The Animal Shelf

The Animal Shelf
Genre	Children's
Created by	Ivy Wallace
Developed by	John Sachs
Written by	Chris Allen; Julia Allen
Directed by	Ellen Menske (Series 1 and 2); Andy Joule (Series 3 and 4); Susan Roman (voices, United States/Canada)
Voices of	Jimmy Hibbert; Sue Ryding; Susan Sheridan
Narrated by	Susan Sheridan (UK)
Theme music composer	Ernie Wood
Opening theme	Five Soft Toys on the Little Blue Shelf
Ending theme	Five Soft Toys on the Little Blue Shelf (Reprise)
Composer	Ernie Wood
Country of origin	United Kingdom; America
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52
Production
Executive producer	Mark Hall
Producers	Jackie Cockle (Series 1 and 2); Francis Vose (Series 3 and 4)
Production location	Unknown
Cinematography	Unknown
Editors	Zyggy Markiewicz (audio pre-production); Jereen Nadorp (audio and mixing); Ronald Nadorp (audio and mixing, Series 1 and 2); Flicks (edit); Hullaballoo (audio) (Series 3 and 4)
Camera setup	Patrick Reets (model, Series 1 and 2); John Duffy (Series 3 and 4)
Running time	10 minutes per episode (approx.)
Production company	Cosgrove Hall Films
Distributor	Disney Videos
Release
Original network	CITV (UK)
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	1997
Original release	June 25, 1997 –; August 3, 2000

The Animal Shelf is a 1997-2000 children's television series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films and based on the books written and illustrated by British writer Ivy Wallace about a quintet of talking toy animals who live in Timothy's bedroom. Aimed particularly at pre-school audiences, the Animal Shelf first aired on ITV running for 4 seasons and 52 episodes, running from 1997 to 2000.[1]

Characters

Timothy is the animals' young owner, who is never really seen on-screen, only his shadow.
Gumpa the Bear is the leader of the group. Gumpa is quite lazy and he enjoys sleeping.
Woeful the Monkey wears a red fez and coat. He often tells jokes, which are often found rude by the other four animals. He enjoys getting his own way, and is quite bossy, which sometimes annoys the other four animals.
Stripey the Zebra is Getup's best friend. He seems to be quite wise and has lumpy wool. It is revealed in the first episode, Stripey To The Rescue, that he and Getup are Timothy's two oldest animals.
Getup the Giraffe is Stripey's friend who has brown curly hair on her long neck. Although Getup often falls over and speaks with a broad English accent, she is close friends with the other four animals. The material on her tall hooves is badly worn, which means that she often loses some stuffing through them.
Little Mut the west highland white terrier is close friends with Gumpa. He wears a big pink bow on his back, and often ends up getting into difficult situations.
Mrs Mole and her Baby Moles are a family of moles who live underground. The moles themselves only squeak instead of talk.
Kinker the Mouse is the animals' friend who only sometimes visits the blue shelf in Timothy's bedroom. Like Mrs Mole and her baby moles, he always squeaks instead of talking. In the first episode, Stripey To The Rescue, Getup meets him at a travelling fairground, where he lives.
Jick the Jackdaw - A wild jackdaw that takes up residence in the roof of the house near Timothy's garden. He likes shiny things and can be a nuisance by taking things from the animals without them realising, but he can sometimes be really useful as well, particularly when the animals have to get high up to reach things like acorns and nuts. In the United States dub, Jick the Jackdaw is renamed as Carl the Crow.
Squirrel is the animals' second friend who lives in a tree in Bluebell Wood just outside Timothy's garden. He speaks in a weird language and often points to things like plants, although Getup and the shelf crew understand him.
The Caterpillar - A red and yellow striped creature with eight pairs of legs who is the animals' sidekick who also lives in Timothy's front garden near the moles' trapdoor. The caterpillar makes unusual sounds at times, but Stripey the Zebra and the gang understand the sounds themselves.

Episode Guide

Every episode in The Animal Shelf series is 10 minutes long.

Series 1 (1997)

