Blinky Bill (TV series)

The Adventures Of Blinky Bill
Genre	Cartoon series
Format	Children's animated television show
Created by	Dorothy Wall (book); Yoram Gross (original film)
Developed by	Jonathan M. Shiff Productions
Starring	Keith Scott and Robyn Moore
Opening theme	Hey, hey, Blinky Bill
Ending theme	I'm Blinky Bill (season 1) Yahoo didgeridoo (season 2)
Country of origin	Australia
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	78
Production
Producer(s)	Yoram Gross
Running time	26
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC Seven Network
Picture format	PAL (576i)
Original run	January 1, 1993 – January 26, 1995 (June 10, 2004 - July 5, 2004)

The Adventures Of Blinky Bill is an animated television series based on Dorothy Wall's books about Blinky Bill. The series is produced by Yoram Gross. Set in Greenpatch, a fictional Australian town, the series presents stories of conservation and nature through the activities of Blinky Bill and his family and friends.

Series

Main article: List of Blinky Bill episodes

Series 1

In the first series of The Adventures of Blinky Bill (1993, 26 episodes), Blinky Bill and his friends rebuild the buildings and the community in Greenpatch, following its destruction by humans. They also come to terms with their new neighbours, the ill-famed Dingo family.

The series first aired on ABC Television on the 6 September 1993. Yoram Gross co-produced the first series with the ABC (Australia), BBC (UK), WDR (Germany), and EM. Entertainment GmbH (Germany). It is the series closest to the original book in character and setting.

Series 2

In this series, also known as Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion (1995, 26 episodes), Blinky Bill and his friends become lost while on a school excursion in the bush. Finding their way home across different parts of Australia, they have many adventures helping out other animals in need, including a crocodile, penguins and farm and circus animals.

The second series was a Yoram Gross co-production with the ABC (Australia), WDR (Germany), VIDEAL (Germany), Beyond Distribution (Australia) and EM. Entertainment (Germany).

Series 3

In series three, Blinky Bill’s Extraordinary Balloon Adventure also known as Blinky Bill's Around the World Adventures (2004, 26 episodes), Blinky Bill, Nutsy and Flap travel around the world in a hot air balloon that takes them on exciting adventures being chased by 2 humans named Basil and Cyril who are the Circus Bros.. The animals he rescued were Ling Ling the Panda, Slippery the Seal, Yoyo the Monkey, Princess Penelope the Poodle, Leo the Lion and Tico Toucan (who originally works for the Circus Bros.) They went to Antarctica, the African Plains, China, the Amazon Rainforest, India and Paris. It was shown in high definition.

The series aired on 10 June 2004 on the Seven Network. The third series was a Flying Bark co-production with the ABC (Australia), WDR (Germany), VIDEAL (Germany), Beyond Distribution (Australia) and EM. Entertainment (Germany).

Telemovie

In 2005 a telemovie Blinky Bill’s White Christmas (80 mins) was produced by Yoram Gross-EM.TV. The telemovie first aired on the Seven Network on 24 December 2005. The theme song from the telemovie, "Christmas in Australia", was sung by Christine Anu.

Characters

Main article: List of Blinky Bill characters

Forest Industry Controversy

The theme of the first series carried a strong anti-woodchip message, with the second line saying "Save us from that woodchip mill", together with scenes of forest destruction. There were also obvious environmental messages in most episodes. Some forest industry groups lobbied the ABC arguing that the opening scene showed illegal wood chipping, which was not fair to the timber industry. In the following two series, these song lyrics and the opening credits sequence were different (the line in the theme became "You'll never catch him standing still"), reflecting the change in storylines and locations.

External links

• The Adventures of Blinky Bill at TV.com
• The Adventures of Blinky Bill at Big Cartoon Database
• Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Adventures at Big Cartoon Database