The Foxbusters | |
---|---|
Genre | Animation |
Created by | Dick King-Smith |
Developed by | David Max Freedman Alan Gilbey |
Written by | David Max Freedman Alan Gilbey Joel Jessup |
Directed by | Jon Doyle |
Voices of | Whoopi Goldberg Joanna Lumley Jane Horrocks Jimmy Hibbert Rob Rackstraw |
Composers | Keith Hopwood Phil Bush |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Brian Cosgrove |
Producer | Jon Doyle |
Running time | 11 minutes |
Production companies | Cosgrove Hall Films Anglia Television United Productions |
Original release | |
Network | ITV (CITV) |
Release | 9 September 1999 24 November 2000 | –
The Foxbusters is a British animated TV series very loosely based on the Dick King-Smith book The Foxbusters.[1] It was made by Cosgrove Hall, and consists of two series of thirteen 11-minute episodes each, made between 1999 and 2000. The show was co-written by the animation partnership of David Max Freedman and Alan Gilbey, and occasionally with Joel Jessup as a third writer. It was directed by Jon Doyle. The show itself is laden with gags and action. It also won two major awards in 2000; a BAFTA for "Best Animated Series" [2] and the British Animation Awards for "Best Children's Series".[3]
The show is primarily set on Foxearth Farm, a fictional farm based in the English countryside in the West Midlands, which is dominated by a variety of animals, particularly the chickens. The Foxbusters are three chickens, Ransome, Sims, and Jeffries (named after the British agricultural machinery maker of the same name), who have the unlikely ability to fly. Each has a different personality; Ransome is the best flyer, Sims is the smartest and Jeffries is the comic relief. The Foxbusters also have the ability to spit grit like machine guns, and drop hard-boiled eggs like they were bombs - and these are used to effect among other methods to keep the hungry pack of foxes in Foxearth Forest at bay.
on the beginning of the Foxbusters Pilot, it was to be set during the Second World War as evident in the 1997 Pilot, but this idea was phased out: as evident in some episodes, the series is clearly set during the present day.[dubious ]
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Hen Night" | 9 September 1999 12 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
At a party, Sims finds the charming Cockrel Wilby who lures her to the treacherous foxes. Ransome rescues Sims and the Foxbusters repel the fox invasion. | ||||
2 | 2 | "Where Egos Dare" | 16 September 1999 12 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
After a lot of showing off, Ransome lands herself right into the foxes, then her comrades get caught. The Foxbusters escape after they cause the foxes to squabble. | ||||
3 | 3 | "Winging It" | 23 September 1999 19 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Todd accidentally flies on a glider, which impresses the foxes and catches the Foxbusters by surprise. On his third flight, Jeffries rescues him from the jealous King Voracious. | ||||
4 | 4 | "Icky's Sticky Situation" | 30 September 1999 19 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Icky feels jealous of his sisters and gets himself into a challenge with the foxes. With discrete help from his sisters, Icky is convinced he beat the fox pack. | ||||
5 | 5 | "A Fete Worse Than Death" | 7 October 1999 26 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The Farmer gets a new hen called Blue (voiced by Jane Horrocks), who is very snooty and conceited. A capture from the foxes followed by a Foxbuster rescue teaches Blue a lesson. | ||||
6 | 6 | "Follow My Leader" | 14 October 1999 26 March 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The sheep become in awe of Ransome for saving a lamb. Voracious uses this ruse to turn the sheep against the Foxbusters, but Dog takes care of that and gets back his job. | ||||
7 | 7 | "The Ring Cycle" | 21 October 1999 2 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Fabio's nose ring is swiped by a magpie. As the Foxbusters pursue the magpie, the ring is tossed all around the forest going from one person to another until Fabio reclaims it. | ||||
8 | 8 | "The Trojan Chicken" | 28 October 1999 2 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Rotter gives the foxes failed passages to the barnyard via a Trojan Chicken, whilst tipping the Foxbusters in return for some eggs. When both sides see they've been duped, they deliver payback to Rotter. | ||||
9 | 9 | "Going Underground" | 4 November 1999 9 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The foxes have been kidnapping rabbits and forcing them to dig a tunnel to the farmyard. Sims seems to be acting a bit odd as the Foxbusters go down the tunnel. The girls gets trapped in one of the tunnels and it's revealed that Sims has Claustrophobia. Moleier soon comes to rescues them along with a young rabbit called Billy and they all thwart the foxes' scheme. | ||||
10 | 10 | "See The Dog, See The Dog Run" | 11 November 1999 9 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
A long democratic campaign battle ends up with Dog winning the leadership of the Foxbusters, which backfires when the foxes come for their gain. The Foxbusters regain their positions and fight off the fox invasion. | ||||
