''Astro Farm'' is a British

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

animated in

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

. It featured the adventures of the Foxwoods, a small family who work on an asteroid, which is covered in

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

. ''Astro Farm'' was produced by

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay animat ...

for

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

, and was first broadcast on

CITV 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 ...

in 1992.

Synopsis

The main action takes place on an asteroid dedicated to farming. The Foxwoods live in a small cottage with a barn nearby. Daisy, the cow lives in a separate farm. The atmosphere is artificial and is controlled by the weather machine in the cottage. The Gorps live on a nearby asteroid known as 'Gorpdale' which is dark and wet. The principal characters are Sam; Sam's wife Lizzie; their son, Tom; Dinko, a dog; Daisy, the cow and blue chickens called Clucks; featuring the Gorps, Splodger and Biff, two miscreants who steal food and cause trouble at the farm.

Episodes

Series 1 1992

# Wacky Weather (11 September 1992) # Flying Dinko (18 September 1992) # The Well (25 September 1992) # Moo Flu (2 October 1992) # Astro Dragon (9 October 1992) # Butterfly (16 October 1992) # Disappearing Bubbles (23 October 1992) # The Big Sneeze (30 October 1992) # The Tomato Competition (6 November 1992) # Barn Dance (13 November 1992) # The Black Hole Mole (20 November 1992) # Training Dinko (27 November 1992) # The Surprise (4 December 1992)

Series 2 1993

# Biff Builds A Rocket (15 October 1993) # Cluck Soup (22 October 1993) # Holiday (29 October 1993) # King Splodger (5 November 1993) # Lizzie's Quiet Day (12 November 1993) # Pumpkin (19 November 1993) # Seeing Double (26 November 1993) # Shrinking Machine (26 November 1993) # Solar Wind (3 December 1993) # Wild martian Tiger (10 December 1993) # Wishing Well (17 December 1993)

Series 3 1994

# All Aboard! (13 October 1994) # Astrodale Farm (20 October 1994) # Bathtime (27 October 1994) # Biff's Baby (3 November 1994) # Crow Twins (10 November 1994) # Dial G For Gorpdale (17 November 1994) # Magic Onions (24 November 1994) # Spooked! (1 December 1994) # Super Tom (8 December 1994)

Series 4 1995

# 1, 2, 3, Pull! (28 September 1995) # A Mole in One (5 October 1995) # Biff, Do Your Best! (12 October 1995) # Cowboy Tom (19 October 1995) # Dragon Moon (26 October 1995) # Futile Attraction (2 November 1995) # Pied Piper of Gorpdale (9 November 1995) # Slimcurd, Slimcurd, Everywhere! (16 November 1995) # Splodger, The Spider (23 November 1995) # That Takes the Biscuit! (30 November 1995)

Series 5 1996

# Lucky Dip (2 October 1996) # Mousequake (9 October 1996) # Pigs Might Fly (16 October 1996) # Poultry in Motion (23 October 1996) # Spaced-Out Splodger (30 October 1996) # Sparks Fly! (6 November 1996) # Splodger's About! (13 November 1996) # Surprise!, Surprise! (20 November 1996) # To Catch a Thief (27 November 1996) # Tom and the Beanstalk (4 December 1996)

Re-airings

The series was repeated on CITV until 1996. It was then aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

in 1997. Nickelodeon only aired the first series, as that was the only one remastered by CINAR when they purchased FilmFair London in 1996 and remastered the studio's shows.

Home media

In the United Kingdom, in 1992 by

Pickwick Video ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...

originally released two VHS tapes of the series, containing Series 1 episodes. Those were reissued in 1995 by Carlton Home Entertainment.

UK VHS releases

* Pickwick (1992) * Carlton Home Entertainment (1995)

External links

Astro Farm
at Toonhound. *. {{FilmFair 1990s British animated television series 1990s British children's television series 1992 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings British children's animated science fantasy television series Clay animation television series English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Nick Jr. original programming Fictional farms Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment Television series by FilmFair Television series by DHX Media Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Central Independent Television