Greenwood Forest

Greenwood Forest is a Kuboian animated television series produced by Kubokartoonz based on an original idea by Harlow Morrison. The show focuses on Fyp, a nine year-old boy whose father is the mayor of the titular forest, and travels to different parts of the land to help people with their problems.

The show ran for four series airing from 1993 to 1996, with episodes airing on Vision Network as part of its Sunday morning children's programming lineup. Episodes initially aired in 45-minute blocks that generally featured multiple different segments featuring the same cast of characters, although most international markets and reruns shortened the show's runtime to only feature one main segment into a seventeen minute runtime.

Premise
Greenwood Forest is a vibrant, colourful forest inhabited by both humans and non-human creatures. The show stars the son of the forest's mayor, Fyp, who travels to the different parts of the forest, as well as other areas that it's located to, in order to solve any problems currently occurring. Fyp carries a sentient compass called Sticker, whom assist him whenever he is stuck, and is also normally accompanied by either his younger sister Billie, his best friend Whitney and/or his pet Spider.

Format
During its initial premiere, Greenwood Forest was shown under a 45-minute timeslot, and separated into four different segments: The main stories each lasted between fifteen and eighteen minutes whilst the Learn It with Fyp segments lasted approximately four minutes whilst the Fyp's Bright Ideas segments lasted approximately one minute. As every episode ran for 41 minutes, shorter main segments generally featured longer Learn It with Fyp segments.
 * The first segment was a longer story centred around Fyp and his ventures in Greenwood Forest.
 * The second segment was called Learn It with Fyp, and was a short in which Fyp teaches another character an important social lesson (e.g. not telling lies).
 * The third segment followed the same structure as the first segment, being a longer story about Fyp and his friends in Greenwood Forest.
 * The fourth and final segment was called Fyp's Bright Ideas, which were quick segments which typically involved Fyp and company playing a game or making things with arts and crafts.

When the show was reran, only one main segment was aired under a 20-minute time frame, and most international regions followed similarly. However, some international regions aired one main story with either a Learn It with Fyp segment or multiple Fyp's Bright Ideas shorts in order to fit it into a half-hour format.

Characters
A few other characters appear from time to time. Billie and Fyp's mother Esther (voiced by Olivia Emery) makes sporadic appearances throughout the show though plays a larger role in the specials. Other Greenwood Forest residents who occasionally appear include Edward's sarcastic messenger and deliveryman Trevor (voiced by Darren Marion), the forest's wheel creature police officer Zipa (voiced by Lilian Pond) and a friendly but irritable rock creature called Marty (voiced by Marty Reeve). Whitney's parents makes a few appearances too, though they are never given names.
 * Fyp, (voiced by Jack Carole) a nine year-old boy, is the son of Greenwood Forest's mayor, who voluntarily goes around the forest and the other areas surrounding it to fix any problems that they might be dealing with. He is caring and optimistic but also very timid and gullible. Often wearing a small messenger bag, Fyp wields a wand which can do various degrees of small magic but nothing major, and typically has to rely on others or problem solving to deal with the situation at hand.
 * Billie (voiced by Melissa Emery) is Fyp's eight year-old sister who is curious and playful but also shy. Often accompanying her older brother, she seems to have a low self-esteem and prefers to sit on the sidelines, though is more assertive when Fyp is in trouble. Billie is very close to her brother but is also fairly clingy to him, and gets jealous when he bonds with other girls.
 * Spider is Fyp's pet spider, who is incapable of talking but can make high-pitched grunts and seems to understand human speech. He proves to be useful when it comes to crawling through tight spaces or sneaking behind any potential threats.
 * Sticker (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is Fyp's sentient compass who he often carries in his messenger bag. He can give Fyp advice when the latter is stuck, though goes to sleep afterwards and has to recharge before he can be used again.
 * Edward (voiced by Tone Riddles) is the mayor of Greenwood Forest, and Billie and Fyp's father. Though well-meaning, he is often lazy when it comes to his duties, generally only stepping in on emergencies and preferring to sit inside watching TV all day.
 * Butler (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal) is Edward's personal butler, whose real name is never revealed. He appears to be more responsible and level-headed compared to Edward, and will often provide Fyp and company with anything they might need on their travels.
 * Whitney (voiced by Denise Chevrolet) is Fyp's best friend whom Billie is jealous of. She appears to have a crush on Fyp and is very loyal and caring to him, though is also prone to being mischievous and doesn't like to take responsibility unless she gets something out of it.

