The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets

The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets is a Jetanie-Kuboian traditionally animated television series. It is the third television series in the Sweet Treets franchise and a reboot of the 1984 series of the same name. The show was produced by Jetanie studio Colourbox and Kuboian studio Kubokartoonz; the latter's co-founder Ashley Maverick served as its co-developer, co-writer, producer and animation director.

With development on the show beginning in late 1992, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets premiered on CBS and Bumper's Block in 1995. Three series and fifty-one episodes of the show were produced, with the show's finale airing in late 1997. A majority of the cast members from the franchise's previous series, including Sharlie Deem and Henry Buckings, reprise their roles as their respective characters.

Upon its premiere, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets polarised critics and audiences alike, who were mixed in regards to the show's more story-driven premise as well as the new characters and the overhaul of the character design and personality traits for the original characters. Retrospective reception has been more positive, however, especially in regards to the show's writing, animation, music and highly-prioritised production. It has since gained a popular following and has won several awards.

Plot and setting
The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets takes place in Eastwood Park (a fictional area created for the show), and mostly centres around a ten year-old girl called Louise. As Louise struggles with making friends, she owns three pets, Pinky, Shiny and Galaxy, who are collectively known as the Treets, a species that were created by scientists decades ago to help lonely children build friendships. The Treets were given to Louise's single mother, Liane, when she was a little girl, who in turn gave them to Louise when she started school.

Not far from Eastwood Park lies Rogon Street, a street inhabited by dark blue bear-resembling creatures called the Rogons. The king of the species, King Rojo, spends a lot of his time getting up to schemes such as trying to humilate Louise, who he has a longtime rivalry with, or competing with her for publicity and/or rewards. King Rojo is almost always accompanied by his right-hand minion Stumpy, Stumpy's brother Gunge, and Gunge's best friend Rusty, the latter of whom tries to stop the other three from getting up to mischief.

Louise attends Eastwood School, where she is taught by Miss Fredericksburg, a snobby teacher who is hard to please and usually has favourites when it comes to her students. She also receives additional support from another teacher called Mrs Rum, who is a lot nicer to her and her friends. At school, Louise is often accompanied by her best friend Nate, who tries to (and fails to) get Louise to improve on her behaviour, as well as her close friends Marilyn, who suffers from anxiety and is easily stressed, and Hugh, who is often shy and reluctant to speak out. Other students seen in Louise's class include Anthem, a spoilt middle-class girl who bullies Louise and her friends, and Zoe, a hardworking student who gets a lot of favouritism from Miss Fredericksburg.

A lot of the show's episodes focus on the difficulties Louise has when trying to build upon and maintain friendships, as well as the difficulties the Treets have at trying to help Louise with her confidence and sensibility. The main plotline of each episode is usually drama-centred and usually feature social and moral lessons (including cynical and "tough-love" morals). In contrast, many episodes also feature a B-plot, which usually focuses on King Rojo, that is much more comical and silly in comparison.

Main characters
The main characters include Louise and her closest associates. These characters appear and have at least one line in all 51 episodes of the series.
 * Louise Lockridge (voiced by Sharlie Deem) is a well-meaning but misunderstood ten year-old girl. The current owner of the Treets, she often has to rely on them to carry her through the difficulty situations she faces in life, and is not good at dealing with pressure without them. Louise has a hard time with maintaining friendships due to her difficulty with understanding her peers' feelings. She also has a tendency to get up to mischief when she is bored or frustrated with something. However, Louise has good intentions, and actually cares for her family and friends a lot. She in particular has a very strong bond with her mother.
 * Pinky, Shiny and Galaxy, collectively known as the Treets, are Louise's pets. They are bright spherical floating creatures who are capable of helping their owners with their social behaviour (it is never explained exactly how they do this). The Treets try to help Louise with her troubles, though they aren't very good due to how easily she gets distracted.
 * Liane Lockridge (voiced by Ashley Maverick) is Louise's young single mother who is clingy towards her daughter, and has a tendency to spoil her badly. Seemingly unemployed, she appears to be very lazy and unmotivated, spending a lot of her time sitting down watching television or playing games with her daughter. Like Louise, Liane is very shy and has a tough time bonding with other people she doesn't know.
 * Swoop (voiced by Sap M.N. Williams) is a talking red parrot who regularly visits Liane to give her advice and keep her company. He is also occasionally seen looking after Louise, such as watching her when she is spending time with her friends. Having put up with a lot in life, Swoop is very grumpy and cynical, though he is good at apologising if he upsets somebody.

