Happy Monster Band
Happy Monster Band (also known as Happy Monster Band: Direct from Monsterland and Happy Monster Band: World Tour respectively) is an American-British animated children's television series that originally aired on Playhouse Disney from October 1, 2007, until October 26, 2008 and is produced by Kickstart Productions. The series was created by Don Carter. The show is about a group of monsters that performs songs about friendship, love, exercising, chores, and other preschool related themes.
Happy Monster Band | |
---|---|
Logo card from the first series | |
Opening theme | "Happy Monster Band" |
Ending theme | "Happy Monster Band" (Instrumental) |
Country of origin | United States United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Production | |
Running time | 5 minutes |
Production company | Kickstart Productions |
Distributor | Disney–ABC Domestic Television |
Release | |
Original network | Playhouse Disney Disney Channel |
Original release | October 1, 2007 – October 26, 2008 |
Characters
Main
There are four monsters that make up the Happy Monster Band: Ink, Bluz, L.O. and Frred. All of the monsters' names echo their colors: Ink’s trademark color is pink, Bluz’s is blue, L.O.’s is yellow and Frred’s is red, The main characters were designed by Don Carter. All four of the band members are kids, but when they sing their voices are that of Tally Hall. However, in the UK version of the show, when they sing they maintain their children voices.
- Frred is the male band's vocal output who plays electric guitar and is red, referring to his name. While Ink may appear to be the leader, many fans often tend to view and consider that Frred himself is the actual leader. Frred is also voiced by Rob Cantor (Singing Voice) and Kurt Doss.(Speaking Voice)
- L.O. voiced by Zubin Sedghi (US) and Nathan Simpson (UK) is the other male lead singer and plays bass guitar. L.O. is the only male monster in the band that goes against traditional thinking, preferring to paint and draw instead of scaring and happens to be viewed and considered a shy introvert, although L.O. sometimes can be quite successful in that. L.O. is the oldest in the band.
- Bluz is the male band's keyboardist and has four legs. Bluz often contradicts L.O.’s opinions, stating that monsters should scare and not care about art. Bluz is blue. During the World Tour, Bluz doesn't know about foreign languages, making him almost ditzy, though Bluz is not fully air-headed and also naturally hates seeing others frustrated, down or in a conflict, even if they are his friends in fact. Bluz is also the youngest in the Happy Monster Band. Bluz is also voiced by Joe Hawley (Singing Voice), Jonah Lees (Direct from Monsterland) and Jake T. Austin (World Tour). (Speaking Voices)
- Ink is the female band’s drummer. Ink has three eyes and is pink. Unlike the other band members, Ink only sings in choruses. However Ink did get a solo verse in “Do the Monster Stomp”. During the World Tour Ink carries a globe and is fluent in several languages. Ink is voiced by Hannah Leigh.
Supporting
The first season introduced several characters.
- Roc and Raoul (voiced by Sam Riegel (Roc) and Yuri Lowenthal (Raoul) respectively) are a two-headed purple monster that are the shows hosts, who speak in rhyme, except while backstage and are also in season 2 (World Tour).
- La, Dee, and Da are the show's judges, who are only shown in the first season and are all bright green, They are based on Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell.
World Tour
- Akito is the band's pen pal in Tokyo, Japan.
- Joey is a kangaroo in Sydney, Australia.
- Dwight is a giant monster in Italy who is often hungry and is used as a comedic explanation for the Tower of Pisa leaning and the Colosseum missing a large portion of its wall.
- Ravi is a 4-year-old boy who is energetic.
- The Rancher is an introducer.
- Johnny and Franklin are the guys who were introduced in the World Tour episode The Monster Tangle.
Episodes
Series 1 (Direct from Monsterland, 2007-2008)
- I Will Be Your Friend - L.O. and the monsters are celebrating friendship together
- Do the Monster Stomp - Frred thinks that Bluz just found that’s missing
- Monster Hoe Down - the monsters are dressed up 3 cowboys and 1 cowgirl
- Dirty, Smelly Monster Chores - L.O. did the chores spreading clothes on the floor bring the garbage and tracking mud everywhere!
- Scare Up Some Fun - the twins sees a room empty and think that the band was not here. but the band tries scaring them both
- I'm the Best at Being Me - L.O. is not as scary as Bluz because he likes to write potrey and paint
- Do Re Mi-Mi-Mi - Ink was struggling to write her song for her work
- Even Monsters Cry Sometimes - Frred was so sad when his dad got a flat tire and was going to miss the concert
- Get Up and Go Go Go - The band tell the twins to get ready
- Practice Makes Progress - Ink’s jump rope contest Is coming up, so she's practicing her skills
Series 2 (World Tour, 2008-2009)
- Here in Australia
- A Wonderful Time in France
- Yin & Yang
- London Town
- In India
- Siesta! Siesta!
- The Monster Tangle
- Konichiwa!
- At the Rodeo
- The Italian Way
Production
The actual music and vocals were written and performed by Tally Hall, an American rock band. The characters and concept for the show were created by children's book author/illustrator, Don Carter.[1] Judy Rothman Rofé wrote all the episodes in Season 1 and five of the episodes in Season 2.
Broadcast
In the United Kingdom, the show was shown on Playhouse Disney from October 5, 2007 to January 20, 2010