| Creator: | BZZ Films |
| Theme Music Composer: | Marc Tortarolo |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Network: | Antenne 2 HBO |
Bibifoc (Seabert) is a 1985 French animated television series.[1] It was created by BZZ Films in Paris and originally aired in French on Antenne 2, before being translated into different languages around the world. In the United States, the show aired on HBO starting in 1987. There were 26 episodes. The authors are: Marc Tortarolo for the theme, Philippe Marin for the design, and Jacques Morel with Éric Turlot for the stories.
The series is initially set in Greenland. Seabert is about a boy named Tommy, an Inuit girl named Aura, and their "pet" whitecoat seal Seabert. After Seabert's parents are killed by hunters, the three band together.[2] They go on adventures in which they encounter more hunters and poachers (including Tommy's Uncle Smokey, his bumbling henchmen Carbonne and Sulfuric, and a villain named Graphite) and save various animals from harm.
The production for the series was handled by Mill Valley Animation on a contract from SEPP International S.A., the noted Brussels's production house which also featured animation series and properties including The Smurfs, Snorks and Foofur. Jerry Smith, owner of Mill Valley Animation, was also responsible for many of the below the line fulfillment needs of many Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and some DIC animation series. Director for Seabert was Dirk Braat of Amsterdam and series voice casting director was Ron Knight, principal of Knight Mediacom (formerly Image One Productions, San Francisco).
At the origin of the Seabert project, Match 3 – created par Luc Royer, Philippe Marin and Jacques Morel – an advertising studio aimed primarily at the comic industry. Marc Tortarolo,[3] sensitivized by the impact of a Scandinavian commercial about the killing of baby seals, proposed the concept of an animated series on the subject.
In order to finance the project, Marc prospected with the European Committee for the Protection of Fur Animals,[4] which allowed the creation of a pilot episode with École de dessin animé de Paris. This pilot was intended to be an advertising spot for the awareness of the cause, but the team went further and wanted to make it a television series.
For the needs of the series, Éric Turlot was hired as co-writer, and the production company BZZ Films was created and managed by Marc Tortarollo. The team looked for ways to broadcast their cartoon but, in 1985, the creation of the two private channels La Cinq and TV6 complicated things. It is with Jacqueline Joubert (head of Antenne 2's youth service) that the studio was able to launch the series (in premises at 20, rue J.J. Rousseau in Ivry-sur-Seine). They complete the team in order to start producing Seabert.
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