Major characters
The major characters include individuals who Louise is friendly with and is seen interacting with frequently. Though they may be absent from an episode every so often, these characters appear in almost every episode.
 * Mrs Rum (voiced by Juliet Darson) is a teacher in Eastwood School who provides additional support for students who need it, such as Louise and her friends. She is often the one to stand up for Louise if she is being mistreated, wrongfully accused or generally upset with something. Mrs Rum is a bit of an outcast amongst the other teachers, who are serious and highly sophisticated, whilst she prefers to see the fun side of school. In the second series, it was revealed that she had a daughter who died a few years before the events of the show, and that Louise reminds her of her late daughter.
 * Nate Nicholson (voiced by Peter Malosh is Louise's classmate and best friend, a very effeminate boy who likes "cute" things and doesn't like rough activities. He appears to have a crush on Louise, and often tries to help her act more sensible in order to stop her from getting into trouble. However, he also makes it clear that he prefers Louise being the way she is. Nate seems to be spoilt by his parents, and seems to be naive towards others who live in less pleasant conditions.
 * Marilyn Madison (voiced by Opaline Robins) is a classmate and close friend of Louise and Nate. Often stressed and unmotivated, she gets frustrated and impatient with things very easily. Marilyn seems to prefer the company of others, and feels insecure when alone. Later episodes show that she is the way she is due to the recent death of her mother, which has had a negative effect on her confidence and happiness. However, she is capable of showing a lot of compassion and loyalty to others, and is able to understand and feel others' misfortunes easily.
 * Hugh Halls (voiced by Opaline Robins in his first appearance and Avoc Westwind in all later appearances) is Marilyn's best friend, as well as a close friend of Louise and Nate, appearing in the same class as them and regularly spending time with them. He is very shy and soft-spoken, and thus has trouble asking others for help or asking them questions. Hugh also seems to have trouble with decision making, and is frequently in conflict with what he should do and when. He, however, is very caring towards others, often being the first to check up on his friends when they are unhappy.

The Rogons
Rogons are a fictional species who live in Rogon Street. They are a species of dark blue creatures who look like humanoid-like bears. Most Rogons are underhanded and difficult to trust, but some are shown to have hidden depths of kindness. The human race have a mixed relationship with them, with some declaring them a nuisance, whilst others trest them like celebrities. In general, the four main Rogon characters (King Rojo, Stumpy, Gunge and Rusty) appear in roughly two-thirds of the show's episodes, where they either serve as the main antagonists of the episode, the protagonists of the episode's B-plot, or as part of Louise's group of friends. King Rojo generally gets the most screen time, though Gunge and Rusty make slightly more appearances.
 * King Rojo (voiced by Henry Buckings) is the ruler of Rogon Street and the king of the Rogon species. He is arguably best known for his greedy, untrustworthy and scheming nature. Having a large obsession for food, money and power, Rojo is willing to get up to criminal activity, such as theft, property damage and kidnapping, in order to get what he wants. He has a rivalry with Louise, and likes to compete with her, childishly sulking whenever he loses to her. In spite of this, however, Rojo does care for her minions a lot, has a soft spot for some of Louise's friends and will save the day if he thinks it's his duty to. In short, he is a loose cannon capable of doing good and bad.
 * Stumpy (voiced by Flynn Raidon) is King Rojo's main servant, who does silly things to impress his king. He is often annoying and wreckless, though not truly bad at heart.
 * Gunge (voiced by Charlie Karma) is Stumpy's twin brother, a mischievous Rogon who is infamous for his devious tricks. He often acts as Rojo's second-in-command during the king's bigger schemes due to his intelligence, an area where he essentially surprasses all of his peers, even Rojo himself. Despite his shady nature, Gunge is shown to be a "people's person", and likes to take part in parties and other events involving large groups.
 * Rusty (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is one of King Rojo's subjects, and Gunge's best friend. Unlike the other Rogons, who are mostly greedy, hot-headed and arrogant, Rusty acts as the polar opposite, acting selfless and sensible. He often tries to get his friends to change their ways, and usually acts as the voice of reason in his species. Rusty, however, seems to have difficulty getting his point across as he knows he will often be outnumbered in arguments.
 * Stumpy, Gunge and Rusty are also seen having a few other Rogon friends, including a female Rogon called Tricky (voiced by Emily Merletta) and a Rogon who only makes "blob" sounds called Blob (voiced by Ashley Maverick).

