Zoboomafoo
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| Zoboomafoo | |
|---|---|
| Format | Childrens |
| Starring | Chris Kratt Martin Kratt |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Leo Eaton Chris Kratt Martin Kratt |
| Running time | 29 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | PBS |
| Original run | January 25, 1999 – April 22, 2001 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Zoboomafoo is an educational PBS Kids television program designed to introduce preschoolers to the animal world. It aired from 1999 to 2001 and is still shown today in syndication. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin Kratt), it features a talking Coquerel's Sifaka, a type of lemur (appropriately named Zoboomafoo, or Zoboo for short) and a collection of repeat animal guests. Every episode begins with the Kratt brothers in "Animal Junction", a peculiar place in which the rules of nature change and wild animals come to visit and play.
Upon their arrival at Animal Junction, the Kratt brothers lean out the window and summon Zoboomafoo, who is shown in a live-action segment as an actual lemur leaping across a field to reach them. When the lemur reaches Animal Junction, the Kratt brothers offer him a snack--generally some lemur-appropriate food like garbanzo beans or mango slices--whereupon the "real" lemur spins around on a turntable and becomes a talking lemur puppet. This change enables Zoboomafoo to lead into the main segment of the episode, which he begins by describing the "mangatsika" (a Malagasy word meaning "amazing") animal that he saw as he travelled to Animal Junction. As he describes the animal, a song is played wondering "Who Could It Be?", while a cartoon shows the characteristics of the "mystery animal". At the end of the song, Chris and Martin attempt to guess the animal Zoboomafoo has described, and the mystery is solved when the animal or animals arrive at Animal Junction. Each episode has a theme--for example, baby animals, frightening animals, or the importance of play--and the arrival of the "mystery animal" leads the Kratts and Zoboo into a conversation about various aspects of the theme.
Though mostly live-action, Zoboomafoo makes occasional claymation forays into the world of Zobooland, a magical place where Zoboo and his animal friends tell brief stories related to the episode at hand. Chris and Martin also leave Animal Junction during each episode to better demonstrate the theme of the day, traveling to exotic places like India or Africa to visit the creatures there. Running gags of the show include the Kratt brothers falling in a swimming pool or a mud puddle. The most prominent of these recurring jokes, the "closet" gag, involves a crowded closet which the brothers open to gather needed items for an exploration. As the Zoboomafoo puppet sings a song about the brothers' preparations for "going on a trip", the brothers open the door and an avalanche of outdoor items and clothing fall on them, knocking them over.
Another segment of the show features a group of children known as the "Animal Helpers", who send messages to the Kratt brothers at Animal Junction via a series of birds--a barn owl, a vulture, a duck, and several others. The letters lead into short stories illustrating the Animal Helpers' interactions with the animals in their environment, performing small tasks such as placing a baby bird back in its nest, or leading a calf back to a mother cow.
Before the credits of each episode, the Kratt brothers mention animal facts that lead Zoboo to a joke. Like, "Knock-Knock. Who's there? Panther. Panther Who? Panther no pants, I'm going swimming."
Although production of the show ended in 2001, PBS Kids Sprout continues to air reruns. In 2003 the Kratt Brothers committed to a new show, Be the Creature, on the National Geographic Channel.
[edit] See also
[edit] Funding
- Danimals Yogurt
[edit] External links
pt:Zoboomafoo
