Pocoyo

Show name	Pocoyo
Genre	Preschool education
Format	Animated television series
Creator	Guillermo García Carsí David Cantolla Luis Gallego
Head writer	Andy Yerkes (series 1) Ken Scarborough (series 2)
Director	Guillermo García Carsí David Cantolla Alfonso Rodriguez
Writer	Guillermo García Carsí, Andy Yerkes (series 1) Ken Scarborough (series 2)
Narrated	Stephen Fry (English) José María del Río (Castilian Spanish)
Theme music composer	Daniel Heredero
Country	Spain
Language	English Spanish (Two versions; one for Spain, the other for Latin America)
Num series	2
Num episodes	104
Executive producer	Kathryn Hart Anne Brogan Jonathan Doyle
Co exec	Maria Doolan
Producer	Carolina Matas Pilar Cubría
Asst producer	Isabel Esquivias
Co-producer	Ken Kessel
Runtime	7 minutes
Company	Zinkia Entertainment
Distributor	Granada International (UK)
Website	http://www.pocoyo.com
Production website	http://pocoyo.blogs.com

Pocoyo (Pocoyó in Spanish) is a Spanish pre-school animated television series created by Guillermo García Carsí, Luis Gallego and David Cantolla, and is a co-production between Spanish producer Zinkia Entertainment and Granada International. Two series have been produced, each consisting of 52 seven-minute episodes. British actor and comedian Stephen Fry narrates the English language version, and José María del Río narrates the Castilian Spanish version.

Set in a 3D space, with a plain white background and no backdrops, it is about a young boy dressed in blue, who is full of curiosity. Viewers are encouraged to recognise situations that Pocoyo is in, and things that are going on with or around him. Each character has its own distinctive dance, and most episodes end with the characters dancing. Many episodes also involve parties.

The technical quality in the development of each chapter, along with the original storylines created by Andy Yerkes, Ken Scarborough and Director Guillermo Garcia Carsí, excellent sound and the meticulous animations have made Pocoyo a high quality product and a success all over the world. Although it is targeted at young children, the program has gained a large cult following among older viewers.

In the United Kingdom, it was originally broadcast on CITV, a children's strand on the ITV network. In September, 2007, Five has acquired terrestrial rights in the United Kingdom to the first and second series, making it part of the Milkshake! strand. The show, however, will continue to air on the CITV Channel. Other broadcasters in the English speaking countries include RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland, Nick Jr. in the U.S. nationwide and local station WNYE-TV in the New York City, Treehouse TV in Canada, ABC in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.

In Spain, TVE2 broadcast the second series in Spain starting in April 2008. A future third series is on hold as the makers wish to embark upon other projects, one of which may be a Pocoyo movie.

In June 2006, Pocoyo was awarded, at the 30th Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the Cristal Award for the "Best TV Production".

Name

Pocoyo's name was provided by David Cantolla, one of the creators, after his 3 year old daughter used it in her nightly prayers saying "Eres niño poco yo " ("You're a child little me") instead of "Eres niño como yo ("You're a child like me"). "Pocoyó" roughly translates to English as "little me", “not much me” or “a little bit me” but it is a word or a construction that exists neither in Spanish nor in English.

Development

All characters and personalities were designed by Guillermo García Carsí for Zinkia Entertainment.

The show is created with Softimage XSI software. His best friends are Pato, Elly and Loula. He has a vehicle called the Vamoosh which he can use to travel under the water, in the air or through space. Although he is very friendly and sweet and almost always in a good mood, Pocoyo is also highly self-centered, distracted by the simplest things, easily frustrated, frequently jealous of his friends, and disobedient, but tries his hardest to fight his flaws and learn morals. He is voiced by Montana Smedley most of the time, but occasionally, by Alex Marty.

Stephen Fry is the narrator of the show, and often communicates with the characters. Pocoyo has a good relationship with the narrator, and is always to delighted to see (hear) him. As well as being the narrator, it is also often proven that Stephen is physically involved in the events of the episodes, making him more of an heard-but-not-seen character rather than a narrator.

Pato is a yellow duck who wears nothing but a small green hat. He has a fondness for gardening, and is often seeing watering plants and flowerbeds. Pato means duck in Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, Tok Pisin and Papiamento. He is a favourite amongst the young children due to his enjoyable dancing and the fact that his beak turns 360 degrees. Although friendly, Pato is the most fussy and impatient character (indicated by his beak that bends in an angle when disappointed or shocked); on occasion he completely loses his temper, jumping up and down and quacking furiously with his beak spinning rapidly. He is used as a jackhammer or missile and can become a helicopter.

Elly is a pink elephant who always wears a blue back-pack. She loves making biscuits and tea, and she also has a doll that she loves very much. Despite her size, she is graceful and gentle, capable of ballet dancing. She is, however, very bossy and does things her way only. She usually rides around on her pink scooter.

Loula is Pocoyo's orange-yellow pet puppy and companion. Originally, the character's name was Lucas, in tribute to Creator and Director Guillermo García Carsi's dog, but for the series was lacking female characters so it was changed to Loula.

