Pocoyo is a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 pre-school

Preschool education

Preschool education is the provision of learning to children before the commencement of statutory and obligatory education, usually between the ages of zero and three or five, depending on the jurisdiction....

 animated television series created by Guillermo García Carsí, Luis Gallego and David Cantolla, and is a co-production between Spanish producer Zinkia Entertainment

Zinkia Entertainment

Zinkia Entertainment is a company founded in 2001 by David Cantolla, Colman López and José María Castillejo. Located in Madrid, Spain, its main focus is to create animated series for TV and games for mobile devices and for game platforms...

, Cosgrove-Hall Films and Granada International

Granada Productions

Granada Productions was a British commercial television production and distribution company. The company took its name from the successful ITV franchise, Granada Television....

. Two series have been produced, each consisting of 52 seven-minute episodes. English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actor and comedian Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

 narrates the English language version, and José María del Río narrates the Castilian Spanish

Castilian Spanish

Castilian Spanish is a term related to the Spanish language, but its exact meaning can vary even in that language. In English Castilian Spanish usually refers to the variety of European Spanish spoken in north and central Spain or as the language standard for radio and TV speakers...

 version.

Set in a 3D space

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

, with a plain white background and no backdrops, it is about a young boy dressed in blue, who is full of curiosity. Viewers are encouraged to recognise situations that Pocoyo is in, and things that are going on with or around him. The narrator usually speaks explicitly to the viewers and to the characters as well. Each character has its own distinctive dance and also a specific sound (usually from a musical instrument), and most episodes end with the characters dancing. Many episodes also involve parties.

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, it was originally broadcast on CITV

CITV

CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...

, a children's strand on the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network. In September 2007, Five acquired terrestrial rights

Terrestrial television

Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...

 in the United Kingdom to the first and second series, making it part of the Milkshake!

Milkshake!

Milkshake! is a television programming block on Channel 5, aimed at children 2 to 7 years old. The strand debuted in 1997 and is broadcast on weekdays from 06:00 to 09:00, and from 07:00 to 10:00 on weekends. Sunday and Monday Mornings its broadcast 05:00 to 09:15/10:00. It used to air on 5*...

strand. The show, however, will continue to air on the CITV Channel. Other broadcasters in the English speaking countries include RTÉ

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

 in the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, Nick Jr.

Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. was a programming block on the Nickelodeon television channel, seen on Nickelodeon weekday mornings. It was aimed at a preschool-age audience ages 6 and under. On September 28, 2009, Nick Jr. became its own official channel, replacing Noggin...

 in the U.S. nationwide and local station WNYE-TV

WNYE-TV

WNYE-TV, channel 25 is an non-commercial educational, independent television station located in New York City, USA. WNYE-TV is part of the NYC Media Group and has its studios located in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and transmitter at the Conde Nast Building....

 in the New York City, Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV

Treehouse TV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel with programming targeted towards preschoolers that was launched on October 17, 1997. Its name comes from YTV's old children's programming block, The Treehouse...

 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, ABC in Australia

ABC Television

ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....

 and TVNZ

Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....

 in New Zealand.

In Spain, TVE2 broadcast the second series in Spain starting in April 2008. A future third series is on hold as the makers wish to embark upon other projects, one of which may be a Pocoyo movie.

In June 2006, Pocoyo was awarded the Cristal Award for the "Best TV Production" at the 30th Annecy International Animated Film Festival

Annecy International Animated Film Festival

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became annual in 1998...

.

Name

Pocoyo's name was provided by David Cantolla, one of the creators, after his three-year-old daughter used it in her nightly prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

s saying "Eres niño poco yo" ("You're a child little me") instead of "Eres niño como yo ("You're a child like me"). "Pocoyó" could roughly be translated to English as "little me", "not much me" or "a little bit me", though it is a made-up construction.

