Franklin and Friends is a Canadian CGI children's television series produced by Nelvana. It is a reboot of the 1997 TV Series, which was also produced by Nelvana. The reboot was announced by Nelvana on September 28, 2010 and it debuted on Treehouse TV on March 4, 2011. The theme song is a revamped version of the original series theme, "Hey, It's Franklin." It premiered in the United States on Nickelodeon on February 13, 2012 and Nick Jr. on March 1, 2012. It also premiered in the Singapore on Mediacorp on February 15, 2012. the series airs in Finland on Yle TV2 (Franklin ja ystävät) and The series airs in Israel on Hop! (פרנקלין וחברים) and the series airs in China on CCTV-14.
The series was presented in widescreen high-definition where available.
Overview[]
Franklin and Friends is an all-CGI update of the original Franklin series. It features the same setting, Woodland, as the original series, and largely the same characters and tone, but with a few changes.
Aside from Franklin, (voiced by Graeme Jokic) other characters returning from the original series include Bear, Fox, Fifi Rabbit, Rabbit, Beaver, Goose and Snail. Together, this group is known as "the Super Cluepers" and sometimes solve mysteries together. Franklin's entire family also returns, including his younger sister Harriet and parents Mr. and Mrs. Turtle. Badger and Raccoon are both absent from the series, while Skunk is largely absent, appearing only a couple episodes and with a major change to her backstory. Aunt T., a new character, is introduced in this series; she has a youthful personality and replaces Granny Turtle, who does not appear. Another new character is Officer Rabbit; a grey female rabbit police officer. The characters of Mr. Groundhog and Miss Periwinkle also appear in roles greatly expanded from the original series.
The series features special themes which include mysteries, Woodland events, and outdoor activities. Franklin and his friends are all depicted as being about a year older compared with the original series. Due to the gap between the production of this series and the original, the child characters are all voiced by new actors, though the voices of certain adults, such as Mr. and Mrs. Turtle, were retained.
Episodes[]
Franklin and Friends had a total of four seasons, as well as two specials: Polar Explorer and Deep Sea Voyage. The episode listing may be found here.
Continuity[]
Many elements of Franklin and Friends remain from the original series. However, the following are some notable differences between the series and the original Franklin:
- Harriet and her best friend Beatrice appear to be the same age. In Back to School with Franklin, Beatrice was stated be nearly a year older and therefore attending school when Harriet wasn't.
- Beaver appears to be only an only child, rather than having a sibling named Kit. She no longer has a pet hamster named Henry, but does have a pet gecko.
- Franklin's Granny is absent from the series and her role is filled by Aunt T., Mr. Turtle's younger sister.
- Goose is unable to fly, despite having been shown flying in Franklin and the Green Knight.
- The characters of Badger and Raccoon, who appeared as semi-regular characters in Franklin, are entirely absent.
- Skunk is not introduced until towards the end of the program's fourth and final season. She is said to be homeschooled and her family are traveling musicians, as such, she is only visiting Woodland.
- In at least a couple of instances, the series refers to Franklin and his family brushing their teeth, despite it being established in "Franklin and the Tooth Fairy" that turtles do not have teeth. Later, however, in the story "Franklin and the Lost Lost Tooth," Franklin states that turtles don't have teeth.
- Franklin and Friends: Band Together
- Beaver: Xylophone
- Snail: Harmonica
- Fox: Violin
- Franklin: Acoustic Guitar
- Bear: Ukulele
- Goose: Tambourine
- Rabbit: Conga Drum
Video[]
Link to videos: [1]