Planet Sketch

infobox Television
show_name = Planet Sketch


rating = G
format = Animated sketch show
runtime = 15 minutes
director = Andy Wyatt
writers = Hannah Begbie, Stuart Kenworthy
country = UK
network = CiTV
first_aired =
last_aired =
num_seasons = 3
num_episodes =
list_episodes = List of Planet Sketch episodes
imdb_id = 0815068|

Planet Sketch is a 15-minute television show, with each episode featuring an assortment of sketches. It is produced by Aardman Studios.

Sketches

The show typically begins with a Nose Picker sketch, in which a girl pulls out an object from her nose. From then on, several sketches (typically one of each type of sketch) are then played out to fill the remainder of the show, culminating with the June Spume and Melville sketch, in which a girl by the name of June Spume uses her body parts to produce music, such as her eyebrows as a guitar, which accompanies the show's theme music as the show ends. In the second series, however, only Melville appears, featuring in a parody of a number of musical genres before the theme begins. The nose picker girl still appears though. In the second series the 2D sketches didn't return and the show went completely 3D. Also, in the second series, the 3D format is slightly different from the previous because of the different shape of the characters' eyes, the short depth of their heads and the huge shading on them not showing the glossy surface of their appearance.

Other sketches on "Planet Sketch" include:

3-D Cartoons

*The Ninja Handyman, where a family resorts to the help of a ninja to solve everyday mundane problems (such as using a rolling pin to squeeze the last few dollops of toothpaste from its tube)
*Japanese Fighting Fish, where three fish (claiming to be "real hard" Japanese fighting fish) make fun of another (typically much larger) fish that is cohabiting in the same tank, or another sea creature or an item, only for the other fish, object or sea creature to retaliate in kind.
*Parping Ponies, where a horse named Horace and his aunt try to avoid embarrassment that usually results from Horace's flatulence problem. Sometimes Horace's Aunt has flatulence also.
*Timbo and Mr. Hives, where a boy tries in vain to avoid his evil teddy bear, which he claims to have outgrown. Mr. Hives inevitably reappears with the ominous catchphrase of "Huggy, huggy!" He appears in all manner of places, including in the ketchup bottle, behind garden gnomes and on TV.
*Napkin Squirrel, where a storyteller tells the story of a paper (origami) squirrel and what it considers fun — those that harm the squirrel in any way, shape, or form are said to be "no fun at all".
*Dr. Inosaur, a dinosaur doctor who tries to eat his patients.
*Captain Gagtastic, where the namesake supervillain terrorizes a family by repeating anti-jokes.
*Rude Limerick Boy, where a boy shows up on stage to perform a limerick, in which the limerick's last word is typically unsuitable for the audience.
*Mad Dad Scientist, where a father pretends to be a mad scientist about to finish an invention, only to be interrupted by his son, which at the same time reveals that the father was simply repairing a common household item, or doing a household task, such as getting a spider out of the bathtub.
*Gnaughty Gnomes, where a passerby is enamoured by a set of lawn gnomes, only to faint in shock when they discover that the gnomes are alive and acting in a typically destructive manner.
*News Reporters, where news anchors Mike Today and Sally Van have gender wars by taking shots at the opposite sex. At the end of the broadcast it is revealed that the two have a crush on each other. In the second season, this changes with the characters sharing the same views as their news reports.
*Street Rappers, where a group of three street rappers do something in a manner that is completely different from their image (mostly babyish or young kids things), only to be caught by an innocent bystander, who is one of the members of the Ninja Handyman family. In the second season, they would rap like normal and one of them would say something stupid and the other two would exclaim.
*Why the dinosaurs died out, a take on why dinosaurs became extinct "60 million years ago last Tuesday".
*June Spume a person who plays instruments with various parts of her body, like blowing up her rearside and using it as tomtoms

