Zoboomafoo
Genre	Comedy Educational Children's
Created by	Martin Kratt Chris Kratt Leo Eaton
Starring	Chris Kratt Martin Kratt Gord Robertson Jovian Samantha Tolkacz (Season 1) Genevieve Farrell (Season 2)
Theme music composer	Sterling Jarvis Pure West
Opening theme	"Me and You and Zoboomafoo"
Ending theme	"Animal Friends Song" "Me and You and Zoboomafoo" (instrumental)
Composer	Pure West
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	65
Production
Executive producers	Leo Eaton Micheline Charest (1999–2000, uncredited) Peter Moss (2000–01) Chris Kratt Martin Kratt
Running time	28 minutes
Production companies	Earth Creatures Maryland Public Television CINAR Corporation
Original release
Network	United States PBS Kids Canada CBC Kids (Season 1) CBC Kids (Season 2)
Release	January 25, 1999 (1999-01-25) – November 21, 2001 (2001-11-21)

Zoboomafoo is a live-action/animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS from January 25, 1999, to November 21, 2001. It was formerly shown in public television (depending on the area) and was regularly shown on Sprout until 2012. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin), it features a four-(later five)-year-old talking lemur (a Coquerel's sifaka) named Zoboomafoo, performed by Canadian puppeteer Gord Robertson (who had also puppeteered on Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock), and mainly portrayed by a lemur named Jovian, along with a collection of returned animal guests.

Cast

Martin and Chris Kratt

• Chris Kratt as himself
• Martin Kratt as himself
• Jovian and Gord Robertson as Zoboomafoo
• Samantha Tolkacz as Jackie (Season 1)
• Genevieve Farrell as Amy (Season 2)

Segments

• Zoboomafoo Theme
• The Mystery Animal (Song: “Who Could It Be?”)
• Zobooland Story #1
• Duck/Animal Helpers with Jackie/Amy
• A Journey to Visit Animals (Song: “Going to the Closet”)
• Zobooland Story #2
• Ending Theme: Animal Friends

Episodes

Production notes

Zoboomafoo was produced by PBS Kids, CINAR Corporation (now WildBrain), and the Kratt brothers' Earth Creatures Company.^[2][3]

Partial filming for the series took place on location at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina.^[4] The claymation segments were filmed at a studio in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Although the last new episode aired on PBS Kids in November 2001, most PBS stations continued to rerun Zoboomafoo episodes in syndication through 2009. Select stations aired reruns as late as 2017. In addition, Sprout aired reruns until February 2012. The show was broadcast in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Middle East, and India.

After production on the series ended, in 2003, the Kratt Brothers began another series titled Be the Creature on the National Geographic Channel. In 2011, they created the animated series Wild Kratts, which currently airs on PBS Kids and TVOntario.

Jovian (a captive Coquerel's sifaka housed at the Duke Lemur Center) portrayed Zoboomafoo in the live-action segments (with his parents Nigel and Flavia sometimes serving as stand-ins). On November 10, 2014, he died of kidney failure in his home at the age of 20.^[5]

Awards and nominations

Zoboomafoo received the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series^[6] and a Parents' Choice Award for Spring 2001 and Silver Honor for Fall 2001.^[7][8]

Other media

There are also several video games for the PC based on Zoboomafoo, where children learn the alphabet and animals that correlate to each letter. Some of the letters have interactive games to go with them, such as a coloring page.^[9]

References

Notes

External links

• Zoboomafoo at IMDb