Greenwood Forest

Greenwood Forest: Adventures with Fyp and Friends, more commonly known as simply Greenwood Forest is a Kuboian children's animated television series created by Eric Graters and Harlow Morrison, and produced by Kuboian studio Kubokartoonz. Centred around the adventures of the son of the titular forest's mayor, it is Kubokartoonz' first true television series.

The show premiered in 1993 on Bumper's Block, and spawned a total of three series and 28 episodes, with new episodes running until 1995. The show was ran on television for over fifteen years, with reruns being shown on KT until 2008.

Premise
Taking place in the titular area, a village located in a bright and colourful forest, the show mostly focuses on Fyp, the high-profile son of Greenwood Forest's mayor. Fyp enjoys exploring the forest and finding fun things to do in it, but is also willing to give his time to help his father look after it. Among the people Fyp lives with is his twin sister Billie, his house's manservant Butler and his pet Spider.

Episodes of Greenwood Forest normally involve Billie and Fyp coming across a part of the area they have never seen before and trying to learn about it, or acting as the voice of reason and straightening out one of their friends if they misbehave. Children the group regularly hang out with include Whitney, Fyp's best friend who has a one-sided crush on him, Sky, a boy who is very crafty and clever, and Rosie and Peter, a niece and uncle duo who are jealous of Billie and Fyp and try to talk them into misbehaving.

Greenwood Forest is centred mostly around being adventurous and looking out for others and the environment, but the show also occasionally deals with social issues, such as peer pressure, vandalism and bullying.

Cast

 * Bruno Leon Vidal - Butler and Edward
 * Charlie Karma - Whitney
 * Denise White - Rosie
 * Emily Merletta - Sky
 * Jack Carole - Fyp
 * Marie Anne Maverick - Peter
 * Melissa Emery - Billie

A majority of the additional voices were done by Ashley Maverick, Millie Tucker and Marty Reeve.

Episodes
Each of the show's episodes last approximately nineteen minutes and fifteen seconds, though some are slightly shorter or longer. Each series has nine episodes, except series two, which has ten.

Critical reception
A review from the The A.V. Club gave the show a positive review calling the show "children's edutainment at its finest", and noted it had aged better than other children's shows from the 1990s. A KantasyDream.net article praised the show for its animation, writing and social lessons, though it also felt that some of the characters were very stereotypical for a Kuboian television series.

Controversy and criticism
Since the show's inception, a few eyebrows have been raised over the relationship between Fyp's father, Edward, and Butler. Although Butler is supposedly just a servant employed by Edward, he is seen with Edward and his children (Billie and Fyp) frequently outside of the house, and spends a lot of time with them. Because of this, some have questioned if Edward and Butler are actually a gay couple. Show creator Eric Graters has stated that Edward and Butler were created without that in mind. However, Bruno Leon Vidal has admitted that he originally conceived Butler as gay when recording his dialogue for the character.

VHS releases
From 1994 to 1996, Greenwood Forest was released in Kuboia and the United Kingdom on VHS tapes. Each of these tapes featured three episodes and promos for other shows. In Kuboia, they were released by Bumper Pack Videos, whilst releases in the United Kingdom were handeled by BBC Video.
 * Greenwood Forest: Fyp's Treasure Hunt and other stories - released September 1994
 * Greenwood Forest: The Surprise Party and other stories - released January 1995
 * Greenwood Forest: Fyp's Exciting Egg Hunt and other stories - released April 1995
 * Greenwood Forest: Pumpkin Panic and other stories - released October 1995
 * Greenwood Forest: The Great Greenwood Race and other stories - released March 1996
 * Greenwood Forest: The Greenwood Festival and other stories - released August 1996

Two other VHS tapes were released after the original set of compilations.
 * Greenwood Forest: A Christmas Collection - released November 1997
 * Greenwood Forest: The Best of Fyp - released August 1998

All tapes were awarded a YC classification by the LRA and a Uc classification by the BBFC.

DVD releases

 * Greenwood Forest: The Complete First Series - released October 2003
 * Greenwood Forest: The Complete Second Series - released September 2004
 * Greenwood Forest: The Complete Third Series - released February 2006

International broadcast
Greenwood Forest has been sold to many countries worldwide.

In Australia, it aired on ABC for Kids from 1994 to 2001, and later aired in reruns on KidsCo. 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 Banushen Television from 1994 to 2002 and ETVKPS from 2011 to 2017. The show also aired on RPN from 1994 to 2003, and also aired on Spacetoon in several countries, such as the Arab world.

Among the show's most popular areas is Canada. Here, it aired on CBC Playground from 1994 to 2000, and also aired on reruns on Teletoon Retro from 2007 to 2011. In the United States, the show aired in first-run syndication, with it later airing on Toon Disney from 1999 to 2002. It also aired for over fifteen years on Italian television; on Italia 1 during the 1990s, and airing in reruns on Boing from 2004 to 2011.

Greenwood Forest saw many broadcasts across Europe. It aired on Minimax and KidCo in Central and Eastern Europe, M6 and France 5 in Grance, Super RTL in Germany, Kindernet and NED 3 in the Nertherlands and Disney Channel in the Scandinavia region.

In the United Kingdom, Greenwood Forest debuted on Children's BBC in September 1993. It saw regular runs on the block until late 2001. The show was later aired on CBeebies in reruns from February 2002 until December 2004.

Video games

 * A Greenwood Forest Story (1995; MD, PSX, SNES)
 * Legend of the Dark Woods (1998; PSX, PC)
 * The Great Escapade (2003; GBA, GCN, PS2)

Educational games
Aside from sharing its name, the 2004 V.Smile game Fyp's Adventure has no connection to the 1995 video game of the same name.
 * Story Studio (1995; PC)
 * Fyp's Treasure Hunt (1998; PC)
 * Fyp's Adventure (2004; V.Smile)

Tropes

 * Greenwood Forest/Tropes
 * Greenwood Forest/YMMV
 * Greenwood Forest/Trivia