Really Wild Animals Explained

Genre:Nature documentary
Creator:Andrew Carl Wilk
Voices:Dudley Moore
Billy West
Theme Music Composer:Darryl Kubian
Composer:Alan O'Day and Janis Liebhart (songs)
Darryl Kubian (score)
Language:English
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:26
Executive Producer:Andrew Carl Wilk
Runtime:45 minutes
23 minutes (TV version)
Company:National Geographic Society
Network:Direct-to-video

Really Wild Animals is an American direct-to-video children's nature television series, hosted by Dudley Moore as Spin, an anthropomorphic globe. Comprising 13 episodes, it was released between March 2, 1994[1] and October 21, 1997.[2] It was nominated for five national Daytime Emmy Awards and won one.

Released by the National Geographic Society, the series educates children about many different species of animals. It goes to every continent, describing the wildlife on each one and also focuses on one specific group of animals, such as dogs, cats, endangered animals, and animals from Asia, the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, the Australian Outback and the African savanna.

Songs were written, produced, and mostly performed by Alan O'Day and Janis Liebhart. At the end of an episode, Spin says, "But (you know), there are lots more Really Wild Animals all across this wonderful world of ours, so be sure to join me on our next (exciting) adventure. Until then, this is your pal Spin. Spin ya later!"

Episodes

The series was released on VHS and on August 2, 2005, National Geographic began releasing the episodes on DVD.

Really Wild Animals on television

On February 18, 1995, Really Wild Animals was announced to be part of CBS' Saturday morning schedule for that fall.[3] The series made its' television premiere on CBS on September 16 at 12:30PM Eastern. CBS aired each of the first seven episodes in two half-hour parts. These episodes were rerun on the Disney Channel from January 5 to October 19, 1997. All episodes were shown on WAM! America's Kidz Network from 1999 to 2001.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Really Wild Animals print ad (page 85). Billboard. January 8, 1994.
  2. News: Fall/Winter sked promises heroes, hobgoblins, crayons & creatures (page 71). Billboard. August 23, 1997.
  3. News: 'Lion King' Series. Los Angeles Times. February 18, 1995. Newspapers.com.