| Genre: | Animated television series |
| Director: | Larry Jacobs |
| Voices: | Addison Holley Annick Obonsawin Avery Kadish Devan Cohen |
| Executive Producer: | Michael Hirsh Toper Taylor John Vandervelde Sander Schwartz Alyssa Cooper Sapire For TVOKids: Patricia Ellingson |
| Producer: | Jonah Stroh |
| Theme Music Composer: | Brent Barkman Earl Torno |
| Opentheme: | "Ella Theme", performed by Addison Holley |
| Endtheme: | "Ella Theme" (instrumental) |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 (52 shorts) |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Company: | DHX Cookie Jar Inc. FremantleMedia Kids & Family |
| Channel: | TVOKids |
Ella the Elephant is a Canadian animated television preschool series based on the books by Carmela D' Amico & Steven Henry (né D'Amico). The series was produced by DHX Cookie Jar Inc. (owned by WildBrain), in association with TVOKids and FremantleMedia Kids & Family, with animation provided by Atomic Cartoons, with the series' funding provided by The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit. The series' completion guarantee was provided by Film Finances Canada Ltd.
The series follows the adventures of Ella (voiced by Addison Holley) and her friends on Elephant Island. Ella is a spirited anthropomorphic little girl elephant with a magic hat that can transform into almost anything. Every day, there's a fantastic new adventure as Ella and her friends, Frankie (voiced by Devan Cohen), Belinda (voiced by Annick Obonsawin) and Tiki (voiced by Avery Kadish), get themselves into some tricky situations.
The first season aired on TVOKids in Canada from September 2, 2013, to January 23, 2014, and on Knowledge Kids from 2013 to 2020 and Télé-Québec in Canada. In the US, it aired on Disney Channel/Disney Junior from February 17, 2014, to December 13, 2014.
It also aired on Tiny Pop, Canal Panda, Doordarshan, ABC Kids and Hop! Channel.
The series follows the adventures of Ella and her friends on Elephant Island. Ella is a spirited little girl elephant with a big heart, bigger imagination and a magic hat that can transform into almost anything. Every day, there's a fantastic new adventure as Ella and her friends, Frankie, Belinda and Tiki, get themselves into some tricky situations. With a little determination, teamwork, a few missteps, and a touch of magic, Ella and her friends work to make everything work out in the end.
All episodes were directed by Larry Jacobs.
| Episode # | Title | Directed by | Written by | TVOKids (Canada) air date | Disney Junior (U.S.) air date | Prod. code |
|---|
The series was produced by DHX Cookie Jar Inc. for TVOKids and Disney Junior, with animation provided by Atomic Cartoons. It was distributed by DHX Media in Canada, the United States, Middle East, and India,[1] and FremantleMedia Kids & Family in other markets. The series was partially funded by the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, with completion guarantee provided by Film Finances Canada Ltd. Carmela D' Amico & Steven D' Amico are the adapters of the series, while Larry Jacobs is the director. Executive producers includes Michael Hirsh, Toper Taylor, and John Vandervelde for DHX Cookie Jar Inc., Sander Schwartz and Alyssa Cooper Sapire for FremantleMedia Kids & Family and Patricia Ellingson for TVOKids. Other staff for the series includes Jonah Stroh as producer and Brad Birch as executive story editor.
On February 7, 2012, Chris Arrant, news editor of Cartoon Brew, announced that the series entered production.[2] Toper Taylor, president and COO of Cookie Jar was pleasantly thrilled for the production of Ella the Elephant and said: "Ella is a magical property about an ever ebullient, optimistic, responsible, compassionate little elephant whose kindred spirit will delight our preschool audience." "We are thrilled to be working with both Disney and Fremantle on the series' global launch."
Sander Schwartz, President, Kids & Family Entertainment, FME, said "We are very pleased to be partnered with Cookie Jar on what we believe will be a hugely successful series. Bringing these wonderful books to life is a labour of love for everyone working on this stunning series".
Ella the Elephant premiered on TVOKids, Knowledge Kids and Télé-Québec in Canada on September 2, 2013. The series premiered on Disney Channel and Disney Junior in the United States on February 17, 2014. Other broadcasters includes Tiny Pop in the UK, ABC 4 Kids in Australia and RTÉjr in Ireland. Since June 23, 2014, Disney Junior (Latin America) started airing the show. TiJi (France), Clan (Spain), MiniMini+ (Poland), Minimax (Eastern and Central Europe), KiKA (Germany) and MTV3 Juniori (Finland) had recently acquired the show and will add it to their lineup in 2014.[3]
Episodes of Ella the Elephant are available for digital download through the iTunes Music Store, which are split into two volumes.[4] FremantleMedia Home Entertainment released a 154-minute Region 4 DVD of the show on August 6, 2014.[5] In 2014, Warner Home Video has released Volume 1 on DVD for Canada and the US.[6] As of February 28, 2015, the series became available for streaming on the American Netflix.[7]
Common Sense Media rated the show 4 stars out of 5, with the review stating that "Strong messages of friendship and kindness are central to each story, and the young characters use their imaginations to solve the little troubles they and their neighbors face."[8]