This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JBW (talk | contribs) at 09:53, 13 April 2012 (Protected The WotWots: Persistent sock puppetry ( (expires 09:53, 13 April 2013 (UTC)) (expires 09:53, 13 April 2013 (UTC)))). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 09:53, 13 April 2012 by JBW (talk | contribs) (Protected The WotWots: Persistent sock puppetry ( (expires 09:53, 13 April 2013 (UTC)) (expires 09:53, 13 April 2013 (UTC))))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 2009 New Zealand TV series or program| The WotWots | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Martin Baynton Richard Taylor |
| Written by | Terri Baynton Martin Baynton Theo Baynton John Carr Janice Marriott Peter Salmon |
| Directed by | Theo Baynton |
| Voices of | Nathalie Boltt Martin Baynton Janet Roddick |
| Narrated by | Martin Baynton Nicholas Parsons (UK) |
| Composer | David Long |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Martin Baynton Richard Taylor Tania Rodger |
| Producers | Andrew Smith Jan Haynes |
| Running time | 5 minutes (production executions) 10 minutes (television series) |
| Production companies | Pukeko Pictures Weta Workshop |
| Original release | |
| Network | TV2 |
| Release | 23 March 2009 – Present |
The WotWots is a New Zealand children's television show which debuted in 2009.
The show features two alien siblings, named SpottyWot and DottyWot, who spend their days exploring the environment where their steam-powered spaceship has landed. Episodes are set in the zoo, at the farm, or on the beach.
Production
The WotWots is produced by Pukeko Pictures, a production company founded by filmmaker Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, and children's author Martin Baynton. The puppet-like WotWots characters are computer-animated over live-action footage by Weta Workshop, the visual effects company founded by Taylor and Rodger, and well-known for its work on the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Made in New Zealand, episodes are filmed on location at Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo and Melbourne Zoo, as well as undisclosed beach and farm regions.
Co-creator Martin Baynton also narrates the series, interacting with the WotWots by asking them questions and translating their speech for the viewer. In the UK, the narration is performed by Nicholas Parsons, and in Poland it is done by Vladimir Press. Baynton also provides the voice for SpottyWot, while South African actress Nathalie Boltt voices DottyWot. Janet Roddick voices the WotWot's computer, but her voice is replaced by that of Fiona Lewis in the UK version.
Broadcast details
| Country | Broadcaster | Screen date |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | TVNZ Kidzone24 | 23 March 2009 |
| Australia | ABC1, ABC2 | 16 April 2009 |
| United Kingdom | Five | 8 June 2009 |
| Poland | MiniMini | 1 December 2009 (as Kitka i Pompon) |
| Canada | Treehouse TV | 22 February 2010 |
| United States | The Hub, Discovery Kids | |
| Middle East | Baraem | |
| Finland | MTV3 Juniori | |
| Portugal | RTP | |
| Ireland | Raidió Teilifís Éireann | |
| Thailand | Thai PBS | |
| Singapore | Okto | 17 March 2010 |
| Malaysia | Astro TVIQ | |
| Latin America | HBO Family | |
| Turkey | Minika | |
| South Africa | TopTV | |
| Korea | C4U | 1 March |
Merchandise
Playskool, a toy brand of Hasbro, is licensed to produce the WotWots toy range, and the toys were launched on 2 September 2009.
Partnership with the NZ Ministry of Health
In August 2011, The WotWots became ambassadors for B4 SchoolChecks. It was announced by the Minister of Health (New Zealand), Tony Ryall that the "The Ministry of Health has entered into a partnership with Sir Richard Taylor’s television characters the WotWots to promote B4 School checks."
B4 School Checks are an initiative offering a comprehensive assessment of a four year old child’s health and development.
