomo, Rita and Ongo learn about friendship and having fun while bobbing, jiving and grooving along to their musical world. Featuring fantastic voice-work by Maria Darling, Emma Weaver, Lizzie Waterworth-Santo, Isabella Blake Thomas, Beth Chalmers and Adam Longworth.

The series is also making waves on Channel 5's Milkshake block here in the UK, and having watched a few episodes already I can see why it's so appealing. Despite being created for a younger audience, clearly 737Shaker and Vodka Capital have been wise not to talk down to their viewers with the same humdrum nature one would expect to find in a pre-school show. The storylines are simple but maintain plenty of action to keep attention.

And I do mean that - the animation is quirky but cute - and at times crazy, even! No surprise considering it's the same folks who blessed us with Pocoyo, also produced en España.

ENGLISH PLAYLIST

 Don't forget to check out their Official Website!

When Animation Goes AWOL - Roobarb - Season 2 (2005)

Another blog post about plans that were stopped before they could begin or releases that never came to fruition:

ROOBARB - SEASON 2 (2005)

 Roobarb was the creation of Grange Calveley, and the outline of the first series was as simple - yet brilliant - as the animation.

1974 saw the adventures of Roobarb, a green dog who was a mad as a box of hazelnuts, always daydreaming or inventing some daft new creation while also being mocked / assisted by the chattering birds and Custard, the fat pink cat next door. Narrated by the ever-charming Richard Briers (The Good Life, Ever Decreasing Circles, Skylark, Bob the Builder) and animated by Bob Godfrey (with his trusty marker pens that gave the series its original "wobbly" style), it was the first fully animated television series to be made in the UK, and has, as with many British Shows, gained a great cult following since.

So it came to pass that, over 30 years later, a brand new series, Roobarb and Custard Too, was produced by Irish company Monster Animation & Design (of Fluffy Gardens fame). And it has been one of those rare chances when a revival of a classic kids series has succeeded!!!

With Grange Calveley to write 40 further stories to accompany the 30 before, Richard Briers returning as the joyful storyteller, and the animation - though animated with Flash on the computer - retaining its trademark "wobbly" look with simplistic backgrounds, very little else had been changed - including its unforgettable theme song.
Some minor characters were tweaked and some new ones added, but above everything else Series 2 has maintained much of what made Series 1 so memorable in the first place :D

 And with Series 1 already on DVD, Series 2 was soon to follow suit - and then comes the mystery of this wonderful, successful revival...

Rather than released as a massive box set as with the likes of Shaun the Sheep, Series 2 was planned as a series of 4 separate DVDs. And no matter how much I have asked or looked, only Volumes 1 and 2 have been made available...

So what has happened to Volumes 3 and 4??

We've seen a series of books based on the new episodes published by Mogzilla, and while Series 2 has continued to be rerun on Channel 5's Milkshake block, it's a mystery why the rest of it has yet to make it to DVD. Perhaps they just got mislaid or forgotten somehow...who knows...?

LINKS:
The Official Roobarb & Custard website!
Toonhound's Roobarb Page
Grange Calveley's home page!