Alphablocks
Alphablocks | |
---|---|
Genre |
Learning Pre-School |
Written by |
Max Allen Joe Elliot Neil Richards Maurice Suckling |
Voices of |
Teresa Gallagher David Holt Lizzie Waterworth |
Composer(s) | Ben Lee-Delisle |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 92 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Rebecca Shallcross Joe Elliot |
Producer(s) | Sioned Wyn Roberts |
Running time |
3 minutes (series 1) 5 minutes (series 2–4) |
Production company(s) | Alphablocks Ltd |
Release | |
Original network | CBeebies |
Picture format | Widescreen |
Original release | 25 January 2010 |
External links | |
Website | |
Production website |
Alphablocks is a British CGI-animated children's educational television programme that tries to teach children how to spell with the use of animated blocks representing each letter. It is animated by Blue-Zoo and produced by Alphablocks Ltd.[1] Once the Alphablocks discover that whenever they make a word it comes to life, many new adventures in Alphaland can be created. This is meant to help preschool children with learning the alphabet, spelling, reading and writing.
Characters
Letter | Age | Main Color | Information |
---|---|---|---|
A | 7 (Seasons 1 to 4)
Unknown (Currently) |
Light and dark green | She likes to sing and help the other vowels. She has a plaster on her cheek and apples keep falling on her head. In "Prank" she discovered a red clown nose and played jokes on all of the other Alphablocks. Her voice actor, Max Charles, replaced Lizzie Waterworth with her new voice. |
B | 7 | Light blue | She plays the bass guitar and is D's younger sister. |
C | 4 | Red and white with blue stars | The only letter who performs stunts. She wears goggles and makes cracks. She is K's younger sister. She often worries why she's even a letter because she makes the same sound as K. She has a Magnolian accent, despite her voice actress, Kuchi Braaso, being British. |
D | 8 | Purple | He is a proper cube shape and he plays the drums. He is B's older brother. |
E | 4 (Seasons 1 to 4)
Unknown (Currently) |
Red | He is the busiest letter in the alphabet. His 'eh's echo from the loudhailer he uses. He also becomes Magic E who is red with a top hat and a black ninja outfit to make the other vowels say their names. There is also Silent E. He has the same look as Magic E, but he doesn't have a top hat. In "Sleep" all he wanted to do is to rest his sleepy head, but the other Alphablocks had other plans in mind. He wears yellow swimming costume. |
F | 4 | Purple | She is into floating and blowing. She is designed like an astronaut with a small life-support backpack. She can fly about in air or in space. Her 'ffff' sound is used to represent the sound of a rocket-pack attached to her. |
G | 4 | Green | She looks like a plant with flowers on her sides and grassy hair. Sometimes she drinks water, and when that happens her hair grows. |
H | 4 | Yellow and red | She likes to run, but she can get tired when running. Her 'h-h-h-h' sound is panting. |
I | 5 | Fuchsia | Her singing can be too loud sometimes but the Alphablocks really like her singing. She is also self-absorbed and thinks she is the most important letter (reflecting the use of 'I' to refer to oneself, or the first person). |
J | 4 | Blue and white with orange 'beak' | She looks like a penguin, but thinks she is a jay bird. She thinks she can sing and fly like a real jay. |
K | 4 | Chartreuse | He likes to kick his football. He is C's older brother. |
L | 16 | Lilac-pink with greensocks | She loves to sing songs with her L sound. She sings a special lullaby to help the others get to sleep. |
M | Unknown | White with blue feet | He is dressed up as a chef and likes to eat things (even stuff that is not food) which makes him quite greedy. This can irritate the other Alphablocks. |
N | 7 | Vermilion | He is quite stubborn and negative. He says 'No' even when the answer is yes. In "Ants", A, P, T, and S were blaming him for nothing, which made him very upset. In "Little Red N" he faced a challenge when the dog, the cat, and the pig refused to help him make bread out of wheat. |
O | 2 | Orange | He does not speak and only communicates via the onomatopoeia "Baa". He likes to investigate lots of things with his magnifying glass. |
