Rainbow Fish (TV series)
Rainbow Fish is a British 2000 animated television series, produced in 1999, designed particularly for pre-school children. [2] It was adapted from the book of the same name; however, the television series does not follow the plot of the book itself; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates an entirely new story with them. Some characters were added and others removed for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called "Neptune Bay" (after Neptune, the god of the sea). The fish (mostly) attend the "School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment, EM.TV and distributed by Sony Wonder.
| Rainbow Fish | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Family Slice of life |
| Created by | Marcus Pfister |
| Based on | The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Drew Edwards |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Blu Mankuma |
| Opening theme | "There's A Rainbow in the Water" by Blu Mankuma and Saffron Henderson |
| Ending theme | "There's A Rainbow in the Water (Reprise)" (instrumental) |
| Composer | Matthew McCauley |
| Country of origin | Germany Canada United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Beth Stevenson |
| Editor | Judy Kaling |
| Running time | 15 minutes per episode (approx.) |
| Production companies |
|
| Release | |
| Original network |
|
| Original release | January 8 – December 24, 2000 |
Characters and Voice Cast
Rainbow Fish (also known as "Rainbow") (voiced by Rhys Huber) is a robust and feisty 9-year-old male fish with shiny scales who is the main character. He lives with his parents (Sol and Aqua) and 12-year-old sister ("Ruby") in a cave near Shipwreck Park.
Sea Filly the Seahorse-Mermaid Hybrid (voiced by Chantal Strand) is a friendly 9-year-old girl in the school of fish. She is one of Rainbow's friends, who is often seen reading books. She eventually becomes firm friends with both Rainbow Fish and Blue. She has orange hair and extremely good eyesight.
Blue (voiced by Andrew Francis) is Rainbow Fish's best friend, who is more down-to-Earth and thoughtful than Rainbow Fish. He is a 9-year-old bluefish and has a baby sister named Turquoise. Blue is based on the small blue fish from the Rainbow Fish book series by Marcus Pfister.
Ruby (voiced by Chiara Zanni) is Rainbow Fish's ruby-coloured and bossy 12-year-old sister. She is arrogant and self-centered. Although Ruby still means well, she regularly gets Rainbow Fish into trouble, only because she occasionally gets jealous, although she actually loves him, just like Aqua and Sol.
Aqua (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) is an aqua-coloured fish and is Rainbow's mother, while Sol (voiced by John Payne) is purple and is Rainbow's father. They help their daughter and son whatever way they can and will always provide them with great courage.
Principal Gefilte (voiced by French Tickner) is the only proud Principal of the School of Fish who is very strict about behavior. He sometimes stands in for Mrs Chips, especially when times are on the tough side.
Mrs Chips (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) is the only teacher in the school of fish who teaches art, history, mathematics, science, and literature.
Wanda the Octopus (voiced by Kathleen Barr) is the only owner of Neptune Bay's fast food restaurant who is very wise. When Rainbow Fish and his friends are feeling down, she will always give them some good advice. She has eight legs, just like an ordinary octopus and is based on the Wise Octopus from the original book.
Chomper the Shark (voiced by Christopher Gray) and Stingo the Stingray (voiced by Bill Switzer) are two bullies in the school of fish. While they do not really commit acts of physical violence, they can still bully and tease Rainbow Fish and his friends from time to time.
Sherman Shrimp (voiced by Alex Doduk) is the smallest student in the school of fish; to him, everything looks big.
