Detective Tricky

Detective Tricky is a Kuboian preschool traditionally animated television series created by Lake Caters and produced by Kubokartoonz. The show premiered on Tiny Vision in 2004, running for a total of four series until it came to an end in 2007. It was eventually revived in 2020 for a variety of different specials.

Premise and characters
The show focuses on Tricky (voiced by Sharlie Deem), a sentient teddy bear who lives in Lunar City, a dark suburban area, with his owner Amaria, her cat Lion and her parents Indie and Todd. Donning a beret hat, a waistcoat and a bumbag in which he holds a magnifying glass, Tricky is often faced with some sort of conflict or difficult solution, and must use problem solving skills in order to resolve any task at hand. In addition to his analytical skills, Tricky is shown to have other skills and attributes, such as a strong sense of smell. Although he can understand human speech, Tricky is incapable of talking himself, though is capable of making high-pitched, robotic puppy-like noises.

A majority of episodes involve Tricky using his various skills and equipment to solve any problems at hand. Often times, he is acting on behalf of others as a detective, hence the show's title. Although the show has a mostly straightforward format in series one, later series showcase the difficulties Tricky often has to face when acting as a detective, such as falling for false evidence and respecting other people's privacy. There are also a few "breather episodes" that don't have a mystery or problem to solve and are instead feature more humorous storylines.

Alongside Tricky himself, there are several other characters who often get involved in his mystery solving: Additional characters are voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal, Lilian Pond and Xya Leeds. Ericka Streets makes a special guest appearance in a series three episode.
 * Lion (voiced by Charlie Karma) is a beige cat who lives with Tricky, is fully capable of speech and seems to be able to read Tricky's body language the easiest. Seemingly only just grown out of her kitten years, she is very curious and likes to explore the world around her, though he naive nature occasionally gets her into trouble. She occasionally has a cynical outlook, often stating "It's not easy being a detective, is it Tricky?" when the situation is bleak. Despite being a cat, Lion prefers to mingle with the human race and likes to try and fit in, with multiple episodes implying that she does not like cat food. Since she lives with him, she sees Tricky as a sibling-like figure, and refers to him as her brother on several occasions.
 * Amaria (pronounced "ah-mah-ree-ah"; voiced by Enny Emery) is Tricky and Lion's owner, a seven year-old girl who has straight brown hair. She seems to have a very big imagination and enjoys playing with her two pets, though several episodes imply she has difficulty making friends. Amaria appears to have been the one who inspired Tricky's detective hobby, and is shown to have a good attention of detail. She appears to enjoy large vehicles like trains, buses and airplanes, and also enjoys visiting areas with lots of tunnels and hallways. Occasionally she is prone to getting distracted, especially in regards to her hobbies, though Tricky is good at knocking sense back into her.
 * In addition to Amaria, Tricky and Lion also live with her insecure but very passionate parents Indie (voiced by Millie Tucker from 2004-07, Lilian Pond since 2020) and Todd (voiced by Bruno Leon Vidal). The couple own Tricky's Library, a bookshop named after the titular character, though Indie is normally the one looking after the actual shop whilst Todd usually takes care of its cafeteria area. The shop appears to be a popular area for gossip, and where Tricky, Amaria and Lion usually find out about any potential detective cases. In one episode it is revealed that the couple decided to open the shop through their love for literature and the theatre.
 * Mr. Boxx (voiced by Darren Marion) is a manager who owns a pizza takeaway restaurant; Boxx's, which sells food which is allegedly very cheap and greasy, and appears to be stolen from regularly much to his annoyance. In spite of this Tricky and company enjoy the place and its food. The state of Boxx's changes over the course of the show; in the third series it moves to a different location where both it and Mr. Boxx himself appear to be better off. He occasionally awards Tricky and his friends food if they solve problems for him.

Creation
The origins of Detective Tricky trace back to as early as 1995, when Ashley Maverick and Lake Caters were coming up with ideas and characters for Magma Eye. One of the characters who appeared in said show, Mark "Munch", was originally going to have a stuffed teddy bear as a companion, though the idea was eventually dropped. Caters, however, got an idea for a new show in 1999 after seeing his niece play with her stuffed toys. He explained in an interview "She had them all being part of some great big mystery. Some of them were acting as detectives whilst others were being interviewed so the detectives could find clues to the crime. It was surprisingly in-depth for an introverted young girl."

Maverick and Caters produced a three-minute pilot in 2001 which involved the rejected teddy character from Magma Eye investigating a crime. For the series however, they decided to use a new character altogether. The name Tricky was chosen because as Maverivk said "it's tricky to solve a crime that's right on time", referencing the Run-D.M.C. song of the same name. There was some debate over whether Tricky should be able to talk - ultimately it was decided he would remain mute except for some sound effects in order to give the character a more "innocent" and "cute" nature. It was at one point suggested that Tricky and other animals present on the show would be able to communicate with each other, but not to humans, but Maverick dismissed the suggestion because she felt it was a "tired trope".

Production
Each episode of the first series of Detective Tricky lasted for twelve minutes including the opening and credits sequence, with some stories running across two episodes. Maverick explained that this was done because some stories needed "more time" than others. During the production of series two, however, Maverick felt that less than fifteen minutes was not enough runtime to write good storylines, so the runtime was changed to approximately twenty two minutes per episode, with a few episodes instead being made up of two stories.

