TheGrowlingTiger
Member
So this is the thread and I am glad to show us what’s our favorite kids animal TV show. My favorite kids animal TV show is Wild Kratts, because it shows animal conversation and it is the best TV show for that. What about you?
What’s your favorite kids animal TV show?
- Thread starter TheGrowlingTiger
- Start date
Wisp O' Mist
Well-Known Member
If we're talking about the Kratt Brothers, then Zoboomafoo was the **** when I was a kid. Lol
Wildlife Watcher
Well-Known Member
Really Wild Animals and Zoboomafoo, definitely.
I haven't watched Wild Kratts yet but the art style looks really cool.
I haven't watched Wild Kratts yet but the art style looks really cool.
Zoboomafoo was one of my favorite shows as a kid
The Really Wild Show was definitely the main animal show that played in the UK when I was young, and I seem to remember it being pretty great.
Just about the only nature show that runs on kids TV now is Deadly 60 and its various spin-offs, which I still watch even as an adult, if nothing else because it sometimes includes something really unusual (off the top of my head, the main show includes the only footage of a ghost bat ever aired on television in the UK and the only televised footage of a Palawan pangolin I have ever seen, and one of the spin-offs filmed both Drouhard's shrew-tenrec and web-footed tenrec).
Just about the only nature show that runs on kids TV now is Deadly 60 and its various spin-offs, which I still watch even as an adult, if nothing else because it sometimes includes something really unusual (off the top of my head, the main show includes the only footage of a ghost bat ever aired on television in the UK and the only televised footage of a Palawan pangolin I have ever seen, and one of the spin-offs filmed both Drouhard's shrew-tenrec and web-footed tenrec).
I grew up watching Flipper, Skippy the bushkangaroo, Lassie, Daktari reruns and a nature documentary show Safari.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I can remember all of these,especially the cross eyed lion in Daktari and the people who were fluent in kangaroo in Skippy. I named my first collie after Lassie.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I also remember Terry Nutkins in the Really Wild Show, because he was also in Animal Magic, which was the one that loved as a child. Animal Magic had Johnny Morris who pretended to be a zookeeper at Bristol Zoo, so alot of the programme was filmed at the zoo, which I thought was great and was responsible for me wanting to be a zookeeper. Animal Magic was from 1962 till 1983.
I used to enjoy "Animal Magic" too although I preferred the more serious "Zoo Time" with Desmond Morris, which was definitely my favourite television programme during my childhood.
I haven't really watched a 'kids' animal TV show in a while'... And whilst I could get into semantics of what counts as a 'kids animal TV show' [does Peppa Pig count, for example?] I will stick to purely educational TV shows here, giving my thoughts on them.
DAY
To stretch a bit on 'kids animal TV show' genre.... after the 'hodgepodge' era cBeebies - the BBC's young children's programming block - had in the 2000s with a diverse but rather 'random' cast of shows - some being of questionable education value, cBeebies started to lean more into the 'celebrity' aspect of the channel. That they have some individuals who appear that are basically of 'celebrity' status because just about every child and their parent in the country knows who they are. This was so with Justin Fletcher, who managed to spawn a media franchise of his own, with Something Special being his primary show with a good couple of spin-offs.
And so we enter And[rew]y Day - One such 'quasi-celebrity' who has managed to produce a lot of shows on cBeebies for his own. One such show first airing in the early 2010s, Andy's Wild Animal Adventures. I.e. Andy explores the wonders of the natural world from the comfort of a greenscreen. From what I remember it was a fairly average show... there was good educational content but there's only so much fun you can have with greenscreen. I recall later on Andrew would produce another show about dinosaurs, where he was again green-screened - this time in front of Walking With stock footage. And one element of the show is that Andy now works in a museum as opposed to a wildlife park as he did before and accesses the Mesozoic by means of a magic clock. I recall one memory of mine being going to the Oxford Museum of Natural History to try and find the clock myself.... but being the naive child I was I should've known the magical clock time machine didn't exist... in Oxford. It was in London of course!
I recall one other show from BBC being influential in my childhood - 'Our Planet'. The average episode segment is a montage of stock footage with music and simple narration about a given theme - which following a short bit with some kids is followed by another segment. Hardly the most 'exciting' kids' show... but one that left its mark.
