''Rocky and the Dodos'' is a

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 ...

animated television series seen 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 1998 and 1999. The show was animated 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 created by Isabell Mills and Shanii Novak. Rocky And The Dodos aired on then-new channel Toons & Tunes (later renamed Pop) in 2003.

Premise

The series focuses on a group of anthropomorphic dodos who live on a remote, rocky island. The action rarely moves away from it. Although the series is recognisably set in the modern day, with aeroplanes and electricity, the island is seemingly unknown to man. Various pieces of man-made detritus, such as household appliances, foodstuffs and furniture, regularly wash up on the island, and often play a central role in episode plots. The dodos have only the vaguest notion of any life away from their island, referring to everything away from the immediate vicinity as 'the beyond', and refer to the semi-mythical beings which populate it as 'Fartians'.

Characters

Rocky - A young male dodo who lives in a cave with Elvis. He is good-natured, impressionable and always eager for adventure, though Elvis' antics sometimes cause more trouble than he can comfortably handle. Elvis - A bizarre bird who lives with Rocky. It is not made clear how they first met. Elvis resembles a cross between a penguin and a blue-footed booby, though has a long flexible tongue; it is never made clear exactly what species he is (indeed he seems not to know himself). He has an outrageous, excitable manner, and is inclined to cause chaos and mayhem at every opportunity. He is, however, more intelligent than most of the dodos, and enjoys playing tricks on them if he gets the chance. Bill - The rather vain and slightly camp dodo who owns and operates the Loose Juice Bar on the island, where he creates popular (but odd) cocktails. He has a large, prominent

quiff The quiff is a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 1950s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk. It was born as a post-war reaction to the short and strict haircuts for men. The hairstyle was a staple in the British 'Teddy Boy' m ...

of which he is inordinately proud. Wonda - The wife of Bill. She has orange, frizzy hair and wears a necklace of seashells. She is probably (at least in comparison with the others), the cleverest of the dodos, regularly alluding to the words and actions of the 'ancient dodos', and sometimes acts as the group's de facto leader or organiser should a situation require one. Tantra - A young female dodo who has an appearance and mannerism modeled on punk subculture, with her hair dyed bright red and her beak painted in bright colours. She wears a bath-chain (complete with plug) on the end of her beak. She is friendly with Elvis (even replacing Rocky in their cave in one episode), but seems to spend most of her time alone. Astra - A deeply scatterlogical and eccentric female dodo who speaks with an upper-class English accent and lives in the uppermost cave on the island (accessible by a lift seen in the title-sequence). She is obsessed with studying the various objects from 'the beyond' which wash up on the island's shores, and working towards making contact with the 'Fartians'. For all her scholarly airs, she is not very intelligent, and generally misidentifies the things she discovers, thinking for example, that a

clothes horse The term 'clothes horse' is used to refer to a portable frame upon which wet laundry is hung to dry by evaporation. The frame is usually made of wood, metal or plastic. It is a cheap low-tech piece of laundry equipment, as opposed to a clothes d ...

is a skeleton, and that a rubber duck is alive. Dougan - A lazy and less-than-bright

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...

who lives at the island's rubbish-dump. Bjorn - An affable Swedish-accented puffin who regularly visits the island. Owing to his ability to fly, he has a far better understanding of 'the beyond' than the dodos. The Limpets - A large, unspecified number of limpets which live both around and on the island. They move much quicker than real limpets, and have prominent eyes on the tops of their shells. Although they do not speak, they have considerable intelligence. They rarely play an important role in stories, but are vital to the island's smooth (as much as this is possible) operation, as they provide power to the various appliances by running in devices which resemble large

hamster wheel A hamster wheel or running wheel is an exercise device used primarily by hamsters and other rodents, but also by other cursorial animals when given the opportunity. Most of these devices consist of a runged or ridged wheel held on a stand by a ...

List of episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Release

On 13 January 2003, Cinema Club and Granada Media released 2 DVDs and videos of Rocky and the Dodos, one with Episodes 1–6, and one with Episodes 7–12. So far, the final episode of Series 1 and all of Series 2 have not been released in the UK, but some episodes from Series 2 were released on video in Australia by

ABC Video 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 ...

and in Germany by VCL.

References

External links

*
Toonhoundbbfc entry from 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocky And The Dodos 1998 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series ITV children's television shows English-language television shows British stop-motion animated television series Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Central Independent Television 1990s British animated television series Television series by Cosgrove Hall Films Animated television series about birds