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