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Bob the Builder is a children's television character created by Keith Chapman. Bob appears as a construction contractor in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles and equipment (all made of clay). The show is broadcast in many countries, but originates from the United Kingdom where Bob is voiced by actor Neil Morrissey.

In each episode, Bob and his gang help with renovations, construction, and repairs and with other projects as needed. The show emphasizes conflict resolution, co-operation, socialization and various learning skills. Bob's catchphrase is "Can we fix it?", to which the other characters respond with "Yes we can!" This phrase is also the title of the show's theme song, which was a Comic Relief hit in England.

Characters

All the characters are adult humans, machines or animals, except for Spud the scarecrow who serves as the stand-in for a naïve child. It is Spud who must learn to be patient, not to eat all of the food, etc. Spud has a habit of trying to do work and with his limited intelligence getting it wrong and spoiling materials. The machines also often exhibit the behaviors of children, being impatient, not fully understanding the consequences of their actions, and generally acting like children. In these circumstances, Bob acts like their parent, patiently teaching them lessons and helping them fix the messes they've gotten themselves into.

Some have complained about technical errors and lack of proper safety practices in the program, especially the absence of protective eye-wear. However, in later episodes, Bob is seen wearing safety glasses.

Humans

Bob the Builder is a construction worker and head of his own construction yard. He is the namesake of the show and also its main character. Some of the problems in the show arise from Bob's habit of forgetting to turn his mobile phone on. He is the owner of Pilchard the Cat. Wendy, who runs the office and keeps the business in order, is his business partner and often organizes tools and equipment. An underlying romantic tension between Bob and Wendy is hinted at in several episodes. Farmer Pickles is a nearby farmer who sometimes helps out with Bob's projects. Spud, a scarecrow who means well, but more often than not makes a mess of things.

Machines

Major machine characters

• Scoop is a yellow backhoe loader and the unofficial leader of all the machines (male voice; catchphrase: "No prob, Bob!").
• Muck is a red bulldozer with additional dumping bed who thinks before he acts and often gets in trouble for it, but finds his way back (male voice; female voice in US dub; catchphrase: "Muck to the rescue!").
• Dizzy is an orange concrete mixer and one of the youngest in the yard. She is eager, curious, and easily excitable (female voice; catchphrase: "Brilliant!").
• Lofty is a blue crane who isn't very confident; he is hesitant and timid, but with the encouragement of the team comes through in the end (male voice; catchphrase: "Uh... yeah, I think so!", usually said in response to the question "Can we fix it?").
• Roley the green steamroller, rounds out the "Can-Do Crew" (male voice; catchphrase: "Rock and roll!").
• Travis is Farmer Pickles' cyan tractor. He helps out the crew when they need it and keeps an eye on Spud the scarecrow.
• Spud the scarecrow (male voice; catchphrase: "OK, Farmer Pickles" & "Spud's on the job!").

Minor machine characters

• Scrambler - Darkish blue quadbike (ATV) (male voice; catchphrase: "Awesome!" and "Scram to the Valley")
• Benny - Darkish pink excavator (female voice; catchphrase: "Unreal, banana peel!")
• Skip - skip-carrier (male voice)
• Sumsy - Maroon & Yellow Striped forklift Tractor (female voice; catchphrase: "One Tractor Two Trees Three Crates!")
• Packer - Red pickup truck.
• Trix - Purple forklift; belongs to J.J. (female voice; catchphrase: "Easy peasy!")
• Scoot - Black & yellow, Tom's snowmobile (male voice)
• Zoomer - Purple, Bobsville snowmobile (male voice; seen in 'Snowed Under')
• Jackaroo- Blue pickup truck.
• Patrick - bmi baby Jetplane (Male voice; catchphrase: "A Jet plane is ready to go!")

Animals

Pilchard the Cat is Bob's pet and considered a part of the team. However, she's often sleeping when she's needed. Farmer Pickles has two animals: Scruffty, a dog and Humpty, a prize pig.

Other animals

• Bird - A bird, Roley's best friend
• Squawk - Another bird, friend of Bird
• Tommy - Mrs. Potts' turtle
• Hamish - Molly's parrot

Project Build-It

In the second season, a sort of spin-off series was created titled "Project: Build-It". Bob hears of a contest to build a new community in a remote area called Sunflower Valley, outside of Bobsville. He moves from Bobsville (supposedly temporarily) with Wendy and the team and builds a new yard there. Bob convinces his father, Robert, to come out of retirement and take over the Bobsville building business. It is not known whether Bob will return to Bobsville or not.

For the Project Build-It series, different actors were found to do the voices for many of the human characters, including casting Greg Proops as the new voice of Bob, and Neil Morrissey, who played the original Bob, to be the voices of Spud the Scarecrow and Mr. Bentley. Also, the show added recycling and being environmentally friendly to its lessons, emphasising the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

International versions

Bob the Builder is shown in more than thirty countries, and versions are available in English, French, Spanish, Slovenian, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, and Croatian, among other languages. It is shown on CBeebies on BBC television in the UK. Voice actors who have contributed to the original British version include Neil Morrissey, Rob Rackstraw, Kate Harbour, Rupert Degas, Colin McFarlane, Maria Darling, Emma Tate, Richard Briers and June Whitfield.

Australia

Bob the Builder is shown with the ABC Kids programming in Australia.

Catalonia

"Bob el Manetes" is aired in Catalan on TV3, the national public television. Bob always asks "Ens en sortirem?" and his friends answer "Si, i tant".

Czech Republic

"Bořek stavitel" is aired on Česká televize, the national public television.

Finland

"Puuha-Pete" is aired in Finland on Nelonen on Wednesday at 7.50 AM.