Recurring characters
In addition to the main characters, several more characters make regular appearances throughout the show. Some appear in most episodes but only have a major role in a few, whilst others appear less often but are more likely to have a prominent role in the episodes they are featured in.
 * Zedd Farrow (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is Louise's father who, since he lives far away, she does not see much of. Despite his age, he seems to have trouble understanding the feelings kf other people, and reguarly thinks about himself. Though he does often feel remorse for his actions and is willing to make up for his behaviour.
 * Tyh Farrow (voiced by Emily Merletta) is Zedd's son and Louise's six year-old half-brother, who she really enjoys seeing. Like the rest of his family, he is very shy, and seems to have a very pessimistic and cynical take on life despite only being a young child. However, he enjoys spenidng time with Louise, which often cheers him up.
 * Martine Farrow (voiced by Lilian Pond) is Zedd's wife, Louise's stepmother and Tyh's mother. Even though she is an adult, she seems to still be a child at heart, and she enjoys the company of her son and stepdaughter. She seems to be very clumsy and easily distracted, as she often bumps into things, daydreams, and occasionally doesn't notice when others are talking to her.
 * Zoe Falls (voiced by Charlie Karma) is a classmate of Louise. She is smart and socially confident, but also arrogant and gets favouritism from her class's teacher. Louise and Marilyn seem to be a bit jealous of her, but are willing to hang out with her and consider her a friend as well. She occasionally helps Louise and company when they are having trouble with something related to school.
 * Tigen Halls (voiced by Charlie Karma) is Hugh's misbehaved seven year-old sister, who the other characters generally find annoying and wreckless. She gets upset easily, and has the tendency to run off or complain when things don't go her way. Tigen is, however, very good at forming unlikely friendships. Later epsiodes show her getting along well with Rusty, Tricky and Blob.
 * Ruth Madison (voiced by Opaline Robins) is Marilyn's maternal auntie, who began to take partial responsibility for her niece following the death of her sister. Though she cares for Marilyn a lot, she can become emotionally attached to her at times, which frustrates Marilyn.
 * Ayton Abrams (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is Marilyn's single lower-class father who works two part-time jobs, one being a library janitor (the other is never revealed). He unintentionally developed a hobby in literacy due his job, and occasionally helps Marioyn and her friends with their school work.
 * Nina Nicholson (voiced by Ashley Maverick) is Nate's mother who works as an activist and fundraiser. Due to wanting the best for her son, she clashes with Miss Fredericksburg a lot. She is often unfairly presented in the media, where she is usually depicted as bossy and entitled.

Recurring antagonists
As well as its large group of protagonists and supporting characters, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets has its fair share of villains and antagonists.
 * Miss Heather Fredericksburg (voiced by Millie Tucker) is Louise's school teacher, who is snobby, entitled and plays favourites with her students. Coming from a line of well-respected but unfriendly figures. In early episodes, she mostly acted as a discipliner, who would harshly criticise students who were not perfect but also reward work she considered exceptional. In the show's second and third series, however, she shows a more dishonest side, where she is shown to be willing to endanger others, including her own students, in order to get what she wants.
 * Anthem Rivers (voiced by Candis Westwind) is a classmate of Louise and her friends. A selfish, spoilt and ungrateful middle-class girl, Anthem regularly bullies Louise and Marilyn, and usually tries to take advantage of Nate or Hugh. She also seems to have Miss Fredericksburg wrapped around her finger, as she often gets out scot-free due to her sneaky nature. Anthem is strongly disliked by most of the other characters, but even they are prone to getting manipulated by her, particularly Hugh, who tries hard to see the (non-existent) good side in her. It is implied that she is the way she is because her parents pay almost no attention to her, though she also does not seem bothered by this.
 * Magfire (voiced by Harold Fever) is a black crow who regularly comes to Eastwood Park to cause havoc. Desperate to survive in the cold forest he resides in, Magfire uses his powerful wings to help him break into buildings, attack people and steal their food. He occasionally uses other birds to help him with his plans. In series three, it is revealed that he used the power of a Treet to grant him power and immortality at the cost of his sanity.
 * Rod Fellow (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is a two-off antagonist in series one, where he starts dating Marilyn's maternal auntie Ruth. Having grown up in an unhappy background, he slowly became jealous of the bond Ruth had with her neice, and tried to convince her to abandon Marilyn. Despite never appearing after the first series, he is occasionally mentioned afterwards.
 * Derrick Mangle (voiced by Flynn Raidon) is an antagonist introduced in series two. A childhood friend of Liane, he became bitter and selfish after growing up as an orphan and being neglected by his adaoptive parents. In series two, after discovering that Treets are worth a lot of money, he rekindles contact with Liane so he can steal the Treets from Louise and sell them for money. He later takes part in Miss Fredericksburg's schemes. Despite his pride, he is also a dirty coward, as he either tries to flee and/or blames his actions on others when he is caught.
 * Rudy was a Treet who was disposed of due to the negative energy that he possessed. After being found by Magfire, he absorbed Rudy (causing Rudy to fade from existence in the process) to become the evil crow he is depicted as in the show. Liane later admits that Rudy did not deserve the fate he faced, and that she wished she could have done something about it.

