Ox Tales Explained
| Runtime: | 25 minutes |
| Developer: | Maki Nakahara |
| Director: | Hiroshi Sasagawa |
| Cinematography: | Hisao Shirai |
| Network: | TXN (TV Tokyo) (Japan)
VARA (Netherlands) |
| Num Episodes: | 51 (102 segments) |
Ox Tales, also known as is an anime television series produced by Telecable Benelux B.V. in association with Saban Entertainment and animated by Telescreen Japan. It was a co-production between Japan and the Netherlands based on the comic strip Boes created by Wil Raymakers and Thijs Wilms. The series ran on the Japanese network TV Tokyo from 7 April 1987[1] –29 March 1988. It consists of 102 fifteen-minute episodes, that were regularly broadcast as 51 half-hour shows of two episodes each. The series currently has two English dubs. The 1989 dub produced by Saban and the 2010 dub produced by m4e, the current owner of the Telescreen library. Ox Tales is still remained to appear as a column strip in several Dutch daily and weekly newspapers.
Plot
The series follows the adventures of Ollie/Boes as he runs the Funny Farm, containing possibly every animal known.
Characters
Main characters
- Ollie (Boes in the 2010 and Dutch dub) - Ollie/Boes is an ox that owns the Funny Farm and isn't exactly the greenest grass on the farm. Although he means well, For some reasons, he makes situations worse than they normally are, but this is actually rare.
- Jack Turtleson (Tad in the 2010 dub), - Jack/Tad a turtle who is Ollie's best friend, as he's seen mostly hanging out with him in each episode. However, in every mess that he and Ollie/Boes get into, you can bet that his shell will break apart at least once. In the Dutch comics and anime version, along with the Italian version, he is a female turtle.
- Sammy (Saffie in the 2010 dub), a greyhound - Ollie's/Boes' most loyal pet on the farm who accompanies Ollie/Boes and Jack/Tad on their adventures in some episodes.
Others
- Edward - an elephant who acts as a fireman.
- Ellie the Elephant
- Igor the Octopus Crown the Bald eagle
- Gaylord - a Mountain gorilla who usually doesn't know his own strength at times.
- Audrey - an ostrich who usually gets his head stuck in the ground somewhere on the farm.
- Rodney - a hot-headed Black rhinoceros who cannot seem to keep his horn on or even in for one part.
- Holly the Kangaroo
- Bob the Kangaroo
- Weave the Kangaroo
- Jenny the Kangaroo
- Teddie the Kangaroo
- Larry the Cheetah
- Lenny - a lion that imagines himself as a great hunter, although he cannot seem to take the initiative when he finally catches his food.
- Towilla - a sarcastic Toco toucan who is the narrator of the English, German and Japanese dubs of the show and normally would insult a character and comment on what happens in the episode and will interrupted by the events in the episode. He breaks the fourth wall for some reason.
- Bruce - a greedy grizzly bear who often tries to steal Ollie's honey.
- Buggy the Stork
- Horace - a hot-headed and stubborn Thoroughbred horse that tends to have a knack for fighting.
- Moe - a mole who acts as a comic relief.
- Harry the Sloth
- Hannah - The leader of a gang of chickens that never take kindly to having their eggs stolen by predators.
- Mr. Croack the Frog
- Bibbo the Owl
- Jojo - an olive baboon who likes to climb.
- Samson - a sea lion who likes to play with volleyballs.
- Shirley - a lazy Cheviot sheep.
- Walter the Woodpecker
- Willy the Woodpecker
- Helda the Hippopotamus
- Robby the Chicken
- Paul the Polar Bear
- Donny the Stork
- Nessie the Cow
- Calvin - a calf who always has the need to suck on an udder.
- Topsy the Aardvark
- Tom the Turkey
- Tim the Orangutan
- Patrick the Porcupine
- The MacDuffs- a group of storks.
- Snuffles the panda
- Zane - a zebra who has about as much stubbornness as Horace.
- Peggy- a female Yorkshire pig
- Peter the Pig
- Jolly the dolphin
- Cecil - a mischievous skunk with both an abundant flatulence issue and a rather sadistic habit of only wanting to relieve his massive amounts of gas, if he can do so in the presence of others.