France

Beginning October 22 2005, "Bob le Bricoleur" has been airing on France 5 in France. This is the second season (called "Project: Build It" in English): "Mission Nature".

Germany

Beginning February 2, 2001, "Bob der Baumeister" has been airing on Super RTL in Germany. Since then, 157 episodes have been aired.

Hungary

Beginning 20 November 2007, “Bob, a mester” is aired every weekday (from 16:15) on channel m1 of Hungarian Television. The names of the characters are either translated in a more or less literal way (Farmer Pickles, Pilchard, Lofty, Roley), left untranslated (Bob, Wendy), or replaced to a phonetically similar word (Muck became Muki, this similar-sounding word is semantically unrelated); in some cases, entirely new names were given, unrelated to the original ones both semantically and phonetically (Dizzy has become Trixi, Scoop has become Márkus, and Spud has become Piff, neither of these new names has any meaning in Hungarian). Bird is given a new name as well, a word meaning “short” in a countryside dialect (infiltrated into youth slang as well); but the choice may be motivated also by its onomatopoetic sounding. Not only the broadcast itself, but also the Annual 2006 has been translated.

Japan

When being exported to Japan, it was reported that characters of Bob the Builder would be doctored to have five fingers instead of the original four. This was because of a practice among the Yakuza, the famed Japanese mafia, where members would "cut off their little fingers as a sign they can be trusted and have strength of character, and will stay through.".

Quebec, Canada

In the province of Quebec, the series is entitled "Bob le Bricoleur" and airs on Télé-Québec.

Slovenia

In Slovenia the show is named "Mojster Miha" and is being aired on RTV slovenija channel TV Slovenija 1.

The Netherlands

Soon after the BBC started airing, Fox Kids and later Jetix aired the episodes of "Bob de Bouwer" in the Netherlands. Main voices are done by Bram Bart (Bob, Spud, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Ellis, Bennie), Caroline Mout (Wendy, Dizzie, Scrambler) and Fred Meyer (Scoop, Lofty, Mr. Beasley, Mr. Bentley, Mr. Fothergill, Pogo ), Laus Steenbeeke (Farmer Pickles, Jake, Mr. Adams, Mr. Sabatini, Mr. Stevens, Robert the Builder, Scip, Tom the Builder, Tony, Travis, Zoomer), Marjolein Algera (Aunt Doris, Charlene, Del, Dot the Builder, Jana von Strudel, Jenny, Marjorie Mayor, Molly, Mrs. Broadbent, Mrs. Percival, Mrs. Potts, Ms Barbara Bentley, Scoot, Trix) and Stan Limburg (Muck, Roley, JJ, Lenny Lazenby). Stan Limburg also is the Dutch voice-director.

North America

Treehouse TV and TVOntario air Bob the Builder in Canada, and it was shown on Nickelodeon in the United States until the 2005-06 season when it was moved to the PBS Kids network. The show also aired in the US on CBS between 2001 and 2002.

The North American version of the show uses the original British footage, but dubs the voices in local accents and slang -- for example, the word "soccer" is used instead of "football" to avoid confusion with American football or Canadian football (though sometimes this is done haphazardly; in one episode, a "soccer field" is referred to but later it talks about "football tricks"). The original North American voice of Bob (and Farmer Pickles/Mr. Beasley/Mr. Sabatini) was William Dufris, however, he was replaced with comedian Greg Proops.

Norway

In Norway the show is named "Byggmester Bob" and is being aired on TV2.

Wales

The Welsh language version is called "Bob Y Bildar" and began airing on S4C in October 2006, as part of the Planed Plant Bach lunchtime segment between 12.30 and 1.30pm. The show has been dubbed into the Welsh language by record label Sain, which had previously provided Welsh dialogue for children's series Thomas the Tank Engine.

Sweden

In Sweden the show is named "Byggare Bob" and is being aired on SVTs child times.

Other Media

Bob the Builder was recently parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "More Blood, More Chocolate" with Bob voiced by Jamie Kaler and Spud, Roley, and Scoop voiced by Seth Green.

References

• Character section information from: "Meet all of the Bob the Builder Characters" (flash). Bob the Builder website (U.S. version). Retrieved 2006-08-11.

1. http://www.fluidpowersafety.com/sfty_toy1.html
2. "Bob the Builder - ABC Kids TV guide". Retrieved 2006-09-03.
3. "Bob le Bricoleur" (in French). francetélévisons distribution. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
4. "Bob, a mester" (in Hungarian). m1 of Hungarian Television. The flashes on the page are advertisements, not video excerpts.
5. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 12
6. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 10
7. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 9
8. ^ Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 8
9. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 13
10. Bob a Mester nagykönyve 2007: 15
11. Ladó, Anett. "A nagyvárosi és a kisközségi gyerekek szleng használata" (Word document) (in Hungarian). pp. 12, 15.
12. Bob a Mester nagykönyve (in Hungarian). translated by Markwarth, Zsófia. Budapest: Egmont-Hungary Kft. 2007. ISBN 978 963 628 813 6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Made after the original: Bob the Builder Annual 2006. United Kingdom: Egmont Books Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1405220430.
13. "Bob the Builder fixed for Japan". BBC News. 2000-04-20. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
14. "Can we fix it? Ie, ni'n gallu, says Bob on S4C". icWales. 2006-07-22. Retrieved 2006-08-11.

External links

• Official Website
• Bob the Builder area on NickJr.com
• Bob the Builder web page at TreeHouseTV.com

• BBC children's television programmes
• Animated television series
• Programs broadcast by Treehouse TV
• Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters
• PBS network shows
• CBS network shows