Octonauts
Octonauts is an animated children's television series produced by Sony Pictures Television Kids for the BBC's CBeebies network. It is based on the children's books written by Meomi, the design team of Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy.
The show follows an underwater exploring crew made up of stylised anthropomorphic animals, a team of eight adventurers who live in an undersea base, the Octopod, from which they go on undersea adventures with the help of a fleet of aquatic vehicles. Although its technology is fictional, the exotic creatures and locations that the crew encounter are based on real marine animals in their natural habitats. The show's subject matter has been compared to that of Star Trek and Thunderbirds blended with Jacques Cousteau.
The show was animated in Ireland by Brown Bag Films for its first four series. The show was renewed for a fifth series in 2018, with Canada's Mainframe Studios taking over animation work. A Netflix-original spinoff, subtitled Above & Beyond, was released in September 2021, and featured the Octonauts venturing onto more land-based habitats of the natural world.
In March 2023, five new episodes under the original Octonauts branding and format were released via the BBC iPlayer.
Characters
Main characters
The Octonauts, consisting of the Octopod crew and captain, are the recurring main characters.| Name | Rank | Species | Voice cast | Description |
| Barnacles | Captain | Polar bear | Simon Greenall Ross Breen | Barnacles is the brave polar bear captain of the Octonauts. He knows how to drive any vehicle and is strong enough to lift a giant clam. However, despite his bravery, it was revealed in The Caves of Sac Actun that he was claustrophobic. Catchphrases: "Octonauts, let's do this!", "Sound the Octo-Alert!", "Octonauts, to your stations!", "Octonauts, to the HQ / launch bay!" and "Hold on, this could get bumpy!". |
| Kwazii | Lieutenant and Cryptozoologist | Cat | Rob Rackstraw | A cat who speaks in a Cockney accent. Kwazii is a daredevil cat with a mysterious pirate past. He believes in many sea monsters such as the Nackerwhack, Tri-Toothed-Terror, Giant Shrimp Monster and Monster of Creepy Cove. He likes to drive fast in the Gup-B. In the episode "The Octonauts and the Giant Spider Crab", it reveals that he has a fear of spiders. Catchphrases: "Shiver me whiskers" and "Yeow!". |
| Peso | Medic | Penguin | Paul Panting Wayne Grayson | He is a penguin with a British accent and the medic of the Octonauts. He is not fond of scary situations, but if someone is hurt or in trouble he can be the bravest Octonaut of all. He has a younger brother called Pinto. Catchphrase: "Flappity flippers!". |
| Inkling | Oceanographer and Founder | Dumbo octopus | Keith Wickham | An octopus who speaks in a posh accent. Inkling brought the Octonauts together, to study the oceans and have adventures. Catchphrase: "Fascinating!" |
| Shellington | Biologist | Sea otter | Keith Wickham | A sea otter who speaks with a Scottish accent. Dr. Shellington is a biologist who assists the Octonauts on missions. He is not a very good driver and once crashed the GUP-D. Catchphrase: "Jumping jellyfish!" and "Fascinating". |
| Tweak | Engineer | Rabbit | Jo Wyatt Jaimie Kelton | A rabbit who speaks with a Southern-US accent. Tweak lives and works in the launch bay. She often invents things like the GUP-X, GUP-S, the Octo-Max suit and the Friend Finder she made for her friend, Sandy the leatherback sea turtle. She often refers to Captain Barnacles as "Cap". Catchphrases: "Right away, Cap!", "...faster than you can say 'buncha munchy crunchy carrots'!", and "Oh, me, oh, my!". |
| Dashi | Computer programmer and photographer | Dog | Teresa Gallagher Mary Murphy Jenny Yokobori | A dog who speaks with an Australian accent. Dashi is the photographer for the Octonauts and takes care of all the computers aboard the Octopod. She's also a professional surfer. Catchphrase: "Already on it, Captain!" |
| Tunip | Chef and Horticulturist | Vegimal | Michael C. Murphy | Tunip is half-tuna, half-turnip, but has the outward appearance of a harbour seal mixed with a turnip. He loves to make kelp cakes and work in the greenhouse. He often faints at shocking news. Tunip the Vegimal is the Octonauts' head cook and gardener. He is a Vegimal, a half-animal, half-vegetable creature capable of breathing on land as well as underwater. Tunip is very childish and innocent, always wanting to help the Octonauts in any way he can. He is the smallest main character in the Octonauts crew. Aside from cooking the meals, Tunip works in the garden, cultivating vegetables he can use to cook meals. His two favourite meals are fish biscuits and kelp cakes. Tunip, like all Vegimals, speaks Vegimalese. Since he was born, his first words were "Cheepa cheepa!, Cheepa cheepa!" and "Zuupa zuupa!" |