- Bura the Crow
- Rott the Parrot
- Cal - a Saltwater crocodile with a big appetite, and will try to eat any animal on the farm, but fails to do so in any way.
- Morris - a strategic mouse who knows how to get away in a hurry, and ruin mouse-catching plans of others in the process.
- Calvin the Cat - a Bengal cat that acts themouse hunter on the farm, although Morris mostly gets the better of him.
Theme songs
Japanese version
Kimi no freedom (君のフリーダム)
Joke DE mou dash (ジョークDE猛ダッシュ)
Credits
Original credits
- Directors: Hiroshi Sasagawa, Maki Nakahara (co-director)
- From an original idea by: Wil Raymakers, Thijs Wilms, Maki Nakahara
- Music: Shinsuke Kazato (Original version), Clous van Mechelen (Dutch version)
- Special effects and sound design: Hisao Shirai
- Series Composition: Matsue Jinbo, Tony Dirne, Rob Dirne, Mario de Vries
- Writers: Nao Furukawa, Toshi Ohira, Kiyoshi Onishi, Kaoru Jushina
- Executive producer: Dennis Livson
- Prosucer: Kazuo Tabata
Saban English version credits
- Executive producer: Haim Saban
- Supervising producer: Winston Richard
- Directors: Robert V. Barron, Tom Wyner
- Executive in charge of production: Jerald E. Bergh
- Associate producer: Eric S. Rollman
- Script supervisor: Tony Oliver
- Music by: Haim Saban & Shuki Levy
- Original idea and character designs: Wil Raymakers, Thijs Wilms
- Re-recording mixers: Clive Mizumoto, Gary Coppola, R.D. Floyd
- Music administration: Ron Kenan
- Music supervisor: Andrew Dimitroff
- Music orchestrations and arrangements by: Barry Trop, Richard Firth
- Music engineers: Barron Abramovitch, Xavier Garcia
- Music editors: Nick Carr Paul Ray, Patrick Von Wiegandt, Mark Ryan Martin
- Sound effects editors: Gary Jaye, John Valentino, Scott Page
- Additional direction: Scott Page, Jeff Winkless
- Script and talent coordinator: Kelly Griffin
- Engineers: Scott Page, Bruce Peters, David Walsh
- Assistant engineers: Ron Salaises, Kevin Newson, Bill Filipiak
- Film transfers by: Action Video
- On-line editor: Susan Jenkins
- Title art by: Sam Johnson
- Post production assistant: Amber Santilli
- Assistant to Mr. Saban: Sherry Jeffreys
- Accounting executive: Carol Diesel
- Production accountants: Vicky Werby, Val Decrowl, Janice Auchterloine, Sharon Staine
- Copyright 1987/88 Meander Studio/Telecable Benelux/T.V. Tokyo
- Copyright 1989 Saban Productions, Saban International Services, Inc., Saban International N.V.
Saban English dubbed episode writers
Saban English dubbed voice actors
Hoek & Sonépouse English version credits
- Dubbing English version: Hoek & Sonépouse
- With the voices of: Michael Diederich, Amber Ruffin, Rob Andrist-Plourde and Brian Tijon Ajong
- Director English version: Michael Diederich
- Translation English version: Michael Diederich
- Worldwide distribution: Telescreen B.V
- © 2010 Re-mastered and revised version: Meander Studio, Telecable Benelux, TV Tokyo
Broadcast and home media
The series has been aired in several countries outside Japan and has been dubbed and subtitled in English and numerous other languages. The series was broadcast in the United Kingdom several times between 1991 and 1996, on the ITV network.
In the late 1990s, the series was planned to air on Fox Family in the United States. However this was scrapped for unknown reasons.
In the US, a few episodes of the show were released on VHS by Just for Kids in the early 1990s; the show was officially released on DVD in Portugal[2] and Spain in 2006.
In 1989 Arab World, It first aired on Saudi TV. In the 2010s, the entire series is now uploaded by YouTube's m4e channel.
Notes and References
- Web site: http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/2257. ja:げらげらブース物語. . Media Arts Database . ja . May 22, 2015.
- Web site: O BOCAS 1 - O ESPERTALHÃO. May 22, 2015. dvdpt.com. pt.
