Spot (franchise) explained

Creator:Eric Hill

Spot is a fictional puppy created by Eric Hill, an English author and illustrator of children's picture books. The success of Hill's books about Spot led to other media productions, including television and home video titles, music albums, and CD-ROM titles.

History

First published in 1980,[1] Where's Spot? was inspired while Hill was working in creative marketing; he noticed his three-year-old son was fascinated by the process of lifting up a paper, on a design he was creating. Captivated by this thought, Hill created a story about a puppy which incorporated the flap design.[1] During the late 1970s, this was an extraordinarily innovative concept, and it took some time for any publisher to take any notice of the idea before Puffin books decided to publish his book. Within weeks of the first book being released it topped the Bestseller list.

Hill said "When I first drew Spot I realised that when I came to draw the spot on his body and the tip of his tail I was copying the markings on an aircraft. I grew up drawing aircraft – that is how I learned to draw. "I am quite convinced now, as I look back, that the actual training of drawing cartoons – which is, of course, my style – led to my producing Spot. Cartoons must be very simple and have as few words as possible and so must the Spot books. I designed Spot out of my previous background as a designer and illustrator. It was quite unconscious but I can see now that I have created a ready-made trademark of its kind, with the essential spot on the body and a bit on the tail."[2]

Over time, the book was translated into more than sixty languages.[2] In Afrikaans versions of the book Spot is translated to "Otto", widely believed to be the surname of a South African friend of Hill's. This name has been attributed to Spot as many of the books were believed to be inspired by the life of aforementioned friend, J. Otto. In the Netherlands, Spot is known as Dribbel.

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Minor characters

Books

Since 1980 with the success of Where's Spot?, the late Eric Hill went on to create numerous other books, with most being translated to Welsh (as well as the TV series, commissioned by S4C), some have also been translated into Scottish Gaelic, and Where's Spot? has been translated into Cornish.

List of Spot sound books

In the 1990s a number of books were released with sound effects, produced by Publications International and published by Frederick Warne.[3] The U.S. edition of the sound books were somewhat different from the U.K. editions of the book. The text in these editions is slightly altered, and in some cases, the title is changed as well. They are produced and published by Publications International.

Book design

The books are set in the typeface Century Schoolbook Infant, a very rare, single-story version of Century Schoolbook.

Television

With the success of the books the BBC commissioned an animated series, which first appeared on 9 April 1987;[4] with Paul Nicholas providing the narration, and renarrated in 2000 by Jane Horrocks. The series aired on television channel across the world, including RTÉ in Ireland, with the series dubbed into an Irish language with the title Echtrai Bhrain. A DVD version was released in Japan in 2005 with Japanese, English and Instrumental sound tracks. The DVDs used the same name for Spot as the books in Japan, that being コロちゃん (Korochan)

In February 2024, it was announced a new animated series is currently in production from Guru Studio.[5]

The Adventures of Spot: series 1 (1987)

The first series of The Adventures of Spot, which was animated and produced by King Rollo Films, aired on the BBC between 9 April and 17 July 1987. It consisted of 13 episodes, each 5 minutes long. The episodes were narrated by Paul Nicholas (original version) and the music was composed by Duncan Lamont (original version). Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot's Surprise Parcel" (9 April 1987)
  2. "Spot's Lost Bone" (16 April 1987)[6]
  3. "Spot's First Walk" (23 April 1987)
  4. "Spot in the Woods" (30 April 1987)
  5. "Spot's Birthday Party" (7 May 1987)
  6. "Where's Spot?" (14 May 1987)[7]
  7. "Sweet Dreams, Spot" (20 May 1987)
  1. "Spot Goes to School" (28 May 1987)
  2. "Spot Goes to the Circus" (4 June 1987)
  3. "Spot Follows His Nose" (11 June 1987)
  4. "Spot Goes Splash" (18 June 1987)
  5. "Spot's Windy Day" (16 July 1987)
  6. "Spot Goes to the Beach" (17 July 1987)[8]

The Adventures of Spot: series 2 (1993)

The second series of The Adventures of Spot aired between 6 September and 20 December 1993, and, like the first series, consisted of 13 5-minute episodes. Once again, the episodes were produced by King Rollo Films. Paul Nicholas (original version) returned as the voices and Duncan Lamont (original version) returned as composer of the music.

Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot Goes to the Farm" (6 September 1993)[9]
  2. "Spot Sleeps Over" (9 September 1993)
  3. "Spot Makes a Cake" (13 September 1993)
  4. "Spot Goes to the Park" (16 September 1993)
  5. "Spot Finds a Key" (20 September 1993)
  6. "Spot in the Garden" (23 September 1993)
  7. "Spot Goes to a Party" (27 September 1993)
  1. "Spot's Winter Sports" (15 November 1993)[10]
  2. "Spot Goes to the Fair" (22 November 1993)
  3. "Spot's Favorite Toy" (29 November 1993)
  4. "Spot's First Picnic" (6 December 1993)
  5. "Spot at the Playground" (13 December 1993)
  6. "Storytime with Spot" (20 December 1993)

Spot's Musical Adventures (2000)

Spot's Musical Adventures, very similar to The Adventures of Spot, aired between 25 October and 10 November 2000. Like The Adventures of Spot, this series consisted of thirteen episodes, but this time, with a short song in them. The format of the series reverted to the narration format used prior to the specials. For these episodes, however, comedian Jane Horrocks was given the role of the narration and voices, instead of Paul Nicholas. The episodes and the songs were all written by Andrew Brenner, and the songs were performed by American London-based actor Dan Russell. The music was also composed by Kick Production.

