YooHoo & Friends (2012 TV series) facts for kids

YooHoo & Friends
The main characters from left to right: Father Time and YooHoo (on the top), Leemee, Pammee, Chewoo, and Roodee (on the bottom).
Genre	Adventure Black Comedy Self-referential humor
Created by	David Feiss
Directed by	David Feiss
Voices of	Flavor Flav Mara Kay Cedric Themole Mark Mathison Jan Bos Michelle Brezinski
Theme music composer	Rich Dickerson Gigi Meroni
Composer(s)	Rich Dickerson Gigi Meroni
Country of origin	United States Canada Korea
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26 (52 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Feiss Konnie Kwak
Producer(s)	Christine Danzo
Editor(s)	Kevin Yi
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Toonzone Studios
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network (Latin America) ABC (Australia) Pop (UK)
Original release	January 8 (2012-01-08) – August 20, 2012 (2012-08-20)
Chronology
Related shows	YooHoo & Friends (2009 TV series) YooHoo to the Rescue

YooHoo & Friends is an animated series created by David Feiss. It was made by Toonzone Studios and is based on a popular toy line from Korea by Aurora World. This show is a new version of the original 2009 South Korean animated series. It was changed to be more fun and relatable for kids in Western countries.

The story follows a group of business leaders who caused many environmental problems. Father Time turns them into cute animal characters called the Furry 5. Their mission is to travel the world and fix all the environmental messes they made. The series first aired on January 8, 2012. You could watch it on Cartoon Network in Latin America, Pop in the UK, and ABC in Australia.

What the Show is About

YooHoo & Friends tells the story of five business executives from a company called Nasty Corp. They were causing a lot of pollution to the Earth's water, air, and land. Mother Nature noticed this and asked Father Time to stop them. So, Father Time turned them into five baby animals!

Now, as the Furry 5, they must fix the environmental problems they created. The team includes:

• YooHoo, the leader
• Lemmee, who is a bit grumpy
• Roodee, the smart inventor
• Pammee, the kind princess
• Chewoo, the cheerful one

As they travel, they find special gemstones in the places they visit. If they collect all the gems, the Furry 5 can make a wish to become human again. In each episode, Father Time narrates the story, sometimes going back in time to show how things went wrong.

Meet the Characters

Main Characters

• Father Time (voiced by Flavor Flav) is in charge of time itself. He tells the story of each episode. He gives the Furry 5 their mission to fix the environment and find the gemstones.
• Mother Nature (voiced by Mara Kay) is Father Time's wife. She was very upset about the pollution from Nasty Corporation. She told Father Time to make them stop. She helps keep her husband focused on the Furry 5's important task.
• YooHoo (voiced by Cedric Themole) is a bush baby. He is the leader of the Furry 5 and guides them on their search for gems. He has cream and grey fur, blue eyes, and a blue and grey striped tail.
• Lemmee (voiced by Mark Mathison) is a ring-tailed lemur. He is the "sourpuss" of the group and often thinks he should be the leader instead of YooHoo. He has grey and black fur, yellow eyes, and a grey and white striped tail.
• Roodee (voiced by Jan Bos) is a capuchin monkey. He is the clever inventor of the team. He has brown fur and yellow eyes.
• Pammee (voiced by Michelle Brezinski) is a fennec fox. She is like a princess and has a special connection to nature. She can feel when an animal is hurt or a tree needs water. She has white fur, pink eyes, and a pink and white striped tail.
• Chewoo (voiced by Mara Kay) is a red squirrel. She is always excited and happy, even when things are dangerous. She has red and white fur and pink eyes.

Other Characters

• Pookee 1, 2, and 16 (voiced by Mark Mathison, Jesse Innocalla, and Cedric Themole) are three meerkats. They often try to steal the Furry 5's gems because they want to make a wish to become human.
• Santa Claus (voiced by David Feiss) is Father Time's neighbor. They have a friendly rivalry.
• The Easter Bunny (voiced by Jesse Inocalla) is another friend of Father Time.
• Leper (voiced by Cedric Themole) is a leprechaun who is also friends with Father Time.
• Happy (voiced by Jesse Inocalla) is a red panda who often joins YooHoo & Friends on their adventures. He is married to a sea cow named Martha.
• Loonee (voiced by Jesse Inocalla) is a snowy owl who dreams of being a pop star. He loves to sing, even though he can't carry a tune!

How the Show Was Made

David Feiss, the creator, shared how the show came to be. Konnie Kwak, the president of Toonzone Studios, asked him to adapt the original YooHoo & Friends series for Western audiences. Feiss decided to make it like a "gag dub," where a foreign film gets new English voices and a completely different, funny story. He rewrote the dialogue and even added four minutes of new animation to each episode.

Feiss also mentioned that he moved near Flavor Flav, who voices Father Time. Flavor Flav agreed to be part of the show. Konnie Kwak saw the YooHoo & Friends stuffed toys and thought they were cute. The toys had already inspired a 52-episode show for younger kids in South Korea, which won awards there. But it was hard to share that show with other countries. So, they decided to change the episodes to reach a wider audience, aiming for kids aged six to 12.

