Zoboomafoo

Zoboomafoo is a live-action/animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS from January 25, 1999, to November 21, 2001. After the original run on public television, reruns were shown on PBS Kids Sprout until 2012. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin Kratt), it features a talking Coquerel's sifaka lemur named Zoboomafoo, performed by Canadian puppeteer Gord Robertson (who had also puppeteered on Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock), and mainly portrayed by a lemur named Jovian, along with a collection of returned animal guests.

Production

Zoboomafoo was produced by PBS Kids, CINAR Corporation (now folded into WildBrain), and the Kratt brothers' Earth Creatures company. Paragon Entertainment Corporation, who previously worked on Kratts' Creatures, was slated to be involved with Zoboomafoo before being replaced by CINAR.

Partial filming for the series took place on location at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina. The claymation segments were filmed at a studio in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Although the last new episode aired on PBS Kids in November 2001, many PBS stations continued to rerun Zoboomafoo episodes in syndication through 2009. Select stations aired reruns as late as 2017. In addition, Sprout aired reruns until February 2012. The show was broadcast in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Middle East, and India.

After the series ended, in 2003, the Kratt Brothers began another series titled Be the Creature on the National Geographic Channel. In 2011, they created the animated series Wild Kratts, which currently airs on PBS Kids and TVOntario.

Jovian (a captive Coquerel's sifaka housed at the Duke Lemur Center) portrayed Zoboomafoo in the live-action segments (with his parents Nigel and Flavia sometimes serving as stand-ins). On November 10, 2014, he died of kidney failure in his home at the age of 20.

Cast

File:KrattBrothers.jpg

Martin and Chris Kratt

• Chris Kratt as himself
• Martin Kratt as himself
• Jovian and Gord Robertson as Zoboomafoo
• Samantha Tolkacz as Jackie (Season 1)
• Genevieve Farrell as Amy (Season 2)

Segments

• Zoboomafoo Theme Song
• The Kratt Brothers Arrive, Calling for Zoboo, and Snacktime
• The Mystery Animal (Song: "Who Could It Be?")
• Zobooland Story #1
• Mystery Animal Leaves (Song: "I Feel Different")
• Duck/Animal Helpers with Jackie/Amy
• A Journey to Visit Animals (Song: "Going to the Closet")
• Exploring the Wild and Seeing Animals
• Back to Animal Junction and Another Mystery Animal
• Zobooland Story #2
• Ending Theme: Animal Friends
• Zoboo and Kratt Brothers Leave Animal Junction
• Kids Introducing Their Pets
• Meeting Animals Disclaimer (PBS and Treehouse TV airings only, shown after the credits in the latter)
• Jokes From Zoboomafoo (PBS airings only)
• End Credits

Awards and nominations

Zoboomafoo received the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series and a Parents' Choice Award for Spring 2001 and Silver Honor for Fall 2001.

Other media

There are also several video games for the PC based on Zoboomafoo, where children learn the alphabet and animals that correlate to each letter. Some of the letters have interactive games to go with them, such as a coloring page.

External links

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