Science Cartoon (partially found French live-action/animated documentary series; 1991)
Logo of the series.
Status: Partially Found
Science Cartoon was a 1991 French live-action/animated educational series. It featured three cartoon anthropomorphic animals presenting scientific topics that were followed by live-action footage with their voiceover narration.
Originally created by Jacques Peyrache, it was directed by Marceau Ginesy. It originally consisted of 52 episodes of 13 minutes each and was produced by FR3 (now France 3) and Pixibox.
Science Cartoon's earliest known TV airing was in June 1991, in the SamDynamite children's program block (that debuted in 1989 and ended in 1991).
Premise
The three main characters were Théodor, a jolly male anthropomorphic tiger, Charly a mischievous male anthropomorphic monkey and Félicie, a dignified female anthropomorphic frog. They were both sitting at a desk in front of a space background. Each would present a section of the documentary of the day, their face still visible for a few seconds on the top of the screen and then fading off.
The animation was very limited. The three characters were always sitting at their desk, only slightly tilting or turning their heads and only Charly would move his hand holding a pen.
Théodor the tiger was voiced by Benoît Allemane (who notably also does the French voice dub of Frosties cereal mascot Tony the Tiger, giving a similar performance). He would start any episode with "Salut à vous, les dingos de l'info. Dans la jungle sauvage et partout dans le monde, l'heure de Science Cartoon a sonné!" ("Hi y'all, knowledge nuts. In the wild jungle and everywhere in the world, it is Science Cartoon time!") and conclude with "A bientôt sur vos écrans magiques, à luminance électronique, pour un nouveau numéro de Science Cartoon. L'émission toujours à l’affût, dans la jungle de l'info scientifique" ("See you soon on your magic electronic shiny screens, for another episode of Science Cartoon, the show that’s always on the hunt in the jugnle of scientific knowledge!").
Availability
As of 2024, the only available footage is a couple of clips from a Portuguese dub, which was retitled Cartaz da Ciência.
A VHS tape containing 4 episodes is registered in the French National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), but the media can only be viewed on location.