Main characters

• Pocoyo is the eponym
  Eponym
  An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
  
  ous main character of the series. He is a young boy full of curiosity who loves to play games and discover new things. He is very acrobatic and moves at a quick speed. He is always shown wearing blue clothes and a hat. He is (always) four years old; his "birthday" (when he inevitably turns four again) is October 14. His best friends are Pato, Elly, and Loula. He has a vehicle called the Vamoosh which he can use to travel under the water, in the air or through space. Although he is very friendly and sweet and almost always in a good mood, Pocoyo is also highly self-centered, distracted by the simplest things, easily frustrated, frequently jealous of his friends, and disobedient, but tries his hardest to fight his flaws and learn morals. He is voiced by Montana Smedley most of the time, but occasionally, by Alex Marty.
• The narrator (del Rio or Fry) speaks over the entire show, and often communicates directly with the characters. Pocoyo has a good relationship with him, and is always to delighted to see (hear) him. The narrator is also at times physically involved in the events of the episodes, making him more of an heard-but-not-seen character rather than a strict narrator.
• Pato is a yellow duck who wears nothing but a small green hat. He has a fondness for gardening, and is often seeing watering plants and flowerbeds. Pato means duck in Spanish, Portuguese
  Portuguese language
  Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
  
  , Filipino
  Filipino language
  This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
  
  , Tok Pisin
  Tok Pisin
  Tok Pisin is a creole spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in that country...
  
   and Papiamento
  Papiamento
  Papiamento is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands, having the official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government....
  
  . He is a favourite amongst the young children due to his enjoyable dancing and the fact that his beak turns 360 degrees. Although friendly, Pato is the most fussy and impatient character (indicated by his beak that bends in an angle when disappointed or shocked); on occasion he completely loses his temper, jumping up and down and quacking furiously with his beak spinning rapidly. He is used as a jackhammer or missile and can become a helicopter.
• Elly is a pink elephant who always wears a blue back-pack. She loves making biscuits and tea, and she also has a doll that she loves very much. Despite her size, she is graceful and gentle, capable of ballet dancing. She is, however, very bossy and generally does things her way. She usually rides around on her pink scooter
  Kick scooter
  A kick scooter or push scooter, originally scooter, is a human-powered vehicle with a handlebar, deck and wheels that is propelled by a rider pushing off the ground. The most common scooters today have two hard small wheels, are made primarily of aluminium and fold for convenience...
  
  .
• Loula is Pocoyo's orange-yellow pet puppy and companion. Originally, the character's name was Lucas, in tribute to creator and director Guillermo García Carsi's dog.
• Sleepy Bird is a teal-coloured bird. It does little but sleep, and usually flies with its eyes closed. It's named "Pajaroto" in the Spanish version (reportedly named after a Zinkia employee nicknamed "Maroto", and bearing a strong resemblance to him). It can be active from time to time, but more often is found asleep or snoozing to its content.

Secondary characters

• Aliens are sweet little green tripedal beings that Pocoyo finds in space in search of his toy plane.
• Baby Bird is the small, always active (he has not inherited his mother's fondness of sleeping) and loud baby of Sleepy Bird, who gets into tricky situations from which he is rescued by Pocoyo. He is best friends with Caterpillar. Named "Pajarito" in Spanish version ('little bird')
• Ball Orchestra is a group of three ball-like creatures who play the trumpet, drums and cymbals.
• Butterfly is a very hungry butterfly which Pocoyo occasionally catches.
• Caterpillar (named "Valentina" in Spanish) is a yellow caterpillar with a blue bow on top of her head. She speaks in gibberish and has the ability to change into a butterfly and back when she wants. She is best friends with Baby Bird.
• (Fred the) Octopus is a lunatic red octopus (although shown with only 4 legs, as to make animation rendering simpler) who speaks in gibberish like Caterpillar, and is very fond of opera singing. He appears in random episodes, sometimes as a major character, sometimes in passing. As of Season Two, he is sometimes referred to as 'Fred'.
• Music Flower & The Band are musical characters who play music that Pocoyo likes.
• Whale is a huge white whale with red cheeks whom Pocoyo meets under the sea.

Episode list

To date two series have been produced, each with 52 episodes. There is also an unreleased episode entitled "The See-Saw", along with 2 movies released in the Spanish market.

