Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies
| Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated series |
| Based on |
|
| Developed by | Douglas Wood Andy Yerkes |
| Directed by | Leo Nielsen |
| Starring | Floella Benjamin Vanessa Williams Phillipa Alexander Jules de Jongh Teresa Gallagher |
| Opening theme | "Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies" by Floella Benjamin/Vanessa Williams "Movie Time!" by Floella Benjamin |
| Composer | Lester Barnes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Leo Nielsen |
| Running time | 10 minutes |
| Production company | King Rollo Films National Geographic Kids Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBeebies (UK) PBS Kids (US) |
| Release | March 19, 2007 – January 18, 2008 |
Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies is an animated educational wildlife children's television series. The live action footage comes from the BBC Natural History Unit archives, as well as the National Geographic Society. The series originally aired on CBeebies in the UK and was created by Douglas Wood, who is also the author of the companion children's picture book When Mama Mirabelle Comes Home, published by National Geographic Books. A total of 52 episodes were produced; in the United States, they were packaged as 26 half-hours.[1]
In the American version, all of the main animals except Karla have American voices. Vanessa Williams is the voice of Mama Mirabelle in the US, and Floella Benjamin is the voice for Mama Mirabelle in the UK.
The series is produced by UK animation studio King Rollo Films, whose other shows include The Adventures of Spot, Discovery Kids' Paz, the Nick Jr. block and Noggin's Maisy, and Sprout's Poppy Cat. The show's opening theme was written by Lester Barnes (the composer for Horrid Henry, Me Too!, Paz and Urmel).
Premise
Set in the African savannah, it focuses on an enthusiastic elephant named Mama Mirabelle, who travels around the world to film real wildlife footage and project them onto a screen of fireflies in front of almost the entire animal kingdom. The "Home Movies" are used for educational purposes not only for the main young characters but for the pre-school audience at home.
Characters
- Mama Mirabelle (voiced by Floella Benjamin in the United Kingdom and Vanessa Williams in the United States) – The show's title character; an elephant who always wears a beautiful orange hat with blue flowers on it. She has travelled the world and made movies of all of the many animals around her.
- Max (voiced by Phillipa Alexander in English and Josephine Schmidt in Germany) – Mama Mirabelle's son, who is the youngest of the group. He always says "Whoa" when he sees something intriguing.
- Karla (voiced by Teresa Gallagher in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and Jennifer Wieb in Germany) – A zebra foal who is always full of questions. She looks up to Mama Mirabelle and wants to be like her when she grows up.
- Bo (voiced by Jules de Jongh in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and Jesco Spirgen in Germany) – A spunky cheetah cub. He is very adventurous, feisty and high-strung and loves to run fast.
- Chip, Flip and Kip are three silly monkeys. They host the Monkey Minutes interstitials. Unlike the other main characters, they do not speak, except in monkey noises.
- Merlin the bat (voiced by Kuchi Brasso)
- Kayla (voiced by Moya O'Sullivan) – A red kangaroo who is friends with Mama Mirabelle.
- Kylie (voiced by Gabriella Lewis) – Kayla's daughter. She only has one line in each episode she appeared in.
- Daddy Stripes (voiced by David Holt in the United Kingdom and the United States) – Karla's father who appears in one episode.
- Keisha (voiced by Emma Tate) – A wombat whom Karla befriends. She is only seen in To Sleep With Wombats.
- Benny (voiced by Lizzie Waterworth) – a lovebird who loves to aid.
- Winnie – A wildebeest calf who is Karla's friend. She and her migrating herd only appear in Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. She can speak Swahili.
- Jacques (voiced by Alan Marriott) – A walrus who is a fellow traveller of Mama Mirabelle.
- Mama Bird (voiced by Elly Fairman) – Benny's mother.
- Edna (voiced by Felicia Hamilton) – a young echidna who lives in Australia.
Crew
- Susan Blu – Voice Director
- Kent Meredith – Voice Director
Episodes
- 01. Elephant Walk
- 02. The Sounds of the Savanna
- 03. A Little Help from My Friends
- 04. Baby of a Different Stripe
- 05. Hide and Go Seek
- 06. Tell Me About It
- 07. To Sleep with Wombats
- 08. All Creatures Great and Small
- 09. Anybody Home?
- 10. Healthy Habits
- 11. Play's the Thing
- 12. Sam Spades of the Savanna
- 13. Gourmet Grazing
- 14. Kings and Queens of the Savanna
- 15. I Spy
- 16. Eyes, Ears, Noses, and Trunks
- 17. The Boy Can Blow
- 18. I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes
- 19. What's in a Tail
- 20. Footprints in the Sand
- 21. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
- 22. Nobody's Perfect
- 23. Things That Go Yip, Howl and Screech in the Night
- 24. Cracking the Code
- 25. A Savanna Kwanzaa
- 26. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
- 27. Change is Gonna Come
- 28. Trumpet While You Work
- 29. Spot the Difference
- 30. Hot-and-Cold Running Critters
- 31. Why Zebras Can't Fly
- 32. Super Duper Savanna Animals
- 33. Come Out of Your Shell
- 34. Travels with Mama
- 35. Tails of the Galápagos
- 36. Happy Habitats
- 37. Savanna Lullaby
- 38. It Gives You Paws
- 39. Out of Reach
- 40. Family Style
- 41. Curtain Up!
- 42. Listen Up!
- 43. Rainy Day Blues
- 44. Take Me to the Water
- 45. Find Your Way Home
- 46. The Nose Knows
- 47. Jumbled Jungle
- 48. Alone Together
- 49. Muddy Wonderland
- 50. Do You See What I See?
- 51. Have You Heard?
- 52. This is Mama's World