List of The WotWots Episodes
| Epidose No. | Episode Title | Summary | Animal | Zoo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SERIES ONE (2009) | ||||||||
| 01 | Scary Sucky Noise | In the first episode, the Wotwots learn about elephants. | Elephant | Auckland | ||||
| 02 | Fruity Loopies | The Wotwots have fruity loopies for breaking and learn how giraffes use the necks as drinking straws. | Giraffe | Wellington | ||||
| 03 | Lanky Landing Legs | The Wotwots find a pair of pink legs in the zoo and learn how beautiful and fascinating flamingoes are. | Flamingo | Auckland | ||||
| 04 | Spot a Dottywot | Spottywot plays hide and seek with his sister but finds a human wearing a hat with something looking like tufty flufties and also hears a growling sound of another animal with something that seems like a big tufty flufty. It eventually turns out to be a lion's tail and the Wotwots learn how lions are good hiders. | Lion | Wellington | ||||
| 05 | Stripe a Lotty Wotty | The Wotwots looks at shadows and find a zebra with fascinating stripes. Spottywot gets out extraordinarily long crayons to paint himself with shadowed stripes. | Zebra | Wellington | ||||
| 06 | Plodda Lotty | Spottywot is in a speedy mood and his sister isn't and learns about how tortoises do everything slowly. | Tortoise | Melbourne | ||||
| 07 | Drowsy DottyWot | It is a hot day and all the animals are snoozing about and the Wotwots intend to do the same and they learn about pelicans. | Pelican | Wellington | ||||
| 08 | Top and Tail | Spottywot's chair runs out of fruity juice and leaves him hanging on the ship's railings but Dottywot manages to put in apple fuel and while out finding an animal Dottywot's chair runs out of fruity juice as well. The Wotwot's learn how monkeys hang about the place with its long monkey tail. | Monkey | |||||
| 09 | Fluffy Puffies | The Wotwot's look at the different cloud shapes drifting in the sky and see a polar bear who has white fluffy fur like a cloud. | Polar Bear | |||||
| 10 | Coughy Wot | Spottywot's chair coughs and sneezes giving him a hard ride and making it hard for him to draw. The Wotwots eventually learn how Seals bark like coughing and sneezing. | Seal | Auckland | ||||
| 11 | Stretch and Grow | Dottywot and Spottywot do stretching exercises and learn that are the same size. They even learn how Meerkats stretch and grow. | Meerkat | Wellington | ||||
| 12 | Sneaky Squawky | The Wotwots hear a Magpie call outside and find its nest near their ship. Spottywot even finds that his crayons are all gone and Magpies use crayons to decorate their nest but he does get new ones luckily to decorate his bed rather than tidying up. | Magpie | Wellington | ||||
| 13 | Twisty Sticks | One of SpottyWot's Tufty Flufties goes straight and spiky after sleeping on it and DottyWot tries to do the same. The Wotwots learn about how porcupines have straight and spiky quills (or tufty flufties in their case). | Porcupine | Wellington | ||||
| 14 | Skip-a-Lotty Wotty | Spottywot loves skipping and bouncing and got to the zoo to see who else bounces like a boy on a bouncy ball and a lady on a pogo stick and even learn that animals like kangaroos like to bounce around as well. They even see how Kangaroos have pouches for their babies and Spottywot pretends to be a mother kangaroo with his teddy bear. | Kangaroo | Auckland | ||||
| 15 | Bubblywots | The Wotwots drinks up their fruity loopies really fast and then hiccup up bubbles. They learn how good hippos are at blowing bubbles. | Hippopotamus | Auckland | ||||
| 16 | Egg Sighting | The Wotwots see signs about things that are not allowed in the zoo. They find a chicken that lays eggs and learn that they're ship looks like an egg and Spottywot thinks a chicken he sit on it and puts up a sign to keep giant chickens away from their ship. | Bantam hen | Wellington | ||||
| 17 | HicHoppity Wot | Spottywot has a terrible case of the hiccups and Dottywot tries to help cure them as it is hard with no noses and six digits on each hand. They find a frog that croaks like it would be hiccuping. At the end of the episode Dottywot starts to Hiccup as well. | Frog | |||||
| 18 | Creepalongy Wot | Spottywot tries to pounce up on his sister but Dottywot's tufty flufty sensed him. The Wotwots see how good a big cat called a serval is good at hiding and pouncing because of how they camouflage. When going back to the ship the Wotwots learn how other animals camouflage.. | Serval | |||||
| 19 | Blinky Winky | The Wotwots have a staring contest. Dottywot did a good staring job. They see an owl and try to do the staring game with it. When back at the ship they learn how owls use their eyes. | Owl | |||||