1. Stripey to the Rescue - Stripey sets off to rescue Getup when, one dark night, she is kidnapped by a travelling circus. Meanwhile, Timothy comes down with a bad cold and has to stay in bed, while Doctor tries to cure him. Meanwhile, Stripey himself nearly gets taken to a jumble sale by Mr Tompkins, thinking that he and Getup encourage germs.
2. Gumpa and the Paint Box - Gumpa fakes illness by printing red spots all over himself and pretending to have the measles.
3. Getup Crusoe - When Getup loses all her spots after falling in Splashing Stream, the other animals' teasing drives her to set up a solitary home in Bluebell Wood.
4. Kinker Visits The Animal Shelf - Kinker the squeaky mouse is rescued from Mr Trigg's pet shop by Stripey and Getup. Kinker himself visits the five toy animals in their home.
5. The Treasure Hunt - Getup and Stripey come across some buried treasure somewhere in Timothy's garden, but Gumpa only finds some silly old onions on the ground.
6. Music in the Woods - Timothy wants his animals to help him find five different birds' feathers in Bluebell Wood from School's Nature Table, but Mr Trigg's parrot has other ideas - he wants the animals themselves to make their own music, using some toy musical instruments that Timothy lends them earlier on.
7. The Animals' Garden - After the animals apologise to Timothy for accidentally pulling up his father's cabbage plants, they make their own animal garden, with Timothy's help. However, Stripey soon learns that plants need damp soil, a sunny outdoor place and plenty of clean, safe water to be able to grow properly.
8. Woeful and the Waspberries - Woeful ventures into Bluebell Wood in search of some raspberries for Timothy's upcoming birthday.
9. Gumpa Solves a Jigsaw Puzzle - One warm Spring day sees three of Timothy's animals, including Gumpa, attempt to solve a jigsaw puzzle out in Timothy's garden. When Timothy is called in for Tea, however, Woeful accidentally knocks over the nearly-completed jigsaw puzzle, causing one of the jigsaw puzzle's pieces to fly into his bright red hat!
10. Tidying Timothy's Bedroom - One day, Timothy's bedroom is in quite a mess, making the animals quite worried and Timothy's mother rather annoyed. While Timothy is away at School, however, Little Mutt and the gang try to clean up the room as an afternoon Surprise. Things go from bad to worse towards the end of the day when Woeful and Gumpa end up on board a lorry whilst looking for the key to Timothy's grandma's old wind-up music box.
11. The Trail - The animals enjoy following a series of clues around Timothy's garden, in spite of Squirrel moving one of the clues away, thinking that it is an arrow made entirely out of acorns.
12. The Model Monster - Inspired by Timothy's model ship, (made out of an eggs box and a cornflake packet) the animals make their own models from old bits and pieces. Gumpa builds himself an aeroplane which unfortunately falls to bits shortly before Take-Off, and in spite of a sudden brief Summer shower, Woeful makes himself (and ends up trapped inside) a robot-suit, which soon falls to bits as well.
13. Little Mutt Goes Flying - After an exhausting trip to the playground at Timothy's School, the five toy animals decide to build their own seesaw in their garden. However, despite the see-saw sending Little Mutt himself flying through Bluebell Wood and into the Moles' house, all Woeful wants to play on is a swing, as it moves backwards and forwards whilst a rider is on board. Meanwhile, Timothy enjoys himself playing various different kinds of things in another house with his friend, Roger.

Series 2 (1998)

1. Babysitting For Mrs Mole - Timothy has an extra long School day ahead of him, so the special toy animals try their absolute hardest to look after Mrs Mole's babies, all while Mrs Mole herself visits her sick sister.
2. Timothy's Pet Balloon - Despite Timothy winning a large model rabbit made out of blue balloons at Roger's party, the animals are forced to stay one night in a rather disgusting hutch in Timothy's garden, which is ordered in the post by Mr Tompkins.
3. The Great Explorers - The animals decide to make their own maps in order to become great explorers. Chaos ensues when Mr Trigg's parrot flies into Timothy's bedroom.
4. The Alarm Clock - Timothy has trouble getting out of bed in time for school in the mornings, so his mother decides to have an alarm clock on Timothy's dresser, which unfortunately goes off in the middle of the night, waking up all five animals in the process, including Little Mutt.
5. The Wolf in the Wood - The five toy animals have fun in Timothy's front garden, building three different houses to live in, but they also have a difficult time dealing with Woeful, who plays the role of the big bad wolf.
6. Woeful Flies to the Moon - Woeful uses an old litter bin to take Getup and the other four animals to Bluebell Wood for a rather exciting moon walk.
7. Captain Gumpa - Gumpa acts as a Captain when he becomes the oldest one out of the five Special animals.
8. The Hottest Day Of The Year - Timothy suggests that the five toy animals think of the best possible way to keep cool on a warm Summer's day, all while his mother takes him to a nearby swimming pool to cool down.
9. The Mystery of the Pictures - The shelf crew are puzzled about what they see in their bedroom when, one very hard morning, they borrow Timothy's camera.
10. Timothy's Guest - The remarkable animal group feel put out when Timothy's cousin has to take his dog to stay at Timothy's house for the weekend.
11. Little Mutt Finds an Egg - As Timothy goes off to play Golf for the day, Little Mutt and the other four animals try to find some eggs near Bluebell Wood.
12. Kinker's Camping Holiday - Kinker the mouse's camping holiday goes haywire when one freezing cold night, his tent that Stripey and Getup build gets blown over to the other side of Splashing Stream.
13. Timothy's Homework - Everyone from the Shelf helps Timothy when he gets behind with his homework.

