The Adventures of Blinky Bill
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''The Adventures of Blinky Bill'' is an Australian
animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, 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 ...
based on
Dorothy Wall Dorothy Wall (12 January 1894 – 21 January 1942) was a New Zealand-born writer and illustrator of children's fiction books. She is most famous for creating Blinky Bill, an anthropomorphic koala who was the central character in her books ''B ...
's books about
Blinky Bill Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala and children's fictional character created by author and illustrator Dorothy Wall. The character of Blinky first appeared in Brooke Nicholls' 1933 book, ''Jacko – the Broadcasting Kookaburra'', which ...
, and is a sequel series to the 1992 film '' Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala''. The series is produced by the
Yoram Gross Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 192621 September 2015) was a Polish-born, Australian producer of children's and family entertainment. He was known for his adaptation of children's characters from books and films, and best known for the produc ...
companies: Yoram Gross Film Studios (from 1993 to 1995) and Yoram Gross-EM.TV (from 2004 to 2005), with the main co-production of
EM.TV ''Sport1 Medien AG'' (known as Constantin Medien AG until January 2020) is a media company based in Ismaning near Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. W ...
and WDR. All three seasons of the series and the TV movie were animated overseas by Colorland Animation Productions Co., Ltd. in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
. Set in Greenpatch, a fictional Australian bushland town, the series presents stories through the activities and misadventures of Blinky Bill, as well as his family and friends.


Series


Season 1 (''The Adventures of Blinky Bill'', 1993)

In the first season of ''The Adventures of Blinky Bill'' (1993, 26 episodes), Blinky Bill and his friends rebuild the buildings and the community in Greenpatch, following its destruction by humans. They also come to terms with their new neighbours, the ill-famed Dingo family. The season first aired on
ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...
in 1993.
Yoram Gross Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 192621 September 2015) was a Polish-born, Australian producer of children's and family entertainment. He was known for his adaptation of children's characters from books and films, and best known for the produc ...
(with his first studios Yoram Gross Film Studios) co-produced the first series with: EM.Entertainment (Germany), WDR/ ARD (Germany),
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 ...
(Australia), and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
(UK).


Season 2 (''Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion'', 1995)

In the second season of ''Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion'' (1995, 26 episodes), Blinky Bill and his friends become lost while on a school excursion in the bush. Finding their way home across different parts of Australia, they have many adventures helping out other animals in need, including a crocodile, penguins, and farm and circus animals. The second season was a Yoram Gross Film Studios co-production with EM.Entertainment, WDR/ ARD and VIDEAL of Germany, as well as the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
. It was aired on
ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...
in Australia.


Season 3 (''Blinky Bill'', 2004)

In season 3 (alternatively known as ''Blinky Bill’s Extraordinary Balloon Adventure'' and ''Blinky Bill's Around the World Adventures'' in marketing), Blinky Bill, Nutsy, and Flap travel around the world in a hot air balloon that takes them on exciting adventures being chased by two humans named Basil and Cyril who are the Circus Bros. The animals he rescued were: Slippery, Leo, Ling-Ling, Tico, Yoyo, and Penelope (who originally works for the Circus Bros.). They went to
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
, the African plains, China, the
Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
, India and
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. The season aired on 10 June 2004 on the
Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
. The third series was a Yoram Gross-EM.TV co-production with
EM.TV ''Sport1 Medien AG'' (known as Constantin Medien AG until January 2020) is a media company based in Ismaning near Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. W ...
(Germany), WDR (Germany),
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 ...
(Australia), and Wavery (Netherlands).


Spin-offs

Two spin-off
pilot episodes A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
, ''Flap's Family'' and ''Flap's Island'', both following the story of supporting character Flap, were developed by
Yoram Gross Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 192621 September 2015) was a Polish-born, Australian producer of children's and family entertainment. He was known for his adaptation of children's characters from books and films, and best known for the produc ...
with the assistance of the
Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...
and the
New South Wales Film and Television Office ---> Screen NSW, formerly known as the New South Wales Film and Television Office, or FTO, and before that the New South Wales Film Corporation, is a brand name that is part of Create NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales that is re ...
in 1996, but both were not picked up.


