Kaeloo

Kaeloo is a French animated series with 104 episodes (52 of which were dubbed into English), each 7 minutes long. The series is a CGI cartoon by Rémi Chapotot and Jean-François Henry and produced by Cube Creative associated with Blue Spirit. The series aired from June 6, 2010 on Canal + Family and Canal +.

Technical

• Producer: Cube Creative Productions
• Co-producer: Canal +, Cube Creative Computer Company, Blue Spirit, Comptoir sound and images, Be Films
• Authors: Rémi Chapotot, Jean-François Henry

Characters

• Kaeloo: The titular main character. She is a sweet and imaginative but a dangerously emotionally unstable little frog who's always looking for games to play with her "buddies". With provocation, she enters an intense rage which transforms her into the hulking "Bad Kaeloo". Due to a mistake in the English dubbing, she was accidentally referred to as a male in the first 10 episodes. This was fixed by the 11th episode, with the others referring to her as a female.
• Stumpy: Uneducated and immature, Stumpy the squirrel loves anything that is dangerous. He has little to no sense of reality. He is fascinated by adventure, explosions, super powers, intergalactic wars and the like. Stumpy aspires to be like his idol, comic book hero Mr. Coolskin. He hates books without pictures, being made fun of, other people touching his things, and washing. Whenever he doesn't understand something (which is often), is afraid or otherwise agitated, he spouts gibberish as his neck spasms erratically.
• Quack-Quack: Whilst still in his egg, his parents were killed by a hunter. He was taken into a laboratory as a duckling and repeatedly experimented on. He was made indestructible, super intelligent and addicted to yogurt. He is afraid of never finding his creator and expired yogurt. He is incapable of speech and is Mr. Cat's favorite punching bag.
• Mr. Cat: Proud and macho, he always wants to win, whatever the means and is even willing to cheat to do so. His inflated ego and overall foul attitude attract negative attention from the others. He especially enjoys torturing Quack-Quack, which upsets Kaeloo and is the usual cause of her transformation into Bad Kaeloo. It is implied in several episodes that he had an extremely difficult past, and had terrible relationships with his family, especially his brothers. The final episode of the first season implied that somebody he knew died.
• Bad Kaeloo: The hulking, massive monster into which Kaeloo transforms when angry or threatened. While Kaeloo herself had stated in an early episode that the transformations must be triggered by anger, she has been seen in several episodes deliberately taking this form to cheat at games which require a level of physical prowess (e.g. strong golf swings) or to intimidate others. The transformations seem to be accompanied by a profound drop in intellectual capacity and reasoning, later followed by remorse once she returns to her "normal" form. This implies that Bad Kaeloo's actions are usually beyond her conscious control. It is hinted at in one episode that this personality will become the dominant one later in her life. The changes that occur are also characteristic of taking steroids.

The second season of the show, which aired in France but was never dubbed into English, introduced a few secondary characters:

• Pretty: A narcissistic, selfish and annoying female rabbit who is obsessed with fashion and all things stereotypically "girly". Pretty has a crush on Mr. Cat, but the feeling is not reciprocated; he has an intense hatred for her and wishes for her to die.
• Eugly: Pretty's fraternal twin sister, who is the opposite of her. She is fat and ugly, but she is extremely kind. She eventually becomes Quack Quack's girlfriend.
• Olaf: An emperor penguin whose goal in life is to rule the world and cover it in ice. He is "married" to an ice cube, named Olga, and he owns a robot named Serguei. He used to live with many other emperor penguins, who ostracized him for wishing to marry an ice cube.

Episodes

Kaeloo was originally a three-minute short film animation created in 2007, titled Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3^[1] and presented to the MIP TV in the same year. It is widely considered the pilot of the series.

The episode Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel (La Quête du Greul) was released to the Annecy Animation Festival 2010 in 3D.^[2]