Most international regions, as well as Nick Jr. Kuboia, aired two episodes of the first series of Detective Tricky together. These edits alter the two-part episodes to remove the cliffhanger in the first part and recap in the second part, and change the credits to reflect both episodes. Because of this, some sources cite the first series as having thirteen episodes instead of twenty six.

Casting
The role of Indie was Millie Tucker's final role before her death in 2007, with the ninth episode of series four airing on the same date as her death. As a result, the credits of the final four episodes were hastily changed to be dedicated to Tucker.

The show ultimately came to an end after its fourth series. Although it was rumoured that Tucker's death was the reason behind Detective Tricky ending production, Maverick dismissed this in a 2009 interview, citing that the decision to end the series had already been made before Tucker's death. She explained "We could have probabbly made a another two series or so, but we just want a break from producing content after twenty years." She further explained that had more episodes been made after Tucker's death, the character of Indie would have likely been recast to Lilian Pond, who was a close friend of Tucker and had voiced other minor characters on the show. Pond was eventually cast into the role of Indie following its "specials" revival in 2020.

Music
Much like most other Kubokartoonz series, the music for Detective Tricky was composed by Wilfried Montgomery, who incorporated a mixture of musical genres for its soundtrack. According to Montgomery, the speed of the music reflects how tense the action is in the current scene. Whilst scenes involving Tricky and company casually exploring Lunar City generally feature slower paced and "mysterious" jazz and soul compositions, other moments such as chase scenes often feature faster paced trip hop and UK garage-sounding instrumentals.

Specials
When discussing Detective Tricky during its tenth anniversary in January 2014, Maverick explained that she was taking a break from producing new work but that "Tricky and company have potential for the future". Later in 2018, she revealed that Kubokartoonz had been working on a half-hour television special based on the show with a majority of the original cast returning, though the role of Indie was recast to Lilian Pond following the death of Millie Tucker in 2007.

The specials feature a structure similar to that of the original television series, though the specials generally feature a darker tone than the original series. So far, four television specials have been produced and aired on Vision One, with each lasting between half an hour and an hour. Additionally, two YouTube-released specials have also been produced, with each being about five minutes long.
 * The Case of the Missing Kittens (13th November 2020)
 * A Chocolate Eggstravaganza (4th April 2021)
 * Little Girl Lost (30th October 2022)
 * Tricky Underground (29th October 2023)
 * How To Be a Detective (20th December 2020)
 * Lion On the Run! (30th April 2021)

Telecast
After its premiere on Tiny Vision in January 2004, Detective Tricky began airing on Nick Jr. Kuboia in August that year. During the time period the show aired on both channels simultaneously, Tiny Vision aired the most current series at the time whilst Nick Jr. Kuboia aired earlier episodes. After Tiny Vision's closure in early 2008, the show was move to its replacement Junior Vision, where it continues to air as of October 2023. Reruns continued to air on Nick Jr. Kuboia until its closure in December 2010.

In the United Kingdom, the show was pre-sold to CITV, and debuted in the country round about the same time as its Kuboian premiere. Reruns were later aired on Tiny Pop from 2009 to 2018. In the Netherlands, the show debuted in the country on Z@ppelin and was later aired on Nick Jr.

Detective Tricky had its United States debut on Noggin in January 2005. It aired on said channel until the autumn of 2008.

Reception
Detective Tricky won a KEMPA award for "Best Pre-School Animation" in both 2005 and 2006.

Live show
A theatrical Detective Tricky show toured through Kuboia from autumn 2006 to spring 2007.

Books
A total of eight Detective Tricky books were published from 2005. These featured two different stories that were either based off episodes from the first series or original stories, and at several points haulted the story to encourage the reader to work out what Tricky and company should do next to solve any problem or case at hand.

A series of activity books based on the Detective Tricky name were published throughout the mid and late 2000s. Other books released included a colouring book and a sticker book.

All About Detective Tricky was released in early 2006. It is a special book written in the perspective of Tricky (for example, the book uses the words "I" and "my"), where he introduces and states facts about himself and explains his favourite moments from the first series.

Toys
Plush toys of Tricky and Lion became best-selling toys after being sold in several Kuboian retail chains starting in the autumn of 2004. Various other children's merchandise, including playsets, jigsaws and puzzles, were later released.

A Detective Tricky version of Cluedo was released in the summer of 2005. This was followed by a licensed version of UNO in early 2006.

Video games
Detective Tricky: Lunar City Mysteries was released on 30th September 2005 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. The home console version is an action-adventure game in which Tricky must complete various missions throughout Lunar City; Lion and Amaria are playable at certain points in the game. The handheld versions meanwhile are 2D Metroidvania-style games in which the player has to play minigames in order to acquire items to help them through each level. The game was a commercial success, with the PlayStation 2 version alone selling over 200,000 copies in Europe alone. A sequel with similar gameplay, Detective Tricky: On the Loose, was released on 2nd March 2007 for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS.

An educational CD-ROM for Windows computers, titled Detective Tricky's Activity Centre, was also released in 2006.