11 | 11 | "The Long Walk Home" | 18 November 1999 16 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
During a night mission, Sims breaks her wing. To reinforce the team spirit of the Foxbusters, Ransome and Jeffries agree to walk back to the farm with her - not knowing what dangers await them. | ||||
12 | 12 | "Three Hens And A Baby" | 25 November 1999 16 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The little fox cub Genghis strays from the pack and ends up at the farmyard and regards Sims as his mother. After the foxes pay a ridiculous Ransome, Sims reluctantly hands back Genghis. | ||||
13 | 13 | "Passing The Buck" | 02 December 1999 23 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
When David Deer comes to live on the farm to avoid being bullied by the foxes, the chickens end up shuffling the animals around the farm to avoid any conflicts. |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
14 | 1 | "Ackluckalypse Now" | 1 September 2000 23 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
A secret mission to find a legendary chicken goes wrong. | ||||
15 | 2 | "Big Trouble" | 8 September 2000 30 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Sims' new invention accidentally makes King Voracious huge and Ransome tiny, until they end up in outer space. After an escalating growth battle between Sims, Jeffries and Voracious and Ransome coming face-to-face with an ant, a spider, two gems and some atoms, they grow the earth to fit their scale. | ||||
16 | 3 | "Day Of The Hunter" | 15 September 2000 30 April 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Hunter Hawk is about to have the Foxbusters grounded, but they thwart his attempt. Ransome seems to have taking a liking to Hunter until she realised he's been used by the foxes. They then have to rescue Hunter's wife and child from the foxes. | ||||
17 | 4 | "Fear Of Flying" | 22 September 2000 7 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Sims and Jeffries are confused when Ransome starts acting strangely, and discover that the reason behind her behavior is that she has been hypnotized. | ||||
18 | 5 | "The Not So Great Escape" | 29 September 2000 7 May 2000 (Super RTL | |
Todd gets taken by accident into the farm. He has no luck escaping and ends up being staying there mistaken for a chicken. | ||||
19 | 6 | "Love Bites" | 6 October 2000 14 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The Foxbusters get all foxes and vixens to fall in love to create a ceasefire, but it only improves their efforts against the chickens. The Foxbusters get the couples to break up. | ||||
20 | 7 | "Eggs, Lies And Videotape" | 13 October 2000 14 May 2000 (Super RTL | |
A zoologist is astounded by the flying Foxbuster hens. The Foxbusters try to avoid a flying pose for the zoologist's camera until they give him "Flying Foxes" to film. | ||||
21 | 8 | "Of Mice And Hen" | 20 October 2000 21 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Jeffries is starting to feel overlooked. She goes on a freelance mission to rescue field mice from an owl. After she rescues them, they all rescue Sims and Ransome from the foxes. | ||||
22 | 9 | "Some Like It Otter" | 27 October 2000 21 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Carlotta is through with Rotter and moves in with the Foxbusters. Rotter uses this as an opportunity to grab some eggs. Then Carlotta double crosses everybody. | ||||
23 | 10 | "The PrisHener" | 3 November 2000 28 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Ransome has been taken away to an automatic farm, which acts like a prison. While there she befriends a chicken named Five. All Ransome's attempts to escape fail until she makes the systems go haywire. | ||||
24 | 11 | "Peace" | 10 November 2000 28 May 2000 (Super RTL) | |
King Voracious has had enough of chicken fighting and declares peace with the Foxbusters, but both Sims and Volpone break it all up. | ||||
25 | 12 | "One Paw In The Grave" | 17 November 2000 5 June 2000 (Super RTL) | |
The foxes hatch another scheme to catch the Foxbusters, while old Volpone is left with the unpopular task of babysitting Ghengis. Insisting that 'the old ways are best', Volpone sets off with Ghengis to prove it. | ||||
26 | 13 | "In The Beak-ginning" | 24 November 2000 5 June 2000 (Super RTL) | |
Sims tells an ugly duckling story of how she and her sisters were raised by traditionalist parents and became a disgrace to the farmyard due to their flying talent, but gained their placed after rescuing the hens from the fox pack and gained the title as Foxbusters. |
Country | Network |
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Australia | Nickelodeon ABC ABC Kids |
Republic of Ireland | RTÉ Two (The Den) |
South Africa | K-T.V. World |
New Zealand | TV2 TV3 |
Italy | Toon Disney Italia 1 |
Singapore | Kids Central |
Israel | Arutz HaYeladim |
Germany | BFBS (Room 785) |
France | France 3 (Les Minikeums) |
Serbia | Happy TV |
On January 13, 2003, Cinema Club and Granada Media released 2 DVDs and videos of The Foxbusters worldwide, one with episodes 1–6 of the first series, and one with episodes 7-13.[citation needed]