In 2010, a sneak peek of the series narrated by Flavor Flav was uploaded to YouTube. Later, Toonzone Studios and Aurora World had some disagreements about the show's rights. This led to Aurora World ending their deal with Toonzone and working with a different company in 2014.

Episodes

The series has 26 episodes, each with two shorter stories. Here are some examples:

• The YooHoos Meet Father Time / Hydro Pain (Aired: January 8, 2012): The executives become animals and must help a baby bird. Then, they need to free rainbows from a waterfall.
• Rookie Monster / Water You Talkin' About (Aired: January 9, 2012): The Furry 5 rebuild a store in Africa and face a "monster." Later, they restore water to a desert that dried up because of a "Sponge Hotel" they built as humans.
• Sugar Rabies / Mane Wreck (Aired: January 10, 2012): They fix a forest where sugar water caused strange candy fruits to grow. Then, they help a lion whose mane turned blue from toxic waste.
• Gone Wishin' / Scare Play (Aired: January 11, 2012): The team returns a wishing star to the sky and helps Happy the Red Panda find his wife. Later, they deal with a "scary" creature in the forest.
• King Frowny Face / Salt Lick City (Aired: January 12, 2012): They meet the meerkat king and the Pookees, who want their gems. They also fix an ocean that turned into a salt pillar because of their salty ice lollies.
• Hairy Water / Fruit of the Doom (Aired: January 13, 2012): The Furry 5 unclog a natural spring in lemur territory. Then, they clean contaminated fruit caused by acid rain they created.
• Gorilla My Dreams / The Pelican Grief (Aired: January 15, 2012): They remove porcupine quills from a gorilla's feet, which they carelessly threw from a plane. They also help a pelican whose bill shrunk after drinking their "pucker powder" water.
• Happy Loves Martha / Mummy Dearest (Aired: January 16, 2012): They restore a desert oasis they drained to make "instant water." Then, they fix a problem in an Egyptian pyramid where they dumped radioactive toothpaste and trapped mummies.
• Radioactive Bird Jewelry! / Handsome Is My Maiden Name (Aired: January 17, 2012): They remove heavy, fake "jewels" (radioactive waste) from a lake. Then, they help a lynx find other lynxes whose ancestors were trapped underground.
• Let's Talk Turkey / Loonee Sings the Blues (Aired: January 18, 2012): They return "fairy chimneys" they shot at the moon. They also help Loonee, a tone-deaf snowy owl they trapped in a cave.
• The Secret of Stonehenge / Ring Ring the Panda (Aired: January 19, 2012): They find a rainbow stone that gives red squirrels British accents. They also free pandas from a giant salt shaker and deal with fly paper that caught fireworks.
• The Plastic Grapes of Wrath / The Missing Lynx (Aired: January 22, 2012): They replace plastic grapes with real ones for a fox. They also find missing lynxes whose ancestors built an underground town for them.
• Mole Berries / Say Freeze (Aired: January 23, 2012): They deal with berries that caused beauty moles and upset stomachs. They also fix a tropical area they froze by bringing a giant iceberg.
• Squirrel of My Dreams / Cry Me a River (Aired: January 24, 2012): They release pandas from a salt shaker, and Ring Ring the panda protects Chewoo. They also make crying animals happy again after a machine flooded an area with tears.
• The Tree of Wife / Eau de Toilet (Aired: January 25, 2012): They regrow a giant tree they cut down, which Mother Nature loved. They also return a skunk's stink, which they stole for perfume.
• Dr. Platypus and the Flying Squirrels / Worms of Endearment (Aired: January 26, 2012)
• The Nasty Book / Nasty Rhinoplasty (Aired: October 13, 2012)
• The Return of Dr. Platypus / Bloodthirsty the Penguin (Aired: October 20, 2012)
• The Venus Man-Trap / Shaolin Monkey (Aired: October 27, 2012)
• Cactus Makes Perfect / Nasty Ads (Aired: November 3, 2012)
• Stoney Island / Mach Picchu Macho Taco (Aired: November 10, 2012)
• Bearly News / Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (Aired: November 17, 2012)
• Boring Stone People / Buffalo Blow (Aired: November 24, 2012)
• Mustache Sauce / The Bland Canyon (Aired: December 1, 2012)
• Beaver Dang / Frozen Air in a Can (Aired: December 8, 2012)
• Pi Hole / The Wish (Aired: December 15, 2012): The Furry Five, after collecting all the jewels, finally get to make their wish.

Where to Watch It

YooHoo & Friends first appeared on Cartoon Network in Latin America on January 8, 2012. It later also aired on Boomerang. In Australia, the show premiered on ABC Me on February 15, 2012. It also aired in the United Kingdom on Pop in the same year.

The company that distributed the series, Moonscoop US, had hoped to air the show in French and German-speaking parts of Europe, but this plan did not happen.

Other Fun Stuff

A game for the series called "Fling the Furry 5" was available on the old YooHooWorldWide website, which is no longer active. Toonzone Studios also planned to release new toys, like plush animals and light-up dolls, but these were never made.

Images for kids

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  The main characters from left to right: Father Time and YooHoo (on the top), Leemee, Pammee, Chewoo, and Roodee (on the bottom).

See also

In Spanish: YooHoo y sus amigos (serie de televisión de 2012) para niños