Development
After an unsuccessful attempt from Ashley Maverick to buy Colourbox in late 1991, she later made a deal with its founder, Taylor Ridley. Ridley wanted to produce a new series for The Sweet Treets but was unsure how it would work in the then-modern times, so she approached Maverick after watching Kubokartoonz' previous series and hearing positive things about Maverick.

When coming up with new ideas, Maverick felt that a lot of the ideas present in the 1984 series "wouldn't work nowadays" or were too boring. She suggested to Ridley that several new characters should be added to help expand the franchise and give it more depth. Maverick also suggested that the new series would be the perfect opportunity to give answers to plot-holes and oddities present in the franchise's two previous series.

The first public reveal for the show was in several Kuboian newspapers in late 1993. In mid-1994, it was revealed that it would be airing on Bumper's Block in Kuboia. In January 1995, its full title, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets, was revealed for the first time.

Casting
All of the main cast from The Sweet Treets returned for the new series, with the only exception being Brud Rorqual, who died in 1992. Magfire, the character who was voiced by Rorqual, was recast, now being voiced by Harold Fever, who was a close friend to Rorqual and was capable of imitating his voice well.

There was originally some trouble contacting Sharlie Deem and Peter Malosh, as Ridley was not allowed to maintain any contact details of either of them. Deem revealed that she was completely unaware that a new Sweet Treets series was in development until it was publicly announced. When she tried putting her name down to reprise her role as Louise, Maverick initially thought she was a fraud. Malosh had trouble voicing Nate since his voice had became deeper since the franchise's previous series, so editing software was used to help him sound like his previous voice.

A majority of the cast all went into the recording studio on the same days and recorded their lines together. Maverick figured that this would allow the cast members to bond, as well as help express their respective characters easier.

Character development
Despite nearly all of the original series' cast reprising their roles as their respective characters, a lot of said characters have went through design and personality overhauls. The most notable example of this is the franchise‘s main villain, King Rojo. In the 1984 series, he has purple fur, and is supposedly the king of the bear species. This series, however, gives him blue skin, and he is now part of a fictional bear-resembling species called the Rogons, who were apparently created on accident after giving a Treet to a bear.

Another aspect of the franchise that was introduced in the show is the idea that Louise and a majority of her friends have learning disabilities, and that the Treets were given to Louise's mother, Liane, when she was younger to help her with her social skills, something that was never hinted on in the previous series. Ridley claimed that she was asked a lot back in the mid and late 1980s if Louise had autism, so she thought it would be a good idea to build some of her personality around that idea. During production and the original airing of The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets, learning disabilities in children were not made as publicly aware outside of Kuboia.

Animation
Like most shows produced by Kubokartoonz, Ashley Maverick served as the animation director, and drew a lot of the characters herself. The backgrounds were mostly produced by a studio in the Netherlands. The animation was also outsourced to a Brazilian studio, who polished up the animation cels.

The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets is the first television series from both Colourbox and Kubokartoonz to use digital ink. Additionally, each episode of the show always runs at at least twelve frames per second. Maverick spoke about animating the show in 2018, saying "it was difficult, but certainly worth the effort".

Music
The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets is notable for its robust soundtrack, with a majority of the songs being from the trip hop, alternative rock, eurodance and dance-pop genres. Charlie Karma and Sharlie Deem also wrote several hip hop-influenced tracks for the soundtrack, which have been credited as a pre-cursor for the lipstick rap subgenre. Deem released an album in 1996 called The Sweet Selection, which features songs written for and/or inspired by the show.

Initial reception
The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets received a lot of promotion on Bumper's Block, with many audiences having high expectations for the show. When it debuted in September 1995, it became one of the block's most viewed programmes, with each episode receiving about 2 million views, which was apprximately a third of Kuboia's population at the time.

The first few episodes of the show polarised critics, with several sources citing some of the episodes as being too mean-spirited. However, the show's wriitng and animation received a lot of praise. A BBC article from late 1995 cited the show's animation as "way ahead of its competition". The overhaul to some of the characters' personality traits, especially King Rojo, left some viewers familiar with the previous instalments of the franchise confused. Open Eagle noted when reviewing the show's first series in mid-1996 that Rojo "barely qualifies as a villain anymore".