Season 1

1. Let's Play Prison-Ball: The buddies are playing prison-ball, with Kaeloo and Quack Quack in one team and Mr. Cat and Stumpy in the other. Kaeloo turns out to be really good at catching the ball, and Stumpy takes the term “prison” in “prison ball” too literally.
2. Let's Play Doctors and Nurses: Stumpy falls sick, so Kaeloo decides to play Doctors and Nurses, but instead of paying attention to Stumpy, she and Mr. Cat decide to “cure” Quack Quack instead.
3. Let's Play Red-Light, Green Light: The buddies are playing Red Light, Green Light, but Mr. Cat keeps tormenting Quack Quack as usual when Kaeloo’s back is turned.
4. Let's Play At Reading Books: The buddies decide to read books. Stumpy searches for Mr. Coolskin comics at the library, and Quack Quack and Mr. Cat fight over a book with pictures of pin-up girls.
5. Let's Play Magicians: Stumpy is disappointed to find out that magic isn’t real.
6. Let's Play Hopscotch: When Quack Quack goes to Heaven after playing a game of hopscotch, Kaeloo and Stumpy want to go as well, but they are unable to.
7. Let's Play Trap-Trap: Quack Quack must go for one hour without eating yogurt, but this causes him to experience withdrawal symptoms and behave like a zombie.
8. Let's Play Teachers: The buddies are pretending to be in a school where Kaeloo is the teacher. Stumpy tries to get expelled from the school, and Mr. Cat keeps tormenting Quack Quack as usual.
9. Let's Play Cops and Robbers: Quack Quack’s yogurt is stolen, but Mr. Cat is innocent. The buddies decide to investigate who stole it.
10. Let's Play Simon Says!: Kaeloo decides to play Simon Says to get her friends to clean up a huge mess they made.
11. Let's Play Happy Rotter (parody of Harry Potter): Kaeloo and her friends decide to role-play as the characters from a book known as “Happy Rotter” (a parody of Harry Potter).
12. Let's Play TV News: Kaeloo starts a TV news channel, and Mr. Cat is annoyed by the predictability of the news.
13. Let's Play Hide N' Hunt: Mr. Cat comes up with a violent version of Hide and Seek, where he turns Smileyland into a first person shooter-type labyrinth and the others, each with two clones of themselves, must escape from him.
14. Let's Play Ecologists: Kaeloo attempts to educate her friends on ecology.
15. Let's Play Prince Charming: Quack Quack is Prince Charming, who must rescue Princess Stumpy. The so-called “princess”, meanwhile, is searching for a girlfriend on Fakebook (a parody of Facebook).
16. Let's Play Danger Island Survivor: The buddies try to recreate a game show they saw on TV, and each day a competitor is eliminated.
17. Let's Play Peace, Man!: After Mr. Cat and Stumpy decide to play “war”, Kaeloo teaches them a different game, which consists of remaining calm and not getting angry.
18. Let's Play Market Vendors: The buddies decide to pretend to be market vendors. Stumpy gets annoyed, and with the help of Mr. Cat, he stages a robbery.
19. Let's Play House: The buddies are playing house: Kaeloo is the mother, Mr. Cat is the father, Stumpy is the son and Quack Quack is the daughter. The “children” decide to rebel against their parents.
20. Let's Play Scaredy-Cat: After being insulted by his friends, Stumpy wanders off into a forest and finds a magic spell which raises the dead, and Mr. Cat must fight the zombies he raised.
21. Let's Play Baby-Sitting: Stumpy wants to make money by babysitting, so he decides to babysit Quack Quack. Meanwhile, Kaeloo and Mr. Cat go on a date to get to know each other better.
22. Let's Play Spies: Kaeloo, Mr. Cat and Stumpy are spies who must stop Quack Quack, a terrorist who specializes in explosive yogurts. Stumpy, wanting to be the bad guy for once, does everything he can to betray his teammates.
23. Let's Play Air Pockets: The buddies are in an airplane, and things turn problematic when Mr. Cat, the pilot, abandons the plane to get rid of his friends.
24. Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel: Quack Quack, an explorer, and Mr. Cat, an evil Nazi, go on a quest for the Wholly Gruel, a magic crayon that makes everything it draws become real.
25. Let's Play Golf: Kaeloo realizes that her friends are all better than her at golf, so she distracts them and transforms each time she has to hit the ball.
26. Let's Play Catch the Mailman: Kaeloo receives a letter from somebody claiming to be a fan of the series, complaining that she is boring.
27. Let's Play Treasure Hunt!: Kaeloo sets up a treasure hunt, but Mr. Cat changes all the clues.
28. Let's Play Cowboys and Indians: Kaeloo is on her way to make a speech with Quack Quack, a cowboy. Mr. Cat kidnaps Kaeloo to lure Quack Quack into a trap.
29. Let's Play Time Travel: The buddies travel back in time to find a serial killer.
30. Let's Play Grown-Ups: Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack Quack use a machine to turn themselves into adults. Mr. Cat has to return them back to normal.
31. Let's Play Me-Me-Nopoly: The buddies play “Me-Me-Nopoly”, a parody of Monopoly, to see who gets ownership ofnthe sofa.
32. Let's Play Art Class: The buddies are making art, and Stumpy turns out to be a great artist.
33. Let's Play Circuses: The circus has come to Smileyland, with artistes like Stumpy the clown and Quack Quack the acrobat.
34. Let's Play Goodbye, Mr. Cat!: When Mr. Cat becomes a teenager, he finds out that teenagers aren’t allowed in Smileyland. The others attempt to help him find his inner child so that he can stay with them.
35. Let's Play Courtroom Drama: When Quack Quack is found cut up into pieces, Kaeloo accuses Mr. Cat of being the culprit. Mr. Cat demands a trial in court to prove his innocence.
36. Let's Play Musical Chairs: Kaeloo decides to play Musical Chairs with her buddies despite their clear lack of enthusiasm, and Stumpy decides to “befriend” Smileyland’s chairs.
37. Let's Play Paranormal Stuff: Kaeloo predicts a series of misfortunes in Mr. Cat’s future, which he refuses to believe. The buddies then hold a séance to see if they can communicate with spirits.
38. Let's Play Driver's License: Stumpy and Quack Quack try to get their driver’s licenses.
39. Let's Play Super-Powers: The grand prize for eating 712 yogurts is a pack of Mr. Coolskin cards that grant the user superpowers. Stumpy gets Quack Quack to eat the yogurt for him, and the buddies play with the cards.
40. Let's Play Astronauts: The buddies find a parallel planet Smileyland on the other side of the galaxy, where Mr. Cat eats yogurt, Quack Quack torments him, and Stumpy is intelligent.
41. Let's Play Justice Masters: Mr. Cat’s doctor tells him that he needs to relax, as he is extremely stressed. The others try to help him out, but they end up stressing him out even more.
42. Let's Play Detectives: Kaeloo and Mr. Cat compete to see who can find Stumpy’s missing sister first.
43. Let's Play Streetball: The buddies play basketball, and Kaeloo is determined not to get angry because she does not want to go to Hell.
44. Let's Play The Thing From Outer Space: A strange object falls out of the sky. Kaeloo and Quack Quack want to keep it, but Mr. Cat and Stumpy try to get rid of it because they think it might be dangerous.
45. Let's Play Hot – Cold: Stumpy tries to impress his girlfriend, Ursula.
46. Let's Play Once Upon A Time: Kaeloo tries telling her buddies a bedtime story, but things turn chaotic when Stumpy decides to take over the narration.
47. Let's Play Tennis: Kaeloo and Stumpy, with help from Mr. Cat, play tennis against Quack Quack. Mr. Cat decides to help his team win by cheating.
48. Let's Play Figurines: The buddies receive figurines of themselves. Stumpy wants to play “war” with the others’ figurines, but they refuse to give them to him.
49. Let's Play Gangster Poker: The buddies play Poker with a pretend deck of cards (since Stumpy misplaced the actual deck), and decide to use pretend money as well.
50. Let's Play Guess Who!: The buddies play Guess Who, and Mr. Cat decides to use Quack Quack to re-enact some of history’s most violent moments.
51. Let's Play Tea Party: Kaeloo is holding a tea party. Quack Quack is irreproachable, but Mr. Cat and Stumpy are being rude and sloppy.
52. Let's Play Bye-Bye Yoghurt: The buddies hold a funeral for an expired yogurt.

