Rocket Monkeys

Rocket Monkeys is a Canadian series that was created by Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson which aired on Teletoon in Canada from January 10, 2013, to November 23, 2016.[1] The series is produced by Breakthrough Entertainment in association with Hornet Films and Atomic Cartoons. It also ran on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons in the US for its first season. The second and third season aired in the US on KidsClick. 65 episodes were produced.[2]

Rocket Monkeys
Also known asThe Rocket Monkeys
Created by
  • Dan Abdo
  • Jason Patterson
Developed by
  • Alex Galatis
  • Mark Evestaff
Written by
  • Alex Galatis
  • Seán Cullen
  • Mark Edwards
  • Greg Lawrence
  • Betsy Walters
  • Mark Evestaff
  • Shawn Kalb
  • Alan Resnick
  • Jenn Engels
  • Craig Martin
  • Josh Saltzman
Directed byJ Falconer
Creative directorMark Evestaff
Voices of
Opening theme"Rocket Monkeys" performed by Tony Daniels
Ending theme"Rocket Monkeys" performed by David Berni (as YAY-OK)
Composers
  • Eggplant LF
  • Steve D'Angelo
  • Terry Tompkins
  • Jeffrey Morrow
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes65 (130 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Ira Levy
  • Peter Williamson
  • Joan Lambur
For Hornet Films:
  • Dan Abdo
  • Michael Feder
  • Jason Patterson
For Atomic Cartoons:
  • Trevor Bentley
  • Mauro Casalese
    Rob Davies
  • Rob Simmons
For Teletoon:
  • Alan Gregg
  • Athena Georgaklis
  • Hugues Dufour
ProducerMark Evestaff
Running time22 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
Production companiesBreakthrough Entertainment
Atomic Cartoons
Hornet Films
Release
Original networkTeletoon
Picture formatHDTV 1080i
Audio formatSurround
Original releaseJanuary 10, 2013 (2013-01-10) 
November 23, 2016 (2016-11-23)

Plot

Brothers Gus and Wally are monkey astronauts. They're not the brightest or coolest astronauts, but since they are the only ones around, they are called upon to go into space and carry out different kinds of important missions—including battling rogue black holes and vengeful aliens. Other members of the brothers' crew include bossy astrophysicist Dr. Chimpsky, who gives the monkeys their assignments; YAY-OK, a devoted robot that is slightly outdated and is the brothers' only hope to help keep them on course; and Inky, a space octopus and artist who communicates through his ink drawings.

Characters

  • Gus Monkey (voiced by Seán Cullen) is Wally's older brother. He wants nothing more than to be a hero, but he can't always put aside his monkey instincts. The closest thing the ship has to a captain, he takes being a GASI cadet very seriously—well, when he feels like it.[3]
  • Wally Monkey (voiced by Mark Edwards) is Gus' monkey partner and brother, and is considered the smarter of the two. However Poorly-groomed yet somehow adorable, Wally would rather be playing Banana Blasters or organizing his expired pudding collection than jetting off on some crazy expedition. If there's one thing Wally's good at, it's being a monkey—he can howl and fling with the best of them.[3]
  • Yay-OK (voiced by David Berni) is Wally and Gus' obsolete robot companion that helps them on their adventures through space. There's nothing this robot wouldn't do for his beloved monkeys—after all, he's programmed that way. He's quite the charmer, too—from the fridge to the blender to the vending machine, there isn't a ladybot on board whose circuits he hasn't made beep a little faster.[3]
  • Dr. Chimpsky (voiced by Jamie Watson) is the leader of GASI headquarters. He assigns the Monkeys their highly important missions (which sometimes include getting him more ice when his drink gets too warm) and does his best to keep them on track when they get distracted.[3]
  • Inky is a space octopus and an artist who communicates through his incredible ink drawings. Whether he's a member of the crew or just unbearably cute, is anybody's guess. But either way, his artistic talents make him super fun to have around.[4]
  • Lord Peel (voiced by Mark McKinney) is the main antagonist of the series, whom the monkeys constantly mistake for a banana. Before the events of the series, he was a noble businessman. But then the Rocket Monkeys began to crave him, and he's been trying to get revenge on them for trying to eat him and especially for forcing him into the dark side.
  • Nefarious (voiced by Seán Cullen) is one of the antagonists of the series. He lives in a prison asteroid, which he tries to escape in most episodes.
  • SLO-MO (voiced by Teresa Pavlinek) is Nefarious’ robot companion. In some episodes, she cares about YAY-OK a lot.
  • Deep Space Dave (also voiced by Seán Cullen) is a superhero who always relies on his fans- the monkeys, of course.