Specials
Although the show had ended its run by 1996, Harlow Morrison was inspired to revive it for a trilogy of 30-minute specials after it became popular again following reruns on Tiny Vision. These specials and their air dates were:
 * Fyp and the Christmas Wish - 24th December 1999
 * Fyp's Spring Fever - 15th April 2001
 * Fyp and the Golden Key - 12th March 2002

Reception and legacy
An Open Eagle article from October 1993 praised Greenwood Forest as "fun and entertaining, with a cast full of colourful characters" and noted the animation was "almost as good as a Disney film". A few other sources were more mixed, citing Billie and Fyp as less exaggerated versions of Kacie and Tenet from The Incredible World of Riddles and criticising the storyline for being repetitive. A few also said that the show felt like a direct-to-video series released on television at the last minute.

Retrospective reviews of the show have been more positive, with Pop Magazine praising the show for its likable characters and engaging plots noting "Although the show is very lighthearted, that almost works in its favour as it gives Fyp plenty time to have heartwarming moments with his friends and family", further praising the special Fyp's Spring Fever as "one of the greatest animated specials out there". The BBC also noted Greenwood Forest as "arguably the frontrunner of the series of better-written animated Kuboian cartoons that were popular in Europe".

Broadcast history
Although airing as part of Vision Network's unbranded Sunday morning schedule, Greenwood Forest also began airing on Bumper's Block in 1995, though these airings consisted of only one main segment. Reruns were later aired on Tiny Vision from 1997 to 2008 and later on JuniorVision from 2008 until it left the latter channel in January 2011.

Greenwood Forest also aired in its original 41-minute format on Nick Jr. Kuboia from 1996 until April 2005.

United Kingdom
Greenwood Forest was broadcast by the BBC for roughly a decade, first airing on Children's BBC in October 1994, though these airings typically only showed one main story and either a Learn It with Fyp or Fyp's Bright Ideas segment. After CBeebies launched in February 2002, the show was later included as part of its lineup until it left the channel in April 2005.

The show also aired on Tiny Living in its original 41-minute format from 1997 to 2004.

United States and Canada
Greenwood Forest had its United States premiere on Nick Jr. in the autumn of 1995. It continued to air on the channel until the spring of 2003.

In Canada, meanwhile, the show aired on CBC Playground from 1994 to 2000 and later aired on Treehouse TV from 2001 to 2004.

Other international airings
The show saw runs on many television channels throughout Europe, including TF1 in France, Super RTL in Germany, Italia 1 in Italy, Nederland 3 and Kindernet in the Netherlands and Telecinco in Spain. Meanwhile, in Australia, it aired on ABC.

In Brazil, it was shown on Rede Horizonte from 1994 to 1998, and was later shown on Discovery Kids, RH Kids and PBS Kids. Meanwhile, in Circlia, the show was aired on Setora TV from 2000 to 2010. In El Kadsre, it aired on K-T.V. on Banushen Television from 1994 to 2002 and ETVKPS from 2011 to 2017.

Merchandise
An official Greenwood Forest range of merchandise was released in the autumn of 1995 and included bagpacks, stationery, posters and an indoor playset. This was shortly followed by a series of puzzles, jigsaws and board games.

Various books based on the show were also released, which were usually based off episodes from the show. There were also activities books.

Video games
An educational CD-ROM called Greenwood Forest Fun was released in early 1995.

A 2D side-scrolling adventure game called Fyp's Adventure was released for the SNES in September 1995, and involves the player controlling Fyp through five worlds using magic to defeat enemies and solve problems. It notably features voice acting albeit only from Fyp himself, with Jack Carole reprising his role from the show. A Mega Drive version of the game was planned but never released - Ashley Maverick published a video of her playing through the unreleased port on YouTube in 2021.

Later, a 3D action-adventure game titled Billie's Fun House was released in October 1997 for the PlayStation (though it was not released in the United States until 1999). Playing as Billie, the game features five large open-world levels in which the player must collect items, sneak past enemies and solve puzzles. The player can also use in-game currency to buy items which they can use to customise Billie's treehouse.