BACKSHALL
I have seen some of Deadly 60. I think it is a well-made show, whilst I have some grievances of presenting the inherently 'deadly' things as those which are most exciting... the fact of matter is that deadly things do excite the kids, and Backshall's is a rather well-made travel show for kids with the good deadly animal element. But what I recall being most fun about Steve Backshall was not so much the TV show which he aired, good fun as that was... but rather the online games on the CBBC [BBC programming block for older children] were what really got my attention. There was Deadly Planet, a 2D platformer where the player [as Steve himself] must go around finding animals to photograph. And colourful badges [ooh! shiny!] can be unlocked through various means [ranging from just finding them in game to actually meeting Steve himself at a live event so he can give the secret code needed to you] to unlock various things, sometimes special abilities for the player or the camera... and sometimes other courses. There are three main worlds, with five main levels each, and three secret levels each. There were also the four Deadly Dash games... a two-dimensional running game where Steve must run away from whatever animal he has managed to provoke, whilst photographing animals along the way. I recall with the fourth one there was a secret level also which was dinosaur-themed... which was unlocked at a certain point when the entire playerbase ran to a certain number of miles/km... so that was cool as well. Not sure how much I learnt from the games... but they were well made and fun - as was the TV show!
KRATTS
I recall with Wild Kratts my first exposure was in much the same vain - not from seeing it on TV but rather finding one of the games online. It was a similar story to Deadly Planet ... there are worlds which the player is able to explore but to explore certain parts they need a certain powersuit... which is represented... by a bright-coloured badge. [ooh! shiny!] To unlock these they need a certain score in the relevant minigame. I think this taught me something more than did Backshall... And I recall watching some of Wild Kratts as well. I recall reading how the Kratts had more responsibilities at this time in their life than they did when they could go around in the wild filming animals... namely the responsibility of children... so I'm glad they chose the direction they did as opposed to retiring entirely. I recall the 'core' being rather conventional for a kids' show... that the threats posed towards the animals are portrayed as outright villains [though the case is with many people who endanger these animals is that they often don't have another means of doing things... doesn't always apply... the children can't have nuance anyways...] against the works of the righteous Tortuga people... but still, for a kids' show it is very well made with a very sleek style. And with very good educational content as well!
And I recall more recently seeing some episodes of the show that everyone other than myself raves about... Zoboomafoo. Not something of my nostalgia years but whatever. I recall thinking it a rather 'comfy cosy' sort of show watching it - with the cheerful lemur character and the fun music. But somehow to myself the part in claymation where 'Zob' tells a wild story felt a bit pointless compared to the rest of the show... which was of rather more educational value. Though one thing I notice other than the different medium is the somewhat different way Zob went around doing things... there was never very much of a consistency to Zob's themes... they seemed to be doing whatever they felt like per episode methinks... where Wild Kratts has more species-based plotlines. And to that note I recall what I noticed is that conservation is not at the forefront of the Zoboomafoo series... with the exception perhaps of the segments with kids doing something like going to the pond to pick up plastic... but for the most part the Kratts' analysis of the animals who visit Animal Junction in this show is rather 'mathematical', breaking down the features which they have. And of course in doing so sometimes getting close to the animal and picking it up... even if it be something like a bear cub.... of course imposed with the regular message of "don't try this at home!" I think with Wild Kratts they wisened up and the segments where the Kratts do appear with live animals [which were from captive facilities just as they were in Animal Junction] are always presented more as they actually went in the woods and found an aardvark. Which seems the more reasonable way of doing things methinks. And I recall there were some Zob episodes dedicated to domestic animals [cows and horses] so at least there conservation wasn't at the forefront... but I do find it enjoyable to watch on occasion! And I am especially grateful to the Chris and Martin Kratt for all good they have done for wildlife education.
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
I recall one very influential video in my childhood being one made by Partridge Films ... that being "Animal Alphabet" - a musical video featuring a song about a particular animal for each letter. Some examples being typical 'ABC Animal fodder' - animals the kids are familiar with - dolphins, elephants, lions... and those which they are not so much - kiwis, servals, nudibranchs... the songs themselves were composed by Anton Mullan, who composed songs for some well-known children's programmes - who I have gotten into touch with sometimes. [and got a copy of the video from him, too!] The presentation is rather unique - for each song there is footage of the relevant animal, documentary format, with the occasional letter in lowercase thrown in - but what is happening is not being said to you, it's being sang to you. And I think there is a difference in that. And the songs themselves don't shy from showing footage of other animals in the relevant environment. So all very educational... though there is the possibility that the reason they show different animals sometimes is because they are short on footage of the relevant animal... and the animals were chosen so the video could be easily dubbed into other languages... but it certainly widened my eyes as a child, and I continue to have fond memories of it !