Episodes:

  1. "Spot's Show" (25 October 2000)
  2. "Spot's Treehouse" (26 October 2000)
  3. "Spot's Breakfast" (27 October 2000)
  4. "Spot's Horse" (released in the U.S. as "Spot's Hobby Horse") (30 October 2000)
  5. "Spot's Grandpa" (31 October 2000)
  6. "Spot's Umbrella" (1 November 2000)
  7. "Spot's Band" (2 November 2000)
  1. "Spot's Bath" (3 November 2000)
  2. "Spot's Tent" (6 November 2000)
  3. "Spot Tidies Up" (released in the U.S. as "Spot Cleans Up") (7 November 2000)
  4. "Spot Helps Grandma" (8 November 2000)
  5. "Spot's School Trip" (9 November 2000)
  6. "Hide and Seek" (released in the U.S. as "Spot Plays Hide and Seek") (10 November 2000)

Direct-to-video specials

A number of specials produced for release on VHS were created:

It's Fun to Learn with Spot – Phase 1 (1990)

The first phase of It's Fun to Learn With Spot, produced by Spitfire Television and Living Doll Productions and was released on VHS. It consisted of four episodes, each approximately fifteen minutes in length, and narrated by Peter Hawkins. The theme song used in The Adventures of Spot was licensed from King Rollo Films, so the familiar tune by Duncan Lamont was heard at the beginning and end of each episode. However, music on the show was kept to a minimum.

  1. "Spot's Alphabet"
  2. "Spot's Busy Year"
  3. "Spot Learns to Count"
  4. "Spot Tells the Time"

It's Fun to Learn with Spot – Phase 2 (1994)

The second phase of It's Fun to Learn With Spot and, like the first VHS, consisted of four fifteen-minute episodes. However the episodes were produced by King Rollo Films and retained the talents of Paul Nicholas and Duncan Lamont, in UK.

Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot Looks at Opposites"
  2. "Spot's First Word Game"
  3. "Spot Looks at Colours"
  4. "Spot Looks at Shapes"

Note: The two phases of It's Fun to Learn with Spot are often listed as one series, even on Penguin Television's website. However, as noted, the two phases were produced four years apart by two different companies and are very different in design.

Spot's Magical Christmas was released in 1995 and Spot and his Grandparents Go to the Carnival in 1997. These two specials, which are both thirty minutes long, have some notable differences from the normal series. First off, they have no narration, and each character is voiced distinctly. The characters' mouths also move to speech, in comparison to the other episodes, in which the characters' mouths remain static and the entire episode is narrated as a story. There are also several songs in the specials, as there were in It's Fun to Learn With Spot.

Voices

American cast

From 1989 to 2002, Disney Channel aired the two The Adventures of Spot series as part of its half-hour Lunch Box series, and later as post-show interstitials. For the program's home video releases in the United States, Walt Disney Home Video redubbed the series with unique character voices rather than a singular narrator. Disney Channel aired the two redubbed specials but continued to air The Adventures of Spot in its original British version.

Other media

Music albums

A number of companies have released a number of CDs featuring mainly nursery rhymes, under the name of "The Spot".

CD-ROMs

Two Spot CD-ROM titles were published by Europress and Hasbro Interactive. Both titles runs on both Microsoft Windows (Windows 95 or NT4 or newer) and Apple Macintosh (OS 8 up to Mac OS X Leopard) computers.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Eric Hill, creator of Spot the dog, dies at 86. 10 June 2014. The Daily Telegraph.
  2. Web site: Spot the Dog creator Eric Hill dies aged 86. Alison Flood. The Guardian. 10 June 2014.
  3. Web site: funwithspot.com . funwithspot.com . 2014-01-18 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140201185520/http://www.funwithspot.com/mainGu.asp?menuCode=INF&subMenuCode=SPB . 1 February 2014 .
  4. Web site: The Adventures of Spot. 9 April 1987 . BBC.
  5. https://www.animationmagazine.net/2024/02/guru-fetches-tv-rights-to-kids-book-classic-wheres-spot/
  6. Web site: BBC Programme Index. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 16 April 1987 .
  7. Web site: BBC Programme Index. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 14 May 1987 .
  8. Web site: BBC Programme Index. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 17 July 1987 .
  9. Web site: BBC Programme Index. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 6 September 1993 .
  10. Web site: BBC Programme Index. genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 15 November 1993 .

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