Insektors


Insektors is a 1994 French animated television series set on a planet inhabited by two factions of anthropomorphic insects: one colorful and peace-loving, the other monochromatic and aggressive.
Made by a small studio, Fantôme in France, it was one of the earliest computer-animated series alongside VeggieTales and ReBoot. The series won 30 awards, including a 1994 "Children and Young People" Emmy Award.
In 2023, Piko Interactive acquired rights to the show.

Production and dubbing

Fantôme was formed by Renato, Georges Lacroix and Jean-Yves Grall in 1985. It released Les fables géométriques, the first computer-animated television series. Renato came up with the idea for Insektors in 1991, when Les fables géométriques was almost done airing. Animation director Gilbert Louet said that the team wanted to make something more ambitious, with a more serious story and larger scope. A pilot and making of documentary was released in 1992.
Fantôme hired script writer Eric Rondeaux at the recommendation of animation studio Ellipse Programme, with whom Rondeaux had worked on a 1991 adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin. Marc Perrier and Veronique Herbaut were later hired as additional script writers. The studio used Silicon Graphics hardware for its animations. Crew recalled the animation process as grueling; the studio wanted two to five seconds of animation to be done per person each day. For the second season, the series used motion capture on the direction of Canal+, who had just bought a production company that specialized in the technique.
A pilot episode was shot, and there were two 13-episode seasons and a few special episodes including a 1996 Christmas episode. The series was dubbed into two English language releases; one for North America, and one for the UK. The North American version was recorded in Paris. It was first aired on Canadian television on YTV. For the UK version, the script was re-written; characters had different names and different dialogue was used. Jokes and references specific to British/English culture were also incorporated.

Setting

The series takes place on the planet Karbon/Krud, though the UK dub does include references to locations on Earth. The episode "Planet Karbon/The Black Planet" reveals that Karbon/Krud was originally a dark, colorless rock inhabited by a single race of insects called the Yuks/Kruds, who survived the planet's hostile environment by burrowing deep into it for coal. At one point, a prism-shaped meteor hit the planet and nourished the site on which it landed with color and energy, resulting in a flower-filled paradise.
A few of the Yuks/Kruds colonized the area and evolved colors of their own, renaming themselves Joyces/Verigreens. They venerated the Prism and built a high altar upon it. The Yuks/Kruds who chose to stick to their original lives continued mining for coal till they gradually exhausted their supplies. The animosity between the two insect civilizations began when a violent Yuk/Krud known as King Bakrako/Katheter I came up with the solution of using the Joyce's/Verigreen's flower stalks as substitute fuel sources. Gradually, all memory of the two civilizations once being the same people was lost, and they have been enemies ever since.

Characters

The French name is given first followed by the British name in brackets, and if there is an alternate North American name, this is indicated by a slash.

Joyces

Joyces are colorful, cheerful insects and offshoots of the Yuk/Krud civilization who broke away from their dark cousins upon the arrival of the Great Prism which nourished the site where it landed, resulting in the creation of Flower City. They are peaceful people who devote their lives to merrymaking and protecting the Great Prism from harm. Joyce citizens who are not main characters resemble bees.
Fulgor
Aelia
Le Grand Artificier/The Great Pyro
Daltonio
Gallopus
'''Spotty'''

Beurks/Yuks

Beurks/Yuks are monochromatic insects that live in a rotting tree stump in a swamp - they continually try to conquer the Flower City in the name of their Queen, namely for the fuel source the flowers provide. Exposure to brightly colored substances causes them to enter states of uninhibited laughter. Yuk soldiers that are not main characters resemble crickets, whereas Yuk citizens that are not main characters are beetles.
Reine/Queen Bakrakra
Prince Acylius
Lord Krabo
Lord Teknocratus
Lord Kretinus
General Lukanus
Captain Krabouic and Lieutenant Kaboche
The Guards
Eric
Protokol
'''Eurekas'''

Technology

The French name is given first followed by the British name in brackets, and if there is an alternate North American name, this is indicated by a slash.

Joyces

The Great Prism
Kolour Guitar
Dragonfly Squadron
Flower Konnons
'''Kolour Dynamites'''

Yuks

The Hotsy Totsy
The Dark Box
Hoverbikes
Kreatur
Kat-Kat
Koa
The Koleopter
Sky Breaker
"Tweet-Tweet"
"Kalkulator"
"Auto-mated lumberjacks"
Koal Juice Guns
'''Vokalizers'''

Cast

French version

Christian AlersDaniel LafourcadePierre BatonJacques BrunnetAlexandre GilletRaphaelle MoutierJean-Claude Sachot
  • '''Lucienne Troka'''

CA/AU version

David GasmanKaren StrassmanChristian EricksonBela GrushkaEdouard Marcus
  • '''Paul Bandey'''

UK version

Teddy KempnerCaroline BlissAndy Secombe
  • '''Neil McCaul'''