On the 27th of April 2009 Buzzy Bee and Friends will air for the first time on television. It has been the culmination of several years work and we were very excited to be able to see it finally come to fruition.
We have made thirteen five minute episodes and one half an hour episode and are currently looking to make a whole lot more so watch this space!
In keeping with all things Kiwi, we have designed our show to include some of New Zealand’s most recognizable landmarks and items. There are plenty of these sorts of things in our show, they're not immediately recognizable but they are there, you just need to look closely.
And so here is a list of the TV episodes and what they are about!
It is the day of the annual Rolling Down’s great race. Oscar would dearly love to win and with Buzzy’s encouragement, he is out in front with one hill to climb…
Oscar sees the ducklings painting and would love to do painting himself. Buzzy suggests his library may need painting, but what colour will he paint it. Why don’t you ask around Oscar, suggest Buzzy but it seems everyone has an opinion…
Mary Lou decides to have a big clean-up – everyone throws their rubbish into Driver Don's truck but what a minute… What’s that in the back of his truck… That looks useful…
Oscar wants to play soccer but Buzzy is too busy trying to fix his radio to play until something gets away on him…
Driver Don is shifting the town’s bench seat when suddenly it rains…Rolling Down’s rain of colourful balls. But wait a minute, it seems to be starting a flood, isn’t there a plug in Rolling Down’s, now where was it?
Oscar arrives too late to help fix the bridge. He laments how slow he is compared to those who have wheels, wouldn’t wheels be more fun?
Mary Lou is busy but no one knows what she is doing… Except Oscar?
The Buzzy City Rollers are playing a concert at the Band Rotunda – Elle thinks they are so brave to sing in public… But then lead singer, Mary Lou loses her voice…
Driver Don loses his wheel; Oscar finds it, but no one’s listening to Oscar…
Everyone is by themselves except the ducklings who are playing some lovely games together. When Buzzy asks Dorable to tell him some games she loses her voice – and then loses her ducklings…. How will we find those playful ducklings?
Oscar decides to do away with the uphill’s in Rolling Downs much to the chagrin of his friends.
Trikey hasn’t any mail to deliver today so he thinks up a neat idea to generate lots of mail, much to the confusion of his friends but can they solve the puzzle…
Its roll and shake day in Rolling Downs – Mary Lou and Trikey Tom have chosen to do a song and dance at morning tea – but they can’t seem to do it together.
For all our boffins out there…
Our show is made in CGI animation using Autodesk Maya Animation software and has been shot in full HD. We specifically elected CGI as this is the best programme that can best approximate ‘stop motion’, which is another type of animation.
Well known shows using ‘stop frame’ animation include the well known children’s TV show Thomas the Tank Engine or the feature film ‘Corpse Bride’. We wanted this stop frame look as we believe it best shows our wooden characters and world in the most realistic manner.
We wanted the show to feel like the characters and world are so real that they could just as well roll out of the TV screen and onto the floor.