Sleepy Bird is a teal-coloured bird. She does little but sleep, and usually flies with her eyes closed. Named "Pajaroto" in the Spanish version (reportedly named after a Zinkia employee nicknamed "Maroto", and bearing a strong resemblance to him. The similar sounding Pajarito means "little bird" in Spanish.), and "Pájaro Dormilón" in the Latin American version. Pájaro means bird in Spanish. She can be active from time to time, but it's far more likely she'll be found asleep or snoozing to her content.

Secondary characters

Aliens are sweet little green beings that Pocoyo finds in space in search of his toy plane.

Baby Bird is the small, always active (he has not inherited his mother's fondness of sleeping) and loud baby of Sleepy Bird, who gets into tricky situations from which he is rescued by Pocoyo. He is best friends with Caterpillar. Named "Pajarito" in Spanish version ('little bird')

Ball Orchestra is a group of three ball-like creatures who play the trumpet, drums and cymbals.

Butterfly is a very hungry butterfly which Pocoyo occasionally catches.

Caterpillar (named "Valentina" in Spanish) is a yellow caterpillar with a blue bow on top of her head. She speaks in gibberish and has the ability to change into a butterfly and back when she wants. She is best friends with Baby Bird.

(Fred the) Octopus is an lunatic red octopus (although shown with only 4 legs, as to make animation rendering simpler) who speaks in gibberish like Caterpillar, and is very fond of opera singing. He appears in random episodes, sometimes as a major character, sometimes in passing. As of Season Two, he is sometimes referred to as 'Fred'.

Finbar the Horse is a giddy horse who loves to dance.

Music Flower & The Band are musical characters who play music that Pocoyo likes.

Whale is a huge white whale with red cheeks who Pocoyo meets under the sea.

Episode list

To date two series have been produced, each with 52 episodes. There is also an unreleased episode entitled "The See-Saw".

Series 1 (2005)

# Hush # Pocoyo Dance # Drum Roll Please # Umbrella, Umbrella # A Mystery Most Puzzling # A Present For Elly # The Big Sneeze # Double Bubble # Sleepy Bird's Surprise # Swept Away # Who's On the Phone? # Fetch Loula Fetch # A Little Cloud # Table for Fun # Keep Going, Pocoyo! # Where's Pocoyo? # Drummer Boy # The Great Race # Don't Touch # Mystery Footprints # Magical Watering Can # Twinkle Twinkle # Hiccup # Pato's Postal Service # Puppy Love # Bat and Ball # Elly Spots # Up Up and Away # A Surprise for Pocoyo # Having a Ball # Super Pocoyo # Let's Go Camping # The Key to It All # Fussy Duck # Whale's Birthday # Elly's Big Chase # Bedtime # Juggling Balls # Pocoyo's Little Friend # Pocoyo Pocoyo # Picture This # Musical Blocks # Paint Me a Picture # Elly's Doll # Giggle Bug # Pocoyo Gets It Right # A Dog's Life # What's In The Box # Pocoyo-lympics # Colour My World # A Little Something Between Friends # Wackily Ever After

Series 2 (2007)

# Pocoyo's Present # Mad Mix Machine # Big Scary Slide # Elly's Ballet Class # Guess What? # Mr Big Duck # The Messy Guest # Pocoyo's Balloon # Who's Calling Me Now? # Band of Friends # Upside Down # New on the Planet # All for One # Elly's Shoes # Duck Stuck # Scary Noises # Not in my Backyard # Vamoosh on the Loosh # Detective Pocoyo # Scooter Madness # Lost in Space # Boo! # Party Pooper # My Pato! # Baby Bird Bother # Dirty Dog # The Seed # Runaway Hat # Invisible Pocoyo # Noise to my Ears # Baby Bird Sitting # Everyone's Present # Picnic Puzzle # Dance Off! # Pato's Egg # Pocoyo's Puppet Show # Get Lost Loula # Sneaky Shoes # Magic Act # Shutterbug # Angry Alien # Pato Underwater # Pato's Paintings # Monster Mystery # Poczilla # Elly on Ice # Farewell Friends # Double Trouble # Horse! # Elly's Tea Party # Talent Show # Remember When...

DVD releases

Region 2 (UK)

Pocoyo: Series 1 (Episodes 1.01-1.13)

Pocoyo: Series 1 - Explore and Discover (Episodes 1.14-1.26)

Pocoyo: Vol. 3 - Fun and Adventures (Episodes 1.27-1.39)

Pocoyo: Best Bumper (Episodes 1.40-1.12)

Pocoyo: Vol. 5 - Scooter Madness (Episodes 2.14-2.26)

Pocoyo Friendy Fun Episodes 1.41-1.13

Region 1 (US/Canada)

Pocoyo: Meet Pocoyo (Episodes 1.03-1.05 and 1.07-1.10)

Pocoyo: Pocoyo and Friends

Pocoyo: Super Pocoyo

References

External links

Official Pocoyo blog

Guillermo García Carsi

Category:Children's ITV television programmes Category:Programs broadcast by Treehouse TV Category:Spanish animated television series Category:Fictional characters in children's television Category:Computer-animated television series