''Avenger Penguins'' is a British

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

produced by

Cosgrove Hall Films Cosgrove Hall Films (also known as Cosgrove Hall Productions) was an English animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall; its headquarters was in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was once a major producer of childr ...

and

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

in 1993, and animated by both Alfonso Productions, a Spanish-based animation studio also responsible for bringing Cosgrove Hall's shows ''

Count Duckula ''Count Duckula'' is a British children's animated comedy horror television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall Films and produced by Thames Television as a spin-off from '' Danger Mouse'', a series in which an early version of the ...

'', '' Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime'', ''

Fantomcat ''Fantomcat'' is a British animated series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films. It was first broadcast in 1995, and was animated by Alfonso Productions, a Spanish animation studio also responsible for animating and bringing Cosgrove Hall's shows '' ...

'', ''

Sooty's Amazing Adventures ''Sooty's Amazing Adventures'' is a short-lived animated spin off series of the popular puppet show ''Sooty''. In this incarnation of the famous bear, he is a full bodied bear free from the puppeteer's hand. Setting and location The gang l ...

'' and ''

The Foxbusters ''The Foxbusters'' is a British animated TV series very loosely based on the Dick King-Smith book ''The Foxbusters''. It was made by Cosgrove Hall, and consists of two series of thirteen 11-minute episodes each, made between 1999 and 2000. The ...

'' to life, and in-house by Cosgrove Hall themselves. It aired originally on

Children's ITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

and was originally going to be called ''Hell's Penguins'', although was it renamed out of concern for how the religious audience in the US would respond. 26 episodes aired from 1993 to 1994. The show has the distinction of being the last Cosgrove Hall cartoon to be animated using hand-painted animation cels, as all 2D animated series from the studio thereafter would use computers for the ink and paint process; with the animation, drawings scanned and then digitally colored. This was the first major Cosgrove Hall carton without the aid of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

who had lost their ITV franchise at the end of 1992. The show was instead distributed on the ITV network by Cosgrove Hall's local regional TV company Granada instead. The entire series was released on a three-disc DVD box set in March 2006 by Delta Leisure Group PLC.

Influences

As with most Cosgrove Hall cartoons, the series poked fun at the popular concepts of having creatures performing inhuman action feats and stunts in an animated medium, made popular by the then enormously successful ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' franchise. The core of the show's theme is coincidentally similar to ''

Biker Mice from Mars ''Biker Mice from Mars'' is an American science fiction action animated series created by Rick Ungar. The series premiered in syndication the week of September 19, 1993. It consists of three seasons of 65 episodes, with the final episode airing ...

''.

Details

The story revolves around three bike-riding Penguins that inhabit Big City, uniting to protect it and its citizens from the evil Caractacus P. Doom, an insane and reclusive criminal scientist. The Penguins attempt to prevent Doom's schemes but find themselves often hampered by their own miscommunicating and occasional scraps with other biker gangs infesting Big City, such as The Stink Brothers, a canine squad of Hell's Angels. The cast, like '' Danger Mouse'', ''

'' and '' Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime'' had with

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector J ...

, boasted a star talent in a major role, this time in the form of American comedian

Mike McShane Michael McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British television show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream ( ...

as the Penguin's un-coordinated but brash leader Marlon, as well as the villainous Doom. To show how the series was mocking the often rushed animation style of the original TMNT series, two supporting characters are known as "The Badly Drawn Brothers" were always left with the design construction lines still showing out of deliberate neglect. Pop culture references were found in abundance in many of the episodes and in the characters. Doom himself is patterned on an elderly

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, Harry Slime (who talks like

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

) in the meantime is based somewhat on Harry Lime, a character from the movie ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), ...

''. The Season 2 episode, ''"The 23rd Century"'' also served as a parody of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', and of science fiction in general.

Voice cast

*Marlon:

*Rocky:

Rob Rackstraw Robert Rackstraw (born 31 October 1965) is a British voice actor who has worked in various animated films, television shows and video games. Career Rackstraw has an extensive voiceover career over 20 years. He voiced the main villain Pew in ' ...