Sir Sword the Swordfish (voiced by Colin Murdock) is an upper-class swordfish, and a bit of a busybody. He is sometimes grumpy, and sometimes civil, but he always seems to think he is better than everyone else in Neptune Bay.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original US air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rainbow Fish and the New Girl In School" | January 8, 2000 | |
| Sea Filly the Seahorse-mermaid hybrid, comes to the School of fish, and Rainbow and his best friend Blue, welcome her in. | |||
| 2 | "Rainbow Fish Meets Wayne Grunion" | January 15, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is excited to meet his hero, renowned hockey star Wayne Grunion when he comes to town for a visit. | |||
| 3 | "Rainbow Fish Plays the Conch Shell" | January 22, 2000 | |
| In the school band, Mrs Chips gives Rainbow Fish the "conch shell", the hardest instrument in the band to play. Rainbow is then forced to practice in his cave, and he does so, gradually making for a better performance at the school of fish concert. | |||
| 4 | "Riptide" | January 29, 2000 | |
| When Rainbow Fish and his friends attempt a dangerous sport called "Riptiding", Blue is swept away on a riptide, and Sea Filly and Rainbow must find him before it's too late. | |||
| 5 | "Rainbow Gets an 'A"'" | February 4, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish gets a bad report card (he gets a "C"). But when he accidentally spills ice cream (from a kelp gusher milkshake) on it at Wanda's, his parents mistake the "C" grade for an "A". Rainbow must prevent them from meeting Principal Gefilte and learning the truth. For getting a "C", changing his grades, and lying that he got an "A", he is cave grounded by his parents until he gets his grades up. This means until he gets his grades up, he is "cave grounded" except for school (meaning he can only leave the house to go to school while cave grounded). | |||
| 6 | "Grandpa's Fish Tales" | February 11, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is not enthusiastic about spending time with his grandpa while his parents are away at the store, thinking that he will be bored, but when his grandpa tells him an amazing story that hides an incredible secret, Rainbow discovers that old people can be exciting after all. | |||
| 7 | "Rainbow's Dental Dilemma" | February 18, 2000 | |
| Rainbow fears visiting "the dentist", but when he eventually goes, he discovers that dentists are not as bad as he thought they were. | |||
| 8 | "Rainbow Fish and the Pop Star" | February 25, 2000 | |
| Rainbow mistakenly brags to his friends that he knows the famous pop star, Bruce Sturgeon, which lands him in trouble and causes him to force Bruce Sturgeon himself to perform at the school. | |||
| 9 | "Sherman Shrimp" | March 3, 2000 | |
| A new student, Sherman Shrimp, comes to school and Rainbow Fish treats him badly. However, after Sherman saves Rainbow from a sudden shipwreck, Rainbow realizes that he has been bad to Sherman all along. | |||
| 10 | "Lost in Crumbling Canyon" | March 10, 2000 | |
| Chomper, the school bully, gets lost in a canyon along with Rainbow Fish, and the two opposites must work together to find their way out. | |||
| 11 | "The Golf Lesson" | March 17, 2000 | |
| Rainbow fools around with his father's golf club and breaks it, causing him to search for a new one before his father's big game with Sir Sword. | |||
| 12 | "Ruby's Adventures in Babysitting" | March 24, 2000 | |
| Ruby decides to babysit their guppy neighbors' baby, Ferdie, and says Rainbow is too irresponsible to help her. Ferdie turns out to be more troublesome than expected and swims away. Rainbow then finds him and Ruby apologizes for what she said. | |||
| 13 | "Sir Sword Goes Back to School" | March 31, 2000 | |
| Sir Sword needs to finish third grade, so he attends Rainbow's school, the School Of Fish. | |||
| 14 | "Rainbow de Bergerac" | April 7, 2000 | |
| Blue has a crush on Goldie, but he's too shy to ask her on a date, so Rainbow tells him what to say via a communicator made by Sea Filly, but Chomper and Stingo soon ruin the plan. | |||
| 15 | "A Big Fish on Campus" | April 14, 2000 | |
| When Blue becomes a hall monitor for the School Of Fish, he lets the power go to his head. | |||
| 16 | "A Sibling Rivalry" | April 21, 2000 | |