2-D Cartoons

*My Mother the Armchair, where a teenage girl consistently becomes embarrassed by her mother: a yellow armchair with a purse.
*Swapsy, where the same teenage girl from My Mother the Armchair tries to swap an array of miscellaneous objects for an item that she sees with a random person (e.g.: the mother of a small boy)
*Only Joking where a young boy asks his father why something happens (e.g.: why bees collect honey) and his father jokingly replies with fictional comments (e.g.: Only honey bees collect honey, it's the brain bees you should look out for) which usually results with the boy running away screaming and the father saying "Only joking, son! Dear, oh dear". Occasionally, however, the father's "jokes" turn out to be true.
*Arla and Larla Where two girls tell their mother a crazy false story about why one of them, for example poured water on the other, only to be caught out for a small detail such as where a certain bus stops.
*Okay Coach, I'm ready! Where a boy named Nathan dresses up in a sports costume only to find he's doing the wrong sport as indicated by the coach.
*Alien Gameshow An extraterrestrial gameshow featuring aliens that talk gibberish alien language. The host gives a question to the four alien-robot contestants and when they got the answer wrong, they lose a point and get tortured. If they got it right they get a point.
*Dragon Burping Contest A game show where two dragons must overpower each other and gain points by burping.

Second Season New Characters

The second season adds new characters. 2D segments and other 3D characters disappeared, such as the garden gnomes and the teddy. In addition, characters dance between segments OR the Planet Sketch sign is shown with a gag. Here are the new characters:
*The Two Astronauts These two men are always in the cockpit of their spaceship and have problems with their computer who acts as a human or acts stupidly.
*The Hypno Poodle It always gets what it wants, because he hypnotizes people, and mostly its owners into doing animal things.
*Master Handyman Ninja Handyman's counterpart, white-dressed and really more helpful than the normal Handyman.
*Melville He replaces the last sketch. He is a rat being a janitor but when lights go off, he starts dancing. The song always differs each episode, from Country to Pop.