| 20 | Topsy Turvy Wotty | Spottywot attempts to stunt at the zoo and it looked like he was upside down. Spottywot learns how bats are good at hanging upside down. | Bat | |||||
| 21 | Go the Greens | Spottywot refuses to eat broccoli soup and Dottywot shows how important it is to eat greens and learn how other animals eat greens. They look at pictures of Rhinos and see how they love to eat greens. | Rhinoceros | Auckland | ||||
| 22 | Tickle Toes | Spottywot has an itchy spot on his foot but can't reach it in his hover chair. Dottywot tries to help and learn how chimpanzees scratch each other and how clever they both are. | Chimpanzee | |||||
| 23 | HotWots | It is a cold day and the WotWot's try to warm up. They go around the zoo to see animals that don't like the cold. The Wotwots come back to see they left the heater on and it melted Spottywot's crayons. The Wotwot's then notice a sheep and see how its coat keeps it warm in the cold. | Sheep | Auckland | ||||
| 24 | Copy Copy Wotty | The Wotwots make animal sounds and hear something copy their Wotty speeches thinking it is another Wotwot and it eventually turns out to be a colourful parrot called a macaw that can copy sounds. | Macaw | |||||
| 25 | WetWots | It is raining and the Wotwots can't go anywhere after seeing a dinosaur. Spottywot draws his own monster out of many animals. They learn about the Tuatara which was around longer than the dinosaurs and learn that there's even one in the zoo and see it and eventually change the moose antlers in Spottywot's drawing to Tuatara scales. | Tuatara | Auckland | ||||
| 26 | Slurpy Lurpy Lips | It is a hot day and everyone in the zoo is asleep except Spottywot who wants to play ball with someone and gets frustrated that Dottywot wouldn't play. He Then decides play by himself but tosses it too far and losses it but then it gets thrown back meaning that someone wants to play with him but it later doesn't get thown back. The Wotwots eventually learn that it is an Orangutan that throws stuff around and out of its exhibit. | Orangutan | Auckland | ||||
| 27 | Spring Wotty | DottyWot is disappointed to lose a jumping competition. She goes to find an animal with a bouncy name, a springbok and learns how good at jumping they are. | Springbok | Auckland | ||||
| 28 | Socket Sprocket Pocket | DottyWot’s chair needs fixing but her brother keeps losing his spanner. One of the zoo's cutest residents shows how to keep important things like how koalas always carry their babies with them. | Koala | Wellington | ||||
| 29 | Sir SpottyWot | DottyWot reads a book about knights and dragons. SpottyWot decides he will be a knight and he sets tochair to have a mind of its own like a dragon and sets off to find hi own dragon in the zoo and eventually does find a large komodo dragon. | Komodo Dragon | |||||
| 30 | Floppy Flufties | The WotWots are playing a guessing game with their tufty flufties, will they be up or will they be down? They find a rabbit and see how rabbits have similar games with their ears. | Rabbit | Auckland | ||||
| 31 | Peak-a-Beak | The WotWots play at drawing pictures in the dark. It’s very hard to do and they are surprised to learn there are animals like the kiwi bird that can see well in the dark. | Kiwi | Auckland | ||||
| 32 | The Digger They Are | The Wotwots find a Digger outside their ship and learn that Wombat's and all sorts of animals are good diggers as well. | Wombat | Melbourne | ||||
| 33 | Laugh a Lotty | The Wotwot's pull faces and learn how good the laughing Kookaburra's are. | Kookaburra | |||||
| 34 | Double Bumpies | Spottywot thinks he saw an animal with 2 heads but it turns out to be a human with her baby. The Wotwot's learn how animals take care of their babies. | Humans | |||||
| 35 | Ready to Roar | SpottyWot's attempt to scare his sister with a loud roar isn’t very scary. So the WotWots head out to find an animal with a terrifying roar that SpottyWot can copy and they eventually get surprisec after seeing a tiger's roar. | Tiger | Melbourne | ||||
| 36 | Fill Bill | DottyWot spots a duck bill on the zoo pond. When the whole animal is revealed the WotWots are surprised to find the bill doesn’t really belong to a duck after all it was a platypus tht has a bill like a duck. | Platypus | |||||
| 37 | Stingy Thingy | The WotWots are out smelling flowers when SpottyWot starts to play with a bee only to get stung. He learns that some creatures have a painful way of telling you they don’t want to play like how Snakes bite. | Bee / Snake | |||||
| 38 | Looky Looky | SpottyWot spots a creature with hundreds of eyes and hurries to tell his sister. DottyWot is very surprised and they set out to find the mythical multi eyed monster but it then turns out to be the beautiful feathers of a peacock. | Peacock | |||||
