Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island

''Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island!'' (or simply ''Coconut Fred'' or ''CFFSI'') is an animated television series created by Sammy Oriti and Don Oriolo that aired for two seasons on Kids' WB from September 17, 2005, to May 27, 2006. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation with flash animation provided by Dong Yang Animation (which also did the intro), Studio B Productions, and Top Draw Animation.

This show premiered on Kids' WB! alongside ''Johnny Test'' and '' Loonatics Unleashed''.

Premise

''Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island!'' takes place on an island inhabited exclusively by fruit. The residents enjoy their own tropical paradise without a care in the world; they must share their peaceful utopia with the joyfully strange Coconut Fred, a whimsical, blissfully foolish coconut with the special ability to materialize anything he thinks about. The plot revolves around the adventures of Fred and his friends, as his boundless imagination springs to life while his friends struggle to cover up the collateral. Any conflict could range from getting a "fruit canal", to sailing off the island only to find themselves in a humongous storm.

Main characters

* Coconut Fred (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is a happy-go-lucky coconut with a strange imagination. Fred has the special ability to turn whatever he imagines into reality. He can often be heard saying, "Yay, me!" and "Now you're talking, coconut!"
* Slip & Slide D'Peel (both voiced by Eric Bauza) are hillbilly banana brothers. They are less intelligent than the rest of the cast, and often take things a little too seriously. There is no clear way of telling them apart unless Fred or another character identifies one of them. They are in a band with Fred called "Coconut Fred's All-Body Sound Band", and their music consists mainly of bodily sounds (burping, rude armpit noises, gargling, etc.).
* Bingo Cherry (voiced by Tracey Moore for the first two episodes and by Britt McKillip for the remainder of the series) is a shy and timid cherry. Bingo usually hangs out with Fred, Slip and Slide and Bunga Berry. He is easily terrified, something that Fred does not know and usually provokes.
* Mr. Mel Greenrind (voiced by Michael Donovan) is a strict watermelon. Most commonly assisted by Bingo, Mr. Greenrind routinely attempts to keep everything and everyone in order on the island with his chart of rules known as the squeaky board. A lot of the rules on the squeaky board are really nonsensical, but can be applied to Coconut Fred and his friends. Fred has a tendency to get on Mr. Greenrind's nerves and stress him out from all of his antics, though he is occasionally able to show friendliness towards the coconut (which doesn't last long).
* Wedgie (voiced by Brian Drummond) is an accident-prone lemon who works as a sailor. He ended up on Fruit Salad Island due to Fred's intervention. Wedgie spends a great deal of time talking to "Betty", the wooden figurehead. He often fabricates plans to escape from the island, all of which are foiled by Fred's antics, either directly or indirectly.
* Bunga Berry (voiced by David Kaye) is a wild strawberry who communicates exclusively in grunts and growls. Despite this, everyone is still able to understand what he is saying, and is docile enough to interact with other islanders calmly.

Recurring

* Butchy (voiced by Eric Bauza) is a gravenstein apple. He is well-known for being the island's resident troublemaker and his pride in said fact. He enjoys bullying others, especially Bingo.
* Black Berry (voiced by Brian Drummond) is Butchy's secretary. As his name describes, he is a blackberry. Butchy keeps him in his pocket. His name is a pun on the name of the BlackBerry Personal digital assistant.
* Tiffany Pears (voiced by Britt McKillip) is a famous pear singer on Fruit Salad Island. Everybody likes her music, except for Mr. Greenrind. In the episode "The Ripley Van Ripened Book of World Records", she holds the record for the most off-key singer ever to perform in public. She is a parody of singer Britney Spears.
* B.L. Tomato (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) is an outcast tomato wondering if he is a fruit or a vegetable. His most prominent role is in the Season 2 episode "Captain Nut and the Power Fruits", where he joins Blendar, Captain Nut's archenemy, and turns to the dark side with a new name, the Tomatonator.
* Rusty Candu (voiced by David Kaye) is a friend of Fred's. He is a can of fruit. His only appearances are in the intro, "Hocus Pocus Lack of Focus", "Amuse-Otel", and "Fred Rules!" (in a cameo).
* Slurpy (voiced by Michael Donovan) is a fruit bat who is bent on eating Fruit Salad Island inhabitants. He is afraid of light.
* Melonie Greenrind (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) is Mr. Greenrind's perky niece. She likes to enforce rules even more than her uncle and carries around a very noisy chalkboard.
* Vic (voiced by Garry Chalk) is an alien from Loft Lost 57 in the Sasaft Quadrant in the depths of other space who appears in "Turn on Your Nut Light" as the main antagonist. Originally planning to invade the island with his spaceship fleet, he was mistaken as a tourist to Fred and the island, and due to him and his friends playing in his ship and almost destroying it by going into black holes and ramming into asteroids, he aborted the invasion, causing Fred to crash the ship into Mr. Greenrind's sand castle cabana (they all survived the crash).
* Mrs. Plumcott (voiced by Kathleen Barr) is an elderly, small, chipper plum lady of the island. She hates Mr. Greenrind. Her catchphrase is "Oh dear."
* Dr. Bartlett (voiced by Brian Drummond impersonating Ed Wynn) is a pear dentist on Fruit Salad Island.

Reception

Despite some critics praising the animation and creativity, as well as some elements of the comedy, the series has been criticized for its often loud, over-the-top humor. Joly Herman of ''Common Sense Media'' posted a review of ''Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island'' on Disney's Go.com. The review describes the show as "the TV equivalent of sugary cereal, and nothing more", and gives the show 2 stars out of 5.

Despite numerous claims, Rob Paulsen did not regret or hate voicing Fred. He said to a fan at San Diego Comic-Con that it was just a gig that he got paid for, and by no means was he a fan but he was not mad about it. He did however state that the show was a shameless ripoff of ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Additionally, in a QnA section of the new release of "Voice Lessons", he says he did not have any problem with Coconut Fred and Bubsy.

Series overview

Episodes

Each episode was directed by Matt Danner.

Season 1 (2005)

Season 2 (2006)

References

Notes

External links

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{{Kids' WB

Kids' WB original shows
2000s American animated comedy television series
2000s American children's comedy television series
2005 American animated television series debuts
2006 American television series endings
2000s Canadian animated comedy television series
2000s Canadian children's television series
2005 Canadian television series debuts
2006 Canadian television series endings
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated comedy television series
Canadian children's animated adventure television series
Canadian children's animated comedy television series
The WB animated television series
Teletoon original programming
Television series by Warner Bros. Animation
American flash animated television series
Canadian flash animated television series
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Animated television series set on fictional islands
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