Melanie (TV series)

Melanie is a Kuboian traditionally animated television series created and directed by Hollis Davies and produced by Twinkle. The show centres around the titular character, a mischeivous seven year-old who learns and teaches life lessons in unusual ways. The show premiered on KT as one of its original programmes in September 2005 and ran for two series.

Premise
Melanie is a seven year-old girl who is currently on her final year of Approach School, and attends Heathryoak Approach-Novice School, a school which has high expectations for its pupils due to its good reputation. Melanie is not very fond of school, thus finds more fun misbehaving rather than learning. In spite of this, she also has a good heart and is capable of inspiring others in ways that others can't. According to show creator Hollis Davies, the show both entertains and educates its audience in an unorthodox manner.

Every episode of the show lasts approximately thirteen and a half minutes - the opening lasts a minute, the credits last thirty seconds and the actual episode lasts exactly twelve minutes (though some episodes are a few seconds shorter).

Characters
Melanie boasts a wide cast of characters, each of which have their own unique personality traits. They mostly consist of her family members, as well as her classmates and teachers that go to Heathryoak school.
 * Melanie (voiced by Suzie Hersham) is the show's titular character and main protagonist, a naughty but well-meaning seven year-old, she reluctantly attends Heathryoak Approach-Novice School, where is finds it more fun getting up to mischief instead of learning. In spite of this, Melanie often ends up discovering interesting things and learning life lessons in her day-to-day life. In school, she has a large list of people she both likes and dislikes, the latter of which are prone of provoking her misbehaviour. In spite of this, she enjoys the company of others a lot and likes to spend time with her mother.
 * Vivienne is Melanie's shy and quiet mother who works as a part-time catering assistant at a café that Melanie lives close to. She seems to dislike talking to people, and only speaks up if it has something to do with her daughter. Vivienne is very close to Melanie, and spoils her badly. She appears to spend a lot of her time watching TV and eating unhealthy snack food.
 * Edward is Vivienne's partner and Melanie's step-father, who appears to work as an audio visual technician.
 * Mr. Crook is the well-respect but snobby and bossy princpial teacher of Heathryoak School, who often runs the school's assemblies and appears to be in charge of some parts of the school's running. He has high standards, and as such has low tolerance for Melanie's behaviour. Because of this, Mr. Crook clashes with the young troublemaker a lot. In spite of his strict nature towards the students, he is prone to underhanded behaviour himself. In the second series, he shows a more insecure side.
 * Nathan is Melanie's best friend who she has a one-sided crush on. He is very effeminate, and appears to be self-conscious in regards to his "pretty" looks. Nathan often tries to get Melanie to become more mature, but his attempts always end up in failure. He often likes to tease his friends.
 * Gabrielle is a close friend of Melanie and Nathan who attends the same class as them. She often tries to act as the "sensible" one in her group of friends, and sometimes tries to avoid taking part in their activities. However, Gabrielle is not as mature as she likes to think, as she is hot-headed and ill-tempered. She gets frustrated by Melanie and Nathan a lot, but they are good at apologising if they upset her.
 * Ustuk is a classmate and good friend of Melanie and Nathan, and is also Gabrielle's best friend. He appears to be shy and regularly acts in a clumsy and hesitant manner. He is, to everybody's surprise, often the only one who is capable of stopping Melanie when she misbehaves.
 * Mr. Fleece is Melanie's young school teacher. He gets stressed very easily, and seems to have difficulty keeping his class settled down. He gets frustrated with Melanie's actions a lot in the first series, but the two start to gain a bit of respect for each other later on.

History and development
Hollis Davies began development on Melanie in early 2002, intending to create a pre-school programme that taught lessons in a manner that "has never been seen before" but also making it realistic and relatable. In early 2004, Ericka Streets revealed on one of her internet blogs that KT had comissioned an eighteen-episode series "about a funny little girl who is very naughty".

Melanie's voice actress, Suzie Hersham, auditioned for the role in November 2003 and started recording her lines for the first series after she discovered she had won in the spring of 2004. When interviewed for the show's tenth anniversary in 2015, she revealed that the animation had already been done before any of the voice acting, and would spend hours recording a single episode due to "constantly messing up [her] lines".