*Bluey:

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbe ...

*Bella: Jimmy Hibbert *Caractacus P. Doom: Mike McShane *Harry Slime: Jimmy Hibbert *Various other characters: Mike McShane, Rob Rackstraw, Jimmy Hibbert and

Lorelei King Lorelei King is an American actress, screenwriter and development executive who has been based in the United Kingdom since 1981. She has narrated audiobooks, acted in radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and appeared on television. Early life King spe ...

. *Theme song vocalist:

Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. ...

Episodes

The transmission dates come from ''The Guardian'' and Kaleidoscope.

Series 1 (1993–1994)

Series 2 (1994)

DVD and VHS releases

DVD releases

The entire series was released on a three-disc DVD box set in March 2006 by Delta Entertainment.

Complete set

Individual episodes

VHS releases

During the show's original run, ''Avenger Penguins'' episodes were released on 3 VHS titles from Thames Video and Arena Home Entertainment, often in a different sequence than that when televised. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, there were six videos from Reel Entertainment releasing all the episodes of series 1 and one episode of series 2. Each of them contained 2 episodes.

International broadcasts

* Chile **

Megavision MegaVision is an American company that manufactures high-end digital photographic equipment. It was founded in 1983 to create a state-of-the-art image processing computer. MegaVision was the first company to produce a digital camera back for sale, ...

(1994–1996) ** Canal 13 (1995–2001) ** UCV Television (1997–1998) * Australia **

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

(1995–1997) ** 7Two (2009–2011) **

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

* Sweden **

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

* Ireland ** TV3 (1998–2000) * South Africa **

SABC2 SABC 2 is a South African family public television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). SABC 2 broadcasts programming in English, Sepedi, Afrikaans, Venda, and Tsonga. As of August 2018, the channel started broad ...

* Singapore ** Channel 5 (1995–1996) * Location Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia **

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

(2001–2002) * United Arab Emirates **

Dubai 33 Dubai Channel 33 (originally branded as Ch33) was a national television channel transmitting terrestrially out of Dubai in English, targeting the expat community in the U.A.E. It was founded in 1977. Up until the late 1980s, it was a 12-hour channe ...

* New Zealand ** TV2 (1995–1996) * Malaysia ** TV1 (1996–1999) * Israel **

Arutz HaYeladim Arutz HaYeladim ( he, ערוץ הילדים, The Children's Channel; Formerly: Arutz Shesh (ערוץ 6) ''channel 6'') is an Israeli youngster cable television channel owned by RGE, through subsidiary NOGA Communications Limited. It was one of ...

* Poland **

TVP Regionalna TVP3 (formerly TVP Regionalna, known also as Regionalna Trójka or Program 3 Telewizji Polskiej) is a Polish TV channel, run by the public broadcaster, TVP and dedicated to the country's regions. It has regional branches in most of the major Pol ...

* Japan **

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

* Germany **

BFBS The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselve ...

** SSVC Television * Iceland **

BBC Prime BBC Prime was the BBC's general entertainment TV channel in Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Asia Pacific from 30 January 1995 until 11 November 2009, when it was replaced by BBC Entertainment. Launch BBC Prime was launched at 19: ...

(1995–1996) * Hong Kong **

TVB Pearl TVB Pearl is a terrestrial television channel in Hong Kong owned by Television Broadcasts Limited. Established on 19 November 1967, it shares headquarters with TVB's other properties at TVB City at 77 Chun Choi Street in Tseung Kwan O Industr ...

(1995) * Thailand ** IBC7 * Zimbabwe **

ZBC TV ZBC TV, also known as ZTV, is Zimbabwe's public free to air television network that is fully owned and operated by the state broadcaster. History In the country, television was introduced on 15 November 1960, making it the second country after N ...

* Kenya ** KBC

References

External links

Toonhound's entry on Avenger Penguins
*{{IMDb title, id=0481434, title=Avenger Penguins 1993 British television series debuts 1994 British television series endings 1990s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series by FremantleMedia Kids & Family Television shows produced by Granada Television Television series by Cosgrove Hall Films Animated television series about penguins