Salty's Lighthouse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Salty's Lighthouse |
|
|---|---|
Salty's Lighthouse opening screen
|
|
| Genre | Children's television |
| Created by | Nina I. Hahn (show concept) Robert D. Cardona (original Tugs footage and Tugs characters) David Mitton (original Tugs characters) |
| Developed by | Nina I. Hahn Ellen Schecter |
| Written by | Barry Harman (Salty/Tugs segments/lyrics) Ricky Harman (Salty segments) Donna Harman (Salty segments) Steve Edelman (Salty segments) Scott Guy (Salty segments) Mark Stratton (Salty segments) David Bucs (Salty segments) George Arthur Bloom (Tugs segments) Brian Meehl (Tugs segments) Noel MacNeal (Tugs segments) Ronnie Krauss (Tugs segments) |
| Directed by | David Mitton (original Tugs footage) Chris Tulloch (original Tugs footage) David Bucs (animation art) Bill Hutten (animation/timing) Jeff Hall (animation/timing) Dora Case (animation) Sue Peters (animation) Carole Beers (animation/timing) Terry Klassen (voice) Gail Fabrey (assistant) Charles J.K. Choi (supervising) Chris Cho (technology) Oon Heung Yo (B.G.) |
| Voices of | Kathleen Barr Ian James Corlett Paul Dobson Rhys Huber Janyse Jaud Andrea Libman Scott McNeil French Tickner Lenore Zann |
| Theme music composer | Chase Rucker Productions |
| Country of origin | United States Canada United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 40 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Joe Bacal Tom Griffin C.J. Kettler Carole Weitzman |
| Producer(s) | Mark Stratton Geraldine Clarke (supervising) Larry Houston (animation) Bonni Freeman (coordinating) Jodey Kaminski (associate) |
| Production company(s) | Sunbow Entertainment |
| Distributor | Sony Wonder |
| Release | |
| Original network | TLC/PBS (U.S) CBC Television (Canada) |
| Original release | October 3, 1997 – June 26, 1998 |
Salty's Lighthouse is an animated TV show for young children. It was made in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The show was produced by Sunbow Entertainment and TLC.
The story is about a young boy named Salty. He loves to play and learn with his friends in a magical lighthouse. The series also uses live-action videos from a British show called Tugs. These videos are used for different parts of the episodes. There are 40 episodes in total.
The show first aired on October 3, 1997. It ran until June 26, 1998, on PBS and TLC. It was also shown in many other countries around the world.
Contents
Meet Salty and Friends!
Salty is a young boy with a big imagination. Every day, he visits the lighthouse near his home. He plays with his friends who live by the sea.
His friends include:
- Ocho, the octopus
- Claude, the hermit crab
- Sophie and Sadie, who are bird twins
- A group of tiny clams
- Aurora, the light that shines over the ocean
- Aunt Chovie, who owns the lighthouse
In each episode, Salty and his friends go on adventures. They learn important lessons that help them solve problems.
What About the Tugboats?
Each story also includes other parts. One part is called "Through the eyes of Seymour." Seymour is a walking pair of binoculars. The characters use Seymour to watch tugboats in the harbor. The tugboat stories often match what Salty and his friends are learning. These tugboat scenes use real models from the British TV show Tugs.
Salty's Song Time
Some episodes also have a part called "Salty's Song Time." The lighthouse clock introduces these songs. They are new songs that help explain the lesson of the episode. The songs use different video clips, including old silent films.
Who Are the Voices Behind the Characters?
Many talented actors gave voices to the characters in Salty's Lighthouse.
- Rhys Huber - Salty
- Kathleen Barr - Ocho and Aunt Chovie
- Janyse Jaud - Sophie and Sadie (The Seagull Sisters)
- Andrea Libman - Claude
- Lenore Zann - Aurora, Sunshine, Captain Star, Lillie Lightship, Little Ditcher, and Sally Seaplane
- Ian James Corlett - Ten Cents, Otis, Zeebee, Zip, Lord Stinker, Frank, Eddie, and Lighthouse Clock
- Paul Dobson - Big Stack, Hercules, Captain Zero, Izzy Gomez, Sea Rogue, Billy Shoepack, Mr. Boffo, Mr. Socko, Cappy, Tramper, Old Rusty, Scoop, Municipal Garbage Corporation, Stoney, and Chooch
- French Tickner - Top Hat, Warrior, Grampus, Steamer, and Scuttle Butt Pete
- Scott McNeil - Zorran, Zak, Zug, Bluenose, Boomer, and The Fultan Ferry
Catchy Theme Song!