Series 1 (2005-2007)

1. Counting Fish (Pocoyo Pilot Episode)
2. Hush
3. Pocoyo Dance
4. Drum Roll Please
5. Umbrella, Umbrella
6. A Mystery Most Puzzling
7. A Present For Elly
8. The Big Sneeze
9. Double Bubble
10. Sleepy Bird's Surprise
11. Swept Away
12. Who's On the Phone?
13. Fetch Loula Fetch
14. A Little Cloud
15. Table for Fun
16. Keep Going, Pocoyo!
17. Where's Pocoyo?
18. Drummer Boy
19. The Great Race
20. Don't Touch
21. Mystery Footprints
22. Magical Watering Can
23. Twinkle Twinkle
24. Hiccup
25. Pato's Postal Service
26. Puppy Love
27. Bat and Ball
28. Elly Has Spots
29. Up Up and Away
30. A Surprise for Pocoyo
31. Having a Ball
32. Super Pocoyo
33. Let's Go Camping
34. The Key to It All
35. Fussy Duck
36. Whale's Birthday
37. Elly's Big Chase
38. Bedtime
39. Juggling Balls
40. Pocoyo's Little Friend
41. Pocoyo, Pocoyo
42. Picture This
43. Musical Blocks
44. Paint Me a Picture
45. Elly's Doll
46. Giggle Bug
47. Pocoyo Gets It Right
48. A Dog's Life
49. What's In The Box
50. Pocoyo-lympics
51. Colour My World
52. A Little Something Between Friends
53. Wackily Ever After

Series 2 (2007-2010)

1. Pocoyo's Present
2. Mad Mix Machine
3. Big Scary Slide
4. Elly's Ballet Class
5. Guess What?
6. Mr Big Duck
7. The Messy Guest (seen in the movie "El Show de Pocoyo")
8. Pocoyo's Balloon
9. Who's Calling Me Now?
10. Band of Friends
11. Upside Down
12. New on the Planet
13. All for One
14. Elly's Shoes
15. Duck Stuck
16. Scary Noises
17. Not in my Backyard
18. Vamoosh on the Loosh
19. Detective Pocoyo
20. Scooter Madness
21. Lost in Space
22. Boo!
23. Party Pooper
24. My Pato!
25. Baby Bird Bother
26. Dirty Dog
27. The Seed
28. Runaway Hat
29. Invisible Pocoyo
30. Noise to my Ears
31. Baby Bird Sitting
32. Everyone's Present
33. Magic Act
34. Picnic Puzzle
35. Dance Off!
36. Pato's Egg
37. Pocoyo's Puppet Show
38. Get Lost Loula
39. Sneaky Shoes
40. Shutterbug
41. Angry Alien
42. Pato's Paintings
43. Monster Mystery
44. Pato Underwater
45. Poczilla
46. Elly on Ice
47. Farewell Friends
48. Double Trouble
49. Horse!
50. Elly's Tea Party
51. Talent Show
52. Remember When...

Movies

1. La Gran Fiesta de Pocoyó
2. El Show de Pocoyo (aka El Circo Especial)

DVD releases

Region 2 (UK)

• Pocoyo: Series 1 (Episodes 1.01-1.13)
• Pocoyo: Series 1 - Explore and Discover (Episodes 1.14-1.26)
• Pocoyo: Vol. 3 - Fun and Adventures (Episodes 1.27-1.39)
• Pocoyo: Bumper Fun! - Volume 4 (Episodes 1.41-2.13)
• Pocoyo: Vol. 5 - Scooter Madness (Episodes 2.14-2.26)

Pocoyo Friendy Fun Episodes 1.41-1.13

Region 1 (US/Canada)

• Pocoyo: Meet Pocoyo (Episodes 1.03-1.05 and 1.07-1.10)
• Pocoyo: Pocoyo and Friends
• Pocoyo: Super Pocoyo
• Pocoyo: Fun & Dance

Region 4 (Australia/New Zealand)

• Pocoyo: Drum Roll Please (Episodes 1.01-1.09)
• Pocoyo: Swept Away (Episodes 1.10-1.18)
• Pocoyo: Mystery Footprints (Episodes 1.19-1.27)
• Pocoyo: A Surprise For Pocoyo (Episodes 1.28-1.36)
• Pocoyo: Bedtime (Episodes 1.37-1.45)
• Pocoyo: A Dog's Life (Episodes 1.46-1.52)
• Pocoyo: Messy Guest (Episodes 2.01-2.10)
• Pocoyo: Scooter Madness (Episodes 2.11-2.20)
• Pocoyo: Baby Bird (Episodes 2.21-2.31)
• Pocoyo: Sneaky Shoes (Episodes 2.32-2.41)

External links

• Official Pocoyo blog
• Guillermo García Carsi