| 39 | Wot a Ploppy | SpottyWot is learning to track animals by recognizing their droppings. He sets out to track down the animal that has made an impressively big pile of droppings and eventually finds a moose. | Moose | Wellington | ||||
| 40 | Prickly Prints | The WotWots spot some interesting footprints and track down who made them. SpottyWot decides he can make some interesting paw prints of his own and sees how fascinating a spiny echidnas are. | Echidna | Melbourne | ||||
| 41 | True Blue | The Wotwots find a blue animal in the zoo that they find out to be a fascinating colour and learn about penguins that would normally be black. | Penguin | |||||
| 42 | Beat-Boppy Wots | The Wotwots do some dance steps and learn that Ostriches are good dancers like the flamingoes from earlier on. | Ostrich | Wellington | ||||
| 43 | Picture Puzzle | Spottywot plays a puzzle game for his sister to find 3 animals. One that lives in water, one with stripes and one that has a pocket for its babies. Dottywot also learns that there are animals besides kangaroos like possums that have pouches. | Possum | |||||
| 44 | Colour Conundrums | The Wotwots learn about colours and learn about how Chameleon's change colours. | Chameleon | |||||
| 45 | Lumpy Bumpies | Spottywot does a lumpy bumpy sketching on a tree and the Wotwots then find an animal in the water an animal with lumpy bumpy scales which is a crocodile. | Crocodile | |||||
| 46 | Over the Rainbow | The Wotwots see a rainbow and see the great big smile on a Sun Bear's fur. | Sun Bear | Wellington | ||||
| 47 | Trail Tail | The Wotwots find a slimy trail in the Zoo and find it was made by a snail. | Snail | |||||
| 48 | Ready to Rumble | The Wotwots learn how Dingoes make their own den and Spottywot decides to make himself a den. | Dingo | Wellington | ||||
| 49 | Wotter Otter | Spottywot develops a remote control for his chair and uses it to find his spanner in an animal's exhibit belonging to an otter. | Otter | |||||
| 50 | Tufty Tops | The Wotwots are fascinated by their Tufty Flufties and search for fascinating horns, crests and hair of animals and find a fascinating Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. | Cockatoo | Wellington | ||||
| 51 | Speedy Spots | Spottywot and Dottywot have a race with their chairs around the Zoo. Spottywot learns how cheetahs run really fast and thinks it is the spots that make it fast. | Cheetah | |||||
| 52 | Ready or Notty | The Wotwots discover that lots of animals have bright red feathers, scales and fur like Red Pandas. | Red Panda | Wellington | ||||
| SERIES TWO (2011) | ||||||||
| 53 | Wotties of Steel | DottyWot is fascinated to discover a colony of ants on the farm. SpottyWot is completely unimpressed by such tiny creatures - until he finds out just how strong they can be. | Ant | |||||
| 54 | Nibble Notty | SpottyWot is enjoying a loopy-fruity breakfast in the ship when someone eats his picture he was painting outside. The WotWots go in search of the culprit. | Goat | |||||
| 55 | Wot Plants | After witnessing a farmer planting seeds in the ground, the WotWots learn how seeds can grow. Then SpottyWot decides to plant himself and try to grow a SpottyWot tree. | Seeds | |||||
| 56 | Wot's New Pussycat | The WotWots get up one morning to find some favourite toys have been nibbled in the night. SpottyWot goes off in search of the farm cat to see if it can help them with their problem. | Cat / Mouse | |||||
| 57 | The TrottyWot | DottyWot is exploring the farm when she sees a girl grooming and riding a beautiful pony. DottyWot thinks it would be wonderful to have her very own pony to ride – if she could just find someone to be that pony. | Pony | |||||
| 58 | Swan Lake | The WotWots are sailing paper boats when SpottyWot’s boat lets in water and sinks. He catches a glimpse of the sea monster responsible and sets out to unmask it. | Swan | |||||
| 59 | Wheelie Wots | SpottyWot decides the spaceship needs a new set of wheels and he sets off to find some replacements. He comes across the perfect wheels, but what will the ship think of them? | Donkey | |||||
| 60 | Wormy Tale | The WotWots spot an unusual creature through the Sneak-a-Peak Periscope. SpottyWot thinks it might be a tail that has fallen off another animal. Maybe it’s a WotWot tail? | Worm | |||||
| 61 | Milky Moo | The WotWots can’t decide what to mix for their breakfast loopy drinks. Through the Sneak-a-Peak Periscope they see a cow being milked. Maybe milk would make a tasty breakfast drink? | Cow | |||||