And I recall many years later I stumbled upon another intriguing show... one made as a partnership between Partridge and Dorling Kindersley - both two educational heroes of my childhood. It was "Henry's Amazing Animals", a show, which although with inaccuracies here and there [perhaps most confusing one is how they try to rationalise the elephant bird myth but fail stupendously in the Extinct Animals episode] but overall with good educational content, with reasonable episode themes and good humour. I was probably older than its target audience, but was still an enjoyable and fun watch for myself. And then I learnt that multiple of the show's episodes had been lost to time... and so the search for episodes of the show was one I put my eye upon, and even helped out with to some degree. And now rather happily all 52 episodes of the show have been uploaded to the Internet Archive, and can be watched there! In a similar vain with Anton, I have gotten in touch with Eric Meyers [the voice actor of titular Henry] from time to time as well.
I think this time, crawling into the new century, was somehow a very good time for shows like this... which have managed to leave an influence on many people years later, whichever approach they took with making the show as there are many. It would be easy for myself to say that things have really gone south with truly bottom-of-the-barrel AI-generated animal videos taking the internet by storm, with children probably being exposed to these... but then I remember that one National Geographic book which presented an American Badger as a wolverine, and wonder whether things were truly as 'proper' as I'd like to remember them. And I feel the legacy of these shows has continued into those on YouTube who produce videos which engage general audiences about animals, a legacy and execution which I've come to appreciate!
DAY
To stretch a bit on 'kids animal TV show' genre.... after the 'hodgepodge' era cBeebies - the BBC's young children's programming block - had in the 2000s with a diverse but rather 'random' cast of shows - some being of questionable education value, cBeebies started to lean more into the 'celebrity' aspect of the channel. That they have some individuals who appear that are basically of 'celebrity' status because just about every child and their parent in the country knows who they are. This was so with Justin Fletcher, who managed to spawn a media franchise of his own, with Something Special being his primary show with a good couple of spin-offs.
And so we enter And[rew]y Day - One such 'quasi-celebrity' who has managed to produce a lot of shows on cBeebies for his own. One such show first airing in the early 2010s, Andy's Wild Animal Adventures. I.e. Andy explores the wonders of the natural world from the comfort of a greenscreen. From what I remember it was a fairly average show... there was good educational content but there's only so much fun you can have with greenscreen. I recall later on Andrew would produce another show about dinosaurs, where he was again green-screened - this time in front of Walking With stock footage. And one element of the show is that Andy now works in a museum as opposed to a wildlife park as he did before and accesses the Mesozoic by means of a magic clock. I recall one memory of mine being going to the Oxford Museum of Natural History to try and find the clock myself.... but being the naive child I was I should've known the magical clock time machine didn't exist... in Oxford. It was in London of course!
I recall one other show from BBC being influential in my childhood - 'Our Planet'. The average episode segment is a montage of stock footage with music and simple narration about a given theme - which following a short bit with some kids is followed by another segment. Hardly the most 'exciting' kids' show... but one that left its mark.
BACKSHALL
I have seen some of Deadly 60. I think it is a well-made show, whilst I have some grievances of presenting the inherently 'deadly' things as those which are most exciting... the fact of matter is that deadly things do excite the kids, and Backshall's is a rather well-made travel show for kids with the good deadly animal element. But what I recall being most fun about Steve Backshall was not so much the TV show which he aired, good fun as that was... but rather the online games on the CBBC [BBC programming block for older children] were what really got my attention. There was Deadly Planet, a 2D platformer where the player [as Steve himself] must go around finding animals to photograph. And colourful badges [ooh! shiny!] can be unlocked through various means [ranging from just finding them in game to actually meeting Steve himself at a live event so he can give the secret code needed to you] to unlock various things, sometimes special abilities for the player or the camera... and sometimes other courses. There are three main worlds, with five main levels each, and three secret levels each. There were also the four Deadly Dash games... a two-dimensional running game where Steve must run away from whatever animal he has managed to provoke, whilst photographing animals along the way. I recall with the fourth one there was a secret level also which was dinosaur-themed... which was unlocked at a certain point when the entire playerbase ran to a certain number of miles/km... so that was cool as well. Not sure how much I learnt from the games... but they were well made and fun - as was the TV show!
KRATTS
I recall with Wild Kratts my first exposure was in much the same vain - not from seeing it on TV but rather finding one of the games online. It was a similar story to Deadly Planet ... there are worlds which the player is able to explore but to explore certain parts they need a certain powersuit... which is represented... by a bright-coloured badge. [ooh! shiny!] To unlock these they need a certain score in the relevant minigame. I think this taught me something more than did Backshall... And I recall watching some of Wild Kratts as well. I recall reading how the Kratts had more responsibilities at this time in their life than they did when they could go around in the wild filming animals... namely the responsibility of children... so I'm glad they chose the direction they did as opposed to retiring entirely. I recall the 'core' being rather conventional for a kids' show... that the threats posed towards the animals are portrayed as outright villains [though the case is with many people who endanger these animals is that they often don't have another means of doing things... doesn't always apply... the children can't have nuance anyways...] against the works of the righteous Tortuga people... but still, for a kids' show it is very well made with a very sleek style. And with very good educational content as well!
