''The WotWots'' is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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

show which debuted in 2005 and has since aired in several other countries worldwide. Created by

Martin Baynton Martin Baynton is a British author, illustrator, and TV producer now living in New Zealand. His children's book Jane and the Dragon (1988), has become a modern classic which has since been adapted for television and produced by Weta Workshop and ...

and Richard Taylor, the series uses a mix of live-action and computer animation to follow a pair of inquisitive, creative alien siblings as they learn about life on Earth. It currently consists of two series, produced from 2005, and a total of 78 ten-minute episodes. In 2018, spinoff series '' Kiddets'' began airing.

Plot

The show features a pair of tiny, young alien twin siblings who spend their days exploring the environment where their

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

spaceship has landed, in an effort both to learn more about Earth

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

and to try to determine what they themselves will grow up to look like. DottyWot, the smart and responsible ship's captain, spends most of her time supervising her more boisterous, fun-loving brother SpottyWot, the ship's engineer and a talented artist. Episodes are set in a zoo, at a farm, or on a beach and most often tie their discovery of an animal characteristic into their own adventures.

Production

''The WotWots'' was created and developed by children's author

in partnership with filmmaker Richard Taylor, who had previously collaborated on the TV series adaptation of Baynton's book '' Jane and the Dragon''. ''WotWots'' is produced by Pukeko Pictures, a production company founded by Baynton, Taylor, and Tania Rodger. Baynton's son Theo is the series' director, and his daughter Terri is one of the writers. The puppet-like WotWots characters are computer-animated over live-action footage by the Weta Workshop, the visual effects company founded by Taylor and Rodger, well known for its work on the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. Episodes are filmed on location at Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo and Melbourne Zoo, as well as undisclosed beach and farm regions. Since the WotWots' language consists almost entirely of the syllables "wot" and "wotty", co-creator Martin Baynton also acts as an interactive narrator for the series, serving as a translator both for the aliens' efforts to understand Earth and the human viewership trying to understand them. In the UK, the narrator is played by

Nicholas Parsons Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show '' Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' ...

, and in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

by Vladimir Press. Baynton also provides the voice for SpottyWot, while South African actress Nathalie Boltt voices DottyWot. Janet Roddick voices the WotWots' computer; she is replaced by

Fiona Lewis Fiona Lewis (born 28 September 1946) is a British actress and writer from Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; acc ...

in the UK version.

Partnership with the NZ Ministry of Health

In August 2011, it was announced by New Zealand's Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, that the WotWots would serve as ambassadors for B4 School Checks, an initiative offering a comprehensive assessment of four-year-old children's health and development.

Episodes

Series One (2009)

Series Two (2011)

Broadcast details

In addition, selected episodes from the show's first season are currently available on Netflix in the United States and episodes can be seen online on

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United S ...

's Kids TV channel(ch. 989).

Merchandise

Playskool, a toy brand of

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

, is licensed to produce the WotWots toy range, and the toys were launched on 2 September 2009. In 2011-06-11, the intellectual property and outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corporation announced it has acquired the licensing and merchandising rights to the WotWots. As part of the agreement with production company Pukeko Pictures, American Greetings Properties has signed on to represent the WotWots brand worldwide.

References

External links

*
"The WotWots" announced on Weta Workshop's website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:WotWots, The New Zealand children's animated comedy television series Animated preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series 2010s preschool education television series 2000s animated television series 2010s animated television series Television series with live action and animation 2009 New Zealand television series debuts 2011 New Zealand television series endings TVNZ 2 original programming Treehouse TV original programming Computer-animated television series English-language television shows Animated television series about children Animated television series about extraterrestrial life Animated television series about siblings