Animalia is an animated children's television series based on the 1986 picture book of the same name by illustrator Graeme Base. The series premiered on Network Ten in Australia on November 11, 2007, airing two seasons before ending on November 7, 2008.
Plot[]
The series tells the story of two human children, Alex and his friend Zoe, who stumble into the magical library which transports them to the animal-inhabited world of Animalia. Strange events have undermined the Animalian civilization, and Alex and Zoe join forces with their new friends G'Bubu the gorilla and Iggy the iguana to save Animalia from evil and comical villains.
Characters[]
Humans[]
- Alex (voiced by Brooke Mikey Anderson) is a natural artist and is hardly ever seen without a sketchbook and pencil. He keeps a cool level head and is rather enthusiastic with a sense of adventure; he's also athletic and can jump very well. His ability to see forgotten portals that can transport anyone anywhere in Animalia is what makes him special.
- Zoe (voiced by Katie Leigh) is a sassy and smart-mouthed but benevolent and jolly girl. Zoe met Alex by accident where she followed him to the world of Animalia. Despite a rocky start, she found a friend in Alex, who she refers to as "Sketch Boy." She is a very good storyteller, as evidenced in "Over and Beyond".
- Stanley is the Librarian of the Metro Library. He is Livingstone's human counterpart, and a close friend to him.
- Emma is Zoe's friend. Although she's not shown on-screen, she is heard in Zoe's PDA when she's calling her. Emma is heard in "Goodbye, We Must Be Staying". She often doesn't believe Zoe that Animalia exists.
Animalians[]
Note: In a nod to the book, the names of all the Animalians begin with the first letter of their species name.
- G'Bubu (voiced by Chris Hobbs) is a green gorilla who lives in his treehouse home with his best friend Iggy. Still a teenager himself, G'Bubu is fun-loving and enjoys monkeying around. Despite this, he still has a sense of acumen, be it about Animalia or his family tree. He was shown to have a fear of frogs in "The Mists of Time", but conquered it when Alex, Zoe and Iggy were eaten by giant frogs.
- Iggy (voiced by Robert Mark Klein) is a Castilian-accented iguana with a slightly excitable personality. He thinks himself to be bigger than anyone else, but always gets ahead of himself. He and G'Bubu were the first to befriend Alex and Zoe when they first arrived and are always on hand to help their new friends with any problem. He also has romantic feelings for Zoe. Later in the series, his voice has been changed. In "Don Iguana", he tries to prove his bravery to Zoe by disguising himself as Don Iguana, D'Avenger of Animalia. He can camouflage and change the color of his body due to being part chameleon via his grandfather.
- Livingstone T. Lion (voiced by Chris Hobbs) is the youthful lion king of Animalia and the Keeper of the Core. He is one of the main protagonists of the TV series. He has a vast knowledge of the Core itself and just about everything and everyone in Animalia. He can be gentle, helpful and is always up for a game, but sometimes he is rather self-deprecating, wondering whether he can manage to bring Animalia back on track with its unstable Core.
- Reenie (voiced by Peta Johnson) is a Scottish-accented black rhinoceros. She works at Animalia's Great Library and helps Livingstone with keeping the Core stable whenever something goes wrong. Almost as smart as Livingstone and just as friendly, Reenie has a big heart with room for everyone, but also claims to have a "love friend" named Rumble.
- Allegra (voiced by Kate Higgins) is a teenage American alligator who lives in the swamps. Allegra is a self-loving and snappy creature who is very protective of her land. She dreams of being a singer, but the others find that unlikely due to her terrible voice, except for her two gal pals, Bitzy and Snitzy, who constantly follow Allegra and admire her thoughts. Her singing improved when Zoe taught her in "Animalia's Talent-o-Topia" and she's been better ever since. Her catchphrase is "Dang-a-lang!", which she utters at some point in almost every episode.
- Tyrannicus (voiced by Dean O'Gorman) is a sly smooth-talking Bengal tiger who serves as the main antagonist. Tyrannicus feels he should be ruler of Animalia rather than Livingstone. He finds ways of getting ahead by the use of various get-rich-quick schemes. He despises Alex and Zoe, who he refers to as "stink bugs" and especially wants to get rid of them. He is known also trying to get G'Bubu and Iggy out of Animalia. He is assisted by Fuchsia. Tyrannicus ended up doing the right thing working together with Alex and Zoe stopping the Creeper after being double-crossed.
- Fuchsia (voiced by Katie Leigh) is a French red fox with pink fur and Tyrannicus' assistant. Always sent to help him arrange or develop plans, she is very intelligent. She serves as a secondary antagonist in the TV series. Fuchsia is often reluctant to help Tyrannicus carry out his plans. She respects her boss, even though she often seems amused by Tyrannicus' actions. She also gets slightly annoyed at him.
