Princess Meroulina

Princess Meroulina is a Kuboian children’s animated Kantasy television series, and the second cartoon produced by Kubokartoonz. Created by Ashley Maverick, the show focuses on Meroulina Martina, a spoiled and naughty eleven year-old girl. The show premiered on Vision Network in 1993 and spawned fourty 17-minute episodes before ending in 1995. Reruns were shown on Nick Jr. Kuboia from 2000 until October 2005. Although the show has faced heavy criticism, it has also spawned a cult following.

Premise
Meroulina Martina is a citizen of a fictional enchanted village, titled Emerald Village. Due to being a high-profile citizen, Meroulina often brands herself as a princess, despite not actually being one. Each episode follows the life of Meroulina, which usually involves her getting up to mischief, and occasionally playing the role as the heroine. However, some episodes focus on the perspective of one of her friends or enemies.

Cast

 * Main article: List of Princess Meroulina characters


 * Ashley Maverick as Meroulina Martina
 * Nanita Freshers as Billie Martina
 * TBA as Assa Martina and Mr. Ace
 * Den Fortwhile as Typ Sekey
 * TBA as Mick Tiede and Marty
 * as Buster Bear
 * Juliet Diamonds as Peter
 * TBA as Britney

Development
Like Kubokartoonz' previous series, The Incredible World of Riddles, Princess Meroulina was worked and finished months before it was aired, with the majority of series 1 produced in 1992.

Unlike other shows produced by the company, Princess Meroulina's premise and characters were created entirely by Ashley Maverick, allegedly over the course of 36 hours.

According to Eric Graters, he deliberately made the team work on two different versions of the show, which they referred to as the "Normal" version and the "Puny" version. Since Eric feared that the show’s mature tone would not appeal to most international regions, the "Puny" version removed anything that the team felt would be considered inappropriate in other countries. The "Normal" version was aired exclusively in Kuboia and English-language networks in Japan.

Episodes

 * Main article: List of Princess Meroulina episodes

Controversy and criticism
Princess Meroulina is considered one of the most controversial children’s cartoons of all time for a variety of reasons.

The show faced criticism outside of Kuboia due to its usage of minor profanity, as well as the show’s usage of blood, alcohol and sexual references. It is also notably the first Kuboian cartoon to feature these, and because of this, is often blamed for future Kuboian cartoons having mature features.

The show is also blamed for introducing several stereotypes in Kuboian culture. in particular felt that the show encourages racism towards the English and Americans.

Cult following
Like other shows produced by Kubokartoonz, Princess Meroulina had a strong cult following in the mid-1990s and 2000s.

A fan website for the show titled "Meroulina Cultnet" was launched in February 1999. The website was used to note down every single aspect of the show known to exist, including pages of trivia and essay-length summaries. The website has not been updated since 2006.

Kuboia

 * Vision Network (1993-1997)
 * Nick Jr. Kuboia (2000-2005)

Jetania

 * Nick Jr. (????-2005)
 * Z Bop (2008-2011)

Netherlands

 * Kindernet (1994-2003)
 * Nick Jr. (2003-2005)

United Kingdom

 * CBBC (1994-2005)
 * Nick Jr. (2002-2005)

Film series spin-off
A theatrical film based on the show titled Princess Meroulina: The Movie was released on 2nd November, 2001.

Video games
The first video game based on the show Princess Meroulina: The Video Game, was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Mega Drive in 1994.

Princess Meeoulina: Adventures in Emerald Village was released for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Panasonic GCX in 2002.