| Blue gets a new baby sister, and he feels left out, all because of the attention his mum and friends are giving to the baby. | |||
| 17 | "One Fish's Treasure" | April 28, 2000 | |
| Rainbow lines a sea-monkey bowl with his sister Ruby's magazine, ruining the magazine itself in the process. | |||
| 18 | "Project Rainbow Fish" | May 5, 2000 | |
| Rainbow learns a lesson about charity and works on a project involving just it. | |||
| 19 | "Ruby Slips In" | May 12, 2000 | |
| Ruby starts spending time with Rainbow, Blue and Sea Filly the sea-horse, leading Rainbow to believe that she is trying to steal his friends. | |||
| 20 | "A Working Fish" | May 19, 2000 | |
| Rainbow gets a job at the Candy Counter to earn money. | |||
| 21 | "Cecil B. de Rainbow" | May 26, 2000 | |
| Rainbow takes up making movies, thanks to a new waterproof camera, and casts himself as Director. | |||
| 22 | "Rainbow's Pen Pal" | June 2, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's pen pal is coming to visit him, and Rainbow is excited about it. | |||
| 23 | "Campus Current" | June 9, 2000 | |
| Sea Filly becomes the editor of the School Of Fish newspaper. On her dismay, in her enthusiasm for journalism, she soon becomes nothing but a tabloid gossip columnist and no fish is safe from her probing and humiliating articles. Rainbow comes up with a plan that ends with Sea Filly writing a false article about Principal Gefilte and losing her job. Sea Filly soon learns that real journalists have a responsibility to print only what they know is true. | |||
| 24 | "Fish Alone" | June 16, 2000 | |
| In spite of some ongoing construction taking place outside the School Of Fish causing a big deal of noise, Rainbow is sent home early and gets freedom. A pair of burglars soon break into the Fish cave, and try to ruin it any way they can, all while Rainbow watches his favourite cartoon, "Silly Salmon" on TV by himself. Thanks to a 911 call being traced, Rainbow arrests the burglars and saves the day, pleasing Aqua and Sol in the process. | |||
| 25 | "Rainbow Fish and the In Crowd" | June 23, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Blue start hanging out with a new clique called the High Tides, due to the chagrin of Sea Filly. | |||
| 26 | "The Knights Of The Coral Table" | June 30, 2000 | |
| Sir Sword lends Rainbow a book that he becomes hooked on and cannot stop reading. | |||
| 27 | "Bad Luck, Ruby" | July 7, 2000 | |
| When Ruby encounters a series of unfortunate events one day, she believes that she has been cursed. | |||
| 28 | "Father's Day" | July 14, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's class has Dads' Day in the school of fish, and all students' fathers are invited to describe their own, personal jobs. Rainbow is worried, however, as he thinks his father has a boring job. | |||
| 29 | "A Prehistoric Pal" | July 21, 2000 | |
| Rainbow finds a hole in the ground that an extinct coelacanth called Carl swims out of. Carl spends most of his time in the modern world, trying to impress Ruby. This might be a reference to another Marcus Pfister book, called Dazzle the Dinosaur. | |||
| 30 | "May the Better Fish Win" | July 28, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Blue compete for the role of class president. They both try to impress Sea Filly in order to get her vote. | |||
| 31 | "Blue's Fishy Catch" | August 4, 2000 | |
| Blue wins the clamball championship for his school, but only because no one sees him drop the ball anywhere. | |||
| 32 | "To Catch a Thief" | August 11, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is suspicious of his sister, Ruby, when she starts acting very strangely. It turns out that she is just making a surprise gift for their parents. | |||
| 33 | "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" | August 18, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's mother, Aqua, invites his teacher, Mrs Chips, to dinner, and Rainbow Fish is worried that Mrs Chips herself will act just like a teacher. | |||
| 34 | "It's a Wonderful Fish" | August 25, 2000 | |
| One difficult day in Neptune Bay, a glowing guardian angel fish shows Rainbow Fish the value of his life. | |||
| 35 | "Moving Day" | September 1, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish fears that both his parents, Sol and Aqua, are planning to sell the cave to two fish called Ret and Snapper, and so his friends attempt to make his house as much of a wreck as possible to avoid it being sold. However, Rainbow eventually discovers his parents were only planning to build a new recreation room. | |||