- Elni (voiced by Peta Johnson) and Erno (voiced by Chris Hobbs) are the two friendly African forest elephants who run the Elephants Eatery, the local restaurant for all Animalians. Elni's warm personality makes her lovable by all, while Erno's cooking is something worth trying, despite his tendency to panic.
- Herry & Horble (known as the "Horrible Hogs") (voiced by Dean O'Gorman and Robert Mark Klein) are Cockney-accented warthogs who are a little crass at times. They are a duo of criminals. They are mostly seen riding on their motorcycles, specially equipped with loud speakers that play music wherever they go. Most of the time, they normally did deeds or followed orders for either Allegra or Tyrannicus. Sometimes, they were arrested and jailed.
- Melba & Melford are the main news reporters on Animalia News, broadcasting all of the current news and happenings on Fluttervision. Melba is more level-headed and calm, whereas Melford is slightly more neurotic and rather slow thinking Klein)
- Zee and Zed are two plains zebras who ride in their large zeppelin, giving the low-down on Animalia from a bird's eye view. While Zed has a level head on his shoulders, Zee is very excitable and sometimes can't stop herself talking excitedly.
- Bitsy & Snitzy are Allegra's two female friends who do whatever she says. They're the only ones who respect Allegra's singing before Zoe taught her how.
- Victor & Verbal are a vulture comedy double act: Victor, a Jewish sounding comedian, and his wisecracking partner, Verbal, who acts as his ventriloquist dummy for the bit. They're hugely popular not for the fact that they're vegetarians, unlike normal vultures, but for the fact that their years of hilarious stand-ups have made them an unforgettable duo.
- Rombolt is a Black Rhino and the head boss of the Fluttervision Office.
- The Giraffe has appeared as a character in several episodes of Animalia. However the Giraffes appearances are all background and brief with no speaking lines at all, it is currently unknown what gender the Giraffe is.
- The Creeper (voiced by Joey Lotsko) is an antagonist who was once part of the Community Team until he was banished for using the secret portals to steal from the Animalians' homes. During the series' run, the form of the Creeper turns out to be a long-tailed weasel, who ended up lost in his own portals. Alex comes across him one day and, masquerading as "TC", the Creeper is freed without Alex realizing who he is. The Creeper, whose real name is Wooster Q. Weasel, plans to overthrow Animalia by taking control over the Core. The Creeper is a main character in all of his appearances, except "Iggy's Quest" because he only appeared in Iggy's nightmare. At the end of the series, he is defeated when Livingstone touches the Core, which the Creeper was still inside of, causing him to be shot out like a Core-spore, into the Wind of No Return. He was an associate of Tyrannicus early in the series.
- The Toucans (both voiced by Robert Mark Klein) are a colourful band of birds who, whenever they talk, speak only one word in every sentence. Sometimes they get the words mixed up and confuse their sentences, sometimes having disastrous results; this was especially evident in "Long Story Short".
- Butterflies – In the world of Animalia, rather than television sets, the residents watch Fluttervision. Large beautiful butterflies fly from home to home and arrange themselves as a large screen where the Animalians can watch the latest happenings from the Animalian news. They only do this for a short time as they do get worn out if watched for too long. They were seized by Tyrannicus Tiger in the episode "Butterfly Winter".
- Peter Applebottom (voiced by Chris Hobbs) is a mad gorilla scientist. He is mentioned in "Righting the Writing" by G'Bubu. He made his first appearance is "Being Peter Applebottom". Unfortunately for G'Bubu, Applebottom is from the past, and because G'Bubu got hit on the head by a bongo berry nut, he was brainwashed into thinking he's Peter Applebottom so it's true that it's his first appearance.
- Dagmont Dragon is a protagonist who captured Zee and Zed Zebra.
- Whim (voiced by Peta Johnson) is a unicorn in "Over and Beyond". She made her first appearance in "Over and Beyond". When Zoe and Iggy touched her horn, they got transferred back to Animalia, which she didn't know.
- Carmine Chameleon is Iggy's grandfather.
- Echo Elephant is Elni and Erno's daughter.
- Hope and Harmony Hogs are a pair of warthog sisters who are far more ladylike then their male kin, enjoying skipping through the jungle. They are the love interests of Herry and Horble, who they appear to like, despite briefly falling for G'Bubu and Iggy.
- Blue Cap Nut Mice
- Mail Snail is a snail who serves as the Animalian equivalent of a mailman, but is extremely slow, often taking years to get the letter to the recipient. A running gag is when the characters complain of the lateness, he replies with the words "Give me a break. It's snail mail".