Vegimals
Vegimals are half-animal, half-vegetable creatures. The vegimals were discovered by Shellington as eggs attached to the side of the Octopod. To protect them he brought them into his lab, where they hatched a few days later. After a few weeks, they established themselves as an integral part of the crew. They primarily speak Vegimalese, a language made of chirps and warbles, though they also speak a limited amount of English. Shellington is the only Octonaut who has some fluency in Vegimalese.| Name | Taxonomy | Description |
| Albachoy | half-bok choy and half-albacore | |
| Barrot | half-bass, half-carrot. | Although nervous, he can go super fast in an emergency. |
| Carprika | half-paprika and half-carp | |
| Charchard | half-chard and half-char | |
| Codish | half-cod, half-radish. | He is very clumsy and also causes accidents. |
| Grouber | half-grouper, half-tuber. | He is big and can eat almost anything. |
| Halibeet | half-beet and half-halibut | |
| Maccoli | half-broccoli and half-mackerel | |
| Perchkin | half-pumpkin and half-perch | |
| Pikato | half-tomato and half-pike | |
| Tominnow | half-minnow, half-tomato. | She is the littlest one, but she is also a daredevil. |
| Tunip | half-tuna, half-turnip. | He is a recurring main character. |
| Salepeño | half-jalapeño and half-salmon | |
| Sharchini | half-zucchini, half-shark | |
| VegiBot | a vegimal robot | |
| Wallabaga | half-rutabaga and half-walleye | |
| Yamchovy | half-anchovy and half-yam |
Minor characters
Vehicles
Books
The original books were first published in the US by Immedium in 2006 and were republished in the UK by HarperCollins in 2009. Six titles by Meomi have been published:- The Octonauts & the Only Lonely Monster, about an Architeuthis.
- The Octonauts & the Sea of Shade, about a world where everyone's shadows have gone missing.
- The Octonauts & the Frown Fish, about a glum-looking catfish.
- The Octonauts & the Great Ghost Reef, about coral bleaching.
- The Octonauts Explore the Great Big Ocean, about the search for the home of Tunip the Vegimal.
- The Octonauts & the Growing Goldfish, about Dunkie, a giant goldfish who won't stop growing.
These titles can be distinguished by the "As seen on TV" label on the covers and are not written or illustrated by Meomi. The books have the same titles as the episodes they are based on.
History
In 2010, The Octonauts was adapted into a 52-episode CGI animated television series co-produced by Chorion and Brown Bag Films. It first aired in the UK on 4 October 2010 on CBeebies, a BBC television channel for children under 7. The first series ended in February 2011 but continued to be aired as repeats. A second series of 22 episodes commenced in November 2012.The Octonauts had its US premiere on the Disney Channel on 9 January 2012 In September 2014, Silvergate Media announced its sale of season 4 to the Disney Channel, to be aired in 2015. In Australia, in 2014, the Octonauts became the second most-watched children's TV show in the country, seen daily on ABC2 by 257,000 viewers nationally. By season 4, the Octonauts had been picked up in more than 100 countries, including RTÉ Two, Treehouse TV, ABC Television, TF1, SuperRTL, CCTV, Karusel, Disney Junior, and SVT.
The show has been translated and shown in French, Spanish and Portuguese, Finnish, Welsh, and Slovakian. The series was made with the help of marine biologists Dr. Lara A. Ferry-Graham and Dr. Michael H. Graham, who had previously worked on Finding Nemo.
Episodes
The TV show is episodic, with each 11-minute episode seeing them encountering an unusual but real sea creature as they explore strange underwater worlds. Often they must discover a vital biological or behavioral fact about that creature to rescue it or themselves from danger. The stories usually feature three main characters: Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and Peso, with the other five Octonauts acting in supporting roles.The opening theme tune finishes with the chant "Explore! – Rescue! – Protect!", the Octonauts' motto.