Pocoyo is a Spanish-British pre-school animated television series created by
Guillermo García Carsí, Colman López, Luis Gallego and David Cantolla, and is
a co-production between Spanish producer Zinkia Entertainment, Cosgrove-Hall
Films and Granada International. Two series have been produced, each
consisting of 52 seven-minute episodes. English actor and comedian Stephen Fry
narrates the English-language version and José María del Río narrates the
Castilian Spanish version of the first two seasons, while Stephen Hughes
narrates the third season, called Let's Go Pocoyo.
Set in a 3D space, with a plain white background and usually no backdrops, it
is about Pocoyo, a 4-year-old boy, interacting with his friends Pato, Elly
and Loula. Viewers are encouraged to recognise situations that Pocoyo is in,
and things that are going on with or around him. The narrator usually speaks
explicitly to the viewers and to the characters as well. Each character has
its own distinctive dance and also a specific sound, and most episodes end
with the characters dancing. Many episodes also involve parties.
In the United Kingdom, it was originally broadcast on CITV, a children's strand
on the ITV network. In September 2007, Channel 5 acquired terrestrial rights in
the United Kingdom to the first and second series, making it part of the
Milkshake! strand. The show, however, will continue to air on the CITV
Channel. Other broadcasters in the English speaking countries include RTÉ
in the Republic of Ireland, Nick Jr. in the U.S. nationwide and local station
KCET-TV as well as KLCS-TV channel 58-2 in Los Angeles and on Univision in LATAM
Spanish, Treehouse TV in Canada, ABC in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.
In Russia, Pocoyo is aired on Карусель children's channel.
In the Philippines, Pocoyo was aired on Disney Junior.
In Spain, TVE2 started broadcasting the second series in April 2008. The third
season began airing in 2009 under the title Let's Go Pocoyo and was designed
to teach English to Spanish preschoolers. The makers also wish to
embark upon other projects, one of which may be a Pocoyo movie.
In June 2006, Pocoyo was awarded the Cristal Award for the "Best TV
Production" at the 30th Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Development Pocoyo's name was provided by David
Cantolla, one of the creators, after his then three-year-old daughter used it in
her nightly prayers saying "Eres niño poco yo" instead of "Eres niño como yo.
"Pocoyó" could roughly be translated to English as "little me", "not much me" or
"a little bit me", though it is a made-up construction.
The show is created with Softimage XSI software.
Main characters Pocoyo is the eponymous main character
of the series. He is a four-year-old boy who is full of curiosity and loves to
play games and discover new things. He is very acrobatic and moves at a quick
speed. He is always shown wearing blue clothes and a hat. His best friends are
Pato, Elly, and Loula. He has a vehicle called the Vamoosh which he can use to
travel under the water, in the air or through space. Although he is very
friendly and sweet and almost always in a good mood, Pocoyo is also highly
self-centered, distracted by the simplest things, easily frustrated,
frequently jealous of his friends, and disobedient, but tries his hardest to
fight his flaws and learn morals. He is voiced by Montana Smedley most of the
time, but occasionally, by Alex Marty. The Narrator speaks over the entire
show, and often communicates directly with the characters. Pocoyo has a good
relationship with him, and is always to delighted to see him. The narrator is
also at times physically involved in the events of the episodes, making him more
of an heard-but-not-seen character rather than a strict narrator.
Pato is a yellow duck who wears nothing but a small green hat. He has a fondness
for gardening, and is often seeing watering plants and flowerbeds. Pato
means duck in Spanish, Portuguese, Filipino, Tok Pisin and Papiamento. He
is a favourite amongst the young children due to his enjoyable dancing
and the fact that his beak turns 360 degrees. Although friendly, Pato is the
most fussy and impatient character; on occasion he completely loses his temper,
jumping up and down and quacking furiously with his beak spinning
rapidly. He is used as a jackhammer or missile and can become a helicopter. In
the pilot episode in 2003, he was first called Ducky then changed the name to
Pato. Elly is a pink elephant who always wears
a blue backpack. She loves making biscuits and tea, and has a doll that
she loves very much. Despite her size, she is graceful and gentle, capable of
ballet dancing. She is, however, very bossy and generally does things her way.
She usually rides around on her pink scooter.
Loula is Pocoyo's orange-yellow pet puppy and companion. She is also
strictly a dog as she walks on all four of her legs. She sometimes hops as she
is walking. Originally, the character's name was Lucas, in tribute to creator
and director Guillermo García Carsi's dog but due to a shortage of female
characters, the character was renamed Loula.
Sleepy Bird is a teal-coloured bird. It does little but sleep and usually flies
with its eyes closed. It is named "Pajaroto" in the Spanish version The
character also known as "Pajaro Dormilon" in the LATAM-Latin American
Spanish version. The Children are a group of kids who,
like The Narrator, speak over the show, answering questions asked by The
Narrator in order to assist Pocoyo in solving a problem or to let Pocoyo in on
what's going on. Like the Narrator, the children's consistent involvement in the
plot make them a sort of character in the show.
Recurring characters Aliens are sweet big and little green,
pink, and blue tripedal beings that Pocoyo finds in space in search of his
toy plane and other adventures. They communicate with one another using
staccato 'clicking' noises. Baby Bird is the small, always active
and loud baby of Sleepy Bird, who gets into tricky situations from which he is
rescued by Pocoyo. He is best friends with Caterpillar. Named "Pajarito" in
Spanish version. Ball Orchestra is a group of three
ball-like creatures who play the trumpet, drums and cymbals.
Butterfly is a very hungry butterfly which Pocoyo occasionally catches.
Caterpillar is a yellow caterpillar with a blue bow on top of her head. She
speaks in gibberish and has the ability to change into a butterfly and back when
she wants. She is best friends with Baby Bird. When overjoyed or frustrated, she
tends to slam her face forward into the ground.
(Fred the) Octopus is a lunatic red octopus who speaks in gibberish like
Caterpillar, and is very fond of opera singing. He appears in random episodes,
sometimes as a major character, sometimes in passing. As of Season Two,
he is sometimes referred to as 'Fred'. His vocal style is reminiscent of
Pee-wee Herman. Music Flower & The Band are musical
characters who play music that Pocoyo likes.
Whale is a huge white whale with red cheeks whom Pocoyo meets under the sea.
Baby Spider is a small blue spider that hatched out of an egg that Pato finds.
Episode list To date three series have been produced,
each with 52 episodes. There is also an unreleased episode entitled "The
See-Saw",