Rainbow Fish (TV series)
Rainbow Fish is a children's animated television series, produced in 1999.[2] It was adapted from the book of the same name; however, the television series does not follow the plot of the book; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates a new story with them. Some characters were added and others embellished for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called Neptune Bay (after Neptune, the god of the sea). The fish attend "The School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment, EM.TV and Sony Wonder. 52 15-minute episodes were produced. A range of VHS and DVD releases were (and still are) available in the United Kingdom.[3]
| Rainbow Fish | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Slice of Life |
| Created by | Marcus Pfister |
| Based on | The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Drew Edwards |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Blu Mankuma |
| Opening theme | "There's A Rainbow in the Water" sung by Blu Mankuma and Saffron Henderson |
| Ending theme | "There's A Rainbow in the Water" (Reprise, Instrumental) |
| Composer | Matthew McCauley |
| Country of origin | Germany United States Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Beth Stevenson |
| Editor | Wendy Cooling |
| Running time | 15 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production companies |
|
| Distributor | Sony Wonder (North America) Sunbow Entertainment (Internationally)[1] |
| Release | |
| Original network |
|
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | January 8 – December 25, 2000 |
Characters
Rainbow Fish (Rainbow): A 9-year-old proud, vibrant fish (the title character) who lives with his parents, Sol and Aqua, and sister, Ruby. He was voiced by Rhys Huber.
Sea Filly: In the first episode, Sea Filly is a 9-year-old new girl in school. She is a beautiful seahorse, though she is half mermaid, half seahorse. She eventually becomes firm friends with Rainbow Fish and Blue. She is often seen reading books. She was voiced by Chantal Strand.
Blue: Rainbow Fish's best friend, who is more down-to-earth and thoughtful than Rainbow Fish. He is a 9-year-old bluefish and has a baby sister called Turquoise. Blue is based on the little blue fish from the Rainbow Fish book series. He was voiced by Andrew Francis.
Ruby: She is Rainbow Fish's pink sister who is a teenager (12 years old). She is arrogant, bossy, self-centered and ruby-coloured. She regularly gets Rainbow Fish into trouble, only because she gets jealous, although she actually loves him, like Aqua and Sol. She was voiced by Chiara Zanni.
Sol and Aqua: Aqua is an aqua-coloured fish and is Rainbow Fish's mother. Sol is purple and is Rainbow's dad. They help their daughter and son whatever way they can and will always provide them with great courage. Sol was voiced by John Payne whilst Aqua was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Principal Gefilte: The proud Principal of the School of Fish, he is strict about behaviour. He was voiced by French Tickner.
Mrs Chips: The teacher of the school of fish who teaches history, mathematics, science, and literature. She was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Wanda the Octopus: She is the owner of the Neptune Bay fast food restaurant. She is very wise and when Rainbow Fish and his friends are down she will always give them advice. She is based on the Wise Octopus from the original book. She was voiced by Kathleen Barr.
Chomper and Stingo: The two bullies of the school of fish. They do not really commit acts of physical violence, but they can bully and tease Rainbow Fish and his friends. Chomper is a shark while Stingo is a stingray. Chomper was voiced by Christopher Gray and Stingo was voiced by Bill Switzer.
Sherman Shrimp: The smallest student of the school of fish. To him, everything looks big. He was voiced by Alex Doduk.
Sir Sword: Local swordfish, upper-class and a bit of a busybody. He is sometimes grumpy, and sometimes civil, but always seems to think he is better than everyone else. He was voiced by Colin Murdock.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original US air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rainbow Fish and the New Girl in School" | January 8, 2000 | |
| A new girl, Sea Filly (who is a mermaid-like sea-horse,) comes to Rainbow Fish's school and Rainbow and his best friend Blue, welcome her. | |||
| 2 | "Rainbow Fish Meets Wayne Grunion" | January 15, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is excited to meet his hero, renowned hockey star Wayne Grunion when he comes to town for a visit. | |||
| 3 | "Rainbow Fish Plays the Conch Shell" | January 22, 2000 | |
| In the school band, Mrs Chips gives Rainbow Fish the conch shell, the hardest instrument in the band to play. Rainbow is then forced to practice, and he does so, gradually making for a better performance at the school concert. | |||
| 4 | "Riptide" | January 29, 2000 | |
| When Rainbow Fish and his friends attempt a dangerous sport called "Riptiding", Blue is swept away on a riptide and his friends must find him before it's too late. | |||
