Great things do come in small packages. Bottersnikes & Gumbles, a new award-winning CGI animated series, is set to make its U.S. and Canada debut with 26 episodes on August 19 on Netflix. Full of action, suspense and laughs, each 11-minute episode is set to thrill the imaginations of kids . . . though we hear the show’s spokesperson suggests the small-screen sagas are for kids “aged 6 and older,” we think it’s perfect for kids of all ages!
Bottersnikes & Gumbles follows the adventures of three young Gumbles, Tink, Bounce and Willi,who love nothing better than to “gumble” all day long, which means crazy, stretchy capers around their junk valley, while carefully avoiding getting tin-canned by their lazy, grumpy neighbors the Bottersnikes, led by the foul tempered and vain Bottersnikes King. Endless battles ensue involving plenty of stealth, trickery, daring rescues and narrow escapes as the Gumbles try to outwit the Bottersnikes in every episode.
Bottersnikes & Gumbles earned this year’s Pulcinella Award for Best Kids TV Series at the international animation festival, Cartoons on the Bay, in Venice and was nominated for a Logie Award in Australia for Most Outstanding Children’s Programme.
Bottersnikes & Gumbles has been developed and adapted from the characters and world as they first appeared in the much-loved Bottersnikes and Gumbles books by S.A. Wakefield, with illustrations by Desmond Digby. The books were published in the UK and Australia between 1967 and 1989.
“I wonder if Sam Wakefield ever imagined this when he wrote the original books in the 1960s?,” asks Patrick Egerton, Executive Producer at Cheeky Little Media. “Making this show, and bringing these much loved characters to life has been amazing.”
Adds Darren Price, Executive Creative Director, Mighty Nice: “The original books created a truly unique, often hilarious, fantasy world of imaginative creatures, personalities and situations. Taking it further with animation has been a hugely rewarding experience. Netflix viewers, get ready to gumble!”