Jungle Junction

Jungle Junction
Genre	Children's television series
Created by	Trevor Ricketts
Written by	Craig Carlisle Dan Chambers Gillian Corderoy Jill Cozza-Turner Stan Cullimore Paul Dawson Carin Greenberg Samantha Hill Mark Holloway Bridget Hurst Paul Larson Laura Beaumont James Mason Allan Neuwirth Trevor Ricketts Claudia Silver P. Kevin Strader Andy Yerkes
Directed by	Morgan Francis
Voices of	Janet James Billy West Keith Wickham Jess Harnell Laraine Newman Dee Bradley Baker Jimmy Hibbert Amanda Symonds Ron Orbach
Narrated by	Janet James
Opening theme	Peter Lurye
Composer	Mark Blackledge
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	46 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Erica Darby
Production locations	Penzance, Cornwall
Editor	Mark Edwards
Production company	Spider Eye Productions Avamar
Original release
Network	Playhouse Disney Disney Junior
Release	October 5, 2009 (2009-10-05) – May 23, 2012 (2012-05-23)

Jungle Junction is an American-British CGI animated children's television series created by Trevor Ricketts. It airs, in re-runs, on Disney Junior in the United States and in the Netherlands, as well as in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and in most of Asia. It was produced in the UK by animation company Spider Eye Productions. In the United States, it was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers. On 14 February 2011, it was moved to the Disney Junior block, serving as Playhouse Disney's replacement.

A second series of 26 episodes was ordered by Disney, and premiered on 2 April 2011.

The show aired in reruns on Disney Junior from 2012-2016.

Characters

Main characters

• Zooter (voiced by Janet James) – A pink pig whose name is a compound of "zoo" or "zip" and "scooter". Zooter speaks with a British accent and is the jungle messenger.
• Ellyvan (voiced by Billy West) – A blue elephant van with an American accent, who carries the deliveries around the jungle. He is the biggest animal in the jungle and Zooter's best friend. His name is a made-up compound word of elephant and van. He is able to suck improbable quantities of liquids up his trunk and spray them distances of up to half a mile or more.
• Bungo (voiced by Keith Wickham) – An orange bunny (as revealed in the theme song) with brown ears and an English accent, who loves to make signs and put them all over the jungle. He is very good at Geography, and knows the jungle better than anyone. He is also the only wheeler that is good at jumping, being able to leap many times his own height into the air. Bungo, despite officially being a bunny, has a long, raccoon-like tail with brown stripes as well.

Recurring characters

• Taxicrab (voiced in the UK by Tyrone Benskin, and in the US by Jess Harnell) – A red crab with a Caribbean accent that loves to dance and makes the greatest smoothies in the jungle. His name derives from a Taxicab and he is the only wheeler that is able to drive sideways (possibly because of the sideways walk attributed to crabs). Despite the fact that Toadhog is often impatient, Taxicrab tolerates him the most.
• Carla (voiced by Laraine Newman) – An orange koala who owns a grocery shop. Her name seems to be a simple rhyming alliteration based upon the car stem.
• Crocker (voiced by Keith Wickham) – A green crocodile fire chief with a lisp who wears a yellow helmet with a red flashing light on top. He has some skill at gardening and knows how to make compost. His name comes from the phrase which is UK slang used to describe many second hand cars.
• Hippobus (voiced by Amanda Symonds) – A yellow hippopotamus school bus with a Jamaican accent, which usually carries The Beetlebugs to school. Her name derives from a Hippie Bus – usually a redecorated Volkswagen Bus.
• The Beetlebugs – The junior wheelers. Their name and shape derives from a Volkswagen Beetle – cars that were nicknamed bugs. They speech is mostly synchronised. There are five of them - a red one, a yellow one, a green one, a blue one and an orange one.
• Lance (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – A purple rhinoceros ambulance. His name is both a contraction of ambulance and a reference to a weapon used by lancers who attacked with it at a full charge – much like a rhino attacks things by charging at them.
• Bobby (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) – A toucan police chief. His character may be derived from a Bubble car – he even has the same three-wheeled chassis. His name is derived from the British slang word for police officers. He is the only Wheeler that can fly.
• Dozer (voiced in the UK by Jimmy Hibbert, and in the US by Keith Wickham) – A bull construction worker. His name and shape derive from a Bulldozer. His talent is digging and repairing roads with his dozer blade.
• Miss Jolly (voiced in the UK by Carrie Rodriquez, and in the US by Amanda Symonds) – A zebra schoolteacher. She is one of the oldest and wisest of the Wheelers. She is also the only one to wear glasses.
• Toadhog (voiced in the UK by Danny Wells, and in the US by Ron Orbach) – A grumpy green toad who likes worms and Fifi flies. He has a long, sticky tongue that can shoot out a long way to grab things. His name derives from Road Hog – an inconsiderate or selfish motorist. He seems to be responsible for Jungle Junction's power supply – his water wheel powers the generator for all of the lights (including the traffic lights) (see Hiccup Power) and he has a supplementary generator that is used to power the Zipsmas lights. He loses his patience with almost everyone except Taxicrab, mainly because Taxicrab is the most tolerant of him.