| 62 | Alpaca Sad | The WotWots draw imaginary animals with mixed up heads, bodies and legs. They are very excited to discover that one of their make-believe creature might really exist. | Alpaca | |||||
| 63 | Whistle Wots | The WotWots watch as a sheepdog rounds up a group of sheep. SpottyWot is inspired, but is he inspired enough to herd up the huge mess he made a little earlier? | Sheep Dog | |||||
| 64 | Tough Crowd | DottyWot is having a great day on the farm impersonating animals. But then she find a scarecrow who doesn’t get her jokes. Will the WotWots be able to make him laugh? | Scarecrow | |||||
| 65 | Sleepless in the Cattle | The WotWots can’t sleep. The animals on the farm keep them awake at night. SpottyWot tries to quieten the animals down but he can’t. Maybe it’s time to leave the farm? | Turkey | |||||
| 66 | Fronds Like These | While SpottyWot sleeps on the beach, DottyWot explores a nearby rock pool. She finds some sea anemones and wants to learn all about these amazing creatures. | Anemone | |||||
| 67 | Moons & Moats | When the WotWots build a sandcastle on the beach, a tide comes and washes it away. So the WotWots build a second castle and learn how to protect it from the next tide. | Sandcastle / Tides | |||||
| 68 | Crabby WotWot | To SpottyWot’s horror, the spaceship has run out of bananas for his loopy fruity drink. He goes in search of a giant yellow banana and discovers something altogether more exciting. | Paddle Crab | |||||
| 69 | Footprints in the Sand | The WotWots come across some mysterious foot prints on the beach. They track them across the sand and come to a bird’s nest in the long grass. And the nest has eggs in it! | Pukeko (Moorhen) | |||||
| 70 | Wot a Racket | The WotWots discover a large shell on the beach which sounds like it has a very large ocean inside it. SpottyWot doesn’t want his sister to bring it into the ship in case they get flooded. | Conch Shell | |||||
| 71 | Gnome Sweet Gnome | The WotWots find pictures of mythical mermaids and other creatures on the ship’s computer. They are convinced these creatures are real and go out in search for them on the beach. | Gnomes | |||||
| 72 | Wind Wotty | The WotWots see a kite flying in the wind. They are fascinated and try to find out what else can be pushed and pulled by the wind. Perhaps the wind can even pull them along. | Wind | |||||
| 73 | Tinkle Winkle | The WotWots are exploring the beach and find a starfish washed up on the sand. They want to send it home but first they have to find out where it come from. | Starfish | |||||
| 74 | Wot Wot Bottle Wot | SpottyWot is building a beach sculpture out of driftwood when he comes across a message in a bottle. The WotWots decide to send their very own message in a bottle. | Message in a bottle | |||||
| 75 | Wot a Grommet | The WotWots spy some surfers riding the waves. SpottyWot is enthralled but a little worried by the size of the waves. If only there was a way to ride a surf board without the surf. | Surfing | |||||
| 76 | Wotty Hermit | DottyWot makes a picture out of shells on the beach. When she goes to show it to her brother she finds that some of the shells have moved! Can the shells be moving themselves? | Hermit Crab | |||||
| 77 | Shiver Me WotWots | SpottyWot draws a pirate’s treasure map and goes out digging on the beach in search of his treasure. He doesn’t have much luck until DottyWot helps by making a small addition to the map. | Pirates | |||||
| 78 | Gulls Gulls Gulls | The WotWots spot a seagull diving down into the sea in search of fish. SpottyWot thinks this is a wonderful idea and wants to take their spaceship on an underwater adventure. | Seagull | |||||
References
- Baynton, Martin. "Good Morning". TVNZ. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- The WotWots children's tv show set to launch on TV2, 4 March 2009.
- The WotWots – new to ABC for Kids, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 6 April 2009.
- The WotWots, Five.
- Alien twins discover 'Wots' new at the zoo, 18 February 2010. Thesudburystar.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
- baraem.TV.براعم – الأخوان وات وات. Baraem.tv. Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
- The WotWots learn flamenco. OnscreenAsia.com (2012-02-09). Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
- The WotWots! – WotWots make waves in Korea. Wotwots.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
- Playskool To Launch Long Awaited WotWots, Scoop.co.uk, 3 August 2009.
- New Zealand Parliament – 3. Children, Health—B4 School Health Checks. Parliament.nz (2011-09-13). Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
External links
- The WotWots official website
- "The WotWots" announced on Weta Workshop's website
- The WotWots at IMDb
- Template:Bcdb