| 36 | "A Romantic Dinner" | September 8, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and Ruby tirelessly work hard in order to prepare an anniversary dinner for their parents. | |||
| 37 | "The Bodyguard" | September 15, 2000 | |
| Rainbow saves a whale's life, and, in return, the whale (voiced by Leslie David Baker) becomes his bodyguard. | |||
| 38 | "Mum's Away" | September 22, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is not pleased when his mother, Aqua, gets a job in the School Of Fish. | |||
| 39 | "How Sea Filly Got Her Groove Back" | September 29, 2000 | |
| After being teased by her classmates for not being feminine enough, Sea Filly decides to take up cheerleading, causing Blue and Rainbow to worry about her becoming a different person altogether. | |||
| 40 | "High Tide Noon" | October 6, 2000 | |
| Rainbow is embarrassed after failing to stand up to Rocko Rockfish (voiced by Alan Marriott), a bullying second grader. | |||
| 41 | "A Game Girl" | October 13, 2000 | |
| After watching Rainbow and Blue play it in Shipwreck Park, Sea Filly becomes addicted to a 2000 computer game called "Clam Blaster" and she hardly does anything else. When she brings the video game to the School Of Fish one day, and plays it there during a difficult maths test with Mrs Chips, she soon learns that the video game itself is "dumb, violent and intellectually worthless". | |||
| 42 | "There's No Business Like Show Business" | October 20, 2000 | |
| Rainbow, Blue, and Sea Filly hear the story of two feuding crabs who were once song-and-dance partners, and then, they all set out to bring them back together, once and for all. | |||
| 43 | "Sea Filly Needs A Helping Fin" | October 27, 2000 | |
| Sea Filly gets a bad grade on a maths test at the School Of Fish and worries about whether she will get an A or not. | |||
| 44 | "Prince Blue" | November 3, 2000 | |
| When Blue looks at his book and mistakenly thinks that his ancestors were royalty, he starts acting like an underwater prince. | |||
| 45 | "The Pool Shark" | November 10, 2000 | |
| When Chomper's cousin Slick (voiced by Macaulay Culkin), a pool-playing master, comes to Wanda's refreshment shop, he beats everyone in Pool by secretly cheating. Rainbow, unaware of this at first, is in awe, and decides to become his assistant, then discovers his secret. Rainbow then declares a match to determine that Chomper's relative is cheating. Rainbow then wins, and the other player leaves the shop forever. | |||
| 46 | "Halloween Under The H2O" | November 17, 2000 | |
| Rainbow tries to put Sea Filly in the Halloween spirit, but then, he has a haunting Halloween dream, and wakes up to find that Sea Filly has actually scared him in his sleep. | |||
| 47 | "An Eviction Notice" | November 24, 2000 | |
| Phineas T. Gronch is planning to permanently "demolish the Mollusk Reef Villas" as well as wipe out half of Neptune Bay to build a shopping mall in its place. Rainbow, Blue and Sea Filly have to stop him in time, otherwise they'll all be for it. | |||
| 48 | "The Vacation" | December 1, 2000 | |
| Rainbow and his family go on an aquatic camping trip. | |||
| 49 | "Cave Mates" | December 8, 2000 | |
| Blue comes to stay one evening in Rainbow's cave. Rainbow soon discovers that "it can sometimes be hard to live with friends". | |||
| 50 | "Chomper, Master Thespian" | December 15, 2000 | |
| Chomper the Shark is given the lead role in the school play, but he mistakenly believes that voice acting is just for wimps. | |||
| 51 | "Rainbow's Hiccups" | December 22, 2000 | |
| Rainbow's love of kelp gusher drinks causes him to get a nasty case of the hiccups. It's Wanda the Octopus who eventually finds the "wild" cure. | |||
| 52 | "Santa Sword Is Coming To Town" | December 24, 2000 | |
| Rainbow Fish helps Sir Sword dress up as "Santa Sword" on Christmas Eve. | |||
Broadcast
The broadcasters are Rai 3 in Italy, on TVE2 and Cartoon Network in Spain, on ARD in Germany, on MTV3 in Finland, on HBO Family in the United States, on Tiny Pop in the United Kingdom, and on Disney Channel in Australia.
References
- "Sunbow takes Sony Wonder product to market".
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 488. ISBN 978-1538103739.
External links
- Rainbow Fish at IMDb