Waybuloo

Waybuloo is a live-action animated children's television series created by Dan Good and Absolutely Cuckoo. Set in the fictional land of Nara, it features four CGI creatures with large heads and eyes called Piplings who practise a form of yoga which they call "Yogo". They are visited in each episode by live action children who are referred to as "Cheebies". It was broadcast on CBeebies in the UK between 2009 and 2012.

Background and format

Waybuloo was commissioned by Michael Carrington at the BBC, and first aired on CBeebies in May 2009. The 150-episode show was head-written by Marc Seal, filmed by the Foundation in Glasgow and animated and directed by Gallus Entertainment. Repeats of the show also aired on BBC Two and BBC HD.
The series is set in the fictional land of Nara. The main characters are the four Piplings, 3D CGI animated creatures with large heads and eyes and possessing the ability to fly and float around. They are made in Autodesk Maya, placed on a filmed background, with the second half of each twenty-minute show featuring human children.
The Piplings practice yogo, a gentle form of exercise similar to yoga, which the viewers and their parents can participate in. The Piplings demonstrate several poses inspired by things they see in their homeworld, Nara, such as owls, trees, and insects. Each group of poses indicates a certain group of Cheebies. When the children arrive later during an episode, they then practice the same poses demonstrated by the Piplings at the start of the show. The cue for both the Piplings and the Cheebies to perform Yogo is an ancient machine, which activates when sunlight falls upon it.
Yogo was developed by the show's producers in association with a Paediatrician and a Health and Safety Consultant. The leaflet produced by the BBC warns parents not to practise Yogo with their children if they are or have been ill, and always to speak to a GP before starting the program.
The Piplings also play Peeka, a hide and seek game, when the Cheebies arrive at Nara. At the end of every episode, when the Piplings find out their problems or are so happy, they experience Waybuloo, where all Piplings rise up towards the sky.
The program makers describe it as "...a philosophy for a happy life, and is like nothing adults will have ever seen before". It was reported that some Christian groups complained that the program promoted Buddhist or Hindu practices.

Production

Post-production, including audio, sound design and editing is done by Platform Post Production. in Toronto, Canada. Line produced by Matt Porter and the series producer is Simon Spencer, part of the independent company, RDF Media's subsidiary The Foundation.

Characters

Main characters

;Lau Lau
;Yojojo
;Nok Tok
;De Li

Supporting characters

The Cheebies: A different group of six children who play Peeka and Yogo with the Piplings and go in for them in every episode. The Cheebies often find the solutions to the Piplings' problems.
Narabugs: Four small butterfly creatures who are thought to be the Piplings' pets. Each one is coloured like its respective Pipling.
Narmoles: Moles that live in Nara that are occasionally featured in episodes.
Jumpybug: Jumpybug is a grasshopper who occasionally appears in episodes.
The Blue Elf: A giant elf who has light blue skin and wears dark blue clothes.

Spin-off version

On September 8, 2011, Zodiak Kids announced a “Spin-Off” version of the series. This version would feature shortened 11-minute episodes with the addition of Dave Lamb as the narrator. The changes were said by the company as to be “constructed to work on multiple levels of humor in an effort to appeal to preschoolers and parents alike”.
When this version premiered on CBeebies in January 2012, it was met with much criticism, with comments on the CBeebies Grown-Ups blog criticising Dave's narration. The negative feedback was so strong, that CBeebies decided to pull the spin-off version in favour of the original version on the very next night.

