Jellabies (partially found Australian children's animated TV series; 1998-2003)

This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its lack of references.

The series's logo.

Status: Partially Found

Jellabies is an Australian TV series that was produced by Winchester Entertainment. It originally aired on ABC Kids in Australia. It then aired on Fox Family Channel in the United States, Treehouse TV in Canada, Kindernet in The Netherlands, and GMTV in the UK, where it went under the name Jellikins. The series ran from 1999-2003.

Overview

The animation for the series was done by Johnny and Mikel Lewis using 3D Studio Max. It features six rounded, rubbery, brightly colored little beings named Pepper (red, carries a backpack full of tools), Bouncy (yellow, drives a bumper car), Strum (purple, musician), Denny (blue, lives on a boat), Amber (orange, rides a hot-air balloon), and her twin Coral (pink, lives in a Meccano-set-style playhouse). They all live in the Jolly Jelly World, where they are apparently in charge of creating rainbows for the entire Earth using a special machine called the Jelliscope. This machine also functions as a sort of semi-sentient replicator, to provide them with toys and other accessories on request. Their occasionally-seen friend Duffy the Dragon lives in a remote cave and is the only character in the show who isn't a Jellabie.

The series focused on the characters having different small everyday experiences in their downtime from rainbow creation, such as learning to plant seeds, giving gifts, and putting on a circus. As the Jellabies do not speak intelligibly (save for exclamations like "Woo-hoo!") British comedy legend Rik Mayall provides interactive narration for most English-language versions, serving as a bridge between the characters and the viewer. The exception is the American dub, which (rather awkwardly) gives the Jellabies themselves speaking voices.

Missing Episodes

All 95 episodes of the Australian original appear to have been taken down from YouTube some years ago and have not resurfaced except in brief promo clips or fan-made dubs. Attempts to upload various episodes in other languages have likewise been removed due to copyright claims. The issue seems to be with the original series's artwork; most of the UK Jellikins episodes exist online, apparently because these broadcasts changed the design of the characters considerably, making them explicitly teddy bear-like in appearance.

The only original Jellabies episode remaining online is in Dutch. A promo in Korean plus the opening sequence in German has also been preserved. More recently a 12-minute promotional video for the series (under the name "Jellies") has also surfaced.