Season 2

A second season was made and aired in France, but never dubbed into English.

Season 3

The third season is slated for release in France in 2017. It is unknown whether it will be dubbed in English.

Voice cast

French

• Kaeloo: Emmanuel Garijo
• Moignon, Coin-Coin, Eugly: Rémi Chapotot
• M. Chat: Philippe Spiteri
• Pretty: Dorothée Pousséo
• Olaf: Féodor Atkine

English

• Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack-Quack: Doug Rand
• Mr Cat: Mike Powers

Italian (Unofficial dubbing)

• Kaeloo: Domenico Coscia
• Mignolo: Martino Garavaglia
• Mr. Gatto: Davide Maugeri

Dissemination and reception

The launch of the series was made June 6, 2010 in the show on Cartoon + in Canal + Family. The show is also broadcast on Canal +. Kaeloo is also distributed outside the show on Canal + Family. The series has received good reviews from Télérama TV 2 Weeks and Télérama considering it "hilarious" and TV two weeks as "a fast-paced cartoon and humor pest, which accomplishes the feat to entertain young and old".

DVD release

Kaeloo: Hide and Hunt was released on Region 4 DVD by Beyond Home Entertainment on 1 December 2011.^[3] It contains the first 13 episodes of Series 1.

International Broadcasts

Awards

Wins

• Kids Screen Awards for Best Series of the Year for the Family category.^[6]
• Audience Award at the Festival de Liège Stereo media for the episode Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel.

Nominations

• Selection in the official competition of the Annecy Animation Festival 2011 in the category TV Series for the episode Let's Play Prince Charming.
• Kids Screen Awards for Best Series of the Year for Class Family.

References

External links

• Kaeloo at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Kaeloo at the Internet Movie Data Base