Music
The show's music was composed by Sidney Plasket. The soundtrack combines 60s and 70s jazz and soul music with noughties-style pop and rock music. Plasket said he thought the fusion with give the music "its own unique charm".

Alternate and unaired episodes
In March 2019, show creator Hollis Davies revealed that he and the show's cast had recorded "adult" versions of three of the episodes of the first series which were made solely as a joke and were never intended to air. The "adult" versions feature minor profanity and sexual references, and also claim that Mr. Crook is an alcoholic. Davies uploaded the three episodes onto the internet later that year, though a few short clips of the episodes had leaked online in the mid and late-2000s.

Davies also produced another adult-orientated episode, "Melanie and the Bathroom Business" during the production of series two as a joke. The episode features Melanie and her friends learning about sex education, with one scene featuring Melanie catching her mother masturbating (no nudity is seen). Davies uploaded the episode onto his YouTube channel in August 2019.

Two additional episodes of series two were planned but never completed, though clips of the episodes were used for some advertisements for the show in its heyday.

YouTube
Hollis Davies began to upload all thirty-eight episodes in their original quality, including the four unaired "adult" episodes, onto his YouTube account throughout 2019. In December 2019, Davies uploaded a video explaining that he will not be marking the videos down as "for kids". As such, it is still possible to comment on the videos.

Home video
In Region 2, the first series was released on DVD in September 2006, with the second series being released in August 2007.

Video games
Melanie: Trouble in Heathryoak School was released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance in September 2006. It is an action-adventure game that takes place through a seven-day period. The player plays as Melanie and has to complete missions, mostly by playing different minigames. Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK called the PS2 version "a typical rushed tie-in game that is purely marketed towards little kids".

Controversy
Melanie polarised both viewers and critics alike upon its initial airing. A writer for Open Eagle noted the show was well written, but also felt that it seemed to be "trying too hard". Criticism from other sources involved Melanie herself, who many felt received little to no punishment for her misbehaviour and got too overly pampered by her family. Other minor forms of criticism the show faced included the skimpy clothes the children occasionally wear, and the large amount of food considered unhealthy that the characters are seen eating in compared to food that is deemed healthier.

After the show began airing on Milkshake! in the United Kingdom in October 2005, parents took to the Digital Spy forums to brand the main character a "spoilt brat". However, the show did get some praise, with some arguing that Melanie only misbehaves when provoked, is quick at apologising. and is a actually a very good role model for children due to her care towards her friends and family and how she never seems to hold grudges towards those who treat her poorly.

Show creator Hollis Davies commented on the show's criticism, calling it "baffling".

Awards
In 2006, Melanie received the Silver KFT Award for Best New Pre-School Children's Programme.

International broadcast

 * Kuboia - Vision One and KT
 * Australia - ABC
 * Canada - TVOKids
 * Charlesland Republic - CHT (2007-2010)
 * Conlandia - CBC Kids (2006-2010, 2016-present)
 * El Kadsre - BTV
 * Floweria - Kidzone (2007-2010)
 * Gau - GBC Kids (2006-2009) and GBC Kids Jr. (2009-present)
 * Germany - Toggolino (2005-2010)
 * Indosa - Disney XD and IBN Kids
 * Internet - Nickelodeon (2007-2019) and VCR (2019-present)
 * Israel - Hop!
 * Italy - JimJam
 * Jetania - Scamp! and Little Z Bop
 * Portugal - Canal Panda
 * Stevia - Treehouse (2006-2015) and Family Jr. (2015-present)
 * United Kingdom - Milkshake! and Tiny Pop
 * United States - Discovery Kids and Sprout

American English dub
During its initial run in the United States on Discovery Kids, Melanie was redubbed with American voice actors, however, the American dub still used Kuboian pronouns. When Sprout picked the show up in November 2010, it instead used the original Kuboian version.

As of 2021, the American dub is currently lost, as no footage of it has surfaced online. When show creator Hollis Davies was asked about the Ameican dub, he revealed that he had no involvement in it and therefore did not have any master copies of the episodes.