And I recall more recently seeing some episodes of the show that everyone other than myself raves about... Zoboomafoo. Not something of my nostalgia years but whatever. I recall thinking it a rather 'comfy cosy' sort of show watching it - with the cheerful lemur character and the fun music. But somehow to myself the part in claymation where 'Zob' tells a wild story felt a bit pointless compared to the rest of the show... which was of rather more educational value. Though one thing I notice other than the different medium is the somewhat different way Zob went around doing things... there was never very much of a consistency to Zob's themes... they seemed to be doing whatever they felt like per episode methinks... where Wild Kratts has more species-based plotlines. And to that note I recall what I noticed is that conservation is not at the forefront of the Zoboomafoo series... with the exception perhaps of the segments with kids doing something like going to the pond to pick up plastic... but for the most part the Kratts' analysis of the animals who visit Animal Junction in this show is rather 'mathematical', breaking down the features which they have. And of course in doing so sometimes getting close to the animal and picking it up... even if it be something like a bear cub.... of course imposed with the regular message of "don't try this at home!" I think with Wild Kratts they wisened up and the segments where the Kratts do appear with live animals [which were from captive facilities just as they were in Animal Junction] are always presented more as they actually went in the woods and found an aardvark. Which seems the more reasonable way of doing things methinks. And I recall there were some Zob episodes dedicated to domestic animals [cows and horses] so at least there conservation wasn't at the forefront... but I do find it enjoyable to watch on occasion! And I am especially grateful to the Chris and Martin Kratt for all good they have done for wildlife education.
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
I recall one very influential video in my childhood being one made by Partridge Films ... that being "Animal Alphabet" - a musical video featuring a song about a particular animal for each letter. Some examples being typical 'ABC Animal fodder' - animals the kids are familiar with - dolphins, elephants, lions... and those which they are not so much - kiwis, servals, nudibranchs... the songs themselves were composed by Anton Mullan, who composed songs for some well-known children's programmes - who I have gotten into touch with sometimes. [and got a copy of the video from him, too!] The presentation is rather unique - for each song there is footage of the relevant animal, documentary format, with the occasional letter in lowercase thrown in - but what is happening is not being said to you, it's being sang to you. And I think there is a difference in that. And the songs themselves don't shy from showing footage of other animals in the relevant environment. So all very educational... though there is the possibility that the reason they show different animals sometimes is because they are short on footage of the relevant animal... and the animals were chosen so the video could be easily dubbed into other languages... but it certainly widened my eyes as a child, and I continue to have fond memories of it !
And I recall many years later I stumbled upon another intriguing show... one made as a partnership between Partridge and Dorling Kindersley - both two educational heroes of my childhood. It was "Henry's Amazing Animals", a show, which although with inaccuracies here and there [perhaps most confusing one is how they try to rationalise the elephant bird myth but fail stupendously in the Extinct Animals episode] but overall with good educational content, with reasonable episode themes and good humour. I was probably older than its target audience, but was still an enjoyable and fun watch for myself. And then I learnt that multiple of the show's episodes had been lost to time... and so the search for episodes of the show was one I put my eye upon, and even helped out with to some degree. And now rather happily all 52 episodes of the show have been uploaded to the Internet Archive, and can be watched there! In a similar vain with Anton, I have gotten in touch with Eric Meyers [the voice actor of titular Henry] from time to time as well.
I think this time, crawling into the new century, was somehow a very good time for shows like this... which have managed to leave an influence on many people years later, whichever approach they took with making the show as there are many. It would be easy for myself to say that things have really gone south with truly bottom-of-the-barrel AI-generated animal videos taking the internet by storm, with children probably being exposed to these... but then I remember that one National Geographic book which presented an American Badger as a wolverine, and wonder whether things were truly as 'proper' as I'd like to remember them. And I feel the legacy of these shows has continued into those on YouTube who produce videos which engage general audiences about animals, a legacy and execution which I've come to appreciate!
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
We had our first TV in 1964,so I missed some years of zoo time, I did watch it from then. I will always remember the theme music, Peter and the Wolf.
Wildlife Watcher
Well-Known Member
A fellow Really Wild Animals enjoyer? I see you are a man of culture as well.
I grew up with both Zooboomafu and Wild Kratts, but always preferred Wild Kratts. Wild Kratts ticked my childhood imagination more, and I always hated the "Zabu Land" segments of Zooboomafu, which I always found terribly boring.