Adventures in Booga Booga Land

Adventures in Booga Booga Land is a children's animated series adapted and produced by [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2091166/ Cliff McDowell] in 2006 The story evolves around two high spirited best friends, who learn important Christian values in each episode, based on parables from the Bible. The series is based on the book "The Adventures of Marty the Monkey and Gerard the Giraffe" by Richard Milner, written in early 2003.

Plot

The series starts off in the small town of "Toosmallforme" where Gerard the Giraffe, who has grown to be 18ft tall is having trouble adjusting to his home. Finding everything too small for him, Gerard leaves for Booga, the capital city of Booga Booga Land. As his bus pulls into the city and he sits on a park bench to read a newspaper, a monkey who had been playing with the airplane doors falls from the sky and lands right on Gerard. Introducing himself as Marty, the monkey and giraffe soon becomes best friends and skim the newspapers for a job and decide to go to Stan, the old man in charge of window-washing, who is always accompanied by his faithful companion, Rufus. From there, Marty and Gerard embark on twenty three different adventures, separated into twenty three episodes (each lasting 10 minutes) and each based on a biblical parable.

Characters

The main four characters are very much based on the characters in the book with some improvements, while the other characters have been altered, modified and improved.

Marty the Monkey

One of the main character of the adventure series, Marty the Monkey loves to experience life to the fullest. He has no patience and likes to do things right away, often disregarding safety (“who has time for that?”) in lieu of immediacy, which causes many problems for himself and those around him. He is quick, spontaneous and adventurous soul who truly cares for other people. Through it all, the person he cares the most about is his best friend, Gerard.

Gerard the Giraffe

The other main character along beside Marty, Gerard the Giraffe is friendly and easy to get along with. Unlike Marty he tends to be a levelheaded thinker thus his approach to tasks and situations is methodical and intelligent. Gerard LOVES to blast things while always taking the right steps to ensure safety. He is a long, langly and slow moving, thoughtful character who genuinely cares about people, but the person Gerard cares about and looks out for the most is his best friend, Marty the monkey.

Old Man Stan

Stan the old man is one of Marty and Gerard's closest friends and they meet him when they go to apply for the window-washing job. Although Stan appears to be stern and level-headed at times, he is positive even in the stickiest situation and cares a lot about his friends, especially Marty, Gerard and Rufus. He is the first to teach Marty and Gerard a valuable lesson in the true meaning of being fair and generous, and continues to be an important guide to his friends throughout the series.

Rufus the Dog

Stan's life-long companion who unlike Stan, likes to follow his own instincts and likes to challenge things with good intention but also without thinking too much, which gets him into trouble several times. He is friendly usually but he likes to chase Snickers the cat. However, he is a sincere and loyal fellow, who is extremely generous with his friends and enjoys the company of Gerard and Marty especially.

Polly Panda

A solidly built, average-sized Panda, the wise and energetic Polly runs 'The Toasted Coconut' diner, famous for its coconut crème pie. While wiping down a counter at the diner and chatting with her friends, she’s already planning what she wants to do next. She’s a genius at multitasking! Friendly with everybody, she is a level headed, kindhearted, warm person who often thinks of her friends’ wellbeing. She is an important mentor and guide to her friends, Gerard and Marty.

Mr. Guudsaw

A blustery, bodybuilder-wrestling coach-like character, the Austrian-accented Mr. Guudsaw gets exasperated with Marty’s disregard for safety with power tools. He reaches a boiling point quickly in his dealings with Marty and tends to end up injured if he’s in the picture. After a tangle with Marty, Mr. Guudsaw can be overheard saying it will only take “three more months” to recover from whatever new injury he’s suffered. Despite his impatience with Marty, he encourages Marty and Gerard in their activities in his own way.

Mr Squid Sushi

Squid Sushi meets Marty and Gerard by getting an ice-cream cone hit on his nose and he regards it as an enjoyable experience as he loves Vanilla ice-cream! He is a tuxedo-wearing seafood restaurant owner and quasi-British upper-class-sounding sophisticated older man - who is kind, but a touch pompous. He hires Marty and Gerard to work for him to collect his Sardine cans, which he values as great treasure. He also likes to throw parties in honour of his friends! In fact, anything he considers important and valuable, he is willing to give away everything he has in exchange for it but nothing would he give in exchange for the valuable friendship of Marty and Gerard!

President Bob

Bob Booga is the President of Booga Booga Land, who is always concerned about the peace and order of Booga Booga Land. He meets Marty and Gerard when he calls to make a banquet reservation for his daughter's wedding at Marty and Gerard's restaurant “The Flaming Monkey”. He is generous but stern, and when he is not catching pastry recipe thieves with Marty and Gerard, he likes to enforce competency on the police force, especially the way they wear their uniforms!

lim and Slam

The two brothers Slim and Slam are from the Land of Little and they meet Gerard and Marty by the beach in Wannawaheenee. Slim and Slam care very much for each other to the extent that Slim swims three days looking for Slam and Slam knocks on Marty and Gerard's door to get food for when Slim comes to Booga. Both Slam and Slim are thoughtful brothers but at times are so distracted by their problems that they are unable to see others troubles. They seek the help of Gerard and Marty and respond gratefully to their hospitality.

Voices

Credits

{| class="wikitable"
-! ! Name! Additional Notes
-
Producer
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2091166/ Cliff McDowell]
(also the producer of "Paws and Tales")
-
Director
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2102831/ Robert Garlington]
(also the director of "Paws and Tales")
-
Music Composer
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2566116/ Timothy Minthorn]
(also the composer and music editor of "Paws and Tales")

Differences between the Animated Series and Novel

Although the animated series follows the original stories closely, some chapters in the book were not made into episodes. Instead, new stories written by the studio were included to complete the twenty-six adventures of Marty and Gerard.

Series Production

Adventures in Booga Booga Land started its production in early 2006. The first series was completed in December 2006 and the second season went into production on January 2008. The entire series is set to be completed by December 2008, with the launch of the series in the following Spring, on Miracle Channel.

See Also

*The Adventures of Marty the Monkey and Gerard the Giraffe

External Links

* [http://www.boogaboogaland.com/ Official Website]