Episodes

Series 1 (2009–2010)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Plot/Summary	Air date
1	1	Moving Things	De Li stands on a box to pick plumatoes, but Yojojo wants to store his instruments in it and the other Piplings want to use it to play hopsy. They decide it's better to share it.	11 May 2009
2	2	Showtime	Lau Lau wants to dance, but not everyone can fit on her stage, so the Cheebies make a larger space so everyone can dance.
3	3	Trumpet	Yojojo and Nok Tok find a hollow branch that makes a good trumpet. They go around frightening everyone by blowing it but this frightens Lau Lau's Narabug away. Yojojo plays it softly instead and all the Narabugs come to listen.
4	4	Strawberries	De Li trains her Narabug to find a strawberry bush by smelling a strawberry. But the Piplings eat them all and have none left for the Narabug to smell. The Cheebies find the bush and pick all the strawberries. When De Li finds it too they're all gone. She's sad until her Narabug traces the strawberries back to the Cheebies and they all eat them.
5	5	Snuggly Nest	Lau Lau makes cushions from Narabug thread, one for each Pipling, but her own cushion goes missing. They trace the unravelled thread to a bird's nest and leave the cushion there.
6	6	Whistle	Nok Tok wants to call his Narabug by whistling like the other Piplings but he can't. He practices and eventually works out how.
7	7	Shy Flower	De Li has a large plant in her garden that won't open its flower. She tries putting it in the sun and watering it but it won't flower. Eventually she works out it flowers by stroking it. It produces many seeds and soon the flowers are everywhere.
8	8	Going Bananas	Lau Lau wants to paint three bananas but when she's gone Yojojo can't resist and eats two of them. The Cheebies stop him eating the last one. When she's finished painting Lau Lau offers it to Yojojo but he wants to share it.
9	9	Nok Tok's Naracar	Nok Tok offers to help the other Piplings carry some heavy things but there's too much to carry at once. So he makes a car to help transport them.
10	10	Bubble	A huge bubble arrives in Nara and Yojojo tries to keep it from bursting. Eventually it disappears into the sky. Yojojo's sad until the Cheebies find a waterfall making hundreds of bubbles and they have fun bursting them.
11	11	Nok Tok's Happy Plant	Nok Tok's plant is sad, even though he gives it sun, soil and water. He doesn't believe the others when they say it likes music, bongleberries and Cheebies until he's proven wrong. He feels silly until they tell him it's alright to be wrong
12	12	Counting Seeds	De Li wants to count her jumpy seeds but they keep moving. The others don't help by putting her off her counting, but the Cheebies count with her. When they know how many pots they need they plant them, and they soon flower producing many more seeds.
13	13	Being Brave	Yojojo thinks he's brave until he's scared by the shadow of a big flappy thing. The Cheebies find out that it's the shadow of Yojojo's Narabug and Yojojo feels brave again.
14	14	Catch	The Piplings play catch but Nok Tok can't catch. After trying different ways to learn he realises he's been shutting his eyes, so he keeps them open and catches the ball.
15	15	Nok Tok Thinks Big	De Li builds a sandcastle but Nok Tok accidentally squashes it. So he builds a new bigger one and needs a lot of help. As it's her present he won't let De Li help, even though she wants to. He finishes it but De Li decides it's not quite finished, and decorates it with special stones.
16	16	Tricky Kicky	Nok Tok wants De Li to play tricky kicky but she can't kick the ball into the goal even using the other Piplings' special techniques. A cheebie gives her a lucky pebble and suddenly she can do it. She loses the pebble and is worried she'll fail, but manages to do score without it.
17	17	Green Mango	Yojojo and Nok Tok want to eat a mango but it's green and doesn't taste good. De Li tells them it's not ready so they try to make it soft and yellow but that doesn't make it taste better. De Li tells them they can't do it, they have to wait for it to ripen. It does and it tastes much better.
18	18	Songbird	Yojojo finds a bird singing a pretty song and puts it in his basket, but the bird won't sing again no matter what the Piplings do to make it happy. The Cheebies suggest taking it out of the basket and it sings but flies away. They call it back with whistles and Pipling pipes.
19	19	Fruity Fun	Nok Tok gives Lau Lau his fir cones, so she wants to give him a present in return. De Li suggests giving him her mangoes, but now Lau Lau has to find De Li a present. Yojojo suggests his apples, but now Yojojo needs a present. So Nok Tok uses the Anything Machine to turn all the fruit into juice so everyone can have some.
20	20	Hiccups	Yojojo has the hiccups so the piplings and cheebies try to find a solution to cure the hiccups.
21	21	Cheep Cheep	While tending her flowers, De Li discovers a sad little bird in her garden. Concerned, she settles it somewhere safe before Yogo. De Li involves the other Piplings in her mission to make the bird happy. But nothing seems to cheer it up. Maybe the children will know what to do!
22	22	Echo Cave	The Piplings hear their voices echo in a cave and think they have found new friends that are shy and live in the cave.
23	23	Frog
24	24	Whizzcrackers	The Piplings spot whizzcrackers in the skies over Nara, but Yojojo is easily distracted and keeps missing them. Eventually he stays still long enough to see them.
25	25	Glitter Crystal
26	26	Missing Seed	De Li leaves her quick-grow seed with Yojojo to look after, but he's distracted and loses it. Nok Tok finds it and goes to cook it, but Lau Lau finds it and decides to paint it. It disappears again, but a Narabug finds it and plants it in De Li's garden.
27	27	Flittery Narabug
28	28	Perfect Picnic
29	29	Clever Tree
30	30	Mice
31	31	Bongleberry Juice
32	32	Jumping
33	33	Follow the Pipling	De Li is perfectly happy to play a copying game with her Narabug, but feels too shy to do the same with everyone else. When the Cheebies arrive, one is also shy and she and De Li work together to gain confidence.
34	34	Dancing Feet	Lau Lau loves dancing so much that she wants to paint it, but can't get it right until the cheebies arrive.
35	35	The Tallest Pipling in Nara	Nok Tok is very proud of the measuring stick he's made.
36	36	Pipling Rhythm
37	37	Narabug Chase
38	38	Catch the Plumato
39	39	Fireflies
40	40	Jumpybug
41	41	Leaf
42	42	Picnic
43	43	Treasure Hunt
44	44	Sad Narabug
45	45	Balancing
46	46	De Li's Trick	Try as she might, De Li can't decide what to do in the Big Pipling Show. The others each have an entertaining physical trick, but De Li can't seem to match them with one of her own. When the children arrive, they try to inspire her by demonstrating all the things that they can do.
47	47	Ball
48	48	Clouds
49	49	Nok Tok Goes Driving	Nok Tok is driving his Naracar so fast he destroys various things, first he cracks open Yojojo's Tricky Kicky ball, then De Li's flower Bed, and finally Lau Lau's beautiful thing she has built.
50	50	Tricky Stick		14 August 2010