Series 3 (1999)

1. The First Snowflake - The approach of Winter fills the special animals with excitement, and they decide to hold a snowman-building competition - in Timothy's garden!
2. Getup the Skater - Timothy's precious animals get a surprise when they wake up to a Winter Wonderland.
3. Waiting For Santa Claus - The five toy animals are busy rushing around Timothy's house on Christmas Eve.
4. A Very Special Day - Santa Claus has been and gone for another year and the festivities begin on the animal shelf, but why is Woeful so sad about it all?
5. Living in the Jungle - Timothy explains to his five special friends about some animals that live in the jungle.
6. The Activator - The five toy animals are blown about on their blue shelf as Autumn approaches. Can Mrs Mole rescue all her baby moles in time?
7. Woeful and the Tooth Fairy - The animals learn the importance of keeping clean and tidy, while Timothy, the animals' young owner, awaits the arrival of the tooth fairy.
8. The Art Gallery - Timothy's painting inspires his five animal friends from the shelf to go off somewhere and paint some pictures.
9. A Lazy Afternoon - A beautiful Summer's afternoon finds Timothy's five special animals restless and keen to find something fun to do. However, Timothy enjoys himself playing in his front garden, using his roller-skates that he finds earlier on in his cupboard in his bedroom.
10. Woeful's Magic Wand - Woeful's eagerness to master real magic gets him into trouble, all while a strange object appears in Timothy's bedroom.
11. Buckets and Spades - Timothy and his two parents are preparing to go away on holiday, and the five toy animals are worried that for weeks on end, there will be nobody in Timothy's house to look after them. However, Gumpa has an extraordinary plan, regardless of Stripey and Getup taking a quiet walk to Mr Trigg's pet shop.
12. The Jam Factory - The special animals decide to make some jam, leaving Getup and Stripey up to their own eyes in fruit.
13. Gumpa Reads A Story - Timothy is distracted by an interesting book, so Gumpa takes charge of entertaining his four friends.

Series 4 (2000)

1. Animal Watch - Woeful and the other animals learn about animals that live in a desert, including a camel, along with Timothy's guidance.
2. Timothy's Valentine's Cards -
3. Gumpa's Halloween Lanterns -
4. The Easter Egg Hunt - Timothy's mother sets up a bumper Easter Egg Hunt, so Timothy himself lets his five toy animals help him as the Easter eggs themselves are hidden high and low, particularly around the garden.
5. Gumpa's Ark - Gumpa has an extraordinary plan to save his four animal friends from a flood, including Getup.
6. The Garden Sale - The five animals find out about money as a new animal arrives on the shelf.
7. Looking for Big Mutt - When Timothy draws his family tree, the animals themselves decide to find ancestors of their own, and Little Mutt goes in search of the elusive Big Mutt.
8. A Night In A Tent - A camping adventure for Timothy inspires his special animal friends to spend the night in a tent. Getup and Stripey's fun in the woods leads to a narrow escape, and the baby moles have some plans in store for Little Mutt.
9. The King of the Castle - Timothy's book of the "round table" and a magnificent castle inspire the special animals to have a medieval adventure with dragons, evil knights and a magic sword.
10. Timothy's Racing Car - A new and exciting toy arrives for Timothy, and the special animals decide to leave their shelf and track it down.
11. The Shooting Star - Timothy is given a map of the stars in the night sky and lets the animals into a secret.
12. Get Down, Getup - Gumpa prepares the animals for an obstacle race around the garden, but, where is Getup?
13. Gumpa's Head - Timothy starts a keep fit regime, but poor old Gumpa needs to take things easy.

International Broadcast

The series has also aired around the world including the ABC in Australia, KTV2 in Kuwait, RTÉ2 in Ireland as part of their children's block The Den, Dubai 33 in the United Arab Emirates, the children's television network K-T.V. World and M-Net (as part of their series of children's lineup blocks K-T.V.) in South Africa, Premiere 12 (as part of their children's block Kidz Blitz), Eureka Learning Channel and Kids Central in Singapore, PBS and Television Malta in Malta, TVB Pearl in Hong Kong, SVT and SVT Barnkanalen in Sweden and TVNZ 2 and TVNZ 6 in New Zealand as part of their children's block Kidzone.

It's Itsy Bitsy Time

The series was also seen on an American children's wrapper programme called It's Itsy Bitsy Time along with several TV series from overseas and aired on the Fox Family Channel in America and Treehouse TV in Canada in 1999 with the British voices being redubbed with American and Canadian voices.[2] The voices were directed by Canadian voice actress Susan Roman who is best known for voicing Sailor Jupiter in the dubbed anime Sailor Moon. Roman also directed the American and Canadian voices for another British children's animated television series seen on It's Itsy Bitsy Time, Tom and Vicky.

Merchandise

The series later had tie in story books from Ladybird Books.

References

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. p. 13. ISBN 9781476672939.
Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 434–435. ISBN 978-1476665993.

External links

The Animal Shelf at IMDb

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[1] 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. p. 13. ISBN 9781476672939.

[2] Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 434–435. ISBN 978-1476665993.