Episodes

Main article: List of Jungle Junction episodes

Christmas special

Main articles: The Night Before Zipsmas (Jungle Junction) and A Gift for Zooter

A Christmas special called "The Night Before Zipsmas" aired 5 December 2009 showing the wheelers getting ready for Christmas and trying to get to read the book "The Night Before Zipsmas". The other Christmas special was called "A Gift for Zooter" and aired the same day. It shows Ellyvan trying to find a gift for Zooter.

DVD releases

Title	Release date			Episodes included	Other features
	Region 2	Region 1	Region 4
Play-Time Free-Time	11 May 2010	TBA	TBA	Bungo To The Rescue/Pinky Picnic The Big Race Around/Zooter Looses Her Zip A Beautiful Stink/Prickly Pal Sap Trap/River Race Rescue

Further information: List of Jungle Junction episodes § DVD releases

Songs

This is a list of songs that play in the episodes.

Song Name	Episode plays in	Written by	Composed by	Performed by	Other information
Jungle Junction Theme Tune	Every episode	Peter Lurye	Mark Blackledge	Peter Lurye, Steve O'Reilly, Janet James, Jimmy Hibbert, Amanda Symonds, Billy West and Keith Wickham
Gotta Zip	Seasons 1 and 2 Only	Peter Lurye	Mark Blackledge	Peter Lurye, Steve O'Reilly, Janet James, Jimmy Hibbert, Amanda Symonds, Billy West and Keith Wickham	When the song plays in Pinky Picnic there are two short intervals within it. Also known as The Zippy Song In Funny Fruit, Zooter sings the song throughout the episode. Season 2 only

Credits

• Voices of – Janet James, Billy West, Keith Wickham, Jess Harnell, Laraine Newman, Dee Bradley Baker, Jimmy Hibbert, Amanda Symonds and Ron Orbach
• Creator – Trevor Ricketts
• Writers – Craig Carlisle, Dan Chambers, Gillian Corderoy, Jill Cozza-Turner, Stan Cullimore, Paul Dawson, Jimmy Hibbert, Samantha Hill, Mark Holloway, Bridget Hurst, Paul Larson, Laura Beaumont, James Mason, Allan Neuwirth, Trevor Ricketts, Claudia Silver, P. Kevin Strader and Andy Yerkes
• Director – Morgan Francis, George Evelyn, Dave Unwin
• Opening theme – Peter Lurye
• Composer – Mark Blackledge
• Executive producers – Erica Darby
• Editor – Mark Edwards
• Casting – Maria Estrada
• Art/Storyboards – Richard Nye
• Lead Prop & Environmental TD - Dave Usher
• Lead Environment Artist - Simeon Hankins
• Supervising Technical Director - Michael Faherty
• Animation Supervisor - Ruth Ducker
• Visual Effects/Digital Compositor – Fynn Tucker
• Animation – David Beer, Mariella Capasso and Rikki Knight-Trembath
• Animation Director – Stephen Cavalier
• Original Dialogue Mixer – David W. Barr
• Dubbing Mixer – Nick Harris
• Music and Lyrics, Theme by – Donald Hillenburg, Nick Jones, Paul Smith

Quotes

Disney says:

A group of adventurous animals on wheels – part animal, part vehicle – live and learn in an unexplored jungle that still somehow has roads. A cross between a pink pig and a scooter, Zooter serves as the jungle messenger, and Ellyvan, a cross between an elephant and a van, provides a delivery service. The denizens of the jungle have fun-filled adventures that help young viewers learn literacy skills and to care about the environment.

External links

• Jungle Junction Official Site
• Jungle Junction at Disney.co.uk
• Jungle Junction at Disney.es
• Template:Tv.com show
• "Jungle Junction" at IMDb