Series 2 (2010–2011)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Plot/Summary	Air date
51	1	Magical Music	Lau Lau hears some beautiful music. It makes her want to dance, but when the music stops, she looks for its source.	16 October 2010
52	2	A Surprise for Yojojo	Yojojo breaks a drumskin. The others decide to surprise him by fixing it, but while they put him off the scent he thinks they don't love him. He cheers up when he finds out what they were up to.
53	3	Cheebie Tune	Nok Tok makes a xylophone but one of his notes doesn't sound right. So everyone helps him find a bit of wood with the right pitch.
54	4	De Li and the Shoehorns	Everyone loves walking with Nok Tok's shoehorns except De Li, who's afraid she won't be able to use them. She overcomes her fear with the help of the others.
55	5	Star	Lau Lau thinks she's found a star that grants her wishes until De Li points out it's only a flower. The Cheebies make her a new star and Nok Tok launches it into the sky with the Anything Machine.
56	6	Singball Statues	Yojojo's good at juggling singballs but eventually drops them. He's upset by this until the Cheebies use his mistakes to play musical statues.
57	7	Go Get Game	The Piplings play a game where the first to go get a named fruit is the winner. De Li is upset she keeps coming last until they realise she picked all the best fruit to eat.
58	8	Pictures	Lau Lau tries to paint the other Piplings but they won't sit still. To make up for it they make her presents but while they're doing that she's able to paint them. The Cheebies surprise everyone with a painting of Lau Lau.
59	9	Snuggly Slide	De Li wants Yojojo to show her how to play lifty leaf but he wants to play on his slide with his snuggly. So the Cheebies get the snuggly its own lifty leaf and he can play with it and help De Li at the same time.
60	10	De Li's Garden
61	11	Dance	Nok Tok tries to dance like Lau Lau, but he can't. Instead he accidentally creates his own dance, which everyone wants to do.
62	12	Lost	De Li wants to play her whistle stick but the others are playing their drums so loudly she can't hear it. She tries to find somewhere quiet to play but gets lost. Then she hears the drums and knows which way to go. The others agree to play quietly and they all play together.
63	13	The Gift	Lau Lau gives De Li a painting, so De Li wants to get her a gift in return. She gets her flowers but her Narabug eats them, then gets her bongleberries but squashes them. The Cheebies make a painting for Lau Lau but De Li wants to get her something herself, so gives her a huggle.
64	14	Loving Laughing	The Piplings try to make Nok Tok laugh but he wants to work on the Anything Machine. Soon they're worried he's lost his laugh but when he's finished working he gets the Anything Machine to make funny noises he can laugh at.
65	15	Feather	Yojojo finds a feather and sets about finding out where everyone's ticklish. He tries to tickle himself but it doesn't work. He thinks he's lost his tickle until the Cheebies tell him he can't tickle himself, and tickle him all over.
66	16	Neepnip
67	17	Pipling Pegs
68	18	No Talk Game	Yojojo wants to play the No Talk Game. He tries not to say anything, but the other Piplings keep making him talk.
69	19	Dry Garden
70	20	Carrotbeet Day
71	21	Lau Lau's Story
72	22	Toot Toot
73	23	Statue
74	24	Choosy
75	25	Walking Backwards
76	26	String Goes Ping	Yojojo plays his banjojo for the Narabugs, but breaks a string. The Cheebies help find a new string.
77	27	Where Have All The Narabugs Gone?
78	28	Singing Bowl	Lau Lau finds a bowl in a cave and looks for a way everyone can use it together. The Cheebies discover it makes a sound they can dance to.
79	29	Bop Bop Bat	Nok Tok makes bop bop bats but Yojojo breaks his. He tries to fix it himself without telling Nok Tok but in the end only Nok Tok can mend it.
80	30	Nok Tok's Narabug	Nok Tok's concerned his Narabug isn't good at anything. This makes it sad, so he decides it's good at being a friend. It cheers up enough to win the blow-leaf race.