TV Movie (''Blinky Bill's White Christmas'', 2005)

In 2005 a
television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
entitled ''Blinky Bill’s White Christmas'' was produced by Yoram Gross-EM.TV, with the co-production of WDR (Germany). The telemovie first aired on the
Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
on 24 December 2005. Its theme song, "Christmas in Australia", was performed by
Christine Anu Christine Anu (born 15 March 1970) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She gained popularity with the cover song release of the Warumpi Band's song " My Island Home". Anu has been nominated for 17 ARIA Awards. Early life Anu was bo ...
. In the Philippines, the special was aired across two parts on
GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
on 1 and 2 December 2020.


Characters


Soundtracks

* ''Blinky Bill and Friends Singing Songs Based On the TV Series'' (1994) * ''Blinky Bill and his "Extraordinary" Christmas Sing-Along!'' (1999) * ''Don and Blinky's Outback Adventure - The Lost Cooee'' (2002)


Video games

* ''Blinky Bill's Ghost Cave'' (1996) * ''Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Balloon Adventure'' (1997) * ''Blinky Bill and the Magician'' (1998) * ''Blinky Bill's Play & Learn'' (1999) * ''Blinky Bill's Cartoon Maker'' (2001)


Home Media Releases


VHS releases

* ''Blinky Bill's Favourite Café'' (1994) * ''Blinky Rescues the Budgie'' (1994) * ''Blinky and the Red Car'' (1995) * ''Detective Blinky'' (1995) * ''Blinky Bill Down On the Farm'' (1996) * ''Blinky Bill and the Lost Puppy'' (1996) * ''Sing A Song with Blinky Bill'' (1997) * ''Blinky Bill and the Polar Bears'' (1998) * ''Blinky Remembers Nutsy's Birthday'' (1998) * ''Blinky Bill's Holiday'' (1998) * ''Blinky Bill and the Blue Mystery'' (1999) * ''Blinky Bill Goes Camping'' (2000) * ''Blinky Bill and the Magician'' (2002) * ''Blinky Bill and the Winter's Tale'' (2002) * ''Mayor Blinky Bill'' (2003)


DVD releases

* ''Blinky Bill to the Rescue'' (2015) * ''Blinky Bill's Red Car'' (2015) * ''Blinky Saves Granny's Glasses'' (2015) * ''Detective Blinky'' (2016) * ''Blinky Bill and the Strange Koala'' (2017) * ''Blinky Bill's Treasure Hunt'' (2017)


Miscellaneous releases

* ''ABC For Kids Featuring Banana Holiday and Lots of Other Great Songs'' (1994) * ''ABC For Kids Bumper Collection'' (1999)


Forest industry controversy

The theme of the first series carried a strong anti-woodchip message, with the second line saying "Save us from that woodchip mill", together with scenes of forest destruction. There were also obvious environmental messages in most episodes. Some forest industry groups lobbied the
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 ...
arguing that the opening scene showed illegal wood chipping, which was not fair to the timber industry. In the following two series, these song lyrics and the opening credits sequence were different (the line in the theme became "You'll never catch him standing still"), reflecting the change in storylines and locations.Blinky Bill’s Fire Brigade (1992) curator's notes on ASO – Australia's audio and visual heritage online
/ref>


Reception

The Adventures of Blinky Bill received generally positive reviews.


References


External links


''The Adventures of Blinky Bill''
at
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion''
at IMDb
''Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Balloon Adventure''
at IMDb
''Blinky Bill's White Christmas''
at IMDb

at Big Cartoon Database

at Big Cartoon Database
''Blinky Bill's White Christmas''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures Of Blinky Bill, The Blinky Bill Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Seven Network original programming 1993 Australian television series debuts 2004 Australian television series endings Australian children's animated adventure television series Television series about koalas Australian television shows based on children's books 1990s Australian animated television series 2000s Australian animated television series
Blinky Bill Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala and children's fictional character created by author and illustrator Dorothy Wall. The character of Blinky first appeared in Brooke Nicholls' 1933 book, ''Jacko – the Broadcasting Kookaburra'', which ...
Talking animals in fiction English-language television shows