Production and development

The development of the series begins in 2006. The two protagonist monkeys, Gus and Wally, are inspired by the complicity of the two creators of the series, Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson,[5] friends since high school. Jason and Dan did some animation tests and sketches which they showed Michael Feder. Feder, a partner of Hornet Inc, then helps in the development Rocket Monkeys, under the label of Hornet Films. The rights to the series are bought by Warner Bros. In 2007, the animation division of their studio closed in 2008. 4Kids Entertainment then volunteered to take care of the pre-production of the series from spring 2008.[6][7][8]

At the beginning of 2012, production was completed and the animation was taken over by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver.[9]

Episodes

Season Episodes Original airdate
First aired Last aired
1 26 (52 segments) January 10, 2013 (2013-01-10) April 2, 2014 (2014-04-02)
2 13 (26 segments) November 5, 2014 (2014-11-05) February 26, 2015 (2015-02-26)
3 26 (52 segments) March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01) November 23, 2016 (2016-11-23)
Special October 25, 2015

Broadcast

Rocket Monkeys has been broadcast in Canada on its original channel, Teletoon, since January 10, 2013.[10] Due to a tangle of rights between Nickelodeon, KidsClick and Teletoon, the series is only available for digital per-episode purchase in Canada, and cannot be purchased in the United States in that manner.

On February 21, 2013, Nickelodeon announced that they have acquired the global rights to the series including the United States, though its history on that network was marked with several shifts. It premiered on March 4, 2013, but then shifted over to sister network Nicktoons due to low ratings and waning promotion on Nickelodeon, before that network dropped entirely it in May 2014, leaving it off American airwaves for just over three years.[11] The second season finally debuted in the United States on July 3, 2017 as part of the over-the-air KidsClick syndicated children's block and has aired until the block shut down in 2019.[12] In the United Kingdom, it debuted on Nicktoons in 2013 and ended sometime in 2017, but reruns aired from December 2017 to 28 January 2018, and it also aired on CITV. In Southeast Asia, it aired on Disney XD, it aired on Disney XD United States it aired on Nicktoons (American TV channel) United States.

References

  1. "Rocket Monkeys premieres January 10 on Teletoon". 3 January 2013.
  2. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 256–257. ISBN 9781476672939.
  3. http://www.teletoon.com/en/tv/rocketMonkeys
  4. "Inky From Rocket Monkeys - Nick.com".
  5. Etan Vlessing (19 February 2013). "Nickelodeon Acquires Canadian Cartoon Rocket Monkeys for Global Network". The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. AARON (24 January 2008). "Hornet Team Builds Buzz for Rocket Monkeys". Cold Hard Flash. Retrieved 1 September 2013..
  7. "Rocket Monkeys Prepped for Blast-off at MIPCOM". Animation Magazine. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2013..
  8. "4Licensing Corporation Launches Rocket Monkeys Licensing Program". Business Wire. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  9. Cadet, Open Space (2016-01-22). "AndrewLucasArt: Rocket Monkeys!". AndrewLucasArt. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  10. "The Press Room « Teletoon « Press Release « TELETOON GOES BANANAS WITH NEW ORIGINAL SERIES ROCKET MONKEYS". 19 June 2013. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013.
  11. "Nickelodeon Acquires Canadian Cartoon 'Rocket Monkeys' for Global Network".
  12. "KidsClick Lineup Revealed". ToonBarn. June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
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