P | 14 | Bright green, blue and purple with white stars and dark green shoes | She can appear and disappear by making a popping noise and it can scare the others when they are busy. She appears to be a pixie. She is very sweet and loves to helps her friends. |
Q | Unknown | Green with indigo hair | She is an old green woman who dresses like a queen and wants to be quite quarrelling. She is also in love with U which is who she also needs to make her "qu" or "q" sound, but he always runs away. |
R | 12 | Red and black | She looks like a pirate (reflecting the stereotypical "arrrrrr" pirate exclamation), and she has a tomboy personality. |
S | 10 | Red, white, blue, orange, green, and yellow | She resembles a beach ball. She can inflate and deflate and fly about. |
T | Unknown | Dark blue | He wears a monocle and has a white moustache. He really likes drinking tea. He says "t, t" when he is out of tea. He is one of the consonants who appears a lot. (In fact, he is the second most busy Alphablock in Alphaland.) He refers to his name as Tea. |
U | 9 | Light blue with purple shoes | He wears square glasses and is quite moody. He always runs away from Q (probably because she wants to be quite quarrelling). He usually say words like "unfair" or "unbelievable". His voice actor, Max Charles, replaced David Holt with his new voice. |
V | Unknown | Red and white | He is designed as a racing driver who is very fast with his steering wheel and has feathers on his arms. His 'v-v-v' sound is his "vroom". |
W | 6 | Indigo | He cries when he gets hurt or when he is upset, causing floods everywhere. His 'w-w-w' sound is wailing. He refers to his name as his sound. |
X | Unknown | Gold and blue with white socks | He is the superhero and has X-ray vision. He also becomes Plusman when his letter shape goes all wonky turning it into a plus sign by accident and he turns red with a different personality. He then has the power to make compound words - putting 2 little words together into 1 whole big word. In "Plusman" he shows how he became Plusman with his laser by rotating his X the same way his letter shape did and made the compound word 'lunchbox'. |
Y | 4 | Yellow | He is the youngest Alphablock besides O and the only consonant which can make a semivowel sound (see Series 1, Episode 4). He perseveres even if he has trouble doing things. |
Z | Unknown | Lime green | He is the oldest Alphablock with a walking stick (cane) and can sleep almost anywhere (reflecting the "zzz" sound commonly used to represent the sound of sleeping or snoring in comics). |
Other characters
- Girl
- Cowboy
- Singing Cow
- Josie
- Jared
- Justin
Aired episodes
Series 1
Series 1 originally ran in the UK from January to February 2010.[2]
- Alphablocks (Pilot)
- Bee
- Top
- Why
- Key
- Glow
- Sing
- Band
- Party
- Cha Cha Cha
- Race
- Moon
- Alphalympics
- Sail
- UFO
- Fox
- Surprise
- Bus
- Space
- Hide
- Quiet
- Map
- Jaybird
- Note
- Zzzzz
- Magic (Magic E's song)
The episode UFO has some short amusing reflections on Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Series 2
Series 2 originally ran in the UK from February to March 2012.[2]
- Taps
- In
- Man
- Din
- Dog
- Cat
- Pen
- Up
- Red
- Hen
- Bop
- Fred
- Hill
- Van
- Zap
- Dot
- Lips
- Web
- Box
- Quick
- Kick
- Wig
- Rainbow
- On
- ABC
- The Cat Sat on The Mat
Series 3
Series 3 originally aired from October 2012 - March 2013
- Wish
- Snowman
- Win
- Hat
- Little Red N
- Dots
- Frog on a Dog
- Best
- Fit
- Odd
- Champ
- Song
- Thing
- Train
- Beep
- Tightrope
- Toad
- Book
- Hey!
- Card
- The End
- How Now, Brown Cow?
- Fair
- Ants
- Ink
- Crash!
Series 4
Series 4 began in the UK in June 2013 to November 2016[2]
- Four
- Clap
- Prank[note 1]
- Plusman
- Alphabet
- Name
- Sleep
- Mine
- Home
- Blue
- Outlaw
- Birthday Girl
- Cowboy
- Duloc Dolls
US Version
It is hopeful that there will be a version of the show in the United States, however it is unknown.
Notes
- ↑ (originally shown on 16 November 2012 as part of Children in Need 2012)
References
- ↑ "Alphablocks". Blue Zoo Animation Studio.
- 1 2 3 "Alphablocks". tvdb.
- ↑ "Episodes from Alphablocks: Series 2 broadcast in 2012". BBC. 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ↑ http://www.locatetv.com/tv/alphablocks/6597412/episode-guide