81	31	Old Made New	Yojojo breaks his special bowl and bongleberries just don't taste as good from any other bowl. So Nok Tok fixes the bowl with mud in the Anything Machine.
82	32	Pipling Playday	Lau Lau finds she's no good at any of the games because her long ears keep getting in the way. That's until she finds they make her the best at spinning.
83	33	Sssh!	Nok Tok scares away the bird Lau Lau's trying to paint with sounds he's recorded on the Anything Machine. So he records the bird's song to attract it instead.
84	34	Enough!	Yojojo collects many flowers for the Piplings. Then he realises he's picked them all and ruined De Li's favourite place. So the Cheebies make a giant flower picture instead.
85	35	Pod Men	Lau Lau and Yojojo make a pod man, fixing the head with mud. Nok Tok makes a pod man but the head falls off. He won't ask for help. His pride dented, he gets everyone to work together to make a pod face instead.
86	36	Too Slow	De Li keeps losing races and wants to go faster. But when she comes last in a race around Nara she decides being slow is good as it enabled her to collect some nice things.
87	37	Chimey Leaves	Lau Lau finds a plant whose leaves chime when they knock together. She takes the leaves home but then no one else can hear them chime. So they plant it in De Li's garden where everyone can hear.
88	38	Nok Tok's Rock	Nok Tok finds a box full of useful objects and hands them out to the Piplings. Everyone's pleased except Nok Tok, who's left with a rock. The Cheebies show him he can use it to play games, but then it gets broken. So he uses the hollow halves to make clip-clop sounds like a horse.
89	39	Swapping	Lau Lau swaps her paintbrushes for Yojojo's banjojo, but neither of them are any good at the other's hobby. So Lau Lau paints the banjojo and Yojojo uses the brushes as drumsticks.
90	40	Bluebell	Yojojo tricks everyone into thinking bluebells ring when they touch them. Soon everyone's tricking each other with sounds, so they decide instead to make noise together.
91	41	The Search For Lau Lau's Glowstone	Lau Lau finds a glowstone, and immediately loses it. The Piplings help look for it but only find things they'd lost. The Cheebies suggest retracing her steps.
92	42	Yojojo's Plumpkin	The Piplings grow vegetables for soup, but Yojojo doesn't want to eat his huge plumpkin so it can grow bigger. The Cheebies tell him it might go off and get smaller, so he picks it straight away and plants the seeds for more plumpkins.
93	43	Fairy Thing	De Li finds a floaty, sparkly thing in her shed which the Piplings think might be a fairy. The Cheebies realise they are fireflies and build a new home for them in De Li's shed.
94	44	Surprise	Nok Tok sets up the Anything Machine to give the Cheebies a bubble surprise. He leaves it with Yojojo to look after but he accidentally sets it off. Yojojo hides it in De Li's shed so the surprise isn't ruined, but the bubbles escape and the Cheebies see them. Nok Tok doesn't mind as the Cheebies love the bubbles anyway.
95	45	Round and Round	Nok Tok finds a golden feather and puts it in a safe place. The other Piplings find it, not realising it's Nok Tok's, and hide it somewhere else. Soon none of them can find it. When they realise they're all looking for the same feather they search for it together, until a bird finds it.
96	46	Swapsy Box	The Piplings each put presents in a box and swap them. De Li is puzzled by the stick in her box until she discovers it's for planting special seeds in her garden.
97	47	Den For Ten	Lau Lau makes a den, but when the other Piplings join her it falls down. So they make the den bigger.
98	48	Shaker Breaker	Yojojo lets Nok Tok play with his shakers but he loses one. The Cheebies make new shakers but De Li finds Yojojo's in her bush.
99	49	Lau Lau's Quiet Day	Lau Lau and Jumpy Bug have a quiet day, but everyone else is too noisy. They decide to have a loud day instead.
100	50	Snuggly		25 September 2011