The show's theme song sounds like the music played by a Mister Softee ice cream truck.
Episode Adventures
Here is a list of all the episodes of Salty's Lighthouse:
- Mixed Signals (October 3, 1997)
- Too Young to Be Included (October 10, 1997)
- Taking Off (October 17, 1997)
- Let's Party (October 24, 1997)
- Blackout (October 31, 1997)
- Eight is Too Much (November 7, 1997)
- One Bad Day (November 14, 1997)
- Hands Off! (November 21, 1997)
- Salty Come Lately (November 28, 1997)
- It's Magic (December 5, 1997)
- Count on Me (December 12, 1997)
- Knot So Nice (December 19, 1997)
- Taking My Turn (December 26, 1997)
- Backward Day (January 2, 1998)
- Banana Splits (January 9, 1998)
- Clear the Decks (January 16, 1998)
- Claude in Charge (January 23, 1998)
- The Favorite (January 30, 1998)
- Strike Up the Band (February 6, 1998)
- Blankety Blank (February 13, 1998)
- The Last of the Red Hot C Gulls (February 20, 1998)
- Farley Frog (February 27, 1998)
- Boss Man (March 6, 1998)
- Sophie Come Home (March 13, 1998)
- Who Took My Crayons? (March 20, 1998)
- High Spirits (March 27, 1998)
- Some Guys Have all the Luck (April 3, 1998)
- Dream On (April 10, 1998)
- Sound Off (April 17, 1998)
- Treasure Hunt (April 24, 1998)
- Who Turned Off the Lights? (May 1, 1998)
- If the Clue Fits, Wear It (May 8, 1998)
- Desperately Seeking Sadie (May 14, 1998)
- Colossal Crab (May 15, 1998)
- The Big Birthday Splash (May 22, 1998)
- Stop the Music - (May 29, 1998)
- Let's Wing It (June 5, 1998)
- No Strings Attached (June 12, 1998)
- Guilty Gull (June 19, 1998)
- Bivalve Blues (June 26, 1998)
How Salty's Lighthouse Used Tugs
The tugboat scenes in Salty's Lighthouse came from another show. This show was a British TV series called Tugs. It was made in 1989 by Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. They also worked on the popular show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
Tugs was about two groups of tugboats working in 'Bigg City Port' in the 1920s. It had stories with action and drama for older kids. Salty's Lighthouse was made for younger children in America. So, the creators of Salty's Lighthouse changed the Tugs footage a lot. They got permission to use the videos from Cardona.
New Stories and Voices
The original Tugs stories were not used. Instead, new stories were written for the boats in 'Snugboat Harbor'. These new stories matched the lessons in Salty's animated parts. The Tugs videos were edited and new voices were added to tell these new stories.
The new voices had American accents. The original Tugs characters had different British accents.
Character Changes
Some characters from Tugs were changed for Salty's Lighthouse:
- Characters like Sunshine, Captain Star, and Little Ditcher were made female.
- Some character names were changed to avoid confusion. For example, Big Mac became 'Big Stack'. O.J. became 'Otis'. Zebedee became 'Zeebee'.
- Izzy Gomez had an American accent instead of a Mexican one.
- The Fultan Ferry was given a voice and was a male character.
Many other characters were also changed to fit the new Salty's Lighthouse stories:
- Johnny Cuba, a smuggler, became 'Steamer', a friendly character.
- Sea Rogue was used as a villain who stole things.
- Two different characters, the Coast Guard and his Messenger, became one character named 'Cappy'.
- Puffa became "The Train" or "Chooch".
- Jack the Grappler became 'Scoop'.
- The scrap dealers, Burke and Blair, became movie producers named 'Mr. Boffo' and 'Mr. Socko'.
- Nantucket became 'Tramper' and was a friendly character.
Some other characters appeared but did not speak. These included the Fire Tug, Big Mickey, Mighty Mo, Pearl, the Shrimpers, and the Buoys.
