Tracey McBean

Tracey McBean
Created by	Mary Small Arthur Filloy
Starring	Roslyn Oades Anthony Hayes Alice Ley Lisa Bailey
Composer	Nerida Tyson-Chew
Country of origin	Australia
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	38
Production
Executive producers	Noel Price Tom Van Waveren Claire Henderson Jin Guo Ping
Producers	Noel Price Charlotte Damgaard
Running time	approx 0:30 (0.15 per segment)
Production companies	Southern Star Group Egmont Imagination (season 1) Shanghai Animation Studio
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	31 December 2001 – 13 June 2006

Tracey McBean is a series of children's books drawn and written by Mary Small and Arthur Filloy about Tracey McBean, a young Australian female inventor who was the protagonist and main character in the series. It is also the name of an animated children's television series produced by Southern Star Entertainment, which aired from 31 December 2001 to 13 June 2006 on ABC Kids in Australia and was repeated numerous times on ABC1 and ABC3. It aired on Discovery Kids in the United States and aired on Pop in the United Kingdom. Series 1 and 2 directed by Craig Handley, series 3 directed by Steve Cooper.

Overview

The protagonist, Tracey, is a young Australian girl who goes to school with her best friend Shamus. Together they use Tracey's inventions for all kinds of purposes, like school competitions or simply for fun. Tracey lives in a house and Shamus on the fifteenth floor of a tall apartment building. Shamus loves gardening organically and Tracey loves inventing devices and contraptions. Tracey uses a caravan in her backyard for inventing. The caravan, white with a horizontal thick red stripe, has an antenna, and a computer and many devices and parts within. Tracey's younger sister, Megan, often annoys Tracey to the extent that she will invent something to stop this annoyance. The antagonists are the McConnolly brothers, who go to Tracey's school. They often are rivals of McBean though lacking much intelligence and often are either culprits or annoy Tracey and Shamus is some manner. Jim McConnolly is the leader, and is characterized by his blue beanie and high collared sweater, only his nose, ears and long blonde hair showing. His sneakers have an extreme odour, even powerful enough to use as a weapon or tool to gain food or other items from fellow schoolchildren. Jake McConnolly is the obese and usually dimwitted brother who sometimes shows an odd amount of intelligence, but only briefly for an amusing value. He has brown hair. McBeans arch-rival, with equal or lower intelligence, though less morals, is Laszlo, a boy science club member. In most episodes Tracey invents a device to help her or her friends and family in a situation with good intention but this leads to a minor disaster or failure and she must work out a solution. Although based on her abilities in science and her technical knowledge the show rarely features any scientific basis for her inventions and many take on a fantastic amount of power or extremely exaggerated function.

Characters

• Tracey McBean: The titular character Voice by Roslyn Oades
• Shamus Wong: Tracey's best friend
• The McConnelly Bros.: Antagonists
• Jim McConnelly: Voice by Akmal Saleh
• Megan McBean: Tracey's little sister Voice by Meaghan Davies (final series)
• Mr. & Mrs. McBean: Tracey's parents
• Gordon McBean: Tracey's brother.
• Laszlo: Tracey's rival.
• Morris and Sandy: Tracey's cat and dog.
• Mrs Carmody: Tracey's teacher.
• Mr Longbottom: The school principal.
• Shamus family: He has three older brothers and a father. It is unknown if he has a mother.

Episode list

1. "Stretching Machine" & "Family Power"
2. "Gordon the King" & "Lost Thing Finder"
3. "Mom's Birthday" & "Multiplication"
4. "Pocket Money" & "School Camp"
5. "Brain Machine" & "Local Weather"
6. "Stage Fright" & "Pink Monster"
7. "Invisible Megan" & "The Great Race"
8. "Fancy Dress" & "Rainbow"
9. "Robo Tracey" & "Horsing Around"
10. "Zoom Boots" & "Bugs"
11. "Finding the Beat" & "Gordon's Bed"
12. "Gordon's Makeover" & "Ultimate Jungle Gym"
13. "Fallout" & "Freckle Frenzy"
14. "Sherlock Tracey" & "Bad Luck Lee"
15. "Bald Bob" & "Marble Mania"
16. "Election" & "The Vegetable That Cried Wolf"
17. "World Record" & "Gentleman Jim"
18. "Big Things" & "The McConnelly Cousin"
19. "13" & "Anti-Shamus"
20. "Teddys" & "Galaxy Blazers"
21. "Party On" & "Dirt Magnet"
22. "Time Skip" & "Lights, Camera, Action"
23. "Surfbuster" & "Zoo Story"
24. "Fairy Tales" & "Swap"
25. "A Trifling Master" & "On Ice"
26. "Go!, Gordon!, Go!" & "Lost Muse"
27. "Overdue" & "Jim In Charge"
28. "Stuck On You" & "Jurassic Tracey"
29. "Jim's Curse" & "Away"
30. "Clowning Around" & "Big Nick"
31. "Socks" & "To The Top"
32. "Boss Tracey" & "Where The Wind Blows Tracey"
33. "Rubbish" & "Wild Times"
34. "Come Back Kitty" & "Remote Control"
35. "Quiz Show" & "Radio Jim"
36. "Mystery Girl" & "Of Lice And Tracey"
37. "Escape" & "Game On"
38. "The Makeover" & "Inner Beauty"

Awards

• 2002 Australian Writers’ Guild Awgie Award, Children’s Television category - winner.
• 2003 Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Children's Program - winner.
• 2005 Australian Writers’ Guild Awgie Award - winner.

External links

• Tracey McBean at IMDb
• Tracey McBean | australianscreen | National Film and Sound Archive | Australia