''The Toothbrush Family'' is an Australian children's animated television series featuring a group of anthropomorphic personal-care supplies. The series was first aired in 1977 until the final episode's airing in 1999.

Concept and production

Originally conceived by Marcia Hatfield of Australia as her son refused to brush his teeth, The stories were written by Marcia Hatfield, the screenplays by Al Guest and Jean Mathieson who produced and directed, creating the series at their Toronto studio Rainbow Animation. The show later returned for a second series in 1998 (which was later doubled with another animated series '' Ketchup: Cats Who Cook'') and focused on two new characters Molly and Max, along with three other characters, Susie Sponge, Flash Fluoride the toothpaste, and Countess de Comb. The theme song was sung by

Kurt Elling Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church. He sang in cho ...

. It was written by John Patterson, produced by

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...

, and directed by Craig Handleyhttp://www.thetoothbrushfamily.com/secondseries.php and produced by Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. (later Southern Star Productions),

Film Australia Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under diff ...

and

Shanghai Animation Film Studio Shanghai Animation Film Studio () also known as SAFS () is a Chinese animation studio based in Shanghai, China, as part of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation. Shanghai Animation Film Studio was officially established in April, 1957, led by pion ...

in association with Roymark Television.

Plot

They are commonly remembered from the first series, where they came to life at night when the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

shone into the bathroom. The main characters in the family were father Tom, mother Tess, the kids Tina and Toby, and Gramps. Also featured were other bathroom items: Flash Fluoride the toothpaste, Hot Rod Harry the electric toothbrush (portrayed as having wheels and a love of

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (ma ...

), Bert Brush, Cecily Comb, Nev Nailbrush, Susie Sponge, Shaggy Dog, Callie Conditioner and Sally Shampoo.

Franchise and merchandise

The Toothbrush Family expanded to include two international television series, DVDs, CDs, videos, audio cassettes, publications, EP and LP record series.

Telecast and home media

In the U.S., the show has been viewed on ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television progra ...

'', ABC Kids, Network Ten (1998 series only) and Nine Network in Australia, Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom and Ireland,

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

in Japan, YTV in Canada,

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is oriented at both young and adult people. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, originally, was o ...

in Italy,

Spacetoon ( ar, سبيستون or ) is a pan-Arab free-to-air television channel that specializes in animation and children programs. It began broadcasting on 15 March 2000 and it is headquartered in Dubai, UAE with offices in Riyadh. The channel targe ...

in Indonesia, and

Almajd Kids Al-Majd Network () is a group of general and specialized satellite television channels which includes five free-to-air channels and eight encrypted channels. The group has a strong Salafi Islamic orientation and is owned by Saudi businessman Fa ...

in Saudi Arabia. In the late 1990s, Just for Kids released the show both DVD and video. As of 2022, The show is now streaming on the premium Amazon Prime.

External links

Official site

References

Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Network 10 original programming 1977 Australian television series debuts 1998 Australian television series debuts 1999 Australian television series endings 1990s Australian animated television series Australian children's animated television series Television series by Endemol Australia Animated television series about families {{animation-tv-prog-stub