| 5 | "Rainbow Gets an 'A"'" | February 4, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish gets a bad report card (he gets a "C"). But when he accidentally spills ice cream (from a kelp gusher milkshake) on it at Wanda's, his parents mistake the "C" grade for an "A". Rainbow must prevent them from meeting Principal Gefilte and learning the truth. For getting a "C", changing his grades, and lying that he got an "A", he is cave grounded by his parents until he gets his grades up. This means until he gets his grades up, he is "cave grounded" except for school (meaning he can only leave the house to go to school while cave grounded). | |||
| 6 | "Grandpa's Fishy Tale" | February 11, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is not enthusiastic about spending time with his grandpa while his parents are away at the store, thinking he will be bored, but when his grandpa tells him an amazing story that hides an incredible secret, Rainbow discovers that old people can be exciting after all. | |||
| 7 | "Rainbow's Dental Dilemma" | February 18, 2000 | |
| Rainbow fears visiting the dentist, but when he goes, he discovers that dentists aren't as bad as he thought they were. | |||
| 8 | "Rainbow Fish and the Pop Star" | February 25, 2000 | |
| Rainbow mistakenly brags to his friends that he knows the famous pop star, Bruce Sturgeon, which lands him in trouble and causes him to force Bruce Sturgeon himself to perform at the school. | |||
| 9 | "Sherman Shrimp" | March 3, 2000 | |
| A new student, Sherman Shrimp, comes to school and Rainbow Fish treats him badly. However, after Sherman saves Rainbow from a shipwreck, Rainbow realizes that he has been bad to Sherman all along. | |||
| 10 | "Lost in Crumbling Canyon" | March 10, 2000 | |
| Chomper, the school bully, gets lost in a canyon with Rainbow Fish, and the two opposites must work together to find their way out. | |||
| 11 | "The Golf Lesson" | March 17, 2000 | |
| Rainbow fools around with his father's golf club and breaks it, causing him to search for a new one before his father's big game with Sir Sword. | |||
| 12 | "Ruby's Adventures in Babysitting" | March 24, 2000 | |
| Ruby decides to babysit their guppy neighbors' baby, Ferdie, and says Rainbow is too irresponsible to help her. However, Ferdie turns out to be more troublesome than expected and runs away. Rainbow then finds him and Ruby apologizes for what she said. | |||
| 13 | "Sir Sword Goes Back to School" | March 31, 2000 | |
| Sir Sword needs to finish third grade, so he attends Rainbow's school, the School Of Fish. | |||
| 14 | "Rainbow de Bergerac" | April 7, 2000 | |
| Blue has a crush on Goldie, but he's too shy to ask her on a date, so Rainbow tells him what to say via a communicator made by Sea Filly. However, Chomper and Stingo soon ruin the plan. | |||
| 15 | "Big Fish on Campus" | April 14, 2000 | |
| When Blue becomes a hall monitor, he lets the power go to his head. | |||
| 16 | "Sibling Rivalry" | April 21, 2000 | |
| Blue gets a new baby sister, and he feels left out, because of the attention his mum and friends are giving to the baby. | |||
| 17 | "One Fish's Treasure" | April 28, 2000 | |
| Rainbow lines a sea-monkey bowl with his sister Ruby's magazine, ruining the magazine itself in the process. | |||
| 18 | "Project Rainbow Fish" | May 5, 2000 | |
| Rainbow learns a lesson about charity and works on a project involving just it. | |||
| 19 | "Ruby Slips In" | May 12, 2000 | |
| Ruby starts spending time with Rainbow, Blue and Sea Filly the sea horse, leading Rainbow to believe that she is trying to steal his friends. | |||
| 20 | "Working Fish" | May 19, 2000 | |
| Rainbow gets a job at the Candy Counter to earn money. | |||
| 21 | "Cecil B. Derainbow" | May 26, 2000 | |
| Rainbow takes up making movies and casts himself as the director. | |||
| 22 | "Rainbow's Pen Pal" | June 2, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's pen pal is coming to visit him and Rainbow is excited. | |||
| 23 | "Campus Current" | June 9, 2000 | |
| Sea Filly becomes the editor of the school newspaper. Unfortunately, in her enthusiasm for journalism however, she soon becomes nothing but a tabloid gossip columnist and no fish is safe from her probing and humiliating articles. Rainbow comes up with a plan that ends with Sea Filly writing a false article about Principal Gefilte and losing her job. Sea Filly learns that real journalists have a responsibility to print only what they know is true. | |||
| 24 | "Fish Alone" | June 16, 2000 | |
| Burglars break into Rainbow's house one afternoon, and ruin it. | |||
| 25 | "Rainbow Fish and the In Crowd" | June 23, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Blue start hanging out with a new clique called the High Tides, to the chagrin of Sea Filly. | |||
| 26 | "Knights of the Coral Table" | June 30, 2000 | |
| Sir Sword lends Rainbow a book that he becomes hooked on and cannot stop reading. | |||
| 27 | "Bad Luck, Ruby" | July 7, 2000 | |
| When Ruby encounters a series of unfortunate events one day, she believes that she has been cursed. | |||
| 28 | "Father's Day" | July 14, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's class has Dads' Day at school and all students' fathers are invited to describe their jobs. Rainbow is worried, as he thinks his father has a boring job. | |||
| 29 | "Prehistoric Pal" | July 21, 2000 | |
| Rainbow finds a hole in the ground that an extinct coelacanth called Carl swims out of. However, Carl spends most of his time in the modern world, trying to impress Ruby. This might be a reference to another Marcus Pfister book, called Dazzle the Dinosaur. | |||
