A Town Called Panic

A Town Called Panic
A Town Called Panic title card
Genre	Animated Puppetoon children's television series
Created by	La Parti / Pic Pic André
Country of origin	Belgium
Language(s)	Not language specific
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	20 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier
Running time	20 x 5 minutes
Broadcast
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	2000

For the 2009 film adaptation, see A Town Called Panic (film).

A Town Called Panic (in French, Panique au village) is a 2000 puppetoon series distributed by Aardman Animations and produced in Belgium by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier for La Parti & Pic Pic André. It follows the everyday events of Cowboy, Indian and Horse in a small rural town as they go about their lives. Each episode is roughly 5 minutes long and is crudely animated: the characters are meant to resemble cheap toy figurines. Some stations broadcast several episodes in a 15 or 30-minute block.

A spinoff animated feature film called A Town Called Panic was completed in Spring 2009 and debuted at Cannes in May of the same year.

A Town Called Panic is seen worldwide on channels such as ABC Rollercoaster in Australia, Nicktoons Network in the United States, EBS in South Korea, and Teletoon in Canada, and is available online at Atom Films.

In the UK, A Town called Panic played on Nickelodeon. The Cravendale Milk adverts (2007–2010) use the same style of animation using a Pirate, a Cow and a bicyclist as the characters.

Characters

This is the list of major characters in the original 20-episode run, with short descriptions.

Cowboy (Coboy)

Cowboy is a toy figurine of a cowboy in a blue shirt and brown leather trousers, with a hat and, most of the time, a rifle. Cowboy is rather cowardly and not really bright, often getting himself into bad situations through his recklessness and childish behaviour. He has something of a sibling rivalry with Indian (though they most likely aren't really related), and is intimidated by Horse.

Indian (Indien)

Indian is a toy figurine of a stereotypical Native American tribal chief or elder, in a yellow shirt and brown leather trousers, with an elaborate and large feather headdress. He carries a ceremonial staff. Besides the usual standing position he is often seen in a Native American-style meditative pose. Other times he carries a bow and arrow. Indian is a little more "grown up" than Cowboy, but still pursues foolhardy quests almost as much as his counterpart. He is also somewhat fearful of Horse.

Horse (Cheval)

Horse is a toy figurine of a brown horse. Although an animal, Horse is easily as intelligent as Cowboy and Indian (put together) and is the leader of the "family" he, Cowboy and Indian are part of. Even though he walks on all fours, he does most of the chores around their house, as both his charges are domestically useless. He maintains a cool head, doesn't engage in the foolish pursuits of Cowboy and Indian and keeps a semblance of normality in the house. When Cowboy and/or Indian infuriate him, he kicks them (presumably with his hind legs) all over the house and usually into one of the walls, which is sufficient to keep the two in line most of the time.

Steven

A farmer who owns the only other house in the village. Constantly yells, even when not angry, and is very possessive of his tractor.

Jeanine

Steven's loving wife.

Policeman (Gendarme)

Lives in a guard shack by the side of the road that passes through the village.

Farm animals (Animaux)

The animals on Steven's farm.

The bear (L'ours)

This is a figurine of a black bear on its hind legs that chases many of the characters quite frequently, usually after having been disturbed by them from his sleep. It is never made clear if it is the same bear or a different one every time, though they all look the same.

Robin Hood

A hunter obviously parodied from the original Robin Hood stories. His only appearance is in the episode called "Robin." He is a peckish and sometimes extremely careless hunter who lives in a caravan in the woods. He can be recognised by his long blond hair, his green hunting clothes and his posh British accent, he carries an archery kit around with him.

Episodes

Up to Nov 24th 2011 20 episodes of A Town Called Panic had been made.

Main Article: List of Episodes of A Town Called Panic

References

Notes

External links

• Panique au Village - Official Website (French)
• A Town Called Panic - Official Website (English)
• La parti - Production company website
• Pic Pic Andre - Production company website
• Watch the Entire Episodes of A Town Called Panic Series Online at Atom.com (English)
• AWN: Aardman Draws Buyers To A Town Called Panic
• A Town Called Panic Movie - Variety Review from Canne May, 2009
• Panique au village (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database