Footnote 1: S02E38 does not have a title recorded, although it has been aired by the BBC.

Series 3 (2011–2012)

Series 3 aired on CBeebies beginning 3 October 2011.

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Plot/Summary	Air date
101	1	Crawly Caterpillar		20 October 2011
102	2	Happiness Parade	Yojojo wants everyone to do one thing together that makes them happy.
103	3	Nok Tok's Promise
104	4	Thirsty Day
105	5	Most Beautiful Thing
106	6	Yojojo's Twinkler Show
107	7	Lau Lau's Picture	Lau Lau makes a picture of Nara and gives it to Yojojo, but she is sad to see it go.
108	8	Narabug Games
109	9	Bye Bye Snuggly
110	10	Home Swapsy
111	11	Happy Yojojo	Lau Lau, De Li and Nok Tok gather presents for the cheebies.
112	12	A Surprise For De Li
113	13	Feely Box
114	14	De Li's Harvest
115	15	De Li's Dance
116	16	Lau Lau's Bird
117	17	Flower Surprise
118	18	Flowerstrings	Nok Tok tries to make a flowerstring.
119	19	Cloud Gazing
120	20	Follow Nok Tok
121	21	Bell-buloo!
122	22	Froggy Rock
123	23	Nok Tok Builds a Follow Box
124	24	Bongleberry Bubble
125	25	Neither Nest
126	26	Glittery Narmole
127	27	Go Yojojo
128	28	De Li's Flower
129	29	The Plumpkin and the Caterpillar	De Li finds a caterpillar on her plumpkin.
130	30	Very Special Flower
131	31	Sneezy Nok Tok
132	32	Nok Tok's Talent
133	33	Yojojo's Big Music Day
134	34	Hop Chase Game
135	35	Narmole Trouble
136	36	Lau Lau's Special Day
137	37	Narmole Day
138	38	Puppet Show
139	39	Wobbly Wheelbarrow
140	40	Narabug and Songbird
141	41	Blossom Berry Hop
142	42	Everybody Happy
143	43	Needing Help
144	44	Yojojo Wants to Share
145	45	Being Happy
146	46	Everyone Play Together
147	47	Lost Leaf
148	48	Keep Trying
149	49	Trumpet Up Top
150	50	Can't Do It		17 October 2012

DVD releases

United Kingdom

DVD releases of the series were released by 2Entertain. Later DVDs were released by Delta Leisure.

Release name	UK release date
Meet the Piplings	26 October 2009
Adventures in Nara	30 November 2009
Piplings Love to Play	29 March 2010
Hi-Hi Cheebies	6 September 2010
Piplings Feel Buloo	22 November 2010
1-5 Box Set	6 December 2010
Piplings Love to Care	23 May 2011
Piplings Love to Share	19 September 2011
Piplings Love to Exercise	5 March 2012
Piplings Love to Help	24 September 2012
Piplings Love to Explore	3 December 2012
Box Set Volume 2	10 December 2012
Being Brave & Four Other Stories	24 February 2014
Going Bananas & Four Other Stories	24 February 2014
Nook Took's Nara Car & Four Other Stories	24 February 2014
Hiccups & Four Other Stories	24 February 2014
Magical Music & Four Other Stories	24 March 2014
Dancing Feet & Four Other Stories	24 March 2014
Nook Took Rock & Five Other Stories	23 June 2014
Pipling Pegs & Five Other Stories	23 June 2014
Swapsy Boxes & Five Other Stories	23 June 2014
Pipling Fun	3 September 2014

Canada

In February 2010, DHX Media announced that Nelvana Enterprises would be the show's Canadian Home Video partner.