Characters

*The Black Family A black family who overreacts when everyday insignificant problems occur, like a picture frame that has gone crooked or having trouble of getting out tomato sauce. They seek help from the Ninja Handyman. In the second season they are not black.
*Ninja Handyman A ninja who uses his moves to solve the family's everyday problems.
*Dinosaurs Those prehistoric creatures who are always victims of rocks falling on them or falling down cliffs to illustrate why dinosaurs died out 60 million years ago last Tuesday.
*Horace A pony whose flatulence problems, called 'accidents' by his Aunt, always gets both of them kicked out of their jobs.
*Aunt Hortense Horace's Aunt who tries to stop Horace having his 'accidents' but also does it too when she hates any job both of them are working in
*The Captain An astronaut who controls the spaceship along with Jake and Computer.
*Jake The Captain's co-pilot
*Computer A stupid robot that controls the spaceship's systems and always leading the astronauts into trouble.
*Robbie the Japanese Fighting Fish A yellow fish who always says, 'Cause we're hard'. In the second season he turned out to be stupid.
*Mac the Japanese Fighting Fish A green fish with an Asian moustache who bullies other fish along with his brothers. In the second season he was blue.
*Billy the Japanese Fighting Fish A pink fish who repeats what Robbie says. His catchphrase is, 'Dead hard'. He seemed to have gained some brains in the second season.
*Mike Today A young male reporter who discriminates against girls and fights with his co-reporter, Sally Van. In the end he always has a love interest with Sally. In the second season, the pair dislike each other.
*Sally Van A young female reporter who discriminates against boys and fights with her co-reporter, Mike Today. She has a crush on Mike in the end. In the second season, she and Mike fight off camera.
*Dr. Inosaur A dinosaur doctor who always try to eat his patients in vain. He usually tells his patients to garnish or heat themselves up but correcting himself whenever the patient gets suspicious. His notable phrase is, "I need to eat... I mean treat you."
*Mad Dad Scientist A father who imagines everyday activities as crazy experiments or inventions. On the outside he looks smart and evil but on the inside he's dumb.
*Kirk The Mad Dad Scientist's son who's always irritated by his father's antics and also smarter than him.
*Nurse Eclair The assistant of Dr. Inosaur who ushers in the next patient and provides him with a cheese sandwich when he gets really hungry. She doesn't appear in the show at all.
*Napkin Squirrel A paper-folded squirrel who does anything that it considers fun but also thinks that anything, that damages or destroys it, is 'no fun at all'.
*Olivia the nose-picker A young girl who has the tendency to pick her nose furiously then grabbing a useful object out of it or something edible. She'd the first sketch of the show in series one but appeared in random segments in series two.
*Hypno Dog A pooch whose owners give him things that he hates. He then hypnotises them so he can get what he desires, even telling them to act like animals.
*Street Rappers a trio of cool teenage boys who start acting boyish or girlish when no-one's around, only to find that a young boy (the son from "The Black Family") is looking at them shocked and flabbergasted. They start to talk in the second series.
*Captain Gagtastic A green villain superhero who terrorises a family having a good time by telling bad awful jokes. He escapes through walls or fences leaving a hole shaped like him with clashing and cat screeching noises.
*The Blonde Family Victims of Captain Gagtastic who overreacts towards his jokes. One of them isn't blonde though.
*Timbo A young boy who tries to enjoy himself, avoiding Mr. Hives, his teddy bear, from hugging him because he's too old for teddy bears. In the end, Timbo gets hugged by Mr. Hives.
*Mr. Hives Timbo's teddy bear who comes alive and appears almost everywhere when near to his owner trying to hug him. He succeeds in the end and smiles an evil grin. His catchphrase is, 'Huggy Huggy'.
*Gnaughty Gnomes Gnomes who look sweet and still as the old woman, (or sometimes old man) looks at them first, but then coming alive and doing extreme and offensive actions that cause her to get shocked and faint.
*Old Woman An old woman who has come back from shopping who gazes at the gnomes by the pond and then getting mocked by them causing her to faint
*June Spume A female musician who uses her body parts as instruments and plays them in the end of the show in series one. She's replaced by Melville.
*Melville June Spume's sunglasses wearing cat in series one but somehow turned into a rat janitor in the second series dancing towards songs
*Teenage Girl A girl who gets gets embarrassed by her mother, an armchair, and also appears as an enthusiastic girl who wants to trade things for her ridiculous objects
*Arla A red-haired girl whom with Larla fight with each other and confessing to her mother about ridiculous reasons why her sister, Larla, did this or that.
*Larla A purple-haired girl and sister of Arla who fights with her and confessing to her mother about ridiculous reasons why her sister did this or that.
*Arla and Larla's Mum The mother of Arla and Larla who decides which of then is lying.
*Young Boy A boy who asks where something comes from to his father who tells a nonsense scary story to him about the object.
*Young Boy's father A father who tells scary stories to his son about his questions of what something comes from. in the end he ends up telling the truth and gets gobbled up or blown up.
*Alien Game Show Host The host of the alien game show who talks alien language and gives out questions to the contestants.
*The Contestants The contestants of the alien game show are, yak, robot, one-eyed alien, slimy alien.

Reception

The reception to the second series and the changes in the show at the IMDB message board show a considerable dislike of the changes.

Airing History

*Australia
**ABC
**Cartoon Network Australia

*Britain
**CITV

*Canada
**Teletoon

*Denmark
**TV2

*Ireland
**RTE Two

*Latin America
**Cartoon Network

*Philippines
**Cartoon Network

*Scandinavia
**Jetix

*Sweden
**SVT1

*Turkey
**Jetix

*USA
**Nicktoons Network (airs segments and end credits on Shorts in a Bunch)

*Poland
**Jetix

*Romania
**Jetix

*Russia
**Jetix

Transmission

Both series have been aired on CiTV in the UK. The second series aired on Saturdays at 9:40am to CiTV on ITV1. Now the series is finished but there are still mini episodes showing on CiTV. Normally at 4:00pm. A third series has not yet been confirmed by Aardman are decode productions.

External links

* [http://www.planetsketch.com Official "Planet Sketch" website]
* [http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=decode012207.htm World Screen article]