| 30 | "May the Better Fish Win" | July 28, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Blue compete for the role of class president. They both try to impress Sea Filly in order to get her vote. | |||
| 31 | "Blue's Fishy Catch" | August 4, 2000 | |
| Blue wins the clamball championship for his school, but only because no one sees him drop the ball. | |||
| 32 | "To Catch a Thief" | August 11, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is suspicious of his sister, Ruby, when she starts acting strangely. However, it turns out, that she is just making a surprise gift for their parents. | |||
| 33 | "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" | August 18, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's mum, Aqua, invites his teacher, Mrs. Chips, to dinner, and Rainbow Fish is worried that she will act just like a teacher. | |||
| 34 | "It's a Wonderful Fish" | August 25, 2000 | |
| A glowing guardian angel fish shows Rainbow Fish the value of his lifetime. | |||
| 35 | "Moving Day" | September 1, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish fears that both his parents, Sol and Aqua, are planning to sell the house to two fish called Ret and Snapper, and so his friends attempt to make his house as much of a wreck as possible to avoid it being sold. However, Rainbow then discovers his parents were planning to build a new recreation room. | |||
| 36 | "A Romantic Dinner" | September 8, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Ruby prepare an anniversary dinner for their parents. | |||
| 37 | "The Bodyguard" | September 15, 2000 | |
| Rainbow saves a whale's life, and, in return, the whale (Leslie David Baker) becomes his bodyguard. | |||
| 38 | "Mum's Away" | September 22, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is not pleased when his mother gets a job in his school. | |||
| 39 | "How Sea Filly Got Her Groove Back" | September 29, 2000 | |
| After being teased by her classmates for not being feminine enough, Sea Filly decides to take up cheerleading, causing Blue and Rainbow to worry about her becoming a different person altogether. | |||
| 40 | "High Tide Noon" | October 6, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is embarrassed after failing to stand up to Rocko Rockfish (Alan Marriott), a bullying second grader. | |||
| 41 | "Game Girl" | October 13, 2000 | |
| After watching Rainbow and Blue play it in Shipwreck Park, Sea Filly becomes addicted to a 2000 video game called "Clam Blaster" and hardly does anything else. However, when she brings the video game to the School Of Fish one day and plays it there during a maths test with Mrs Chips, she soon realises that the game is "dumb, violent and worthless". | |||
| 42 | "There's No Business Like..." | October 20, 2000 | |
| Rainbow, Blue, and Sea Filly hear the tale of two feuding crabs who were once song-and-dance partners, and then, they all set out to bring them back together. | |||
| 43 | "Sea Filly Needs A Helping Fin" | October 27, 2000 | |
| Sea Filly gets a bad grade on a maths test and worries greatly. | |||
| 44 | "Prince Blue" | November 3, 2000 | |
| When Blue looks at his book and mistakenly thinks his ancestors were royalty, he starts behaving like a prince. | |||
| 45 | "Pool Shark" | November 10, 2000 | |
| When Chomper's cousin Slick (Macaulay Culkin), a pool-playing master, comes to Wanda's refreshment shop, he beats everyone in pool by secretly cheating. Rainbow, unaware of this at first, is in awe and decides to become his assistant, then discovers his secret. Rainbow then declares a match to determine that Chomper's relative is cheating. Rainbow then wins, and the other player leaves the shop forever. | |||
| 46 | "Halloween Under The H2O" | November 17, 2000 | |
| Rainbow tries to put Sea Filly in the Halloween spirit, then has a haunting Halloween dream, and wakes up to find that Sea Filly has scared him in his sleep. | |||
| 47 | "An Eviction Notice" | November 24, 2000 | |
| Phineas T. Gronch is planning to permanently demolish the Mollusk Reef Villas and Neptune Bay to build a shopping mall in its place. Rainbow, Blue and Sea Filly have to stop him in time. | |||
| 48 | "The Vacation" | December 1, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and his family go on a camping trip. | |||
| 49 | "Cave Mates" | December 8, 2000 | |
| Blue and Rainbow's friendship is tested when Blue comes to stay at Rainbow's house. | |||
| 50 | "Chomper, Master Thespian" | December 15, 2000 | |
| Chomper is given the lead role in the school play, but he mistakenly believes that acting is for wimps. | |||
| 51 | "Rainbow's Hiccups" | December 22, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's love of kelp gusher drinks causes him to get hiccups. It's Wanda the Octopus who eventually finds the "wild" cure. | |||
| 52 | "Santa Sword Is Coming To Town" | December 25, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish helps Sir Sword dressed as Santa Sword on Christmas Eve. | |||
Broadcast
The broadcasters are Rai 3 in Italy, TVE2 and Cartoon Network in Spain, ARD in Germany, MTV3 in Finland, HBO Family in the United States, and Tiny Pop in the United Kingdom.
References
- "Sunbow takes Sony Wonder product to market".
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 488. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 251–252. ISBN 9781476672939.
External links
- Rainbow Fish at IMDb