With the introduction of more nastier villains, including Anthem Rivers, Derrick Mangle and Magfire, some parents wrote complaints to TVVC that the show was too dark and cynical for its target audience of young children. Some of the show's villains and plot elements were compared to that of Disney's, with Derrick Mangle being labelled by one independent newspaper in Hausekeep as "a hilarious (in both a good and bad way) Disney Villain expy - the only thing he is missing is a musical number".

Later reception and cult following
Generally speaking, many critics and audiences agree that The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets has aged much better than other children's programmes at the time. HuffPost noted that "most 90s kids shows had bland writing, stiff animation and flat characters, but not The New Adventures". In 2018, Open Eagle ranked the show number two in its "Top Ten 90s Cartoons That Have Aged Well" list, being outranked only by the first eight series of The Simpsons, and also ranked it first in both its ranking of Bumper's Block original programming, as well as its "Top Ten Kuboian Cartoons of All Time" list. Ashley Maverick said in 2019 that The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets as the work she is most proud of.

Since the mid-2000s, mostly through fan website KantasyDream.net, the show has gained a significant and passionate cult following, with fans of the show showing a lot of interest in its characters and setting. To this day, it continues to be inspected for many fan theories online, as well as "What If" ideas and videos that speculate what the show would have been like if it continued for another series.

Controversy
In recent times, a few sources have criticised the show for its depiction of Kuboian stereotypes. Both Marilyn and Anthem have been branded as "karouls", with the name Anthem now being considered a stereotypical name for kaoruls. Additionally, nearly all of the characters are stated to have large appetites.

LGBT representation
In one episode of the second series, Nate is shown to have a cousin, Edwina, who has a crush on a girl called Chloe. After some convincing from King Rojo, Edwina asks Chloe out and the two become a couple. This made the two the first ever LGBT couple in a Kuboian animated series.

When the episode was first aired, both TVVC and Kubokartoonz received backlash, with some parents threatening to boycott not only the show, but also Bumper's Block in general. The Catholic World Report considered the use of a same-sex couple as innapropiate for children. Despite this, the episode also received praise from the LGBT community, as they had little to no representation in children's media at the time.

When talking about the situation in a YouTube video in 2021, Ashley Maverick said "we were always about doing things that other studios wouldn't do". She also said that the backlash the episode faced at the time was "really, really stupid, and really pisses [her] off even to this day". She did, however, admit that she did not write the character in the best manner, adding "Maybe it would have been better if Edwina's homosexuality wasn't such a dominate part of her character."

Third series and similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic
The third series, which features Magfire inflicting a plague on the human race and everybody having to stay at home to stop the plague from spreading, has raised a few eyebrows amongst audiences in the 2020s due to its similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ashley Maverick, who has uploaded every episode of the show on her personal YouTube channel, temporarily made the episodes centred around the plague private in April 2020 until making them publicly available again in October 2021. In a YouTube video she uploaded in November 2021, she admitted that she would have never made the episode arc if she knew the coronavirus pandemic would happen.

The incident was prone to several memes in 2020 and 2021, with many internet users joking about how Magfire is the one responsible for the entire pandemic. In June 2021, a YouTube Poop video titled "Magfire Causes Coronavirus" was uploaded to YouTube, and received two million views within the span of a month. Magfire's voice actor Harold Fever later said that he was unimpressed with the memes, which he considered "insensitive".

International broadcasts
In the United Kingdom, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets premiered on Children's BBC in late 1995, with new episodes usually airing a few weeks after their Jetanie/Kuboian premiere. A popular show amongst British children, reruns were later carried over to CBeebies from February 2002 until December 2004. The show also aired on Milkshake! from 2003 to 2006, and Boomerang from 2004 to 2011 - the former channel would generally air older episodes, with the later episodes airing on the latter channel.

In the United States, the show premiered on The Disney Channel in 1996, where it continued to air in regular runs until early 2002. In January 2003, PBS Kids acquired the rights for the show, airing it on its various stations and later on PBS Kids Sprout from September 2005 until December 2007. In Canada, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets aired on CBC Playground from 1996 to 2000, and also Treehouse TV from 1999 to 2008. The show was later shown in reruns on Teletoon Retro from 2009 to 2011.

Video games
A 2D platformer also titled The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets was released for the SNES and Game Boy in October 1995. A multiplayer-based party game based on the show, The New Adventures of The Sweet Treets: Louise's Obstacle Arena, was released for the Nintendo 64 in August 1997, notably pre-dating Mario Party by over a year.

A PC CD-ROM game based on the show, The Sweet Treets' Fun Zone, was released in August 1996, and features nine different minigames, each involving a certain character (or characters) in the show.

Though the show had long ended by the time of its release, an educational platforming game of the same name was released for the V.Smile in late 2004.