Jungle Junction

Jungle Junction
Genre	Adventure Educational Comedy Preschool
Created by	Trevor Ricketts
Written by	Laura Beaumont Paul Larson
Directed by	Morgan Francis
Voices of	Billy West Janet James Keith Wickham Jess Harnell Laraine Newman Dee Bradley Baker Jimmy Hibbert Amanda Symonds Ron Orbach
Opening theme	"Deep Inside the Jungle" written and performed by Peter Lurye
Ending theme	"Deep Inside the Jungle" (Instrumental)
Composer	Mark Blackledge
Country of origin	United States United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producers	Erica Darby George Evelyn
Production locations	Penzance, Cornwall
Editor	Mark Edwards
Production company	Spider Eye Productions
Original release
Network	Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior (United Kingdom) Disney Channel (Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior) (United States)
Release	September 28, 2009 (2009-09-28) – October 26, 2012 (2012-10-26)

Jungle Junction is a children's television series created by Trevor Ricketts. In the United States, it was part of its Playhouse Disney block for preschoolers. On February 14, 2011, it was moved to the Disney Junior block, serving as Playhouse Disney's replacement. A second season of 26 episodes was ordered by Disney, and premiered on April 2, 2011.^[1] A total of 46 episodes were produced.^[2] The show focuses on a group of animalistic vehicles and their adventures.

It aired on Disney Junior in the United States and in the Netherlands, as well as in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and in most of Asia. It was produced in the UK by animation company Spider Eye Productions.

Characters[edit]

Main[edit]

• Zooter (voiced by Janet James) is a pink pig whose name is a portmanteau of zoom, zip, and scooter. Zooter speaks with a British accent and is the jungle messenger. She also says the title of every episode. She decides to become really friendly and cute.
• Ellyvan (voiced by Billy West) is a blue elephant van who brings the deliveries around the jungle. He is the biggest animal in the jungle. He's Zooter's best friend. His name is a compound word, albeit fictitious. He is able to suck improbable quantities of liquids up his trunk and spray them distances of up to half a mile or more. He speaks with an American accent. He's ready day and night. He sneezes a lot. He's so late now.
• Bungo (voiced by Keith Wickham) is a golden yellow bunny cargo with brown ears, who loves to make signs to put them all over the jungle. He's so good at geography. He knows the jungle better than anyone. He is also the only wheeler that is good at jumping, being able to leap many times his own height into the air. Bungo, despite officially being a rabbit, has a long, raccoon tail with brown stripes as well. At the beginning of every episode, he carries a sign with the title of the episode. During the credits at the end of every episode in Season 1, he zooms up with signs and asks the viewers for help finding the right sign now until the end. Like Zooter, he speaks with a British accent. His catchphrase is "Oh, carrot sticks!".

Recurring[edit]

• Taxicrab (voiced by Jess Harnell) is a red crab that loves to dance and makes the greatest smoothies in the jungle. His name derives from a taxi cab, and he is the only wheeler that is able to drive sideways (possibly because of the "sideways walk", attributed to crabs). Despite the fact that Toadhog is often impatient, Taxicrab tolerates him the most. He speaks with a Jamaican accent.
• Carla (voiced by Laraine Newman) is an orange koala car who owns a grocery shop. She appears in Season 1, but she doesn't appear in Season 2.
• Crocker (voiced by Keith Wickham) is a green crocodile/fire chief with a lisp who wears a yellow helmet with a red flashing light on top. He has some skill at gardening and knows how to make compost. His name comes from the phrase which is slang in the United Kingdom, used to describe many second hand cars.
• Hippobus (voiced by Amanda Symonds) is a yellow hippopotamus/school bus who usually carries The Beetlebugs to school. Her name derives from a Hippie Bus – usually a redecorated Volkswagen Bus. Like Taxicrab, she speaks with a Jamaican accent.
• The Beetlebugs are tiny wheelers. Their shape derives from a Volkswagen beetles/cars that were nicknamed bugs. Their speech is mostly synchronized. There are 5 of them - a blue one, a red one, a green one, a yellow one and an orange one.
• Lance (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is a purple rhinoceros/ambulance. His name is both a contraction of ambulance, and likely a reference to a weapon used by lancers who attacked with it at a full charge – much like a rhino attacks things by charging at them.
• Bobby (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) is a toucan/police chief. His character may be derived from a Bubble car – he even has the same three-wheeled chassis. His name is derived from the British slang word for police officers. He is the only Wheeler that can fly.
• Dozer (voiced by Keith Wickham) is a bull/construction worker. His name and shape derive from a bulldozer, despite being a pun. His talent is digging and repairing roads with his dozer blade.
• Miss Jolly (voiced by Amanda Symonds) is a zebra/school teacher. She is one of the oldest and wisest of the Wheelers. She is also the only one to wear glasses.
• Toadhog (voiced by Ron Orbach) is a mean green toad who likes worms and Fifi flies. His sticky tongue is long so it can shoot out a long way to grab things. His name derives from the term "roadhog". He seems to be responsible for Jungle Junction's power supply – his water wheel powers the generator for all of the lights (including the traffic lights, in "Hiccup Power"), and he has a supplementary generator that is used to power the Zipsmas lights. He loses his patience with almost everyone except Taxicrab, mostly because Taxicrab is the most tolerant of him.

Episodes[edit]

Series overview[edit]

The episodes are listed in airing order.

Season 1 (2009–2011)[edit]

Season 2 (2011–2012)[edit]

Christmas special[edit]

A Christmas special called "The Night Before Zipsmas" aired 5 December 2009 showing the wheelers getting ready for Christmas and trying to get to read the book "The Night Before Zipsmas". The other Christmas special was called "A Gift for Zooter" and aired the same day. It shows Ellyvan trying to find a gift for Zooter.

Broadcast[edit]

The series aired in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Portugal, Latin America, Spain, Sri Lanka, Canada, Poland, Netherlands, Japan, Turkey and Russia.^{[citation needed]}

DVD releases[edit]

Play-Time Free-Time
Set Details			Special Features	Episodes
English (Stereo)			Unknown special features	"Bungo to the Rescue"/"Pinky Picnic" "The Big Race Around"/"Zooter Looses Her Zip" "A Beautiful Stink"/"Prickly Pal" "Sap Trap"/"River Race"
Release Dates
United Kingdom	United States	Australia
May 11, 2010	July 5, 2012	TBA

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Jungle Junction Official Site
• Jungle Junction Archived 24 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine at Disney.co.uk
• Jungle Junction at Disney.es
• "Jungle Junction" at IMDb